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On page 274 of The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard writes in regards to Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 7:13-27:

You enter this kingdom community, he first points out, by a narrow gate. That is, there is a correct way to enter, and not just any approach–the “wide way that leads to disaster”–will succeed (vv. 13-14)

He then goes on to say that those leaders that are to be trusted are the ones who actually learn to do what Jesus taught was best. That in calling Jesus Lord or doing great works in his name is simply not enough.

Willard contends it’s about hearing and obeying:

• “The one who hears him and does what he says accordingly builds the house of his or her life to be totally indestructible. The house is built upon a rock, not upon sand, where the winds of life will knock it down.”
• “The narrow gate is obedience–and the confidence in Jesus necessary to it”
• “The fruit of the good tree is obedience, which comes only from the kind of person we have come to be (the ‘inside’ of the tree) in his fellowship.”
• “Doing what he said, beginning from ‘believe on him whom God has sent,’ we step into the flow of God’s ways, we ‘enter the kingdom of the heavens.’”

Willard concludes that “in actually doing what Jesus knows to be best for us, we build a life that is absolutely indestructible, ‘on the Rock.’” The Rock of course being Christ.

The narrow gate is about doing the will of the Father and not about doctrinal correctness! For all of us that spend so much time studying and debating doctrine, do we sometimes disregard discipleship and living the life we are called to live so that others can see us as continuing to be learners of what Jesus taught, so that we may be trusted? Isn’t it really about being obedient to the Father, living in the grace of Christ’s sacrifice for all, as we give ourselves to him as an act of spiritual worship?

In trying to study and learn a little more about Dave Gibbons‘ theories on Third Culture I was hit with his definition:

Third Culture is the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture. Even in the midst of pain and discomfort.

Wow, he’s preaching my language! Here is Dave sharing insight on Third Culture with Newsong Church:

And here is a link to a video of Pastor Gibbons sharing insight on Third Culture with Dallas Theological Seminary on 10/31/08:

http://www.dts.edu/media/play/?MediaItemID=c5e5bb9b-c3bb-4708-be61-3d75b2ce8f62

Here is a link to the Third Culture website:

http://3culture.tv/

Are you excited? Outreach magazine just published their compilation of the top 100 largest churches in America. While I’m glad that people are still gathering in masses to worship the one true God, I find myself scratching my head at why anyone would want to glorify the church in this manner.

The sad fact of the matter is that there are pastors out there that will inflate their attendance numbers so that they can run with the big boys. They are immersed in the numbers game. They seek to grow numerically in order to confirm their status within the kingdom of heaven. In the minds of many senior pastors is the misconception that a growing church is a healthy church.

However, when polled most senior pastors will say that they are not interested in numbers, but instead they desire to see many to come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. That’s a noble thing, but at the same time many encourage people that were previously baptized in a church already to come forward and be baptized in their church, thus inflating the numbers of salvations and diminishing the scripture in Romans 10:9 which clearly states:

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I guess contrary to the word, confessing once isn’t enough?

We are taught not to envy or covet, yet we see statistics like this glorifying the local church and putting them on a pedestal because of the number of attendees they draw. When health and numerical size are used as factors to determine “success” in the church, how can a pastor not want to seek credibility for what God is doing in their church in the same fashion? It can cause us to see our numbers diminish within the smaller church because people are flocking to the mega-church because the music is so professional or they have more technology and staff in their children’s ministry and then believe that God is working in the mega-church, but abandoning us in the smaller churches.

I believe that God is working through the mega-church model to see people come to honest professions of faith in the Lord, with transformed lives making a difference in their community as the result. My criticism isn’t on the mega-church, but it’s on the glorification of the mega-church. Look closely at the image above or click here to see the whole list of the top 100 largest churches. It’s not just the top 100 churches listed, but they are ranked in order from largest to smallest and there is also the name and photo of the senior pastor and in addition to that, there is even a link to books that some of the pastors have authored. Sorry, but this just brings the kind of attention to the pastor that rewards him for obtaining such high status on lists like this. Somehow, it just doesn’t seem like such a godly thing for pastors to be recognized in this way or worse yet, to see them strive for such notoriety.

