Feeling Blessed

My generation are now the seniors in our family. We now are forced to respond to titles like; uncle, aunt, grandma, grandpa, and senior citizen (only tolerable when it saves us money on food), instead of the much more acceptable though dated terms, dude, bro, kid, babe, guy, or gal. At the same time we feel much more likely to use terms for others that we hated years ago; squirts (cute young kids), whippersnappers (smart-alack cute young kids), or antiques (referring to our keepsakes and yearbook friends).

We now measure our health, count our calories, and do our best to read our medicine bottles. Doctors are no longer a career path that we might choose; now we know several by their first name and wonder how those young kids got a degree. Many of us may know more about our physical therapists family than our brother's or sister's. Joints are no longer places we like to hang out but are body pivot points that are scheduled for new parts one by one. We have found aching muscles in locations that were totally ignored before (my feet hurt?). Our moms and dads used to have trouble getting us up, now we feel it is a great accomplishment to go to sleep (and stay asleep).

We have quit climbing the ladder (physically and metaphorically) and are hoping they don't change the retirement age to quickly. The question of how long we should keep working is exasperated by someones rude reminder that we might not have long to live. Our plans for the future have now become a "bucket list" of things to accomplish before we die.

All this sounds kinda grim until you get to the really good part. We did wake up this morning. We have another day to enjoy the many blessings we have and to appreciate the people in our lives. We have lived enough life to not take for granted our family and friends. Thank you for being one of those special people in my life. I pray that our relationship will be a long one and because of Jesus that we will one day be done with the problems associated with long life and be enjoying an eternity with each other in a perfect heaven. Make sure your bucket list includes a decision to accept God's invitation to an eternity with Him. I will see you there.

   “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14–16, NASB95)  

Relaunch 4

This post is the 4th in a series of posts that seek to Relaunch Fellowship with new fuel and fire to reach this community for Christ. Please refer to the previous 3 posts for context.

Fellowship has the potential for exponential growth but will be limited by barriers that can be identified and overcome. Leaders must identify the barriers that keep Fellowship from reaching its potential and to formulate plans to overcome those barriers. The leaders of the church will be given tools and training that will enable them to communicate with their mentees and propagate the demolition of barriers that inhibit growth.

Since the church is explicitly commanded to “make disciples,” the leadership of the church must be committed to this task. “The most effective pastors are missionaries at heart. These pastors have an unceasing restlessness about them that can never be fulfilled until this spiritual engagement is finished. This quest has been continuing for thousands of years as leaders have developed future leaders to take on the cause of constantly invading the enemy stronghold to reclaim those for whom our Leader died.”[1] These leaders must be developed with proper preparation and training.

In the context of the great commission it is interesting to note in a prefatory way that the disciples in verse 16 are not the original twelve (οἱ δώδεκα), but the faithful believing eleven (οἱ ἕνδεκα).[2] Before Jesus gets to vision he makes sure He is speaking to the “right people.”[3] The “right people” on this bus were the ones who He had invested His life in and they had responded to His investment by a commitment to His commands. This vision of the church’s purpose and mission will not be fully realized by anyone who is not fully committed to it. Leadership is key to the future growth of the church. Jesus spent an entire night praying before making the final selection of His twelve disciples. This only came after a period of living with them night and day and knowing their character as well as their actions. This project does not address the selection of leaders but assumes that these leaders have been selected with the understanding, “Enlisting asks people, “Would you like to go there with me?”[4]

“We must recognize that Jesus himself walked for years with a small band of followers, and they still looked like the B-team when he left this earth.”[5] It is to imperfect, indecisive, hesitant, and uncertain disciples that Jesus entrusted the spreading of the Gospel to all the world then as now. Are we not all like the father who told Jesus, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”[6] Even today, as I work with leaders I must recognize that everyone is a work in progress, hopefully, including myself. I take heart in the fact that “What marks Christianity as distinct is that it is truly a people movement: every believer (and not just some presumed religious elite) is an agent of the kingdom and is called to bring God’s influence into all the realms of human existence.”[7] The mission of God to reach the world is for every believer and not the sole responsibility of the paid staff. 

We do not have it all together as a job requirement but on the job training will help us to see great results both personally and corporately. You are vital to Fellowship accomplishing our purpose of "helping people find new life in Christ." As we discover God's plans to relaunch His church into a wonderful future, will you go there with me?

