A Blog for the Church

Where have we been? The short answer is that we just checked out of social media for a while. The leaders of our little house church network have been feeling that we were becoming a little to outward focused and not spending enough time with the people in our churches.

So, we have spent the last few months reconnecting, rebuilding and getting back to our roots. We have learned a lot about listening to God and trusting each other. Now that we have decided on some things and are on the road to putting our “houses” in order, we are feeling better about getting back on the social media horse.

For those of you who had been following our web site, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages, we apologize. I’m sure it seemed as if we just forgot about you. We may have burned some bridges by just falling off the face of the earth, but now we are back. We will do our best to keep you posted. However, our postings will probably look a little different. We are not going to be just focusing on “the cause” of house church, but we will be a little more personal. We will be sharing more stories about our churches and hopefully, be a resource to people inside and outside of The Well network.

As always we welcome your comments and ideas. We are not and never have claimed to be experts in house church. But we are walking together daily in the hope that Jesus will use us. We invite you to journey with us and join us in the conversation.

Press on Church.

Hollywood has a plan to get Christians into theaters so they can make a lot of money.  Apparently there are a lot of us in the United States (and throughout the world, for that matter), and when a movie comes along that we really care about, ka-ching!.

Like The Passion of the Christ: it made over $600 million dollars and, last time I checked Wikipedia, was the 41^st highest grossing movie of all-time and the 2^nd highest grossing among R-rated movies.

So, they’re trying to get us back into theaters. Any guesses as to how they plan to do so?

It’s not sex.

It’s not violence.

It’s not a sappy love story.

It’s not action.

It’s the Bible! Specifically the Creation story.  But wait, there’s more! The real draw is that they’re going to make it in 3-D and load it up with all kinds of special effects.

As one guy who writes for New York Magazine put it, “With the success of Avatar, they believe they have a new, better game plan: make religious-themed movies, but make them big, effects-packed, 3-D blockbusters…”

I wonder how long it will take before “Avatar” becomes a verb which means “to make something visually stunning through the use of breakthrough technology.” Hollywood is going to avatar the Creation story and put it on the big screen to make money. (That’s how long, I guess!)

Whatever. If they don’t do more than just make it look awesome, it will fail. Remember Waterworld? If not, consider your life more rich and happy.

But my concern is not with Hollywood as much as it is with the church.

The Church is Trying to Play Hollywood’s Games

By that I mean churches are trying to get people to attend by putting on a big show and wow-ing them. This isn’t particularly new, but it’s very sad and becoming more prevalent.

That is exactly what the attractional model is about. Of course, there are reasons to justify it: if we can just get people to visit our church, we’ll be able to share the gospel with them. The ends, many folks believe, justify the means.

That’s why Rick Warren had the Jonas Brothers perform at his Easter service.

That’s why a Corpus Christi megachurch gave away sixteen cars, fifteen flat-screen televisions, furniture sets and other prizes at their Easter service.

That’s why a lot of other churches have a rocking worship team, state-of-the-art sound systems, big stages, HD videos, clever advertising and attention-getting sermon series.  We’re convinced that if we’re just cool enough, people will show up and we’ll be able to give them Jesus.

And the worst part is that it works. At least to a degree. People show up all the time for the wrong reasons, we preach a message and they leave. Every now and then someone sticks around and gets saved, but for the most part they are few and far between. Still, we tell ourselves, if even one person gets saved, it was all worth it.

I don’t know if it is. Jesus once asked a rhetorical question about gaining the world and losing one’s soul. I wonder if we haven’t done just that on a communal level. Sure, we’ve won souls (and praise God for that), but the church seems to be losing its soul in the process. Even though 12 guys turned the world upside down two millennia ago by sharing their faith, there are 233 million “Christians” in the United States alone, but it doesn’t seem like much is happening here spiritually.

I don’t mean to undermine the good things that many of us are doing in Jesus’ name, but are we experiencing the limit of how God’s Spirit wants to use us?  Has the local church reached its potential today?

Not by a long shot. I adamantly believe He wants to use the local church in ways that would literally blow our minds. But hear me on this: it isn’t going to look like Hollywood. It isn’t going to be some big extravaganza with smoke, lights, fireworks and red carpet.

