Every other Sunday I visit a new church plant and have appointments with
planting pastors most every week. Being "missional" is on every ones mind.
Everyone defines missional differently. Here is my
take:
The typical church seeks to
develop its ministries to reach and disciple people. Sounds good. And often
has impact. However this model is very centralized in its focus. Questions are
asked like: "What can the church do to reach people?" "How can we get our people
to use this event or ministry to reach people?"
The pastor sees his role is to get the people
involved in the latest programs. The people see their role is to help the pastor
fulfill his ministry.
But the missional church
seeks to equip the people to develop their own ministries. This model is
decentralized in its focus. Questions are asked like: "Who has God placed on
your heart to reach out to with a caring relationship and share your God story?"
"What people, need or cause has God put on your heart with a passion that you
can develop into a ministry?" "What spiritual gifts, talents and experience has
God given you that he can use to reach and impact
lives?"
The pastor sees his role is to envision
for the people how God wants them to be salt and light and have an impact for
Christ in others lives. His role is to equip the people to have a ministry.
Centralized: The people help the pastor have a
ministry.
Decentralized: The pastor helps the people have a
ministry.
An efficient centralized church says
"alignment" is getting everyone involved in a few things we do that fit our
mission. This can work and bring addition growth especially if the leader is a
great communicator.
A missional decentralized
church says "alignment" is to be passionate about our mission, then go do
whatever God puts on your heart. We will coach you. We will celebrate you. We
will help you build a team. We will help you apprentice leaders. Have
at it!
This is how we have
multiplication growth.
Go multiply!
Friday, October 25, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Seven Deadly Thoughts of Leaders
by Thom S. Rainer
By the time we hear of a leadership failure, any attempts at intervention to save the leader are usually futile. The damage has been done. The family or organization suffers as their leader has fallen or, at the very least, made a major mistake.
Most great leadership failures, however, don’t begin with some stupid action. The leader usually has thoughts about the action well before he or she actually makes them. Some of those thoughts can be warning signs to heed. They are like the bright, flashing red light that demands we stop. Failure to stop can result in great harm.
I’ve had the opportunity through the years to listen to leaders talk about their biggest victories and their greatest failures. When the latter takes place, these leaders reflect that, most of the time, the failure took place in a deadly thought pattern. They lament they didn’t recognize these deadly thoughts for the warnings that they were. Here are the seven most significant warning thoughts I’ve heard:
#8: “If I don’t do it no one will.” or “No one is going to do it as well as I.” We need to kill the fear of delegation. Know your people. Know their gifts. Put their gifts to work! In my experience, folks don’t walk up and volunteer. They aren’t lazy, they simply don’t know the need unless we reveal the need. In most cases (for whatever the reason) we would rather do it ourselves than to reach out.
#8 “I can’t do that! I’m a leader and people are watching.” – 1 Tim 3 teaches us that overseers should be “above reproach” but leaders must always remember that whether you are a leader or not, we are called to holiness. We must be serious about avoiding sin but a leader’s motivation must never be for self-image but always to glorify God. Guard your hearts!
#8 “I’m too important to step down. This ministry can’t survive without me.”
Any real Christian ministry belongs to the Lord Jesus, not the servants who work there. He can provide whatever it needs, including someone to replace you, or another ministry to replace “yours”.
#8 I would add “If I apologize or admit weakness, people will stop following me.” I have only once served under a leader who apologized for his mistakes and sought forgiveness on a personal level with those he had spoken harshly too or misjudged.
By the time we hear of a leadership failure, any attempts at intervention to save the leader are usually futile. The damage has been done. The family or organization suffers as their leader has fallen or, at the very least, made a major mistake.
Most great leadership failures, however, don’t begin with some stupid action. The leader usually has thoughts about the action well before he or she actually makes them. Some of those thoughts can be warning signs to heed. They are like the bright, flashing red light that demands we stop. Failure to stop can result in great harm.
I’ve had the opportunity through the years to listen to leaders talk about their biggest victories and their greatest failures. When the latter takes place, these leaders reflect that, most of the time, the failure took place in a deadly thought pattern. They lament they didn’t recognize these deadly thoughts for the warnings that they were. Here are the seven most significant warning thoughts I’ve heard:
- “It won’t hurt to compromise a little.” So the numbers get fudged a bit. Or the private meeting with someone of the opposite gender is deemed harmless. Or you take credit for something you didn’t do.
- “I can give my family time later in life when I’m more established.” You may not even have a family if you wait until later. Few leaders have ever died wishing they had put more hours into work. Many have died lamenting their failure to give their family time and attention.
