Rethinking The Church - my review of James Emery White's book

After recently reading James Emery White's The Rise of the Nones, I was excited to read this earlier work of his.  As the title suggests, White encourages church leaders to re-think everything.  As the church growth movement enters another generation, we must again rethink not only our methodologies, but our strategies as well.  He also makes a clarion call not to rethink, but to appropriately remember our foundation of mission and vision in light of the Bible and theology.

I really connected with the chapter on rethinking evangelism.  White first suggests that we need to re-think our audience.  If we are trying to reach those who are not trusting in Christ for salvation, we must understand their level of knowledge and familiarity with Christ and the claims of the gospel.  For the purposes of illustration, White suggests an evangelistic readiness scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being a follower of Christ.  He contends that in 1960, the average American was an 8.  They believed in Jesus, including that he was the son of God and lived a perfect life.  Many even believed that Jesus died on the cross for them. It was a short trip to trusting in Christ.  They merely needed to make their belief personal.  Several decades later, he contends that the average American now sits at a 3.  They likely know something about Jesus, but not much more than that he was a good teacher. They also have little to no trust in the church and religion.  It is a looooong, journey to a 10. In response, he emphasizes that evangelism must now be seen as a process, rather than a one-time event.  This is gold, especially for us long-time church folks!

The second best insight centers on White's assessment of the evangelistic environment of churches.  Using the "seeker" language of the late 90's, he describes a continuum with "seeker hostile" on one end, moving then to "seeker indifferent," then to "seeker hopeful," then to "seeker sensitive" and finally to "seeker targeted."  This is helpful and important for churches to take a good and honest look at their evangelistic ministry. After years of evangelistic emphasis, it is easy to remain even seeker indifferent.

From here, the book diminishes in quality in the remaining chapters as he addresses discipleship, worship, community and structure.  I just felt like it was very basic, and that I have heard this before, many times over!  I might be feeling this way for several reasons.  First, this book was originally published in 1997, then revised in 2003.  This means that the revised edition is 12 years old.  I have heard all of this for 12 years now, so it is nothing new, but it probably was when it was published.  Second, White acknowledges his indebtedness to Rick Warren and Bill Hybels.  In fact, his chapters pretty much follow the five purposes as outlined by Warren. I am so familiar with their philosophies of ministry that this is very old stuff to me.

In other words, this book might contain new ideas for some people, including many church leaders, but just not for me.  I cannot discount its value, for the first chapter was worth the entire book.

In the conclusion, White shares one more new insight.  He notes that as a pastor leads a church to change, the most difficult change will be from a "seeker sensitive" to a "seeker targeted" atmosphere, because at that point the average church member is forced to change and to stop seeing himself as the "customer."  While many might accuse White of supporting a consumer-oriented mindset of church, at this point he shows that he understands the missional nature of church and leaders.  But he also shows that he is a realist who understands that the move from consumer to giver/server is a long and slow one for the average church member.

If you are a church leader, especially a lay leader, trying to understand the changes happening in the church world, check out this book!

Resurrection Eggs - includes template

We are constantly looking for ways to help our kids connect with God in creative and fun ways.

One of our favorite ways to celebrate Easter is with Resurrection Eggs.  A set of resurrection eggs is basically a dozen plastic eggs, each with a small object inside that represents an element of Jesus' death and resurrection.  You then open one egg every day, with the final egg on Easter.  That egg, appropriately, is empty, reminding us that the tomb was empty on Easter!

While you can buy a set from a local a Christian book store, it is also pretty easy to make a set with items found around the house.  (The kids will get more buy-in as well)

First, obtain an empty egg carton and fill it with 12 plastic eggs.

Then find each of the symbolic elements and put them in the eggs.  (We numbered the eggs to make it easier to keep them ordered)

We also glued a label onto the top of the egg carton, indicating the object inside, the event that it symbolizes, and a Bible verse for it.

Since I couldn't find a printable, I thought I would share ours here.  Feel free to print it, paste it on your resurrection eggs, and then share a comment telling us how you intend to use your resurrection eggs with your family!

Download your template here or below.

Resurrection Eggs Template

Glad To Forgive - my review of a great little book on forgiveness

I have enjoyed the privilege of knowing Dr. Tom Mills for a little while, and I just love his encouragement, his positive attitude, and his smile, often in times of pain and frustration.  Last fall, as I was preparing for a teaching series on the subject of forgiveness, I read Tom's book on the subject.  I commend it to you if you are struggling with forgiveness.

Tom writes with the heart of a pastor.  He shares personal stories, as well as classic stories that illustrate forgiveness (and unforgiveness). The story of his friend, Peter Loth, is both heartbreaking and inspiring.  It shares the reality of how difficult, yet how beautiful and possible, is this great idea called forgiveness.  He shares the medical and psychological evidence against bitterness and resentment.  He makes a great case for forgiveness.

Tom also shares Biblical truth and insight.  You will want to read this book with your Bible close at hand.  Don't read it too fast, but make sure to take the time to study these passages.

