Family Life

Shawn Lovejoy give a great description of the church and family.

The church and sin

A few words from Dr. John P. Splinter
"The church's comfort with sin in its midst has unleashed a whirlwind. Is there any other reasonable explanation for 88% of the children raised in evangelical homes to leave church by the age of 18, never to return (London, 2002)? They may have heard the words, but most of them never witnessed or experienced the Savior in the lives of their parents or church leaders. If they'd seen Christ, they'd have stayed. Is there any other reasonable explanation for the divorce rate among church members to be virtually the same as among non-church members (London, 2002); for Christian women to struggle with eating disorders to the same extent as non-Christian women (Myers, 2004); for only 2% of teens in churches to have a Christian worldview (Barna, 2003a); for Christian men to be as hooked into porn as non-Christians (Gallagher, 2000); for the rate of cohabitation among Christians to be nearly the same as among unbelievers (Bama, 2001); or for racism to be worse among evangelical Christians than among unbelievers (Gallup & Castelli, 1989)?
In many, perhaps most churches, the "cleansing power" of God's Spirit is present in name only. Few today see the church as a moral force to be reckoned with. It's like a harmless house pet which may be emotionally significant to its owners, but meaningless to those outside the family. Barna suggests that America is now entering a period that historians will someday describe as the beginning of the era of moral anarchy. And why should anyone take the church seriously if the church doesn't take itself seriously?
One of the high privileges of my life has been to co-minister with brothers & sisters in Russia & Ukraine. The church in that part of the world is a much leaner, harder spiritual body. The Exec. V.P. of a seminary in Ukraine told me that in a church of 200-300, it's normal to see 5-10 people removed from fellowship each year due to unrepentant sin as the Body keeps itself pure. That's an amazing contrast to Western churches in which it's sometimes almost impossible to be removed from church rolls."

Manipulative church

Monday Morning Insight, Todd Rhodes highlighted a new church in the Netherlands. Smoking is their god. At first I smiled at the manipulative invention of a church to get around a state rule of no smoking. Yet, the church today walks the tight rope of biblical principles to justify felt needs. Paul writing to Timothy said a little wine is good for the stomach, which means I can sit in the bar and sip a few because it is good for my health. I need to stop and look at my life, the life of my church, and the denominational I serve with to see what is manipulative for my pleasure and what is truly from God and needs to be practiced.

Kansas City Church Plant

It is always exciting to watch God's hand working in the lives of people. God is bring Converge Heartland (Heartland Baptist District)a step closer to planting a church in Kansas City for the Vietnamese people. There are approximately 500 families living in Kansas City that are from Vietnam. Currently there is one small church working with the 500 families. We are currently talking/interviewing two potential church planters. Our goal is to start the work in January of 2009. Keep watching and praying to see how God's hand works in the lives the church planters and the Vietnamese people living in the Kansas City area.

How Deep are we?

David Olson in trying to help the church recover from the crisis we are in makes the following comment. "Why do so many seekers report that they are attracted to Jesus but not to the church? Perhaps the problem is that the church has done a splendid job of concealing the powerful life-giving Jesus. We domesticate him; we make him our servants; we assume that people have more knowledge about him than they do. We are producing Christians who lack the vitality and depth that should mark Christ-followers. To quote John Perkins again, "We have over-evangelized the world too lightly. We have allowed a narrow and limited understanding of Jesus to marginalize and reduce the revolutionary nature of his message and mission."

Planting Fast Growing Churches

A few more items from the study on book, “Planting Fast-growing Churches”

Planters of fast-growing, dynamic church plants were given more freedom to spend their funding in the ways they saw fit.

Overall, less control and/or management from the sponsoring agency was exerted over fast-growing, dynamic church plants.  The data indicated that sponsoring agencies need to give proper freedoms to the church planter instead of imposing a cookie-cutter church planting plan.  Those church plants that were a part of the struggling group tended to have more constraints and control placed over them.

Sponsoring agencies must develop a quality training program.  Leaders of fast-growing, dynamic church plants received one or more weeks of training designed to prepare them for church planting.  By contrast, planters involved in struggling church plants indicated that they had received less than one week of training.

Church multipication

Andy Williams wrote a paper on Church Multiplication Centers that has some great insight and points to consider.

Do we obey advise?

A study was done in the last several years that reveal that nine of ten people who are told by doctors to "change or die" cannot do so. In other words, they are told to stop smoking, lose weight, or quit drinking in order to survive, and nine of ten die rather than change. Churches are similar. Are we personally similar?

Conversely, do we tell people what they want to hear or what they need to hear? Fox News has a story about what doctor would like to say, but will not or cannot because of legal issues.

I see the two similar in that we don't listen to advice and we are unwilling to give loving straight forward advice.

