Are We Making a Difference?

Are we helping our members grow spiritually? Are they moving along the spiritual continuum as identified in the Reveal study:

• Exploring Christianity
• Growing in Christ
• Close to Christ
• Christ Centered

The Reveal study identified six key discoveries regarding the spiritual growth of their members.

1. Church activity alone made no impact on spiritual growth
2. Spiritual growth is about increasing closeness to Christ
3. The church’s role as a primary influence on spiritual growth becomes secondary as people move closer to Christ
   • Personal spiritual practices become more important than church for those more spiritually mature
     • Prayer
     • Journaling
     • Solitude
     • Bible study
4. Personal spiritual practices are key to a Christ-centered life
5. The more one grows, the more one tithes, serves and evangelizes
6. More than 25% of those surveyed considered themselves stalled or dissatisfied with the role of the church in their spiritual growth
   • Most dissatisfied members tend to be more Christ-focused
   • Most dissatisfied members were more likely to consider leaving the church
   • Most dissatisfied members want the church to hold them accountable and to keep them challenged

For the church to be able to better serve its members may mean to simply become better spiritual “parents” by showing them how to grow spiritually.

1. Help members realize that they have to look beyond the church to grow spiritually
2. Provide “coaching” in the development of spiritual practices
3. Incorporate life applications and week long activities into the sermon

If the church is to make a difference by helping its members grow spiritually, it will need to use impact on spiritual growth when evaluating programs. Questions that might be asked during the evaluation process might include:

• Go beyond asking “How many?”
  • How did this event/activity help people grow?
  • Which segment of people was this event/activity expected to help and did it actually help them
• Ask more than “How are you?
  • What’s helping you grow spiritually these days?
  • How is the church making a difference in your life?
  • What changes in the church would you like to see in order for you to grow more?
• Evaluate ministry based on perceived level of impact it is having on spiritual growth

I am one of those “dissatisfied” people. Fortunately, I have found Internet sermons that are helping me grow spiritually. I believe that our church could adapt some of the practices of those churches in order to make a difference with our congragation, including myself.

• Weekly memory verse
• Thoughts to ponder — two or three questions to discuss with others regarding the sermon
• Daily Bible study related to sermon topic
• Daily prayers related to sermon topic

Let’s make a difference!

Identifying One’s Spiritual Gifts

After recently forwarding links to web sites regarding praying for the upcoming Methodist General Conference, I was asked what my spiritual type was. For some reason, I had ignored the link to the “Spiritual Types Test” on that web site. Intrigued by the question and curious about what the test would say about me, I not only took that short test but also a “Spiritual Gifts Assessment.”

The Spiritual Types Test identifies 4 types of spirituality: Sage, Prophet, Lover and Mystic. The Sage, characterized by thinking or head spirituality, values responsibility, logic and order. The Prophet values competence and knowledge and experiences God by serving others. Since a prophet is good at leading and influencing others, the prophet is a good kingdom builder and is thus characterized by kingdom spirituality. The lover values freedom, independence and spontaneity and has a spirituality that is primarily based on emotions and the heart. The lover helps others have fun and experience beauty. The Mystic, valuing peace, harmony and inner silence, is known for imaginative and intuitive spirtiuality.

The Spiritual Gifts Assessment identifies six areas of strength from the following types of gifts: Administration, Apostleship, Compassion, Discernment, Evangelism, Exhortation, Faith, Giving, Healing, Helping, Interpretation of Tongues, Knowledge, Leadership, Miracles, Prophecy, Servanthood, Shepherding, Teaching, Tonques, and Wisdom. These twenty gifts are identified in various portions of Paul’s letters. Each of us have different primary and secondary gifts. These primary and secondary gifts help define who we are and how God has equipped us for ministry. No one can be strong in all areas, but a successful church requires strength in all areas. Thus, to  be successful, a church must be composed of members willing to use his/her own spiritual gift in service to the church while respecting the different gifts of other members of the church.

What is your spiritual type?
What are your spiritual gifts?
Are you using your spiritual gifts to serve your church?

Honoring God

“Of all people, Christians should be addicted to quality and integrity in every area, not looking for excuses for second-best. We must resist this onslaught. We must demand higher standards. … there is no room for lazy, entrenched, year-after-year established mediocrity unchanging and unvaried.”

Franky Schaefer, Addicted to Mediocrity

Malachi 1:6

6 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!

   “But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’

 

Are we honoring God in our worship? Are we giving our best - or - have we become mediocre? God has asked us to give our “first fruits” to him. This goes way beyond tithing with our money to tithing with our time and talents. This is where I probably fall down. I haven’t been willing to give enough of my time and talents. I’m not honoring God when I only give him my left over time and energy. Until I’m willing to give the “first fruits” of my time and talents to serve God, I’m not honoring God.