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[1] Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, AND, the Gathered and Scattered Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 2010),  97.
[2] Mark 9:24

[3] Allen Hirsch and Lance Ford, Right Here Right Now, Everyday Mission for Everyday People (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2011), 36.

[4] Paul D. Borden, Direct Hit, Aiming Real Leaders at the Mission Field (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006),  38

[5] D. A. Hagner, Matthew 14-28, Word Biblical Commentary, ed.  Ralph P. Martin, Vol 33B (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002),  883.

[6] Jim Collins, Good to Great (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2001), 41.

[7] John Kramp, On Track Leadership (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006), 3.

Relaunch 3

Church Growth is not Trading Members

The Bible makes clear God’s concern for people lost to the gospel, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”^[1] God’s desire is that all people should have a personal relationship with Him. Today’s church has equated the transfer of members from church to church with the fulfillment of this command to grow through the sharing of the gospel. This erroneous notion of growth has resulted in numerous volumes of church growth books that miss the point of the great commission.

The church must be in the business of seeing people find new life. We are an emergency center for sick and dying lost souls not a retirement home for cranky discontent Christians. “For the most part, the institutional church has spawned a large subculture where most of its ministries are designed to provide service and fulfillment to those who are already related to the Church’s founder.”[2] We must be more interested in expanding Christ’s Kingdom than we are in enlarging our personal castle, less concerned with competing with the church down the street  for the loyalty of baby saints and more concerned with competing with Satan for the souls of men. It is my contention that pastors and leaders today are partly responsible for the hopping and shopping clearly mistaken for legitimate church growth. When someone visits from another church in town we are excited at the possibility of having a trained, contributing, and sometimes even working addition to our little realm so we spend a great deal of time trying to woo suspect Christians and much less time trying to impact our communities. Many problems we will face later can be traced to these unhappy Christians.

This emphasis on growing a church by transferring members leads to an attractional  based ministry instead of the more biblical missional ministry. Though church growth is a priority, growing one church at the expense of others does not fulfill the commission of our Lord.

The prevailing approach to evangelism and Christian mission is for churches to develop programs, services, and events for the purpose of attracting unbelievers. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be attractive, and we certainly wouldn’t want our churches to be unattractive. The problem is that we rely on the gathered services to do the mission and evangelism—as well as the discipleship, education, and worship.[3]

This leads to come and see mentality instead of a great commission go and tell. If it is true that “God has been at work weaving together Spirit-led thought, dreams, and kingdom innovations in a city, in a neighborhood, and in the life of every person you’ll meet” then we must be in the community to encounter them. [4] To remain cloistered in our churches complaining about the decline of morals and mores in the society around us is the opposite of what Jesus commanded in all of His commissions to the church.

At Fellowship we must be radical enough to say that our target group is not the Christian who has become unhappy with their present church and has joined the throngs of people who are shopping and hopping from one church to another, but is instead,  two main groups of people:  (1) Those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, seeking new life in Christ; (2) Those who have had a relationship in the past and have allowed it to grow cold, seeking renewed life with Christ. Personally, I must not just talk about sharing the gospel but find ways to focus on this command being my life purpose and the ultimate goal of my calling as a Christian. “It is impossible to legitimately follow the biblical Jesus and not end up being molded by the mission of God and a growing reflection of Jesus’ character. When our hearts and minds are truly seized by the Lord, we cannot but help see people, the world, even the church, differently.”^[5]

Jesus said “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. “^[6] There is not a shortage of souls to harvest but a profound shortage of harvesters. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”^[7] The development of leaders to the point that they are themselves developing leaders is a vital part of fulfilling the command of Christ to make disciples and train those disciples. We will address what this means at Fellowship in our next article.

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^[1] 2 Pet. 3:9

            [2] Borden, 38.

            [3] Allen Hirsch and Lance Ford, Right Here Right Now, Everyday Mission for Everyday People (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2011), 216.

            [4] Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, AND, the Gathered and Scattered Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 2010), 55.

            [5] Hirsch and Ford, 103.

^[6] John 4:35

^[7] Luke 10:2

Relaunch 2

After recognizing the authority that Jesus has been given to command His church we must take seriously the command itself. The first part is that of evangelism, sharing new life, with everyone we can. 