Because God usually uses things that the world considers weak and foolish things (like the Gospel and average people who follow Jesus) to accomplish his ends. Let’s start acting like we actually believe that, Church.

Participate: Take a look at your own church – do you sense, even if it is not overt, that it has bought into Hollywood’s games? If so, how might God use you to speak into or change that?

Engage: Examine your own life – are you dressing Christianity up with anything to make it more appealing? Are you trying to attract others to your faith using methods that Jesus and the early church never did? How might the Spirit be working in you to alter that?

Own: Bring others into the conversation – talk about this with your small group, family or friends. Do they see how the Church has bought into Hollywood’s games? Explore as a community what the Church would look like de-Hollywood-ized. What would be the gains? What challenges would we face?

If you watch Fox News or get your news from either FoxNews.com or MSNBC.com, you may have noticed a somewhat surprising advertisement that is pro-Bible. In the commercials, folks from various backgrounds, cultures, ages, etc. are filmed saying “I Am Not Ashamed” – the campaign’s primary tagline. USA today is also running print ads (and individual churches can sponsor billboards) with Bible verses that address some of today’s hot-button issues: abortion, homosexual marriage, etc.

Additionally, they’ve set up a website where users can proclaim their unashamedness either by writing a little something (like you would on someone’s Facebook wall) or by recording a video of themselves reading from the Bible and then uploading this to the site.  This is great…except for one thing.

Talking About Being Unashamed Isn’t Enough

You’ve probably heard about all the statistics indicating that about 80% of Americans claim to be Christians. But is that really true? Take 10 of your co-workers or neighbors or the people you see at the grocery store, gym, or restaurant…would you consider 8 of them to be authentic Christians?

Some might be able to answer “Yes,” but most of us respond with an immediate, “No way!”

It seems that there’s still a wide gap between who some people say they are and who they really are.

Let’s be honest, it’s pretty easy to forward on that forward-this-if-you-love-Jesus email, or check that box on the survey, or agree with this or that statement, or read a blog like this and comment with an “Amen” or “Right on,” or slap that Jesus fish on your bumper, or listen to Christian music, or go to Christian movies, or wear the Christian T-shirt.

It’s easy to look Christian.  It’s not so easy to be Christian.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there actually is something about the Gospel that many of us are ashamed of, an aspect of it that we try to soften, get around, or otherwise avoid.

The Gospel Is Offensive

That’s the case for several reasons, not least of which because of the exclusive claims of Jesus. In today’s world, exclusive claims are about as appealing as the plague, so we try to avoid them like we would a plague. Sometimes we do this passively, just by leaving that part out and focusing on the love of God and how Christianity is a much better way to live. Other times we do it actively, by reinterpreting passages or excusing exclusive claims as metaphors.

For example: God’s love is much more appealing than God’s wrath, to be sure.  But God is still wrathful and that’s still part of the Gospel.

Are you ashamed of that?  Are you uneasy about Jesus saying that the gate leading to life is narrow, and only a few will enter through it? Are you ashamed of the part of the Gospel where Jesus demands that we repent? Are you ashamed of the Gospel that has Jesus claiming to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one can get to the Father except through Him?

My guess is that most of us, in one way or another, find ourselves ashamed at times of the Gospel. It’s hard not to be when our culture rejects Jesus’ claims to be exclusive, and even harder when people we love and respect are unable to accept the Gospel’s terms.

But notice what Paul says after declaring that he is not ashamed in Romans 1:16:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes… (Emphasis mine.)

Do you see how Paul chose to phrase it? Instead of going the negative/ashamed route, he chose the positive/unashamed route. We can either be ashamed because the Gospel doesn’t offer salvation to those who refuse it, or we can be unashamed because the Gospel offers salvation to everyone who believes it.

The former makes the Gospel bad news and the latter makes it good news.

What, then, is there to be ashamed of?

Early last month, Glenn Beck made some comments on his radio and television programs that has, quite literally, outraged Christians pretty much across the board. He said that the term “social justice” is really just a code word for communism and Nazism, and that Christians should leave their churches if social justice is held in high esteem there.

