Can we make this simpler?

When I was growing up the church's way of thinking was to provide as many activities as possible so the members wouldn't get involved in worldly activities. When I was very young, they even went so far as to schedule a two week revival each year during the fair. Although we don't go to that extreme these days, churches still seem to be graded on how many "safe" activities they provide for their members. Committed followers of Christ are graded on how many times they attend services, functions, and activities on a weekly basis. We try to come up with alternatives to significant events and celebrations under the assumption that our members will not be able to withstand the temptations of the world if we let them go to purely "secular" events.

As a result, we tie up the time of our most committed members (meaning those most likely to share their faith with others) by asking them to work relentlessly on events that are safe for Christian consumption. In doing so, we deny them opportunities to connect and build relationships with people outside the church who might be influenced for Christ if they had relationships with followers of Christ.

This might be defendable if we were seeing our average members actually living lives that differed from their neighbors but we're not. Church members are divorcing, getting into financial trouble, and living in fear of the future in numbers no different than the neighbors they are hiding from. So it appears that a strategy of monopolizing church members' time is not bearing fruit.

The local church has a responsibility to provide three things for those who are attenders and members: Opportunities for worship, discipleship, and fellowship. These are not listed in order of importance because all three are crucial for the spiritual development of the individual. A church that is lacking in any of these areas is not producing strong motivated Christians who will share their faith with others.

Corporate worship brings the local body of believers into the presence of God as a group. There is energy and excitement generated when groups of believers worship together. Through congregational singing, group prayer for needs, and the shared of experience of hearing the message, strength is formed. Those new in the faith see those who have served God for decades worship and learn from them. The more seasoned saints can see the exuberence of those who are newer in the faith and be energized by the knowledge that a new generation is picking up the torch and that the gospel work will go on. It is priceless when generations worship God together and make allowance for differences in style and preference, but are willing to come together in unity of purpose.

Typically, discipleship occurs in a different setting than the corporate worship experience. The messages delivered in the corporate worship setting are typically encouraging, corrective, evangelistic or comforting. The deliberate study of the Bible and doctrine usually occur in a separate venue, whether it is Sunday School, Sunday night, or another teaching time. But even though it is not as emotional as the worship experience, it is every bit as important. Without the systematic study of the Bible, and the subequent grounding in the doctrines of the Word, the worship experience can drift into weirdness. But with a well-educated group of believers, worship will take on a rich dimension of experience combined with knowledge and it will result in a much deeper appreciation of the things of God.

Sometimes fellowship is considered to be fluff, but in reality, fellowship is the glue that holds the local body together. In times of fellowship, believers get to know one another in ways that they will never get in other corporate settings. Most of the stories of Jesus interacting with his disciples take place around meals. It is in those settings that people establish relationships that last a lifetime and cause individuals to give the benefit of the doubt when differences of preference arise. Just as discipleship is necessary for powerful worship, it is necessary for healthy fellowship. Without intentional discipleship and powerful worship, fellowship can turn into the cliques and factions that destroy churches.

When any of the three parts are supplied disproportionately, you have problems. If the predominate focus is on worship, then worship rules and excess and heresy will usually be the result. In a church that focuses solely on discipleship, the joy and spontenaity of worship is lost and legalism is the normal outcome. In a church preoccupied with fellowship, our relationships with one another take precedence over our relationship with God, and we become a club instead of a church.

But let's consider the church which achieves balance and is strong in worship, discipleship, and fellowship. What then? If we are producing believers who are growing in spiritual maturity, is that enough? Isn't there more to church than that? Of course there is. We owe something further to our members. But we do not owe them an unending list of programs and events designed to protect them from the world. We owe them the opportunity to share their spiritual walk with others who do not yet believe. We have the responsibility to reach the world and tell them the Good News. Our people can't reach out to others if they are spending all their time with other Christians.