- “No one really pays attention to what I do.” Wrong! If you are a leader, many people are watching you more closely than you think. In organizations, those under your leadership watch you closely. In families, the children watch the parents with an eye for detail that can be downright humbling. What are they seeing when they watch you?
- “I need to be careful not to rock the boat.” Granted, some people put their mouths in action before their minds are in gear. But too many leaders, to mix the metaphor from a boat to an athletic event, play defense and not offense. They are too risk averse. They are more worried about failure than proactive leadership. Thus their thought patterns are almost always about playing it safe.
- “I can put off that tough decision until later.” Leaders often think difficult decisions can be put on hold. They are involved in “analysis paralysis” thinking as an excuse to defer the decisions. Their thinking leads them to deadly procrastination.
- “That person messed up five years ago. He doesn’t deserve a second chance.” Many driven leaders shared with me that they failed to demonstrate forgiveness and grace in their leadership role. Their thought patterns focused on the failures of those in the organization or family. They thus “wrote off” these people. When a time came in the leader’s life where he needed an extra measure of grace or forgiveness shown, few people were willing to give him what he himself failed to give.
- “My main goal is money.” Money is not evil; the love of money is. If leaders’ thought patterns are consumed with money, problems are on the horizon. Money can be an instrument for good or evil. The goal is not to make money, but to make a difference with your money.
#8: “If I don’t do it no one will.” or “No one is going to do it as well as I.” We need to kill the fear of delegation. Know your people. Know their gifts. Put their gifts to work! In my experience, folks don’t walk up and volunteer. They aren’t lazy, they simply don’t know the need unless we reveal the need. In most cases (for whatever the reason) we would rather do it ourselves than to reach out.
#8 “I can’t do that! I’m a leader and people are watching.” – 1 Tim 3 teaches us that overseers should be “above reproach” but leaders must always remember that whether you are a leader or not, we are called to holiness. We must be serious about avoiding sin but a leader’s motivation must never be for self-image but always to glorify God. Guard your hearts!
#8 “I’m too important to step down. This ministry can’t survive without me.”
Any real Christian ministry belongs to the Lord Jesus, not the servants who work there. He can provide whatever it needs, including someone to replace you, or another ministry to replace “yours”.
#8 I would add “If I apologize or admit weakness, people will stop following me.” I have only once served under a leader who apologized for his mistakes and sought forgiveness on a personal level with those he had spoken harshly too or misjudged.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Preaching with Clarity to Change Lives
I visit new churches every other weekend so I hear new
pastors speak a lot. Here are some of the positives I hear/see.
1. They are passionate to communicate to their people.
2. They are close to the people so the relational connection comes out in their messages.
1. They are passionate to communicate to their people.
2. They are close to the people so the relational connection comes out in their messages.
And here are some of the areas for improvement I hear/see:
1. Many have not determined the key point to the passage so they ramble through many points with no clear target or application. Some think this is good and call it “preaching the passage.” (Verse one says… Verse two says….) A clear speaker doesn’t preach everything in a passage but just what leads to the main theme so he can “bring it home.”
2. Often speakers do not have a “hook” that draws people into the passage. In real estate they say you need to identify the pain people have and present the pleasure you can provide for them. i.e. the pain of not moving to the house they want in a timely fashion and the pleasure they would experience if you helped them sell quickly so they could move. In an evangelistic message, i.e. moving from the pain of loneliness and guilt to the pleasure of forgiveness and relationship with Christ.
3. I hear preachers struggling to find stories in life (or old stories of bearded Christians) to illustrate their points, when they could easily look to the Old Testament, Gospels and sometimes to Epistles to find real biblical stories that illustrate the point.
4. There are not a lot of pilots speaking. Many do not know when and how to “land the plane”. “If one good point is great, then three good points are better.” Not necessarily. The goal is application, not knowledge to forget.
5. One good memorable application in 20 minutes is better than five muddled points with little application in 50 minutes. I missed the last 20 minutes anyway even though my wife kept poking me.
6. Are people emotionally connecting with your message and application? If so then they will be more likely to remember and apply it. First of all, are you emotionally impacted by the passage so that it flows from your heart and passion?
7. Props are good memory joggers. I’ve seen Ed Young bring a car onto the stage, Bill Hybels bring a swinging door, Gary Smalley use a 4 foot size ear, Dave Ramsey smash a piggy bank, John McGowan used a Starbucks latte, etc.
8. Has this stuff we preach ever changed anyone’s life? Rick Warren often brings people up in the middle of his message to interview to illustrate what God can do.
9. Having people look/read the scripture during the message will help them see the value of looking at it Tuesday morning.
10. Having an outline/points to follow jogs memories and reinforces learning when they take notes. And helps keep me awake.