As a respected political analyst for conservatives, these comments have not been well received by a good portion of his audience.

Allow me to make something clear before I write the rest of this blog: the Bible is clear on how Christians should act towards the marginalized and disenfranchised. We are to love them, help them, and care for them to the best of our ability because in doing so we are actually, in some mysterious way, loving Jesus Christ himself.

Now, with that said, we need to make sure we get things straight.

Social Justice is Not the Gospel

Depending on your experience and what you’ve been learning, reading that may have been a source of minor (or perhaps major) outrage for you.

I get it.

For too long, Christianity was characterized by a sort of laziness when it came to actually helping people.  The problems were too large and the needs too many to make much of a difference.  So many Christians kind of gave up and said, “We may not be able to help them with _______________, but we can at least share the Gospel with them.  That’s what is most important, anyways.”

In response, many of us have swung to the either side and, depending on who we’re spending time with, come to the conclusion that social justice is not only important to the Gospel – it actually is the Gospel.  After all, Jesus was clear that one of the two greatest commandments was to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that in helping others we are serving him.

As a result, there are many Christians, and particularly within the younger crowd, who believe that as long as we are helping, serving and loving people to the best of our ability, God will either reveal himself to them or will prompt them to ask us why we love them so much. When that happens, we can talk about Jesus.  But doing so earlier than that is offensive or presumptuous, so it’s best not to.

In that sense, we’ve adopted as our banner the quote often attributed to St. Francis of Assissi:

Preach the Gospel Always, If Necessary Use Words

Our social justice efforts have become our way of preaching to the world today.  We all know that actions can speak louder than words, so if we just love the way we should and really help people, we are preaching the Gospel to them.

I get it.  I really do.  I see the appeal of living life that way.  We would be making the world a better place and actively living out the love of God.

But social justice is not the Gospel.

Jesus did not die on the cross so you and I can serve at a homeless shelter or sponsor a kid for $30 a month to release them from poverty.  Those things are wonderful…hear me on that. Christians should be doing those things.  But they are not the Gospel.

The Gospel, the good news, is a message with content. It tells us that even though we are separated from God by sin and unable to do anything to earn His forgiveness, Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that we could not. He then died on a cross as our substitute so that, through him and only him, we can be forgiven and accepted back into God’s family.  There is nothing we need to do to in order to get right with God apart from relying on what He has done for us in Jesus. His forgiveness and favor are completely free, so none of us can boast about what we’ve done to earn eternal life.

Because that message is true and we have responded to it in faith, we are now free to do all kinds of good works, especially those that fit under the social justice category.  And by “free” I don’t just mean we finally get to do them.  Anyone can do a good work.  I mean we are liberated from trying to earn God’s approval by doing them.  We do not get closer to God by our good works and we do not please him more by our good works.  We are already close to God, pleasing to God, and loved by God as much as we will ever be because, and only because, of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

That is the Gospel.

And if we are not actually sharing that message with people, even if we are freeing them from poverty or whatever other hardship they face, we are not really helping them as completely as God intends us to.  Because sooner or later they will die, and if they have not accepted God’s gracious offer of forgiveness before then, the rest of their existence will be exponentially worse than it was while on this earth.

Glenn Beck is wrong.  But unless we put social justice in it’s proper place, there’s a good chance he won’t be for long.

Participate: Think back over the social justice projects you’ve been a part of, did you share the message of redemption offered through Jesus Christ as a part of it?  Why or why not?

Engage:  What would it look like for social justice to be put in its proper place in your life?  Would you have to share the gospel more?  Would you have to serve more?

Own:  This is an important conversation for Christians to have.  How can you begin to engage your fellow believers on this topic?

Written by Rob Ross

Throughout the New Testament Jesus used questions to teach. Questions helped His disciples discover truth for themselves. Questions help each of us go through a process of self discovery. This post is the result of asking a question that was asked of me.

What would happen if the Church’s singular focus was to make disciples?

My response was very direct at the time. I stated that I believe we would see a movement of God like we have not seen in generations. So, another question was asked. What is keeping us from seeing a movement of God happening?