I also love how Tom sets forgiveness in the context of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is really the only way forgiveness makes any sense at all.  I had to circle this quote:  "The price of forgiveness is high. It is the price of love." (page 71)  Again, at this point the preacher comes out.  But true to Tom's heart, he has a way of saying difficult things with a slight drawl (it's the Texan in him) and a sly smile that reminds you that you are loved even as you are confronted.

In the last couple of chapters, Tom casts a vision for forgiveness as a witness for Christ that is sorely needed around the world.  He writes, "If choosing to view an offender through the eyes of God truly is a biblical principle, then it has universal application.  If it has universal application, then love leaves no choice but to make every effort to see even those terrorists as created in the image of God." (p. 133)  He wrote those words in view of the terrorist attacks of 2001, but they are even more on target now, as even this week Islamist extremists slaughtered 21 Christians and then sent the video around the world.  If we are living in the end-of-the end of the age, as many believe, then we ought to expect persecution.  And persecution will tempt us toward anger and bitterness.  However, we must hear and apply Tom's closing words:  "One of the greatest demands of the end of the age is a spirit of forgiveness." (p. 177)

Defining The Points of the Spiritual Journey - a review of "Spiritual Waypoints"

As church leaders have studied evangelism and discipleship, we have regularly noticed patterns of growth.  That is, people tend to grow through various spiritual "stages."  Similar to the stages described by developmental psychologists, these stages form a kind of guide by which spiritual progress/growth might be measured.  But even at the very outset, we struggle with that, don't we?  How exactly does one "measure" spiritual growth?  And yet, every pastor can think of many who, with good intentions, refused to submit to some kind of process and drifted from faith.

John Wesley described a series of "stages" during his ministry in the 18th Century.  His students described it as an "order of salvation."  To many people, this seemed too rigid.  How can unique individuals be expected to pass through a one-size-fits-all approach to growth?  After all, the Apostle Paul wrote that we each receive varying measures (or mixtures) of grace.  In Wesleyan studies, contemporary scholars have suggested that Wesley did not prescribe an "order" of salvation, but rather described a common "way" of salvation.

In the 20th Century, many church leaders have offered revised versions of their observations. Wesleyan scholar Bob Whitesel offers his version in his book, Spiritual Waypoints: Helping Others Navigate the Journey.  From an scholarly perspective, Whitesel recognizes two of the most popular "orders of salvation" offered in the 20th century.  James Engel and Robert Norton offered a series of 14 "stages of spiritual decision."  Most of the stages focused on the deepening awareness taking place in a person before the moment of new birth, or spiritual decision to personally follow Jesus.  Robert Clinton later suggested a series of stages, and focused his stages more on the process of growth after the new birth.  In this volume, Bob Whitesel combines the 2 into one scale of 17 stages, or, as he calls them, Waypoints.
This is where this book is most helpful.  Whitesel effectively shares a comprehensive descriptive process of spiritual growth, both before and after "conversion."  This is sorely needed in our churches and especially in our evangelistic training of future ministers.  His writing is accessible to lay readers as well as undergraduate students.  (It might be a bit too simple for graduate students in anything beyond an introductory course).  He purposefully uses personal stories of many well-know evangelical leaders.  Every chapter includes suggestions for how to help the spiritual seekers who live at the waypoint being discussed.

Whitesel's goal, however, is not to merely combine 2 simple, yet incomplete scales into one comphrehensive scale.  He also attempts to change the view away from inflexible "steps" or "stages" and towards a more flexible process.  He suggests that the older scales tend to be more modern, but that a post-modern understanding of process and story is now required.  He suggests the metaphor of a journey and then uses the imagery of a waypoint as a general indicator of where a traveler is in relation to other points of the entire journey.  I appreciate his attempt, but I am not sure he entirely succeeded.  A postmodern narrative approach is a unique philosophy, and doesn't blend well with a more rationalistic classification of distinct stages.
I can appreciate the author's motivation for writing this volume.  He shares a disturbing story of a personal friend who was converted but later left the church because the church (and evangelicals in general) is "too narrow" and works with "evangelistic nearsightedness" by focusing only on evangelism and neglecting ministry to the poor.  Fifteen years later, the author heard similar opinions as he interviewed people to discover why they don't attend church.  His discoveries led to this book.  He writes, "I am observing a growing criticism that the evangelical church is fixated upon the conversion encounter, and not the process that leads up to it or follows it."  In this book, he suggests a comprehensive process.

In the end, Whitesel offers a good starting point for understanding the process of evangelism and discipleship.  I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about evangelism, and for churches who want to improve their evangelistic ministry.

Free Ebook: How to Find the Funds - Fund Your Mission!

Are you a pastor or church leader who desperately wants to reach people for Jesus, but you just don't have the funds for your mission?  In this short ebook, I will share 17 ways that a local church can find money by saving money.  These tips have been tested in my local church, so you can be sure that they really work.