As I write this, I think the thing that gets me most is the notion that it’s all about attendance and not about transformations and loving others. As many of you know, I’m excited about the missional church movement. Not only the missional church ethos, but of the nature of the missional church to be more organic and empowering others to lead and disciple communities based on visions God gives them to be pastors and ministers of the gospel. What about the missional church that honors God through the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission and sees itself being reproduced throughout the city or the world? If a mother church grows to 200 in attendance and then starts reproducing itself by sending missionaries/pastors out to lead others and disciple them in the ways of Christ, only to see this repeating itself time and time again, isn’t this the way of the first century church? The mother church may ebb and flow and never break the 200 barrier by intention, yet be responsible for seeing 20,000 come to know Christ and carry on his mission through daughter churches and other ministries. Should they be off the radar screen or not viewed in as high a regard as the mega-church of 10,000 members that lands on the list of top 100 churches? I don’t think so. Is having a congregation of 12,000 meeting in one building a better definition of outreach than having groups of 1,000 people meeting in 12 different buildings? Again, I don’t think so.

We should not be working to receive our rewards here on earth. Pastors can say that who am I to write about this when God is the one sending people to their church and they are just doing their best to shepherd his people. Okay, I’m with you on that. However, what about the inverse of this? How about when your mega-church of 10,000 people and 40 staff members sees its attendance drop to 5,000 in less than a year. Do you believe that God has his hand in moving the sheep to another shepherd, or do you go into panic mode and start cutting programs and laying off people and doing all you can to figure out how to get your attendance numbers back up to justify the big building and church campus?

Church attendance numbers in no way portray the effectiveness of outreach or seeing people come to know Christ for the first time. They do not accurately reflect the health of a church, nor the genuine nature of those that gather. A mega-church of 10,000 in attendance on Sundays, but 90% of the congregation is from church hoppers is not deserving of being more highly regarded than a church of 50 that live the mission of Christ everyday, drawing in people that may take years of living in a community of faith before they actually take the step of faith to put their trust in Christ eternally.

[At this point I feel a disclaimer is in order. I'm not envious of the mega-church or their pastors. I have not had any negative experience from serving or attending in mega-churches.

I have a great respect for the calling and vision of every pastor on the top 100 list of largest churches!

Those that know of my work in the ministry know that I speak highly of Pastor Craig Groeschel and participated with LifeChurch.tv in their One Prayer campaign last July. I have read and been blessed by several books authored by Andy Stanley of North Point. I'm amazed at what it took to see Bill Hybels ask for a raw and unfiltered assessment of Willow Creek through surveying their members and then responding in revolutionary ways to change the course and direction of their ministry in order to see true discipleship and transformation occur.

I am encouraged when I see how the Reveal study that was done by Willow Creek is causing local churches to take a look at what they are doing and why they are doing it. When things like this surface not because of diminishing numbers, but because of lack of discipleship and mission it can only be a positive step that deserves recognition. Most of my friends within ministry are pastors of larger, non-denominational churches with seeker-sensitive services. I love and respect each of them and sometimes feel they are better-suited to ministry than I am because of the larger resources at their disposal and their big faith to serve and make a difference. Again, I'm not in opposition to the mega-church model. I just think we are flirting with danger and temptation when we in ministry and those in the media begin putting so much attention to only those with larger attendance numbers. Bottom line is that I love the church and I love God and I pray daily that the church will start working to be more unified and seeing the love of Christ personified in cities all over the world. I just believe that in our humility we should seek to have God get all the glory and for people to see Jesus and not be awestruck by the celebrity status that pastors are being encouraged to embrace. It's a dangerous thing and we've already seen the enemy take too many people out of their calling to see the gospel reach the ends of the earth.]

Church envy…is it godly?