 

Reaching the Unchurched

Notes from: Surprising Insights: From the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them by Thom S. Ranier

First impressions make a difference

• Adequate parking
• Clean modern facilities
• High-quality preschool / nursery
• Variety of quality programs
• Relevant and quality music
• Friendly - outgoing greeters / congregation
• Good signage
• Comfortable - pews, temperature, sound level
• Attention-holding preaching

 Requires personal evangelism

• Members must be willing to talk about their faith
• Provide resources for family evangelism

Preaching to the Unchurched

• Biblically based
  • Utilize meaty teaching and preaching
  • Verse-by-verse expository preaching
  • Teaches the Bible in original context
• Incorporate doctrine
• Incorporate life application
• Must change life of listener

Key Issues for retaining members and increasing return visits of guests

1. Doctrine
   • Unambiguous in beliefs
   • Clear teaching of beliefs
   • Understanding of major doctrines critical to health of the church
2. High Expectations
   • Membership expectations communicated to members
3. Entry Point Class
4. Small Groups and Sunday School
   • Helps build relationships
5. Clarity of Purpose
6. Ministry Involvement
   • “Glue” that holds people to church

“The church that seeks to be a church of excellence in all things will see God’s blessings.”

Learning from Big ‘Mo’

Unleash 2007 - Perry Noble

Myth — It’s all about style

• Style doesn’t dictate church growth
• If a church is growing  - it’s not by accident — it’s leadership — God’s leadership
• Thriving church doesn’t happen by accident –Godly leadership is in place

Leadership Lesson from Big Mo (Moses)

1. Listen and Obey
   • Leadership is as easy as listening to God
   • Time with God is essential
   • Can’t have vision for church if not consistently spending time with God
   • God never gave vision to a committee
   • Most churches structured for failure
     • Pastor has to work thru committee and do what committee says when pastor is one with training — let pastor lead
     • Obey leader - get on board with their vision
     • Fight over dumbest things and hamstring pastor
     • God gave vision to a person who surrounded himself with a team — it never came to a committee
     • Leadership is as easy as listening to God
       • Pastors must listen to God
       • Members must trust that pastor is listening to God
     • If Stop seeking face of God, church will shut down
2. Do not compromise the vision of God
   • Powerful people in church will try to alter vision
   • Everyone will not be pleased - don’t alter vision to please them
3. Moses didn’t try to do it all
   • Don’t believe pastor is only one who can do everything
   • Pastor trains and equips people to do ministry — and they do it
   • Members need to own vision
4. Attempt the impossible
   • There is no safe vision
   • Stop using size as an excuse — NewSpring started with 15 people
   • Stop using facilities as an excuse
   • Stop using money as an excuse — if it’s God’s will, it’s God’s bill — he’s not limited by money
   • God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Deut. 6:10-12)

 Lord, may we dream big and may we have a heart for your church.

Asking Needed Questions

Notes from presentation by Perry Noble at Unleash 2008

If you are not going to use your church God would like it back so He can give it to someone who is going to use it for His glory.

Praying alarm goes off — so we realize

• God created church to reach the world
• Church attendance decreasing while population increasing — and we want to form study groups to study this issue
• We need the alarm so we can wake up and reach the world for Christ

1. What is it that God wants to do in my church?
   1. Too busy working to know what Father’s heart is
      • Get caught up in doing own thing own way
      • Not spending enough time with Father to know his vision
   2. If older son (parable of prodigal son) knew Father’s vision, he would have stopped “working” and gone to find the lost
   3. Time
      • Must spend passionate uninterrupted time with Father
      • Need revelation not just inspiration
      • If God didn’t tell you to do this, don’t do it — you’ll screw the whole thing up
      • Be who God called us to be, Do what God called us to do
        • World needs our church to be what God wants us to be — not what some other church is
        • Every church is individual to God
        • Quit telling God what he can’t do
   4. Effort
      • We need to go all out for God
      • Put on “best performance” for God
        • We offer half-hearted presentations and then blame it on the Holy Spirit
        • Holy Spirit won’t take the blame
      • Once you take something ordinary and overlay it with the best you have, God will move in and anoint it and use it for His glory like you’ve never seen
      • If going to reach the world for Christ — have to spend some money
        • Vegas is willing to spend billions on nothing and churches are arguing over nickels and dimes
        • Fund children’s programs — spend money on them
   5. God is calling us to do something unique
      • Listen to God
      • Have passion
      • Believe God can do what God is calling us to do
2. What are the barriers that stand in our way?
   • Refusal to change
     • Don’t allow personal preferences to get in way of what God wants to do in our church
       • Personal preferences can hamstring creative processes
     • Great ideas become old and will need to change
       • Hanging onto personal preferences keeps this needed change from happening
       • Need to kill old and bury it to get new (God buried Moses and told Joshua to move)
       • Honor, respect old but move on to new
   • Jealousy
     • Rejoice over success of others
     • Be careful what you speak against — because if God is in it you’ve spoken against the Holy Spirit
     • Learn that when God is moving somewhere to celebrate that
     • God will do great work in a church around you to see if your character can handle it
     • If you can’t celebrate others, God may say I can’t trust you with a blessing
   • Lack of understanding
     • Have no idea of what we’ve got ourselves into — don’t know what God has given us to know God’s heart
     • We have power of Holy Spirit, have the Word of God, have the blessing of God, have the anointing of God, have the calling of God, quit telling God we can’t do it
       • Should be able to go anywhere and grow a church for Jesus
3. What do we want to celebrate?
   • Our job is to tell world who Jesus is
   • Fear — made movements in churches about everything other than Jesus Christ
   • Church should lift up name of Jesus and Jesus Christ alone
   • Celebrate people meeting Jesus
     • Anytime something was lost and then found they celebrated
   • Pray to be set on fire
     • Don’t be comfortable with churches that don’t reach people

Church belongs to Christ

God has a plan

What is God’s plan for our church?