But there are several problems with this. In our culture, activity is esteemed more highly than productivity. People who stay busy are honored for doing so much for the church. People who may be spending their free time with unbelievers tend to be looked upon with suspicion. When a church begins to eliminate programs and events the members, even those who may not attend those events, feel that the church is moving backward. Churches pride themselves in having pages-long lists of ministries they provide, but in reality, the vast majority of those ministries are aimed at the comfort and care of the membership. It will take a long time to change that mindset. Foolish is the pastor who attempts an "overnight" change in direction. His direction will probably be changed out of town.

So where am I headed with this? I envision a church (I don't attend this church and you probably don't either) where there are intentional opportunities, open to all attenders, for worship, discipleship and fellowship. This could take many forms. A simple example would be Sunday School (or whatever you want to call it) for discipleship. This would be predominately age based curriculum that teaches through the Bible on a recurring basis so the students get a well rounded exposure to its truths. The Sunday morning worship service is an easy call to provide corporate worship. It contains worship through singing, worship through giving, worship through prayer, and worship through hearing the Word. The fellowship dimension can take on many appearances such as small groups or fellowhip dinners. These could even take place immediately following the Sunday morning worship service. Each believer would be challenged to take part in each of these three experiences for the good of their spiritual development.

Beyond that, the committed believer would then be challenged to undertake some form of ministry devoted to those outside the church, or as mentors to new believers. They would be encouraged to put substantial time and energy in one program or ministry area. If they wish, they could also help someone else in another area, but they would be discouraged from having a level of involvement in several programs. The goal would be for them to be effective at that they do best instead of being average at many things. The hope is that as believers grow in worship, discipleship and fellowship they will see an area where they can work effectively in ministry and do their part to fulfill the Great Commission.

I know this sounds idyllic, but isn't that the way of concepts? Probably no church will ever get that simple and focused because it is improbable that an entire congregation will ever "get it". But it is a goal. And those individuals who find their way to that ideal must be recognized and applauded. We reproduce what we celebrate.

Running the church like a business

I come from a business background. I was a business major in college. I have worked for locally owned businesses and publicly held international companies. I have started and owned several businesses. Most were successful, and one was a tremendous economic failure. I have had as many as 300 people who worked in divisions I managed, and have had spending authority into the millions of dollars. God granted me some wonderful experiences, and some success in the business world in several different fields.


But now I work in a church in the role of administrative pastor. I love working in the church. Even though I experienced some success in the business world, I could never make business important enough to really give my life to it. I remember two instances. First was during the time I owned an oilfield service company. It was early in the morning after I had worked all night. I was walking to the rig floor feeling good about the night's work I had just done. I remember thinking to myself, "I'm really good at this. I wish I enjoyed it." A number of years later I worked as assistant general manager in a manufacturing operation. I was in a production meeting with several people I really respected.
We discussed ways to save pennies per unit. Over hundreds of thousands of units, the savings would be substantial. But I remember thinking to myself, "There's no way I can ever make this as important to me as it is to them." Shortly afterward, I felt God leading me to quit a six figure job even though it was the best working environment I had ever experienced. I couldn't make business be important enough to me to give my life to it.


I hear people many times say, "we need to run this church more like a business." I hope they mean that it be run according to accepted accounting principles, with transparency and integrity in the processes. But there is a huge difference between using good business practices in church and running the church like a business.

The first reason is that business success is measured in revenues and profits. Church success is measured by changed lives. How a church interacts with its vendors in the marketplace is one of the opportunities we have to share Christ with the marketplace. In a business, it is expected that deals will be driven hard. It is common for ethical corners to be cut to make a better deal. But the church has an opportunity to model the Christ life in its dealings. That doesn't mean that we should roll over and accept shoddy service and high prices, but it does mean that we should hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards in our dealings. Businesses should look forward to doing business with a church. They should expect to have to deliver top service and products at competitive prices, but they should also expect that the church will keep its word and honor its commitments. The church should never be seen as mooches who want something for nothing. Nor should it be known as a group that fails to honor its commitments because they know no one wants to sue a church.