I have no idea how to describe just what senses were engaged when I saw this website, but I’m starting to feel an emotional attachment from it’s awesome originality. Click here and let me know what you think

Something has my mind contemplating the change of seasons. It’s cold outside and leaves are dropping. It finally feels as if summer has left us and we are now into fall.

Living in Sacramento we experience very distinct seasons. Summer is hot and dry, fall is cool and breezy, winter is cold and rainy, and spring starts the cycle all over again with mild, sunny days and blooming flowers everywhere. I’ve talked to people about how I enjoyed my brief period living in the Los Angeles area. I spent about 6 months in Redondo Beach and loved it. It was generally around 70 degrees in the day, about 50 degrees at night and very little rain. I lived one block from the beach and used to walk there almost daily. No smog, no traffic, no glaring displays of wealth…for me it was great! Many people I talk to though have a different experience. They hate it because everyday is like the same to them. They need to experience changes in season. As I think about this I wonder how these people feel when they experience changes of season in their own personal lives. Not changes in weather, but changes in their lifestyle, finances, relationships, etc. It seems that many want to go through changing seasons of the weather, but not of their lives. We are creatures of habit and don’t like being made to feel uncomfortable.

As it gets colder outside, I have the luxury of being able to add another blanket to the bed or turning the heater on rather than feeling cold. I don’t need to complain as I have things I can do. What about in life though? When things get uncomfortable do we seek to change the situation for the better or do we complain about the situation? Think about it.

As fall is here I sense a season about to change in my life as well. Actually, this year has been filled with changes. Some things are being forced upon me that I’m not happy about, but through my faith I know that God has a solution if I open my eyes and ears and seek it rather than sit around and complain about it. Even with some potentially uncomfortable things about to happen and even with the weather turning colder and rain about to come I am having a positive outlook on the future. I’m willing to face the challenges and deal with them knowing that it will make for a brighter future and renew me and prepare me to blossom in much the same way the rain comes to prepare the flowers to be renewed when the spring sun comes and invites them to shine brightly under the warm skies.

Seasons change. This time I’m gonna be ready.

I’ve posted previously about missional vs emergent and missional vs the mega church model. However, I don’t see how it would be possible to validate a missional vs. missional argument though. The reason being is that there is a basic, fundamental understanding of what it means to be a missional church, therefore there isn’t any relevant argument regarding that. Alan Hirsch, author of The Forgotten Ways defines the missional church as: “a church that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose as an agent of God’s mission to the world.”

Now, we could argue what the mission should like in a given community or whether advertising the mission through press releases in the local newspaper is relevant to the mission, but we can’t argue the foundation of being missional. It is this that gives momentum to the missional church and through transformations happening on the local level, missional churches will have global impact on the kingdom of heaven.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that I am not in opposition to those with a vision to lead emergent or mega-churches. I think God can honor their work and that transformed lives could be the result. However, let me point out some observations I’ve made that lend themselves to momentum within the missional church:

• Overall, churches are shrinking in numerical size, therefore being positioned to be better able to mobilize behind a missional movement
• Budgets are being drastically cut as church members are giving less or not giving at all. Smaller budgets many times means smaller staff or fewer programs. This creates an environment conducive to change and reorganization, going away from past methods that are deemed not to work and seeking something new
• We’re in a post-Christian era where over 90% profess a belief in a god or gods or a higher power, yet oppose Christianity and discussion centering on Jesus. Missional church fulfills the Greatest Commandment and causes people to look at Jesus through love, not condemnation.
• Many Christians have left the traditional church and choose to worship God individually without being in fellowship with others. The missional church can help bring them back into fellowship through uniting them in a common cause that they feel is relevant.

There is a culture shift happening and it’s causing many church leaders to take notice. Some may see their budgets shrink and believe the answer is to waive their salary and take full-time, secular job. Some churches may see positions phased out and consolidation occur. Other churches may think a new focus from the pulpit on tithing may be in order. In reality, this is the kind of culture shift that should be leading people to see that God is moving in a different way. As we get closer to the day of Christ’s return, we need to get back to our roots. Things will go full circle and what was ancient may become modern again.