We need to beg for revelation

Lord, give us a detailed vision.
Lord, help us overcome our barriers.
Lord, help us to celebrate your success.
Lord, help us to embrace the new things we are called to do.

Thank you, Jesus

Feeling the Need

Notes from Perry Noble’s presentation during Unleash 2007

“Christianity is the most exciting thing
that happened to the planet
and it took 2000 years to make it boring.”

• We serve a Great God
• Desire to make Jesus famous

Why churches struggle

• Church is a confusing place if you don’t know the rules
• Most churches have attitude — if you don’t know our rules, then you don’t belong here
• America is seeking God like crazy and they’re not coming to church because we’re out of Jesus
• Our job — make Jesus famous

Improving the Church

1. Need creative environments
   • Need to work in every area to make church creative
   • Most visitors make their mind up about whether to come back within first 15 minutes
   • Every week is somebodies first time to hear about Jesus
   • Put people in environment where they can hear about Jesus
   • Should offer Jesus our best
   • Be good enough to steal something (ideas) and make it better
2. Look beyond ourself
   • Basically we’re selfish people
   • It’s not the great suggestion — it’s the Great Commission
   • What type of people do you want in your church
   • The time when they need grace the most — we say “hell to you” when we should be welcoming them
   • Just be glad they’re in church
   • What kind of people do we want?
   • Misconception about being “deep” — Deep is when you confuse the heck out of me so I can feel smarter but lacks applications so when I leave I don’t have to do anything for Jesus
   • Those wanting to be fed — show up ready — open your Bible
   • You can’t get your church too big — You can know everybody or you can know Jesus — you can’t know both
3. Need to pay attention (or we mess it up)
   • Get up — show world who Christ is
   • Don’t be afraid
   • Creative people become frustrated by lack of lead time to develop creative concepts for worship
   • Take steps to honor God
   • Don’t fear criticism
4. Focus on what matters
   • Ignore stupid, trivial matters that don’t matter
   • Jesus is the focus
   • People’s behavior won’t change until perspective changes — their perspective won’t change until they know Jesus

“What the church is called to do will matter for eternity.” Perry Noble

Claiming the Asher blessing

Today I attended Beth and Chocolate — a Beth Moore video presentation hosted by the Northridge Church in Sabetha. As I listened to Beth Moore discuss Deuteronomy 33:24 and God’s blessing of the tribe of Asher .

As I listened to Beth Moore’s words, I kept thinking about how they might apply to my church.  Below are those words:

• Keep God the priority — and NOT making people happy
• Provide something they want — otherwise it’s just words
• Fruit does not come from past experiences
• Don’t settlef for mediocrity
• Don’t blend in just to get along
• Must move past fears
• Move forward — don’t stand in place
• Move forward — then Asher (happiness) will come
• Reclaim the Asher blessing

God knows what God can do. He wants to see what you can do through HIM.

 

Lord, let our church be favored by our brothers and sisters.

Lord, let our feet be bathed in oil.

Let the bolts of our gates be iron and bronze.

Lord, let us have God-given strength to equal our days.

Random Reflections

Several years ago, our pastors announced that they were attending a conference on evangelism. At that time, I had a stereotypical view of evangelistic churches — and my view did not include the Methodist denomination. Even though I wasn’t sold on evangelism, I did participate in the book study that spring on evangelism. Since then, God has been working to enlighten me and I now recognize that my views were not in line with God’s mission.  

Last week, I attended a presentation by Nanette Roberts on Passionate Worship. During her presentation, she said that we need to remember the stories and to pass them on to the church.

Today, I watched the New Spring service from March 9th based on John 1:38-42 where Andrew goes and tells Simon about Jesus. This service emphasized that each of us is responsible for spreading God’s word. As a worship leader said toward the beginning of the message, I’ve always doubted my role, thinking “How can I have influence? Why would anyone listen to me?”

“Pierce our hearts with the message you want us to hear,” Newspring worship leader on March 9, 2008.

 Tony Morgan’s blog summary of Perry Noble’s presentation to Unleash 2008 provides great insight for leaders.

Perry Noble (March 9, 2008) 

“We can’t change anyone, it is Jesus that changes them,” Perry Noble (March 9, 200

Song: Come and Listen

Everyone of us can ask others to meet Jesus by inviting them to church — exactly what Andrew did 2000 years ago. (John 2:40-41)  We can’t change anyone — but Jesus can — if they meet him.