12. One pastor tells the story of a man who came up to him in the 80’s after a message and said, “We really do want to obey God.” Lon wasn’t sure where he was heading. The man went on, “We don’t need you to help us feel guilty very week. We know where we are wrong. We need you to teach us from the Bible how we can walk with God on Wednesday after lunch when a co-worker is giving us a hard time.” Now the pastor asks himself with each message, “What have I given the people to help them walk with Jesus on Wednesday after lunch?”
1. Many have not determined the key point to the passage so they ramble through many points with no clear target or application. Some think this is good and call it “preaching the passage.” (Verse one says… Verse two says….) A clear speaker doesn’t preach everything in a passage but just what leads to the main theme so he can “bring it home.”
2. Often speakers do not have a “hook” that draws people into the passage. In real estate they say you need to identify the pain people have and present the pleasure you can provide for them. i.e. the pain of not moving to the house they want in a timely fashion and the pleasure they would experience if you helped them sell quickly so they could move. In an evangelistic message, i.e. moving from the pain of loneliness and guilt to the pleasure of forgiveness and relationship with Christ.
3. I hear preachers struggling to find stories in life (or old stories of bearded Christians) to illustrate their points, when they could easily look to the Old Testament, Gospels and sometimes to Epistles to find real biblical stories that illustrate the point.
4. There are not a lot of pilots speaking. Many do not know when and how to “land the plane”. “If one good point is great, then three good points are better.” Not necessarily. The goal is application, not knowledge to forget.
5. One good memorable application in 20 minutes is better than five muddled points with little application in 50 minutes. I missed the last 20 minutes anyway even though my wife kept poking me.
6. Are people emotionally connecting with your message and application? If so then they will be more likely to remember and apply it. First of all, are you emotionally impacted by the passage so that it flows from your heart and passion?
7. Props are good memory joggers. I’ve seen Ed Young bring a car onto the stage, Bill Hybels bring a swinging door, Gary Smalley use a 4 foot size ear, Dave Ramsey smash a piggy bank, John McGowan used a Starbucks latte, etc.
8. Has this stuff we preach ever changed anyone’s life? Rick Warren often brings people up in the middle of his message to interview to illustrate what God can do.
9. Having people look/read the scripture during the message will help them see the value of looking at it Tuesday morning.
10. Having an outline/points to follow jogs memories and reinforces learning when they take notes. And helps keep me awake.
12. One pastor tells the story of a man who came up to him in the 80’s after a message and said, “We really do want to obey God.” Lon wasn’t sure where he was heading. The man went on, “We don’t need you to help us feel guilty very week. We know where we are wrong. We need you to teach us from the Bible how we can walk with God on Wednesday after lunch when a co-worker is giving us a hard time.” Now the pastor asks himself with each message, “What have I given the people to help them walk with Jesus on Wednesday after lunch?”
Saturday, January 19, 2013
13 questions to help pastors move a message from the head to the heart
Rick Duncan
Yes, it's all about God, not us. "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your
name give glory" (Psalm 115:1).
So, a preacher who makes much of himself in a message is a narcissistic
mess. "Him [Christ - the hope of glory] we proclaim" (Colossians 1:28).
So, it's all about God. Not the preacher.
But the 19th century preacher, Philips Brooks, said, "Preaching is truth
through personality." I believe he's right. I believe that's supported by
scripture. Paul once wrote, "So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were
ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves,
because you had become very dear to us" (I Thessalonians 2:8).
Sometimes a message can be good, solid, and accurate. It can explain the
text well. It can impart strong information.
But the personality of the man can be missing. Preachers dare not forget
that even the introverts must be relational,
connecting, personable,and warm-hearted up front.
So, before you preach tomorrow, sit down for an hour an answer some
questions.
Why does this passage/truth/topic matter to YOU?
What is YOUR vision for the people regarding this?
Where do YOU struggle with this?
Why do YOU struggle with this?
How has God helped YOU grow in this area?
Who taught YOU most about this?
What are one or two things YOU have been prompted to do to grow in this
area?
How have YOU gained victories in this?
What is a story about this that has changed YOU, inspired YOU, convicted
YOU, challenged YOU, encouraged YOU?
Where are YOU wanting to take us because we live this way?
How do YOU see our lives being different if we live new in this way?
Again, why does this matter to YOU?
Give your people more of God... through YOU!!!
Answer some of these questions and weave them into your current message.
(You'll likely have to delete some current content to do it.)
Again, Philips Brooks said, "Preaching is truth through personality." Your
people likely need more of YOUR persona, YOUR personhood, YOUR
personality.