Our focus should really be on God and serving his people with the love of Christ. We must have ultimate faith in God and His Word for salvation and trust Christ to really be the head of His church. Instead of responding to what the market dictates by trying to give people what they want or tell them what they want to hear, we should respond in a way that reveals God in our midst. As we see numbers diminishing within the church here in America, it’s clear to see that the kingdom of heaven is growing exponentially in China. Under threat of persecution the church in China is for the most-part an underground movement. It is very reminiscent of the description of the first century church in Acts 2:44-47:

44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Where there is sincere love for God and love for others through giving as they have need, the kingdom of heaven will grow daily with those being saved. If the missional church stays on mission, salvation and growth will be fulfilled through God. People will care about other people and love others because God first loved them. Transformation will occur and the gospel will be preached to all nations and the end result will be glory to the King of kings as he returns for his bride.

As the church, I say we should look to return to the root of our existence–loving God and loving others–and repel those things which cause us to focus on worldly things like money, pride, control. If we trust in Jesus to deliver his saving grace upon the earth, God will add to our number those that are being saved and instill in them a passion for loving He that created them and all of whom He created.

After responding to a comment from my friend Charles on my previous blog post, I was reminded of a conversation I had that was about making wrong/bad decisions and failure. I figured I’d post some thoughts and see how everyone responds.

When it comes to making choices as a Christian, I am not one to really put a lot of merit into the choices made by others. It’s way too easy to be pious and superior and say that anything going against God’s standards/commandments is a sin and I as a right-standing Christian must rebuke (speak against or reprimand) them. The first error in this is that I am not right-standing and am in absolutely no position to judge anyone. Second, I believe that as humans we will be subject to making mistakes and should be allowed the opportunity to learn from them. As a child, hearing from a parent not to touch a hot stove sounds reasonable, however some inherent part of us will want to know what it is like to touch that hot stove. If the child goes against his/her better judgement and touches the hot stove and gets burned, now the sensation of pain will be a stronger deterrent to ever repeating that action than the spoken words of their parent.

Pastor Steven Furtick wrote in his blog:

“I don’t mind those I lead making mistakes. In fact, I prefer it. If they’re not making mistakes, they’re probably not playing to win.

I just want you to make new mistakes. Different mistakes than you made last time. Mistakes that reveal a new level of effort, or a new frontier of endeavor.”

I agree with that. Mistakes are inevitable. People should be encouraged to challenge themselves and be open to make mistakes. It’s through those mistakes that we can reflect and learn what not to do and seek ways to make better choices in the future. However, let me state clearly that I don’t condone people making decisions to experiment with illegal drugs or dangerous sex practices just for the sake of seeing whether they like the experience, and if not, chalking it up to a bad choice not to be repeated again.

I’ve had many successes in life and lots of days to enjoy the fruit of my labor, but in retrospect, I wouldn’t have been able to know even a small percentage of that unless I had failed miserably or learned the hard way during the journey of life. For those of you in my generation, I’m kinda of an example of one who learned from the streets and not through countless college degrees; a student of the school of hard knocks

As Christians, we live under grace, therefore we should offer grace to others, just as God offered it to us.

Hebrews 4:16- Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Are there mistakes in your past that keep repeating themselves? Mistakes that were never overcome with a positive experience? No matter how long ago it was, it’s never too late to turn it around! Don’t be hard on yourself or be quick to condemn others for making a wrong or bad choice. We all have done it, and we’ll all continue to do it.