Download the ebook here!

Enjoy this, and let me know how much you are able to save and how your church used your savings!

How to Find the Funds

The Big Idea - Themed Worship Services on Steroids!

Several years ago I was introduced to the idea of themed worship services.  The pastor of  growing and thriving church on the Indiana side of Chicago told those of us in the workshop that he believed the move to planning themed worship services was the greatest factor in their church's growth.

What is a themed worship service?  I don't know if "themed" is the best adjective, but it is the one I use.  A themed worship service is a church service planned around a theme.  In other words, every song, every Scripture, the message, etc. is chosen with the theme in mind.  This is good preaching taken to the next level.  Every good sermon has one main idea.  Whether the sermon has three points or a ten-step list, the sermon centers around one main idea.  (By the way, do you know what listeners hate the most about sermons?  When sermons get off track, listeners will furrow their brows and ask, "where is he going with this?"  At that point you are done!)  Taken to the next level, themed worship service planning then designs the entire worship service around the main idea!

I first heard about Dave and Jon Ferguson, brothers and pastors of Community Christian Church, when I read their book Exponential. I was inspired beyond description and purchased two other books by them.  I previously wrote about The Apprentice Field Guide.  That short volume is a training manual for raising up new leaders.  The other book I picked up was The Big Idea.  In this book, the brothers Ferguson tell about the process they use to plan worship services.

The best part of this book for me was the theoretical foundation.  The authors propose that real discipleship is lacking for two reasons.  First, we know much more than we do.  As Christ-followers, we memorize Bible verses, we study background information about Bible passages, we learn about prayer, and we often learn in place of doing.  In other words, we have too much information and not enough transformation.  Secondly, in our experience of church, and especially of church services, we encounter too many small ideas.  They suggest that we might receive over 20 disconnected teaching points, or instructions, or ideas, in a given service.  No wonder we don't apply all of them - they are too many and to small!  Their solution?  Every worship service has one Big Idea.  And the entire service is designed to help teach and reinforce that big idea.  Beyond that, they form their adult small groups around the big idea so that what gets taught on Sunday gets discussed on Tuesday night!  Even their kids and youth programs work with the big idea!  At this point, this book is gold!

These guys do not just lob a great theory in the air and then expect us to catch it and run with it.  They have done the hard work to create a process that gets a lot of input from everyone on the team, with plenty of time to implement the various pieces of each service.  In this respect, they also highlight another roadblock to effective worship planning.  Just as preachers discover, when you are working week-to-week, there is simply not enough time to make videos, work up the perfect song, etc., in 5 days.  In response, Community Christian Church works through a long and complicated process that begins with a planning retreat at the beginning of a year, followed by meetings and further planning sessions where the leaders, teachers, small group leaders, worship leaders, tech guys, etc., get involved and begin planning. 

I have to admit, the second half of the book was a bit tedious.  That was probably because we are so far away from that level of planning that I had a difficult time getting into it.  But this would be great stuff for a church considering a move to this level of planning.

I know that with many book review I say, "You gotta read this book!"  Well, with this one, I am not so sure.  If you are a church leader, you really need to start with Exponential.  Now that is a book that you gotta read.  And if the on the big idea in that volume gets your attention, then you might want to get a copy of The Big Idea.

God's At War - Now I Can Finally Put a Name To Some Modern-Day Idols

One of the most difficult parts of applying the Old Testament to 21st Century life is figuring out what to do with idols and gods.  As in the lower-case "g" gods.  The prequel to Jesus includes page after page of false gods, stone and wooden idols, temples, and all of the idolatry associated with them.  Even as a child I remember asking what are our idols?  The answer? "An idol is anything can is more important to you than God."  Here is the problem with that answer:  while it is true, it is so vague that it is almost useless.  Besides, who would really admit that there is anything more important to us than God?  I have believed for so many years that in order for this line of reasoning to be helpful, we must begin naming some of our gods.  It is time to start pointing fingers.

In Kyle Idleman's book Gods At War, he does exactly that.  Nine gods are exposed, each with their own chapter.  I was convicted.  I was also inspired.

Idleman does not just point out specific gods.  He shares stories of regular folks who have struggled with idol worship and how by the power of Christ they dethroned their idols.  The book also includes QR codes to videos in which readers can hear more of the stories told in the book.

In his convicting, yet inspiring style, Idleman paints a picture of a jealous God who longs for our complete devotion.“God is jealous for your heart, not because he is petty or insecure, but because he loves you. The reason why God has such a huge problem with idolatry is that his love for you is all-consuming. He loves you too much to share you.”  Do you hear that?  He not only describes God as jealous, but casts his jealously in terms of love - and rightfully so!  In this work we discover a compelling case for the Old Testament theme of God's jealousy!

Just as in his book Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman speaks powerfully to Americans who think they are Christians merely because they believe in God or because they prayed a certain prayer decades ago.  I believe this is a must-read for every adult Christian!