Post Christian ministry

What does ministry in a post-christian, post-modern and post-monoethnic look like today. David Olson, in The American Church in Crisis" said, "The American church must encage with these three critical transitions:
- Our World used to be Christan, but it is now becoming post-Christian
- Our world used to be modern, but it is now becoming postmodern.
- Our world used to be moneothic, but it is now becoming multiethnic (read more on multiethnic here)

He goes on to say, "In the post-Christian world, pastors, churches and Christians need to operate more as the early church did. In the post-Christain world, the needs of outsiders become most important. Ministry is more like missionary work, with a renewed emphasis on the message and mission of Jesus. The role of pastors is to lead the church in its mission and equip members to understand and live out the message and mission of Jesus outside of the church. Churches must develop a mission mind-set,l going out into the world to meet people's needs."

Invitation to a meal

Ed Stetzer in Outreach magazine asked a great question for every Christian and even more so for those of us in church planting. Ponder what he had to say, "Jesus was accused of hanging out with the wrong crowd because, among other things, he went to other people's homes for dinner! Here's a simple question: When was the last time an unchurched person invited you to dinner? Skip the excuses: 'Well I go and witness to people,' or, 'They're afraid of me because I'm a pastor.' Just be honest. Are you the kind of person other people want to hang around? Apparently, Jesus was."

Money for church planters

What is the right amount of money to give to a new church plant? What level of support causes the church plant to flourish or become dependent? Stephen Gray in his book, “Planting Fast-growing Churches” offers some points that his research has proven about funding for church plants.

“A majority of full-time planters leading fast-growing church plants received salary support for two years or less. Nearly 80 percent of the planters involved in struggling church plants received salary support for three to five years. This data seems to imply that an extended period of support is not good for a new church. It may be that the security offered by this extension causes a window of procrastination that is detrimental to the development of the church plant.”

“While a higher percentage of fast-growing, dynamic church plants received additional funding, most received $50,000 or less within a one-year time frame. A significant number of struggling church plants received over $50,000 in a four or five year period. Again, too much money given to a new start may be just as detrimental as too little.”

Planting Fast Growing Church

There are 21 significant differences between fast-growing and struggling church plants according to Stephen Gray in his latest book, "Planting Fast-growing Churches."

Following are 2 of the 21 items he lists

"1. Using the Ridley assessment is a must. No planter should be allowed on the field unless he or she has been properly assessed. When looking for a planter that can break out and overcome the 200 barrier, look for an above average planter. Those who lead fast growing, dynamic church plants had an average score of 4.26, while those leading struggling church plants scored an average of 3.82.

2. Adequate financial support of a church plant is a must. Church planting is expensive and requires a proper balance of funding from the sponsoring agency. The financing of this plant should come through a combination of sponsoring agency and planter. Every planter should take ownership and be personally involved in raising extra funds. If you find a planter who is not willing or able to do this, he or she may be the wrong person. Keep in mind that funding these new churches requires a lot of thought, because a delicate balance exists between giving a planter too much or too little financial support."

More to come in days ahead.

Church gowth by 2020

I have been enjoying David Olson's book, "The American Church in Crisis." He does give some numbers that cause us to reconsider what we are doing and how we are doing it. He said, "Approximately 55,000 churches will close between 2005 and 2020, while 60,000 new churches will open, producing a net gain of 4,500 churches. However, to keep pace with population growth, a net gain of 48,000 churches will be needed. In those 15 years the American church will fall short of this mark by almost 43,500 congregations." (pg 176)

Church Planting in rural towns

Check out this conference for churches in the "sticks"

10 changes for the future of the American Church

David Olson in his book, “The American Church in Crisis” gives ten necessary changes for the American church to have a bright future.    
1.        “Christian leaders need to be honest about what is happening in the American church and in their denomination and its churches, and personally lead the church forward with spirituality, chemistry, and strategy.
2.       Established churches need to have the courage and commitment to pursue both health and growth.  This dedication needs to come from pastoral and lay leaders and from members.
3.       Christian leaders and churches need to accept and learn to thrive in the new world that is post-Christian, postmodern, and multiethnic.
4.       The best pattern for the mission of the American church is the early church’s attitude, model, and mission strategy to the Creco-Roman world.
5.       In this new world, pastors need to upgrade their ministry gifts and skills, learning to articulate the message and mission of Jesus with passion, power, and wisdom.
6.       Christians must engage their neighbors with a humble and listening attitude, relishing the new opportunities God has made available.  A great way to begin is through the recovery of the historic Christian ministry of hospitality.
7.       Established churches must embrace church planting as a primary method of passing the faith on to future generations.
8.       Denominations need to learn how to develop turbocharged mammalian church planting structures while encouraging the initiative and interest in church planting to come from the grassroots level, both in established and new churches. 
9.       Pastors and leaders need to devote more energy to raising up and training young leaders in their churches, colleges and community organizations.
10.   The church needs to recognize anew the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.”
Taken from page 103, Olson, David; “The American Church in Crisis” Zondervan

How do we measure church sucess?

W. David Philips lists 19 items from a doctoral class that is enrolled in that help us evaluate the church today. I am asking the question of how does it describe my life yet alone my church. Enjoy the read