[I'll be following up on my missional church posts next week, but for now I leave you with these nuggets of wisdom below]

While replying to an amazing blog post from my friend Gina on myspace I was reminded of a quote from Mahatma Ghandi. It was: “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” As this was the only quote I knew of from Ghandi, I decided to look up some others. I figured I would share my findings with you and may they help inspire you and bring you peace:

• “Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
• “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
• “Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
• “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
• “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
• “Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected”
• “An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
• “My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.”
• “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
• “The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles”
• “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”
• “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems”

Several more quotes from Ghandi can be found here: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi/

During the past few years there has been a lot of discussion about the emergent church. Now it seems that many have not been happy with the way the emergent church has moved to and have re-branded themselves as missional.

Is the missional church just another form of the emergent church? To that I say, yes and no. Just as the emergent church has its various ways with no single unifying factor defining it, the missional church is not in complete agreement either. However, there is a big difference in the way I see the emergent and missional churches.

A key focus on emergent churches is the experience. What does one feel when in an emergent environment? How can the church become a sensory experience? I admit that I was taken with this style of church for a couple of years as it seems like a way to connect with those outside of the church and in opposition to “religion.” They weren’t connecting in the more-traditional or seeker sensitive church so why not give them a place to experience God through making it seem more real and less judgmental? It made sense to me until one day I was hit with something. What about the gospel? Was the emergent church bringing awareness to the gospel in a way that lives were being transformed or was it simply paving a way for people to have their needs met in a Christianity tailor made for the season of life?

I have nothing against those in the emergent church or those called by God to serve in that capacity. I don’t believe the emergent church to be leading people down the wrong path any more than I believe the purpose driven or seeker sensitive church is misleading. God’s vision for his church is bigger than any of us can imagine and the isn’t to do it in only one way; instead the key is to make the focus on God and to live in unity and love. If we do those two things God will take care of the rest.

With that said, how can the missional church be the same as the emergent church? Simply put, the missional church requires an experience. However, where the emergent is about creating an atmosphere that brings about an experience, the missional church is all about experiencing something because of what we put into it, not what is presented to us. Additionally, the missional church will connect with those that aren’t connecting with the traditional Sunday consumeristic experience. Those that aren’t looking for a church with programs that cater to their needs.

The more I prayed about leading an emergent church, the more I believe that I received clarity on the true nature behind God’s vision for the church he was calling me to. It wasn’t about engaging people in an experience so they could feel God’s presence and come to know him more. It was about being a real and relevant place that people wanted to engage in every day. A place where Jesus could be made known without someone having to purposefully step foot into a building on a Sunday. It was about having a meaning and a purpose that stretched well beyond the borders of modern Christianity. To spell it out, this was a place that no building or program could summarize. It’s a place that can only be found deep within the heart and soul of a person. This is what led me to come to find the missional church.

Every church has a vision and mission statement. However, most often the mission of a church is to grow and be healthy and to see others come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. The mission isn’t really a mission, but instead it is more like a mantra. We at XYZ Church want to disciple others and cause them to live out the Great Commission is basically what it comes down to. Is that bad? Absolutely not!

For me though, mission cannot be fulfilled unless it is a part of who one is. It is taking like-minded people and getting them united in a cause. In my case, the cause that should unite the church is loving God and loving others. We can show we love God by coming to a church building and lifting up our worship to him. We can show others that we love them by creating a great Christian children’s program for their family or teaching them how to be good stewards of their finances or how to stay married for life. For me though, I believe I can show God I love him by keeping his commands and I can show others I love them as Jesus loves them by going to them and not trying to attract them to me.

In my mind the missional church is about worshipping God through our daily lives and sharing the love of Christ with others in ways that have nothing to do with attracting people to a church building or connecting them with some great program. As Jesus did, we need to hit the streets and show the relevance of our faith in Christ and our genuine love for our fellow man. We should give sacrificially and engage in community and pray together and spend time studying and heeding God’s Word. In essence, to me, the missional church can simply be defined as a church that follows the model of the Acts chapter 2, first century church.