I reflected on an answer for quite some time. I thought about the stories I have read of how God is moving in other parts of the world. I thought about how I have not seen this happening here in North America. So, I asked myself a question. What makes North America different from other parts of the world?

I pondered this question while watching a few of our family’s favourite television shows. We often enjoy watching the Home Improvement Channel. Through the years I have been able to glean a number of good ideas from watching Disaster Do-It-Yourself or Holmes on Homes. One basic principle that has been restated many times in these shows is the need to know the difference between a load bearing wall and non-load bearing wall. The load bearing walls are the ones that keep the house from falling down. The non-load bearing walls are dividers that keep us from seeing what is on the other side.

I believe North America is different from other parts of the world because we like our space. In order to have this space we put up a whole lot of walls. However, for those of us who want to see and be involved in what God is doing some of these walls need to come down.

A number of the walls that I believe need to be come down first include:

The Wall of Comfort

I would define comfort as a state of being in which we feel secure. It is a feeling that everything is okay at least where I live. If we become too comfortable we no longer sense the urgency. In scripture Jesus warned his disciples that the time was near. He took down their wall of comfort so they could see what was coming and helped them prepare. What questions should we be asking Jesus? How do we move outside our comfort zone? Matthew 24:32-35

The Wall of Distractions

North American society provides an abundance of distractions. Add to our busy lives the need to adapt to a rapidly changing world and we see our attention becoming extremely divided. We are inundated with many forms of entertainment. We have numerous opportunities to listen to the radio, watch television or surf the Internet. Technology continues to take ever larger amounts of our time. Beyond this we still need to earn a living, pay our bills, raise our families and keep our relationships healthy. In order to sort out all these distractions it becomes imperative to ask some more questions. What are my priorities? How do I redeem my time? Ephesians 5:15-17

The Wall of Individualism

When I refer to individualism I mean the pursuit of individual rather than common or collective interests. This seems to be a common theme in Western society. It appears we are losing sight of what it means to be community. Our focus is diverted by the idea of personal success rather than corporate well being. The wall of individualism blinds us from the needs of all God’s people and from fully accomplishing God’s purpose. I continually ask myself, “What was Jesus’ original purpose for His people?”  How do we live as Jesus intended? Acts 2:42-47

The Wall of Disobedience

Disobedience is any choice that is contrary to what God has instructed. It is saying no to God. This is not as obvious as it might seem. I often find believers questioning the relevance of scripture for today’s world. There is a sense that it was meant for those who lived two thousand years ago but it isn’t relevant today. It seems they want to make God’s word fit into their lifestyle. They do not see this as disobedience. What does it take to obey God? Titus 3: 1-9

So, what next?

Like any home improvement project it takes time, effort, tools, resources and a team of committed workers. In order for disciples to start taking down some of these walls more questions need to be asked.

What are the load bearing walls in our lives? What are the non-load bearing walls in our lives? What changes do we need to make in our lives if we want to see a movement of God happen in this generation?

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Rob Ross works with Oikos Ministries, a contemporary home-based organic church network with an external message in Canada.

Happy Consider Christianity Week!

That’s right, folks.  This past Sunday marked the beginning of a week dedicated to encouraging believers to examine the evidence and reason for their faith so that they will be able to give a reason for their faith as we are instructed to do in 1 Peter 3:15.  In addition, this is a time of the year where non-Christians are encouraged to take another look at the faith.

You may be thinking to yourself, “I wasn’t aware this week existed!”  If so, you’re in good company.  Many didn’t.  But because Google is my friend, I found out about it several weeks ago and figured I’d write something about it.

This week is about “apologetics.”

Most of you know what that means, but some of you may be thinking, “Like…saying you’re sorry?”  Its okay, you can admit it.  Apologetics are how most of us refer to the intellectual side of the Christian faith where we demonstrate why it makes sense to be a Christian and how it’s not just about having “blind faith.”  The term comes from the Greek word apologia which means “a speaking in defense” (thanks, Wikipedia!).  I think it actually originated as a court term where someone would make a defense for themselves, but don’t quote me on that.