Impart the information well. But don't forget to give the people more
inspiration. More motivation. More vision. More reasons to change. More
understanding of what's at stake. More of how God's story has impacted
YOU.
I am not trying to give you more work to do on a Saturday. (Well, maybe I
am!) But I think deleting a little content and giving us more of YOUR passion
will move your message from good to great.
Question: How do you think preachers could connect more relationally with
their congregations in a message?
Thursday, January 17, 2013
5 Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made (That You Don’t Need To)
But there’s a part of me that likes it even more when leaders share their mistakes.
When someone shares their mistakes, I feel like I can relate to them. It reminds me I’m not alone. And it shows me we’re really all in this together.
The best part is once you’ve noticed the mistakes you naturally make, you can learn new skills to manoeuvre around them.
For all five mistakes listed below, I’ve had to adjust the sails and learn new behaviours that make me more effective at what I’m called to do.
Hopefully what’s taken me years won’t need to take you nearly as long.
Here are five leadership mistakes I’ve made:
What are you struggling with? How are you overcoming?
What are you stuck on?
About Carey Nieuwhof: Carey Nieuwhof is the lead pastor of Connexus Community Church. He is the author of the best selling book, Leading Change Without Losing It and co-author of Parenting Beyond Your Capacity. Carey speaks to North American and global church leaders about change, leadership, and parenting.
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But there’s a part of me that likes it even more when leaders share their mistakes.
When someone shares their mistakes, I feel like I can relate to them. It reminds me I’m not alone. And it shows me we’re really all in this together.
The best part is once you’ve noticed the mistakes you naturally make, you can learn new skills to manoeuvre around them.
For all five mistakes listed below, I’ve had to adjust the sails and learn new behaviours that make me more effective at what I’m called to do.
Hopefully what’s taken me years won’t need to take you nearly as long.
Here are five leadership mistakes I’ve made:
1. Pointing out what’s wrong – not what’s right. Many leaders share a trait: they immediately notice what’s right and wrong, and gravitate toward fixing what’s wrong. I’m king of this. And ironically, it motivates me to get better. But it can end up being de-motivating to the people around you. I’ve had to learn to celebrate the wins (there are a ton of them when you look), point out what’s right and high five the team. Only then should you move to what’s wrong. Otherwise you knock the wind out of people. Honestly, this is still a daily discipline with me.
2. Thinking a leader needs to have all the answers. As a young leader, I was afraid people would notice that I was young and didn’t know as much as I should. It took me a few years to become comfortable with saying “I don’t know”. Wish I’d learned that right off the bat. Ironically, people already know that you don’t know. And when you say you don’t know, it actually creates empathy and a better sense of team. Now more than ever, I fully realize how much I have left to learn.
3. Trying to be too original. This characterized my first 7 or 8 years of leadership. I didn’t know you could take what others have done and simply implement it (I’m not talking about plagiarizing sermons or stealing proprietary ideas here – but about ministry models and strategies that you’re free to use). I’d go to a conference and feel I’d need to change something enough to put ‘my spin’ or ‘our spin’ on it. Well, sometimes your spin makes it worse. If you really have an original idea that’s going to change things – use it. But there are smarter people who are further along than you who you can borrow from. And sometimes you just need to give yourself permission to borrow.
4. Using people to accomplish tasks. I’m a task guy. Early on, sometimes I saw people as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. It’s a goal of mine to do what great managers do – not use people to get tasks done, but to get ‘people done’ through tasks.
5. Depending too much on my own strength. Being an A-type personality has strengths and weaknesses. Looking back, I wish I had developed a better sense of team earlier and I wished I had sought out mentors earlier. I’m still also trying to figure out the balance between Jesus’ teaching that human effort accomplishes nothing and that we need to serve and lead with all diligence. I’ll get back to you on that one. Maybe in heaven.
Those are five leadership mistakes I’ve made. How about you?What are you struggling with? How are you overcoming?
What are you stuck on?
About Carey Nieuwhof: Carey Nieuwhof is the lead pastor of Connexus Community Church. He is the author of the best selling book, Leading Change Without Losing It and co-author of Parenting Beyond Your Capacity. Carey speaks to North American and global church leaders about change, leadership, and parenting.
When you feel like the world is ticked at you...
by Rick DuncanCuyahoga Valley Church
"Am I really and truly a Beloved Child?" Most of us wonder about that. We struggle with shame and guilt. We struggle with feelings of worth and value. We are sure that God is ticked at us.
Why is that?
Some of us go to work everyday and we wonder if the people in charge really want us there. Others of us grew up in homes where our parents said, “You’ll never amount to anything.” And just this last week, someone heard, “I don’t know why I ever married you.”
You need – you really need – to know what God thinks.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17).