It is our Lord’s command that we make disciples! This is not given as a suggestion for a church program or a by-product of all the other things that we do as a church. “To His followers and the church alike, He issues a clear, concise command, ‘make disciples.’ As Christians, we are to be consumed with making disciples. There is nothing more important in God’s eyes for a church to do than to make disciples.”^[1] The command is imperative and connected with any action that is undeniable.

"The commission itself is given by means of one main imperative verb, μαθητεύσατε, “make disciples,” together with three syntactically subordinate participles that take on an imperatival force (thus rightly Friedrich, 154) because of the main verb. The first of these, πορεύθεντες, precedes the main verb. The disciples are to “go” and “make disciples.” Since the main verb has for its object πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, “all the nations,” it is implied that the disciples are to go into all the world. "^[2]

This command is not adding the gospel to other cultures or faiths but presenting the radical exclusiveness of the only way, the only truth, the only hope to have life. This command is not just for encouraging people to go to far away mission fields but includes going to our neighbors. “To make disciples of all nations does require many people to leave their homelands, but Jesus’ main focus remains on the task of all believers to duplicate themselves wherever they may be.”^[3] It is simultaneously a local command and a universal command. My concern is that if we are not doing it locally we will not respond to the needs globally.

It is a good things to support mission work around the world and Fellowship contributes over 10% to ministries that share the good news and also has at least three special offerings that greatly increase our support. The real question is are we personally fulfilling the Great Commission imperative to make disciples? What are we doing individually and as a church to make sure our friends, family, and co-workers are going to heaven?

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[1] William R. Hoyt, Effectiveness by the Numbers (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007), 11.

^[2] Hagner, 886.

[3] Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew, The New American Commentary, ed. David  S. Dockery, Vol. 22 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1992),431. 

Relaunch 1

I know “Relaunch” is not recognized by my spell checker as a word but I want to, over the next series of weeks, to introduce it as a God-led concept and an appropriate consideration for our church at this present time. I continue to believe that God has called us to this place “for such a time as this,” and is ready to build His church. I want to share with you some important theological points gathered from my doctoral work. The first is:

God Commands the Church to Grow

The rationale for this process begins with the great commission of our Lord. While there is a commissioning statement in three gospels the most profound and detailed one is found in Matthew 28:19-20^[1]. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”^[2] The apostles are commanded to make disciples, to multiply themselves, and to train those disciples so that they may continue to multiply and repeat the process. Jesus has the authority to make such a demand on these leaders of the soon to be sanctioned church as He mentions in Matt. 28:18.

This connection between the authority of Jesus and the fulfilling of the tasks now assigned to the disciples and those who come after them in Matthew’s and every church is made plain in the connective οὖν, “therefore.” Jesus’ authority (v. 18) and his presence (v. 20) will empower his disciples to fulfill the commission he now gives them.^[3]

Having the authority and the promised presence of Jesus Himself, the church has the power to do what is commanded. He has stated before His sovereign rights given Him by God as in John 3:35 where he states that “all things have been given to me by my Father,” but here it is amplified because of His resurrected state. Paul further explains this authority in Eph. 1:20-23 where he recognizes Jesus at the right hand, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”^[4] This passage goes on to say that all things are in subjection to Him, under His feet, He is head of the church, and fills it with His presence. Jesus’ authority is supreme and unmatched  whether we recognize it or not. Jesus amplifies this promise by placing a time stamp on it with the words “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” ^[5] The Holy Spirit will Himself descend upon the apostles to bring this about.

So if God is sovereign, His command is clear, and He has promised to build His church, the issue must be with us. I believe at Fellowship we need to recognize the authority of Jesus and how that applies to believing in His empowerment and following His command.

Please continue to read future posts and newsletters as we explore the purpose of our church.

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[1]  There are several commissions of varying force: Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; Acts: 1:8. Luke 14:16-24 is the parable of the dinner and could be understood as a commission to invite people to a relationship with God, though its primary meaning is more about the people’s response than the invitation.

^[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Mt 28:19). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

I will reference the New American Standard Bible for all Bible quotes unless otherwise noted.

^[3] D. A. Hagner, Matthew 14-28, Word Biblical Commentary, ed.  Ralph P. Martin, Vol 33B (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 886.

[4] Eph. 1:20-23

^[5] Matt. 28:20