In the early church the apologists were those who worked to explain the faith to a world that had accepted many rumors and strange ideas about Christianity. Their role was important because many times the Roman Empire relied on the accusations of the public to decide when to punish Christians. These apologists were changing public opinion in an effort to stave off persecution in the church. This roll is a bit different than how we view apologetics today, isn’t it?

Often apologetics will focus on a few major areas in an attempt to defend the Christian faith: historical/archeological, scientific, philosophical, etc.

It has been my experience that, in general, many Christians love apologetics.  Why wouldn’t we want to know how to address the science of the day that tells us we evolved from some single-cell organism and are no more special than animals? Or how the Bible has more ancient manuscripts to draw from than any other historical document of its kind?  As a result, we want to take apologetics to the whole world – people need apologetics!

But do they work?  Can apologetics accomplish the ultimate goal we want them to?

They can…but we have to be careful about a few things.

Gentleness and Respect

Did you click on that link above…the one to 1 Peter 3:15?  If you had, you would realize that the verse actually reads like this:

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…(emphasis mine)

We like the first part of that verse, but many of us would rather ignore the latter part.  We might even consider it bonus points if we can make the other party look like an idiot while we give them a reason for our hope.

What’s that?  You never face that temptation?  Yeah…me neither.

But if you ever should face that temptation, remember this: your gentleness and respect is a witness in itself.  Remember the old adage, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”?  Well, as it turns out, it’s true!  The flipside is that once people know how much you care, they’ll usually be eager to hear about what you know – even if they don’t agree with you.

By the way, verse 16 continues with this, “keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

When your character and lifestyle typically match what you say you believe,, those who speak against you will be ashamed.  Don’t give them reason to be unashamed.

Faith is Required

The upside to apologetics is that they remove the need for “blind faith” – the downside is that faith is still required.  I suppose that’s not a downside, but you get what I mean.

At the end of the day, it will be our faith in Jesus Christ that saves us.  The reason for this is simple: God is interested in people who will trust him.  Did you know that you can trust someone even without having all your questions about them answered?  And did you also know that you can have all your questions about someone answered and still refuse to trust them?

So if you‘re walking with someone who is considering Christianity, or if you’re considering Christianity for yourself, just be clear: there will be a jump required.

None of us have all our questions answered.  Many of us still struggle with the fact that we lost a loved one or were hurt by other Christians.  We doubt.  We question.

But we believe that in spite of these things, God is still trustworthy.

Where to Begin…and End

Apologetics are a great starting point and a poor ending point.

It’s not uncommon for a person’s initial objection to Christianity to be some intellectual barrier like the problem of evil, creation vs. evolution, or how miracles can happen given what we know about science.  But it is very uncommon for a person’s final objection to be an intellectual barrier.

If we were to imagine one’s reservations with the Christian faith as an iceberg, intellectual barriers would be the tip that we are able to see.  But beneath the surface are typically much bigger objections.

The trick, of course, is that we cannot just cut to the chase and forego dealing with the intellectual barriers.  In that sense, the intellectual barriers are the door we must walk through in order to see the rest of the house.

I hope I’m not confusing you with these analogies.  If I am, just know this: the intellectual barriers cannot be ignored, but they are not all there is.

Some people will even use their intellectual barriers as a way to hide.  They may not actually have a problem with some of the things they want you to answer, but they make for a convenient excuse not to believe. Much of modern thought has allowed us to learn about God but not create a relationship to Him. We must guard against this and make the faith a personal appeal rather than an intellectual exercise.

So if you start with apologetics, end with discerning love.

Look for areas of hurt, fear, and anger, and meet them with the generous love of Jesus Christ.  Few of us have been persuaded into the Kingdom, but we’ve all been loved into it (1 Corinthians 13:2 – you’re going to want to click it this time).

What do you think?  Should we place more or less emphasis on apologetics?  What other advice would you offer related to the use of apologetics?  Do apologetics factor into the reason for your faith?

Participate: Spend some time identifying the reason for your faith and writing down the major points/areas that caused you to believe.
Engage: If you’re considering Christianity or are in a relationship with someone who is, pick up a book on apologetics.  Some popular authors include G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel. Some weightier authors are William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland and Hugh Ross.
Own: What would it look like for apologetics to become a part of your everyday life?  How would that change the way you live and speak?