We are His Beloved Children. Jesus hasn’t just saved us. He’s actually delighting in us. Two words here: Rejoice (sus) means "exult" and gladness (simchah) means "mirth." It’s like God is at a party and He's dancing because of us.
Is that overstated? I don’t think so. "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you" (Isaiah 62:5).
Does God delight in you because you are so lovable? No. The Bible says that we hated God and were His enemies. Does He delight in us because we are so “together”? No. We’re sinful through and through.
In spite of all that, Jesus brings us before the throne of grace and is proud of us. God delights in us because of Christ and what He’s made us to be. It’s with the blood of Jesus that we’ve been washed and made new.
"I will rejoice… and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more" (Isaiah 65:19, NLT).
Too many of us believe that God is a “ticked off” God. Yes, He’s just. Yes, He’s holy. And yes, He disciplines his children. And we should never presume upon His grace.
But at the end of the day, you’ve got to know that through Christ Jesus, God delights in His people.
God not only loves you, He likes you. You are so loved that Jesus delights in you. And because He delights in you, you can delight in yourself... and someone else.
Question: How will you live new today because God rejoices over you?
Friday, September 21, 2012
Church Planter Spotlight: Marcus Toussaint on Lessons Learned in Church Planting
Church Planter Spotlight: Marcus Toussaint on Lessons Learned in Church Planting
Twelve months ago, Church Planter Marcus Toussaint moved from the heart of the Bible Belt in Dallas to the mountains of Northern Arizona to help start Flagstaff Community Church with a few friends. He serves as External Focus Pastor of the growing Flagstaff community that has moved from Lead Pastor Mike Mahon’s living room to an unused car garage to now Flagstaff High School. Recently, he blogged 20 lessons he’s learned about planting in what he calls a ‘postmodern, post-everything frontier,” including “All that stuff about ‘calling’ is true” and “A church plant is a lame idol.”
All that stuff about “calling” is true. A lot of guys smarter than me say that church planting is for those who truly feel called to it. They’re actually right. The first few months, particularly if you’re a parachute drop, can feel lonely and difficult. There are times when the only thing keeping you going is the reality that “God has called me to this thing.” If you have never had a clear sense of calling about starting a church, seriously, save yourself and others the trouble and do anything else.
Choke the church plant pride quick. There is often a not-so-subtle hubris deep in us church-planters, being the new, idealistic kids on the block. Kill that pride before, during and after every visit to another church in town or after hearing about another church in town. There really are faithful churches and ministries in your city that have been praying for it long before you even thought of being God’s gift to Gospel-contextualization. Be humbled to be a small part of the answer to their prayers and long-suffering in a tough place.
Learn how to apply the Gospel to rejection and criticism. Starting a church from scratch involves throwing yourself out there and facing a lot of rejection. It’s like high school all over again. Sometimes, you will have to preach the Gospel to yourself like 20 times a day, remembering that because you are fully accepted in Christ means that any kind of rejection you receive just isn’t that big a deal. Also, pass all criticism through the filter of your critics’ demonstrated Christian maturity.
Debunk the “superhero pastor” mindset in your people from day one. It’s true that [most of] your people can only rise to the level of your leadership—so it’s a good thing Jesus is the head pastor! Just because you’re “called” doesn’t mean you’re called to be Superman. Living in an authentic community is actually a core value at our church. Be strong, but own your (numerous) mistakes and share your daily need for Jesus with people. They’ll find you refreshingly real in an artificial culture, and you’ll foster a church culture that truly emphasizes the “priesthood of all believers.”
Failure is an option. The tried-and-true, canned church planting processes killing it in the Midwest and the Bible Belt flat out just don’t seem to work anymore in postmodern American contexts (that is, if you want to reach non-Christians and not just disgruntled church people), so just about everything is an experiment. We just try a bunch of stuff and see if anything sticks. Frankly, we fail a lot. We’re sort of learning as we go; it’s the ultimate on-the-job training. For us, failure is failure to try.
What you’re excited about is what your people really learn. I actually stole this from a D.A. Carson quote in an article at the Gospel Coalition. Genuine excitement about anything is contagious. Churches and church plants come and go, but Jesus will be the jam forever. Be excited about Him. Be excited about the Gospel.
Team dynamics are trickier than you think. I remember having a conversation with a seminary professor about how “church planting teams don’t work.” He said it was because the inevitable conflict within teams most often causes the mission to unravel. At the time, I believed he just didn’t understand how to build a solid team that could manage conflict well. The reality is that you can dive headfirst into a sea of personality inventories like StrengthsFinder or Myers-Briggs, but conflict is going to happen, period. Personalities are going to clash. Healthy, godly teams have conflict. But don’t let your commitment to biblical conflict resolution be detrimental to the mission God has you on together.
Leverage stories continuously. In my opinion, stories of life change are the key metric for success in ministry. When you’re a parachute drop church plant attempting to build momentum at ground zero, you don’t have a lot of stories yet. So you have to use the ones you’ve got, namely everyone in your launch/core team’s story of grace and stories/media from your amazing sending church or organization. At each of our worship “gatherings,” we tell the story of grace of someone in our community. Create a culture where you never shut up about God and what He’s doing.
People will bail. It’s one of those things you’ve heard about and prepare your heart for, but it still hurts when it happens. Because church planting is extremely personal; when people leave, they’re not just breaking up with the church, they’re breaking up with you, your leadership, vision and its implementation. The temptation is to harden your heart and not allow yourself to truly trust people. Don’t give in! There really are amazing people out there! The incredibly personal nature of planting a church is actually the premise of this book by Brian Bloye.
God will send you some “Barnabi.” In the midst of frequent rejections and difficulties, you’ll get a few “sons of encouragement” who truly love Jesus, buy into the vision of “our church” (love hearing that!) and who are faithfully servant-hearted for the long haul. Let yourself be pumped about it and apply 2 Tim. 2:2 to them as soon as they’re recognized.
Objective, outside coaching is essential. We get great coaching from some Yodas in Phoenix and Dallas. In addition to learning new face-melting leadership axioms, we get encouragement and wisdom from some guys who don’t suffer from the situational tunnel vision that church planters in the trenches inevitably develop.
Attractional strategies largely don’t seem to work in post-Christian contexts. At least they haven’t really for us. Why? I think it’s because they are like cultural mosquitoes to our context—they’re annoying. Everyone expects them and is inoculated against Christian evangelistic outreach. If the definition of “crazy” is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, then most of us are crazy. Lots of Christian thinkers that have been saying “duh” to this for a long time.
All of us need to be explicitly taught “how to be missional.” It’s sexy to say you’re “missional.” But under the deluge of “missional” material out there, most of us Christians are better at going to Africa than across the street. People need not only to be continually invited to join what God is already doing in their communities, they also need clear, practical instructions on how. We have to recover the idea of “evangelism as a team sport,” and teach people that to be “missional” involves pursuing a big vision with small steps.
Some Christians may take your presence as an insult. Love them anyway. Prove them wrong. Before I even moved to Flagstaff, I met a Christian teacher who balked at the idea of another church in Flag. After all, “Flagstaff has sooo many churches already,” to which I arrogantly thought Yeah, too bad they’re not reaching anyone! The truth is some churches take the proliferation of new church plants in their community as an indictment on their ministry efforts instead of as a movement of God, and some church planters consider the very need for their plant as an indictment on other churches. That’s too bad. I like how one church planting friend in Flagstaff put it, “We’re here to complete, not compete.”
Commit to loving the hurting in your community and you’ll always have an audience (stolen from Jud Wilhite). It’s a good word. We live in a Christian leadership culture that still largely focuses on “influencing the influencers.” It’s explicitly one reason why church planters are flocking to the world’s city centers. That’s awesome, but I also believe that Jesus still chooses to use those of us who are foolish and weak in the world’s eyes to build His kingdom (1 Cor. 1:27). The county I live in has two times the national suicide rate and suffers from rampant alcoholism, yet has almost no Christ-centered recovery ministry! So we started one, and it has grown simply by word-of-mouth.
Define success for your church plant biblically. Whether consciously or unconsciously, what you count is what really counts in your church, and I’m convinced the church needs better metrics for success. If “making disciples” is truly the mission, then only counting butts in seats won’t cut it. What about the number of people in community groups as a percentage of your church body? Or the number of intentional relationships with non-Christians in the greater community? Just a couple of numerically oriented questions that might be more helpful (but maybe less immediately gratifying) than whether the crowd is growing. There are many more possibilities.
Ask non-Christians. To me, few things are sillier than a navel-gazing Christian culture sitting around guessing about how to “attract” non-Christians. Ask them. Get to know them, their hopes and dreams, what they think about spirituality, and why they may think Christianity sucks or is at least irrelevant.
Beware of babies in business suits. Often, churched people tend to position themselves as mature believers ready to lead. I would wait to make that call until you see it demonstrated in faithfulness. They may quote Keller and talk a big game, but when the rubber hits the road, they still want the church plant to become “First Vending Machine Fellowship Church.” You can tell a true servant by how he or she responds when they get treated like one.