It can be a house church, mega church, internet church, college campus ministry…it cannot be defined by it’s look or it’s people. It can only be defined by Jesus and continuing his mission to see the kingdom of heaven upon earth. Jesus didn’t do things to draw people into his church. He went from town to town administering love and kindness and forgiveness to all that had eyes to see and ears to hear. He did not discriminate his message based on culture or profession or social status. His love was enough for all in 30 AD and it is still enough for all in 2008 AD. Why not go out and show the world that Jesus loves them and wants to use his people to share his love of them? Why must we call the world to come knocking on the door of our church instead? Jesus was about making those in the establishment feel uncomfortable, but at the same time he called upon his disciples to feel uncomfortable. Is a transformed life, dead to sin, going to matter much to a dying and hurting world if that transformation is only visible in a comfortable theater style seat with professional sounding music and polished speaker delivering a sermon on Sunday. A transformed life will be empowered through the Holy Spirit to speak eternal love into someone’s life if we go out and meet them where they are and not cast judgment on them. A transformed life will bring glory to God when lives outside of Sunday services are touched, yet no one mentions a church by name and uses it as propaganda. When we as Christ’s church offer to a free gift of bottled water to people because we want them to be hydrated and healthy, yet there is a big XYZ Church label on the bottle, is it really a free gift? Is it really about God’s love or the church’s love?

I don’t know how long the emergent church will continue or what the future holds for it. I love, pray for, and learn from many of my emergent church brothers such as Dan Kimball & Erwin McManus. However, I do know that the missional church isn’t something that came about as a way to try and make Christianity relevant in a post-Christian world. Missional church is just a modern expression of the first century church and it’s about time we got back to our roots of living life for the glory of God and believing that Christ will make this a better place the spirit of love he gives us through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit within us.

Missional churches are starting to gain momentum, which is a little odd to me since they were in existence back in the first century following the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

To help clarify a little on missional churches and explain why I believe this movement is relevant, I’ll be posting my views this week as they relate to the Scriptural and cultural relevance of missional churches. The posts this week will reflect my opinions as I have come to understand them through prayer and study. I don’t profess to be an expert on the missional church nor am I completely comfortable with churches being categorized with terms such as missional, emergent, seeker-sensitive, mega, postmodern, giga, traditional, organic, attractional or whatever labels people want to use to describe something that was intended to be unified and loving. However, it is my hope that my posts this week will help explain some of the details of what makes a church missional and how this aligns with my vision for the local church.

To help get up to speed on the missional church be sure to spend some time here. From the Friend of Missional website, let’s start the discussion with an excerpt of what they state the missional church is not:

• A missional church is not a dispenser of religious goods and services or a place where people come for their weekly spiritual fix.
• A missional church is not a place where mature Christians come to be fed and have their needs met.
• A missional church is not a place where “professionals” are hired to do all the work of the church.
• A missional church is not a place where the “professionals” teach the children and youth about God to the exclusion of parental responsibility.
• A missional church is not a church with a “good missions program.” The people are the missions program and includes going to “Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
• A missional church is not about a new strategy for evangelism.
• A missional church is not missional just because it is contemporary, young, hip, postmodern-sensitive, seeker-sensitive or even traditional.
• A missional church is not about big programs and organizations to accomplish God’s missionary purpose. This does not imply no program or organization, but that they will not drive mission. They will be used in support of people on mission.
• A missional church is not involved in political party activism, either on the right or left. As Brian McLaren wrote, we need “purple peoplehood” — people who don’t want to be defined as red or blue, but have elements of both.

I’ll start posting next on what the missional church means from Jesus’ perspectives and why this ancient form of “church” is so refreshing and relevant to some. I’ll also be explaining my view on why I believe that missional and emergent are very different words and why postmodern is becoming an irrelevant term.

Father God, may you grant me the wisdom to aid in the discussion and convey clearly about what is being called the missional church. May my words glorify you and may they speak to those that think church is something out-dated and irrelevant. Let this movement bring about hope and joy as people all over the world connect and exemplify your love for all people and come to know the saving grace of Christ for all eternity. May the results help to bring unity to the vision of your church in ways that honor you Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen.