"It's Alive!"

When I was a kid I used to love watching old monster movies. The Mummy, Wolf Man, even the Swamp Thing, were sources of thrill and enjoyment. But my favorite was Frankenstein. The most famous scene in the various Frankenstein movies comes when the insane doctor lowers the body of his monster back into the lab and cries out, “It’s alive! It’s alive!” But was it really? And how do you know if something is alive. Recently I have been enjoying Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen. He reviews the 7 biological signs of life, the elements that define something as alive: (1) movement, (2) respiration, (3) sensitivity, (4) nutrition, (5) excretion, (6) growth, and (7) reproduction. He goes on to say that “the inevitable result of a healthy life” is growth and reproduction. It’s not enough to just be alive; the goal is to be vibrant and healthy. Healthy life is ultimately measured by the reality and extent of real growth and reproduction.

We are asking and believing for an alive, vibrant, powerful church. We want to see a congregation that accurately reflects the dynamics of God’s Kingdom in our time and place. To see that vision fulfilled we need to have a clear pathway forward.

Church Health. Just like it’s possible to have a sick, diseased individual, it’s also possible to have a sick, dysfunctional congregation. When Jesus brought salvation, it included healing and restoration. To receive healing we need to understand the kinds of “germs” that make congregations sick. Here are just a few of them: (1) Patterns of unconfessed sin. The apostle Paul had to deal with the Corinthian church for refusing to address and correct a serious pattern of sin. “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people” (1 Corinthians 5:11). We all wrestle with our own sinful tendencies, but some sinful behaviors, when not adequately addressed, have the power to make a congregation sick. (2) Divisions and factions. Satan’s strategy is always to “divide and conquer.” When a small group in a congregation attempts to use power and influence to gain control at the expense of unity, the congregation becomes sick. “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?” (1 Corinthians 3:3-4). (3) Lovelessness. An attitude of spiritual pride, exclusiveness and separation not only make a church sick, it changes the church into a social club. God’s house is to be known for attitudes and demonstrations of love. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:16-17).

Church Growth. Spiritual growth begins in the heart and life of individual believers. If we are walking with the Lord, listening to his voice and obeying him, the character of Christ will be formed in us. “Making disciples” is our first calling as a believing congregation. Unfortunately, attracting a crowd, even if it means stealing sheep from other congregations, seems to be the mission of a few congregations. “In the past, our zeal to fulfill the Great Commission has often led to the great omission – we’ve made converts without making disciples fully trained and equipped in all Jesus taught” (Mike Breen). Learning dynamic spiritual practices will train us in spiritual maturity. Spiritual growth and development in individual members will then result in corporate growth in the congregation. Our corporate growth will be both qualitative and quantitative. The simple fact is this: healthy sheep reproduce. God’s plan to grow a healthy congregation is through the healthy reproduction of its members. “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:37). Unhealthy churches tend to defer to unhealthy growth strategies, reinforcing the pattern of disease in the church. “Reproduction is a sign of life. There seems to be a mechanism with the created order that prevents unhealthy specimens from being multiplied. The unhealthy ones generally don’t multiply; it is the healthy ones that carry on the species. It is the goal of a species to create a healthy next generation, the most important target of their lives” (Mike Breen).

Church Multiplication. Just as healthy sheep reproduce, healthy churches reproduce. A healthy congregation will make disciples from the surrounding area. Healthy believers will be commissioned by the Lord to take the Gospel outside of their immediate sphere of influence. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). In time, other healthy congregations will be established that will grow and then ultimately reproduce themselves. In this way, it will be obvious that these communities of Jesus followers are indeed alive. “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust” (Acts 14:23).

For us to be the kingdom community God has designed us to be, we are committed to a clear pathway of church health, church growth, and church multiplication – trusting the Lord to lead and empower us every step of the way. The best is yet to come!

God Is At Work - Everywhere!

I grew up in a wonderful, Christian environment. Every aspect of our lives was centered in and around a local church. Mine was one of those families that could claim we were literally in church “every time the doors were open.” We were the ones who opened the doors at the beginning of the day and cleaned up at the end. In that culture, the highest calling anyone could have was a calling to “full time ministry.” (Being called to missions in Africa was at the top of the calling pyramid.) While vocational ministry is a real possibility, the old view of “clergy” and “laity” assumed that God was primarily at work in the church. The local church was viewed as a “city of refuge,” a place where folks could be kept safe from “the world.” Much later it began to dawn on me that this view of “church” and of the Christian life was more religious than it was biblical. And it that’s true, what is a more accurate view?

Let’s start with some Christian Doctrine 101. God exists and is present everywhere at the same time. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Psalm 139:7-8). This is one of those unique “attributes of God,” one of the things that defines God as “God,” one of the “omni” words (“omnipresence”). We also understand that God is at work everywhere at the same time. “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:9-10). While God has specific covenant relationships with specific people, his work is universal. God is not confined to a specific time or place or people. “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?” (Isaiah 66:1).

When God “called out” a covenant people to be the “headquarters” of his plan of redemption – Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New – it was so they could be the primary instrument of his redemptive plan and rule on the earth. Both Old and New covenant communities were to be the primary expression of the nature of God’s kingdom and the primary means for extending the influence of God’s kingdom among all the people of the world. To Israel God said, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). The work of a priest was to represent the people to God in prayer and to represent God to the people in speaking God’s Word. As a “kingdom of priests,” Israel was to represent all the people of the earth to God in prayer and they were to represent God to all the people by speaking God’s words. The very same mission was given to the church in the New Testament. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20). The church is a covenant instrument in God’s hands. Since the coming of Christ, the church is the primary means of expressing the nature and extending the influence of God’s kingdom. In that sense, the church is a temporary means to an end, the end being the kingdom of God. God is at work, God is on mission, everywhere in the world at all times. The church is a worshipping covenant community on mission with Jesus in the world.

For that reason, the mission of God and therefore the mission of the church, is not just for one or two hours on Sunday morning. The mission of God, the reason for the existence of the church, is a 24/7 universal mission. That means that every full-time disciple of Jesus is engaged in a full-time mission, a full-time ministry. It’s just that each of us has a unique “ministry center.” If you’re a full-time student, your ministry center is the school. If you’re a full-time parent and care-giver, your home is your primary ministry center. If you’re a full-time banker, lawyer, doctor, if you work on the line at the KIA plant or at Wal-mart, your work place is your full-time ministry center. If you live in a certain place, that neighborhood is your ministry center.

To be effective partners in the mission of God, our primary task is to discern where God is at work in our world and to join him in his work. As a covenant community, the church “gathers” in order to “grow.” We gather together to sing and pray and encourage each other. We gather to worship God and hear his voice. We gather to be renewed, revived, and filled with faith and hope and God’s Spirit. But we “grow” in order to “go.” A sports team knows that the meeting in the locker room before the game is not the game itself. That team also understands that when they go out to play the game, it is not the job of the coaches to play while the players sit in the stands and cheer. If you have been born from above, if you are a child of God and a follower of Jesus, you have been commissioned. You are part of the Jesus-team, chosen and called out by God to push back the enemy’s team and see the rule of God bring life and transformation to the piece of earth you inhabit. God is at work – everywhere! Will you join him?

Good News!

End-of-the-world scenarios, e.g., the zombie apocalypse, are very popular these days.  A typical plot might look something like this: A strange virus begins to spread around the world very rapidly, turning people into “the walking dead.” All the best scientists are working as fast as they kind to find a cure, but with little success. And then, a small group of people in an obscure corner of the world find it – a cure that will not only reverse the zombiefying effects of the virus but will bring about a whole new level of abundant life. As a result, this special group began to inoculate each other and share the cure with their closest friends and relatives. They then built a great city surrounded by impregnable walls, and they lived happily ever after from generation to generation, while the rest of the world suffered and died in the worst circumstances imaginable. “That could never happen,” you might say. But unfortunately, it does happen, every day in local churches around the world. You see, we know the cure! We have the Good News that will bring healing and abundant life. We just have to announce it – we have to live it!

It’s all about the Gospel. This beautiful word (Greek euangello) simply means a good announcement, the announcement of good news. It is “good tidings, the glad tidings of the kingdom, a reward for good tidings, the proclamation of the grace of God that has come through Christ.” Believers in Jesus are Gospel-centered, Gospel-celebrating, Gospel-based, Gospel-driven people. That’s why it’s essential that we understand both the Gospel as well as the mandate to announce the Good News every day and in every way. Jesus gave this promise: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matthew 24:14). The Good News of the Reign of God on the earth inaugurated by Jesus will prevail in every nation, among every people group. While some are waiting for the end of the world and the return of Christ, Jesus stated, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations” (Mark 13:10). The Gospel will prevail! The Gospel is the “pearl of great price.” The Gospel is the cause we are willing to live and die for. That’s why Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). Jesus also promised blessing to those who would live a Gospel-centered life: “’Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). The final words of Jesus to his followers were, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).

The first church in the book of Acts lived to announce the Good News. “After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages” (Acts 8:25; see also 8:40; 14:7, 21; 15:7; 16:10). Paul understood his apostolic mission in terms of his call to preach the Gospel (Romans 1:1-2, 9, 15; 2:16; 11:28; 15:16, 19-20; 16:25). “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul declared the power of the Gospel in these famous words: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17). Paul summarized the content of the Gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:1-8) this way: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (verses 3-4). In other words, the Gospel is the Jesus story, it is the Good News about Jesus.

I grew up in a wonderful, Gospel-centered church culture. However, the word “evangelism” grew to become a feared word. It seemed like we were being judged by whether or not we were finding opportunities to “share our faith,” and were encouraged to do so in the most unnatural kinds of ways. However, the work of “evangelism” is simply the need to announce the Good News. And why would we not want to do so? In fact, we are to be living announcements of the Good News as we seek to effectively communicate the Jesus story in our time and place (see 2 Timothy 4:5). “Evangelism” is nothing more than providing an encounter with the Good News and ultimately with Jesus himself, giving an opportunity for a faith response. It might be helpful to clarify that evangelism is not:

1.   A turn-or-burn scare tactic.

2.   A door-to-door sales strategy.

3.   An event designed to get bodies onto the church property.

In fact, most of the time evangelism is a faith-based conversation between friends, offering the help and life only Jesus can give. It is the offer of a cure and of abundant life. 

Eating the Word

Americans love their Bible. It is the most owned and read least of any other book.  A recent survey discovered that 19% of regular churchgoers read the Bible every day while 18% read the Bible rarely or never. In addition, a recent Barna survey found that today’s younger generation views the Bible as less sacred and less accurate and personally engages with the Bible less than older generations. Some have gone so far as to say that today’s generation is “biblically illiterate.” At the same time, the Willow Creek REVEAL study found that “reflection on Scripture” is the single most important spiritual growth “catalyst” for all Jesus followers. Obviously we have a challenge when it comes to growing in God’s Word: we commonly “believe in” the Bible, we value the Bible, most of us own one or more Bibles, but we also tend to neglect a personal engagement with the Bible and therefore miss the single most important factor in our experience of personal transformation. So what do we need to do to begin a new lifestyle of active, personal engagement with God’s Word?

Maybe we should begin by reminding ourselves of why we value the Bible so highly. We serve a God who has not distanced himself from humanity but has gone to great lengths to consistently reveal himself to us. The Bible often refers to God’s self-revelation as the “word” of God, and that word is very powerful. It is the word that brought everything into existence in the first place. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). God’s word became specific and clear in both a Written Word and a Living Word. God’s revelation in Scripture and in Jesus tells the whole story of who God is, what God is like, and of the eternal purpose of God. Concerning Jesus we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). In the mystery of the Triune God the Father is revealing himself in his Word by the Holy Spirit. That’s why the apostle Paul described Scripture as “inspired” (2 Timothy 3:16), or literally, “God-breathed.” The breath of God, the Spirit of God, brought forth and rests on the Word of God. When we are born from above, the Spirit who is in us connects with the Spirit in God’s Word and we have a direct experience of God’s revelation. As Henry Blackaby says, reading and reflecting on Scripture does not lead us to an experience of God, it is an experience of God. It is the combination of the Spirit and the Word that has the power to transform our lives. That’s why Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63), and “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The writer to the Hebrews summarized it this way: “For the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12). When tempted by Satan in the wilderness Jesus was victorious when he said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

But the power of God’s Word to transform our lives does not happen automatically or by some kind of magical process. It requires a regular, consistent, personal interaction on our part with the Word. And that begins by accepting fully the authority of God’s Word in our lives. It’s not possible to receive God’s revelation in the Word without having first committed ourselves to hearing and obeying whatever God says to us in the Word. Jesus said, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own” (John 7:17). James reminded us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). We then learn to read Scripture reflectively and with humility, understanding our dependence on God to open our hearts and plant the Word in our hearts as good seed. “However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). We can then learn a healthy and consistent lifestyle of daily engagement with Scripture. That not only involves reading but also what the Bible calls “meditation,” a repeated pondering of a short passage of Scripture, asking questions about personal application. Meditation includes praying about what God is saying to us in that passage, and then repeating that word throughout the day. “Blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season” (Psalm 1:1-3).

Don’t be in a hurry. Let God show you where in the Bible he wants you to read. Some passages are more appropriate than others in certain seasons of life. Know when to reflect on the Psalms or the Proverbs. Develop a sense of how to engage with the Gospels and the Epistles. Above all else, be prayerful and consistent. After all, God’s Word is your daily food; it is your life. And “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:17-18).