The hardest person to lead in your church plant is you (stolen from Todd Wagner of Watermark). You are the biggest problem in your church plant. If you can tame the tiger within, everything else isn’t that big of a deal
A church plant is a lame idol. Seriously, even if the thing totally bombs, everyone bails, you run out of money and have to be tri-vocational, Jesus is still coming back and dropping His kingdom on this broken world. Success in the Christian life is faithful obedience to Jesus, not a list of stacked accomplishments. Some friends in Phoenix call church-planting “spanktification”; I connect with that. It’s tough, so are you consciously becoming more like Jesus? Do you love Him and people more as a result? If not, you’re missing it.
This post is the collection of a four-part series called “Lessons From My First Year of Church Planting” posted on Marcus Toussaint’s blog, Dark Sky City: Church Planting in Flagstaff, Arizona. Follow his adventures there and on Twitter @Marcustoussaint.
Lindy Lowry serves as Communications Director and Editor for Exponential.To submit articles for Exponential’s weekly enewsletter, Church Planter Weekly, contact her here.
All that stuff about “calling” is true. A lot of guys smarter than me say that church planting is for those who truly feel called to it. They’re actually right. The first few months, particularly if you’re a parachute drop, can feel lonely and difficult. There are times when the only thing keeping you going is the reality that “God has called me to this thing.” If you have never had a clear sense of calling about starting a church, seriously, save yourself and others the trouble and do anything else.
Choke the church plant pride quick. There is often a not-so-subtle hubris deep in us church-planters, being the new, idealistic kids on the block. Kill that pride before, during and after every visit to another church in town or after hearing about another church in town. There really are faithful churches and ministries in your city that have been praying for it long before you even thought of being God’s gift to Gospel-contextualization. Be humbled to be a small part of the answer to their prayers and long-suffering in a tough place.
Learn how to apply the Gospel to rejection and criticism. Starting a church from scratch involves throwing yourself out there and facing a lot of rejection. It’s like high school all over again. Sometimes, you will have to preach the Gospel to yourself like 20 times a day, remembering that because you are fully accepted in Christ means that any kind of rejection you receive just isn’t that big a deal. Also, pass all criticism through the filter of your critics’ demonstrated Christian maturity.
Debunk the “superhero pastor” mindset in your people from day one. It’s true that [most of] your people can only rise to the level of your leadership—so it’s a good thing Jesus is the head pastor! Just because you’re “called” doesn’t mean you’re called to be Superman. Living in an authentic community is actually a core value at our church. Be strong, but own your (numerous) mistakes and share your daily need for Jesus with people. They’ll find you refreshingly real in an artificial culture, and you’ll foster a church culture that truly emphasizes the “priesthood of all believers.”
Failure is an option. The tried-and-true, canned church planting processes killing it in the Midwest and the Bible Belt flat out just don’t seem to work anymore in postmodern American contexts (that is, if you want to reach non-Christians and not just disgruntled church people), so just about everything is an experiment. We just try a bunch of stuff and see if anything sticks. Frankly, we fail a lot. We’re sort of learning as we go; it’s the ultimate on-the-job training. For us, failure is failure to try.
What you’re excited about is what your people really learn. I actually stole this from a D.A. Carson quote in an article at the Gospel Coalition. Genuine excitement about anything is contagious. Churches and church plants come and go, but Jesus will be the jam forever. Be excited about Him. Be excited about the Gospel.
Team dynamics are trickier than you think. I remember having a conversation with a seminary professor about how “church planting teams don’t work.” He said it was because the inevitable conflict within teams most often causes the mission to unravel. At the time, I believed he just didn’t understand how to build a solid team that could manage conflict well. The reality is that you can dive headfirst into a sea of personality inventories like StrengthsFinder or Myers-Briggs, but conflict is going to happen, period. Personalities are going to clash. Healthy, godly teams have conflict. But don’t let your commitment to biblical conflict resolution be detrimental to the mission God has you on together.
Leverage stories continuously. In my opinion, stories of life change are the key metric for success in ministry. When you’re a parachute drop church plant attempting to build momentum at ground zero, you don’t have a lot of stories yet. So you have to use the ones you’ve got, namely everyone in your launch/core team’s story of grace and stories/media from your amazing sending church or organization. At each of our worship “gatherings,” we tell the story of grace of someone in our community. Create a culture where you never shut up about God and what He’s doing.
People will bail. It’s one of those things you’ve heard about and prepare your heart for, but it still hurts when it happens. Because church planting is extremely personal; when people leave, they’re not just breaking up with the church, they’re breaking up with you, your leadership, vision and its implementation. The temptation is to harden your heart and not allow yourself to truly trust people. Don’t give in! There really are amazing people out there! The incredibly personal nature of planting a church is actually the premise of this book by Brian Bloye.