Also, this may come as a shock for many, but the biggest difference between church and business is that the church has no customers. Our consumeristic culture has fostered the notion that the people in the pew are to be catered to because there is another church (business) down the street who will welcome their attendance (business). This way of thinking has effectively neutered the concepts of discipleship and church discipline. If something is taught that is unpleasant to the listener, or if one of the "customers" is rebuked for a wrong action, he just "takes his tithe (business) elsewhere." When we begin to develop ministry around what the people want, we begin the decline into consumerism, and it is nearly impossible to return to true discipleship that leads people to be the body of Christ.

When we run the church like a business, the most important number becomes the surplus or deficit we see in the income statement. It is true that we have a responsibility to steward the resources that have been entrusted to us. But that stewardship responsibility is greater than hanging onto large reserves of cash and feeling secure that they can weather a financial storm that never arrives. We are given the charge to seek first God's kingdom and righteousness because if we do that he promises to give us the things we need. But we see churches and individuals storing up great amounts of cash in savings accounts while we send our missionaries and inner city works begging.

Can we as the Church get to a place of absolute trust in God to lead and provide? I don't know. But I do know that we must be very careful about "running the church like a business".

Rules of Giving

I was reading one of the blogs I follow the other day. It had a thread that asked if tithing was a Biblical requirement for Christians. The debate was spirited with both sides scoring points. As I read, I had a couple of wierd thoughts, which is normal for me.

First, we love requirements. And the tithe is just so easy to figure. Just give us some rules to follow and we know where we stand. I can look at my charitable giving at the end of the year and if I'm over 10% I'm good.

Second, we love money. Even while we preach against the love of money, we love it. We trust it. We know what we can do with it. Take faith to the grocery store and see how many Pop tarts you can buy with it. Tell the electric company you are praying for them instead of sending them a check and see how long they leave the lights on.

Besides, giving money is easy. We can give some and make more. It is much easier to give money than to give time. It is also easier to teach people to give money than to convince them to give time. People understand the concept of paying for good service, so if a pastor gives good service, people will pay. Many in church will never be able to join a country club, but they can attend a church and give regularly and expect to be attended to. Many would prefer to give toward hiring a janitor than to empty wastebaskets and clean toilets. After all, they have to do that sort of thing at home. They want to come to the church and be served.

And we as preachers propagate that thinking. If we attempt to teach servanthood, that is all well and good. But if we attempt to have our people practice servanthood, we are in for a battle. So we preach on the guaranteed blessings of giving in the hopes that bigger offerings will produce some leftover that we can use to fund people who are actually serving. We keep everyone comfortable and happy and maintain their country club. And as a result, we are powerless because we are operating from our budget instead of operating from our faith. We protect our jobs and rationalize it by hoping that eventually we can nudge our people in the right direction, but until then, we can support some worthy projects. We know that it is less than God's best, but it acknowledges the realities of pastoring in North America in the 21st century.

This post is not as hopeful as my normal posts. It acknowledges the situation in which we find ourselves, but as yet I do not know how to change this culture. The Jesus of the Gospels wasn't really as concerned with us having fulfillment and happy marriages as he was with us dying to self and being ready to divest ourselves of anything that hindered our relationship with him. He modeled homelessness. He had no possessions. He said that unless we were ready to forsake even our closest family members we couldn't be his disciples. But we are not preaching those things. Those topics won't "grow a church". We as church leaders have, in most instances, taken the easy way out by giving our people what they want to hear instead of what Jesus actually taught. And as long as we reward and recognize pastors for the number of people they attract instead of the quality of discipleship they provide we will have this. But it will be hard to change. I am not without sympathy. Pastors can really put their careers in danger by changing their message from "come and dine" to "come and die". But the ultimate freedom is in serving Christ without reservation. That means giving 10% is a nice start, but it isn't a rule. A life that is wholly committed to following Christ is a life of leaving everything behind. Nothing reserved. Nothing held back. Only Christ. I'm not there yet. I'm still sorting things out. But the small moves I have made in that direction have opened new vistas in my relationship with God. I suspect that the more I am willing to give, the better I'm gonna like it.