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself that question?  It’s one that most of us don’t ask enough.  The question itself isn’t particularly profound; it’s quite simple, really.  But if you take the time to explore the answer, it can really change things.

I started thinking about this because of a story I read about a house church in Gilbert, AZ which recently received a violation because codes in that city prohibit religious gatherings of any size (including Bible studies) from meeting in a home.  The funny thing is that just about any other group can meet in homes with no problem.  But that’s not why I am writing this post.

The interesting thing to me about this story is that the violation came as the result of a sign that a code compliance officer saw on the side of the road advertising the church’s meeting times.

A house church…with a sign advertising their service.

The house church is fighting back and their legal representation is challenging the city on the basis of the law being unconstitutional, which has actually put them on the map…a fact that I’m sure will prove beneficial to them in the long run since, in a house church, it’s typically hard for people to know you exist.

But why did they have a sign in the first place?

For some reading this, that may actually sound like a ridiculous question.  Why wouldn’t a church have a sign? Every good church has a sign and some of the best churches even have billboards, commercials, newspaper advertisements and Jonas Brothers concerts.

All of that, we tell ourselves, is just another way that we can engage culture and get people to come to our church so they can hear the Gospel message.

But let’s stop and ask: why are we doing this?

I could easily paint any church with a sign as lazy: instead of reaching out to their community, they’re just trying to attract people to come in. But I honestly don’t think that’s the case. I think most churches are sincere in their desire to see people repent of their sins and make Jesus Lord of their life.

But good intentions don’t make up for poor decision-making.

By the way, poor decisions are not always stupid decisions.  Stupid decisions are easy to spot because, well, they’re stupid.  Poor decisions can be more subtle.  Poor decisions make the cut and actually cause things to happen because, on some level, they seem like really good ideas.  They appeal to a certain niche or address a certain problem in a way that makes sense.

What makes a decision poor, though, is a lack of perspective.  It actually does make sense to have a church sign…until you realize that you’re playing the world’s games, competing in a market where your church sign message stands among millions of other messages, and so fails to stand out.

If it takes a church sign for your community to know there is a church in the area, something is wrong.

You’ve probably heard by now that churches really need to ask this question: “If our church were to disappear tomorrow, would our community notice?”

That is all to say – ditch the signs, folks.  If people in your community don’t realize there is a church wherever you are meeting, signs are the least of your worries.  And it’s not just signs, either. It’s all that stuff I mentioned earlier; it’s anything that falls under the marketing category.

As long as you have the sign, you have an excuse not to be a light to your community.  But when all that stuff is put away, the people in your church have to shine.

People are the only hope you have for your community to learn about your church.

Participate: Choose something that you do regularly and ask the question: why am I doing this?
Engage: What other questions could you ask that will help you determine whether you should continue doing something?
Own: Take this question to your church, small group, or even family and see what it is that God might be leading you to do.

Note from Ken Eastburn: Let me introduce the author of this blog post: his name is Bob Sears.  We serve together as leaders within The Well alongside two other gentlemen. We decided that for this blog to be more authentic to the communal nature of what we’re doing with Leave the Building, it’s important to bring others into the conversation.  Hopefully, it doesn’t stop with Bob…I’d love to have many others chime in as well (send us an email at blog@leavethebuilding.com if you’re interested in writing a guest post).  He is a good man, loves the church, and is pretty darn smart.  I hope you enjoy what he will be challenging you with today and in the weeks and months to come.  Now, on to the blog:

Here’s a surprising fact: we at The Well spend a lot of time thinking about the Church.  Not just our church, but the Church: where we’re at, where we’re not, and what it would take to get us to where we need to be.

That’s probably no surprise to you.

But we’re not the only ones…and that is truly a good thing.  Yet, even when others spend their time thinking about this kind of stuff, it’s probably likely that we will come to different conclusions about the direction that we should head.

That recently happened for me.

Ed Stetzer is a missiologist and the President of Lifeway Research.  He is a passionate follower of Christ and spends his life discerning trends and analyzing data related to Christianity in order to determine where we are and where we need to go.  I respect him and appreciate what he is doing to spur the church on.  But he recently spoke at Saddleback’s Radicalis Conference and said something that I would like for us to explore.

“If you love Christ, you’ll love his church. And if you’ll love his church, you’ll want to see more of them.”

He said this during a talk on church planting at this conference. And, according to this Christian Post article, Stetzer is convinced that church planting “is central to societal transformation and worldwide evangelization.”  He even shared a statistic that says the membership to baptism ratio of new church plants was found to be 14 to 100.

New churches, it seems, are doing a better job of reaching the world and making disciples than old churches.  Thus, says Stetzer, we should be planting churches.

But is church planting really the thing that is going to get us to where we need to be, where God is calling us?

For some, no doubt, that will definitely be true.  God may very well be calling some folks to plant churches and, if that is the case, they should do so.  But I have reservations about the idea that merely planting more churches will produce the kind of long-term change we’re hoping for.

I don’t think it can.

Not to disrespect Stetzer, but I’m concerned that we’ll just end up with more of the same-old, results-orientated, attractional type of churches that we’ve already experienced…only repackaged.

The logic boils down to this: do what works . . . and then multiply it as many times as possible until it stops working.

But isn’t that what got us into this predicament in the first place?  Didn’t the church move from houses into buildings because it “worked?”  Didn’t the church start adopting things like pulpit preaching, pews, and small groups because they worked?  Isn’t that why many of us went seeker-friendly, purpose-driven, or some other variation of a hyphenated strategy….because it worked?

And is a search for what works all we’re supposed to be devoted to?

I don’t think so.  I hope not.

So, question: if we’re not going to focus merely on doing what works, what should we focus on?

Answer: the same things the Church was focused on before they tried doing what works.

The same thing Jesus was focused on: discipleship.  And get this part: we should be focused on it whether it “works” or not.

Stetzer’s not all wrong, he’s just putting the cart before the horse.  What happens if we plant more churches but fail to disciple people?  Even if they manage to have a good run initially, they’re bound to crash and burn, if not physically then spiritually.

It’s not more churches that we need, it’s better churches…composed of better disciples.

So that brings up some questions I’d like to throw out to you readers.

Participate: What does it take for better disciples to be made? Identify examples in your life of quality discipleship and ask yourself what made it an experience where you or others grew in Christ.
Engage: What kinds of things do better disciples do?  What can churches do?  What has worked for you? Write out a list of things you will do in your ministry setting on an ongoing basis to increase the level of discipleship.
Own: Who is in your sphere of influence? As you create this list and begin to live it out, how will you share with others what you’re learning about discipleship within the church?

I’m adamantly convinced of it.  The Church can beat the government.  I’m convinced that the power of the Holy Spirit is more powerful than the democratic process.

Now before someone gets all Romans 13 on me, hear me out.  I’m not at all talking about whether Christians should submit to governing authorities.  I’m talking about Census 2010.

Don't let the mean look fool you. I'm here to help!

That’s right, folks.  This month Uncle Sam is sending out forms to all of us with just 10 questions on them that will help him to do all kinds of things, I’m sure.  One of the ways they’re billing this decade’s census, which is really brilliant, is how much the census is going to help us.  On the website, they use phrases like, “to advocate for causes,” “research markets,” “locate pools of skilled workers,” “better infrastructure,” “more services,” “a brighter tomorrow.”

Makes you want to do the census, doesn’t it?

The problem with the fact that the government collects this information and then allocates funds to help deal with some of the challenges is that it lets us off the hook…and everyone loses.

One of the problems with the Church is that we are often too willing to let the government do our job for us.  So in the case of the census, we might be willing to let the government get to know our neighbors and communities for us, dispense some funds to help deal with whatever problems we might currently have, and deal with other matters that come up or that we might care about.

But I confess that to do this would be to concede defeat altogether.

The Church can do better.  Here’s how:

Personal Relationships

The key question is: does the government care about us?  Sure, maybe.  They might care about whether I’m getting adequate food, or if I’m in trouble, someone will come help me, but is that really what we mean by “care?”  Is that all we need? I don’t think so.  I think every one of us wants more than to have our physical needs met, but to have somebody care about who we are: what we think, what we’re afraid of, what we’re passionate about, etc.  And we want to know that, in the midst of our thoughts, fears, and passions, we’re still loved and accepted.

The government can’t do that, and certainly not through a 10 question survey. But the Church can.

It happens as Christians get to know the people around them: their neighbors, their co-workers, the people they see at the gym, etc.  It starts with the willingness to begin a conversation and happens as the people of God spend themselves in the interest of others.

Spreading a Hope that Transcends the Temporal

This, of course, is the primary way the Church beats the government.  As Christians we believe this world is not all there is.  We’re able to say that the hope that trumps all others is that which is placed in Jesus Christ and that, because of our eternal hope, we’re able to weather whatever this world hands to us.

The government can’t offer that kind of hope.  It is an institution whose only interest is in this world.

But we can do it.

We can do it as we share with others about our hope.  We do it as we live with our hope firmly rooted in Jesus Christ – and that impacts everything: our relationships, finances, cares, worries…the whole thing.

I’m not saying anything new, here.  Heck, I’m sure several have already stopped reading precisely because nothing I’m saying hasn’t already been said before.  I’m just reminding us of the advantage we, as the people of God, have in this world.

Participate: Knock on the door of someone you don’t know in your community and get to know a new neighbor. Really. Try it just once and see how it goes.
Engage: If we’re going to beat the government, the people in our communities will need to expect interaction with us regularly.  What can you do in your neighborhood to make sure that happens?
Own: Identify a need in your community and organize a team to do something about it.

What other advantages does the Church have over the government?

What does it take to change someone’s heart?

I wrote back in November about the extravagant spending of a church in Dallas to renovate their buildings in an attempt to communicate the transformative power of God to their community.  My contention was not primarily the spending, but the fact that they think a building can communicate something as deeply personal and human as the transformative power of God.

I had a hard time finding people who disagreed with me.

But I suspect more people will disagree with what I’m about to say and I’d like to venture a guess as to why.  I think that for the most part we hold principles loosely, pulling them out when it benefits us or validates our actions and letting them go when they stand in opposition to our actions.  So that’s my guess, now on to the reason for this post.

I don’t think the Focus on the Family Tebow commercial worked.

Barna recently surveyed Americans about the commercial.  The numbers are interesting, but I don’t want to place my focus there in this blog post despite the fact that it seems some folks may have “reconsidered” their position.  Rather, I want to ask why we are continually being fooled into believing that there are shortcuts to transformation and why we’re willing to give Focus a free pass.

When was the last time you saw a commercial that changed your life?

If you can answer that question with a description of the commercial and how it changed your life (rather than just cause you to laugh, or even think about an issue) I would absolutely love for you to share that in the comments below.  Otherwise, my guess is that .001% of people will be able to answer with anything other than, “Never.”

So what made us think that this commercial would be the one?  Because it is something that we care about?  Because we want it be the one?

I’m not even talking about whether the commercial was made well, that’s not the issue.  Just like FBC Dallas won’t be able to communicate the transformative power of God to their community by having a sweet building, so Focus wouldn’t be able to change anyone’s life through a commercial…no matter how sweet, funny, or endearing it is.

A commercial cannot change hearts. Not even a commercial with Tim Tebow, aired during the Super Bowl and about abortion.

But that doesn’t mean there is not still hope for babies. There is.  But – and read this next part slowly – that hope won’t be found in commercials, pamphlets, billboards, videos, songs, buildings, or books…that hope will be found in you because Jesus Christ has redeemed you and you are now a witness for him.

Changing hearts doesn’t require a $3 million Super Bowl commercial spot.

Changing hearts, even about abortion, only requires the kind of love that is found in Christ Jesus being spread to others because you are willing to love them with the same love that has been shown to you.

It doesn’t cost $3 million to change someone’s heart.  It only costs your time, energy, and love.

What do you think?  Did the commercial cause you or someone you know to have a change of heart?  What could Focus have done differently with the $3 million?