God will send you some “Barnabi.” In the midst of frequent rejections and difficulties, you’ll get a few “sons of encouragement” who truly love Jesus, buy into the vision of “our church” (love hearing that!) and who are faithfully servant-hearted for the long haul. Let yourself be pumped about it and apply 2 Tim. 2:2 to them as soon as they’re recognized.
Objective, outside coaching is essential. We get great coaching from some Yodas in Phoenix and Dallas. In addition to learning new face-melting leadership axioms, we get encouragement and wisdom from some guys who don’t suffer from the situational tunnel vision that church planters in the trenches inevitably develop.
Attractional strategies largely don’t seem to work in post-Christian contexts. At least they haven’t really for us. Why? I think it’s because they are like cultural mosquitoes to our context—they’re annoying. Everyone expects them and is inoculated against Christian evangelistic outreach. If the definition of “crazy” is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, then most of us are crazy. Lots of Christian thinkers that have been saying “duh” to this for a long time.
All of us need to be explicitly taught “how to be missional.” It’s sexy to say you’re “missional.” But under the deluge of “missional” material out there, most of us Christians are better at going to Africa than across the street. People need not only to be continually invited to join what God is already doing in their communities, they also need clear, practical instructions on how. We have to recover the idea of “evangelism as a team sport,” and teach people that to be “missional” involves pursuing a big vision with small steps.
Some Christians may take your presence as an insult. Love them anyway. Prove them wrong. Before I even moved to Flagstaff, I met a Christian teacher who balked at the idea of another church in Flag. After all, “Flagstaff has sooo many churches already,” to which I arrogantly thought Yeah, too bad they’re not reaching anyone! The truth is some churches take the proliferation of new church plants in their community as an indictment on their ministry efforts instead of as a movement of God, and some church planters consider the very need for their plant as an indictment on other churches. That’s too bad. I like how one church planting friend in Flagstaff put it, “We’re here to complete, not compete.”
Commit to loving the hurting in your community and you’ll always have an audience (stolen from Jud Wilhite). It’s a good word. We live in a Christian leadership culture that still largely focuses on “influencing the influencers.” It’s explicitly one reason why church planters are flocking to the world’s city centers. That’s awesome, but I also believe that Jesus still chooses to use those of us who are foolish and weak in the world’s eyes to build His kingdom (1 Cor. 1:27). The county I live in has two times the national suicide rate and suffers from rampant alcoholism, yet has almost no Christ-centered recovery ministry! So we started one, and it has grown simply by word-of-mouth.
Define success for your church plant biblically. Whether consciously or unconsciously, what you count is what really counts in your church, and I’m convinced the church needs better metrics for success. If “making disciples” is truly the mission, then only counting butts in seats won’t cut it. What about the number of people in community groups as a percentage of your church body? Or the number of intentional relationships with non-Christians in the greater community? Just a couple of numerically oriented questions that might be more helpful (but maybe less immediately gratifying) than whether the crowd is growing. There are many more possibilities.
Ask non-Christians. To me, few things are sillier than a navel-gazing Christian culture sitting around guessing about how to “attract” non-Christians. Ask them. Get to know them, their hopes and dreams, what they think about spirituality, and why they may think Christianity sucks or is at least irrelevant.
Beware of babies in business suits. Often, churched people tend to position themselves as mature believers ready to lead. I would wait to make that call until you see it demonstrated in faithfulness. They may quote Keller and talk a big game, but when the rubber hits the road, they still want the church plant to become “First Vending Machine Fellowship Church.” You can tell a true servant by how he or she responds when they get treated like one.
The hardest person to lead in your church plant is you (stolen from Todd Wagner of Watermark). You are the biggest problem in your church plant. If you can tame the tiger within, everything else isn’t that big of a deal
A church plant is a lame idol. Seriously, even if the thing totally bombs, everyone bails, you run out of money and have to be tri-vocational, Jesus is still coming back and dropping His kingdom on this broken world. Success in the Christian life is faithful obedience to Jesus, not a list of stacked accomplishments. Some friends in Phoenix call church-planting “spanktification”; I connect with that. It’s tough, so are you consciously becoming more like Jesus? Do you love Him and people more as a result? If not, you’re missing it.
This post is the collection of a four-part series called “Lessons From My First Year of Church Planting” posted on Marcus Toussaint’s blog, Dark Sky City: Church Planting in Flagstaff, Arizona. Follow his adventures there and on Twitter @Marcustoussaint.
Lindy Lowry serves as Communications Director and Editor for Exponential.To submit articles for Exponential’s weekly enewsletter, Church Planter Weekly, contact her here.
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