One Sermon
I taught from Acts 17 this morning, and I noticed something I haven’t noticed before. Paul’s presentation of the Gospel in Athens follows a pretty neat theme of “one.”
- One God & Creator (vv. 24-25)
- One Man (v. 26)
- One People (v. 26)
- One Search (v. 27-28)
- One Message, “Repent” (vv. 29-30)
- One Judgment (v. 31)
- One Savior (v. 31)
Some scoffed, some were curious, and others believed (vv. 32-34).
This observation raises a few questions for me. Do we sometimes complicate the gospel unnecessarily to boost our own egos? Do we see scoffing and hesitancy to believe as evidence that people aren’t responding when those are, in fact, responses?
15,000 Visitors
Whoever reads this post first will be the 15,000th visitor to this blog. I’ve been using Twitter a lot more than blogging lately, because it really fits my schedule better right now. However, I think it also probably forces me to do less in-depth thinking. So, I’ve been thinking about doing a little more posting here at the blog.
Lately, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about leadership (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins were my most recent reads in that area), challenges within the UMC (see the book by Collins), and some of the core commitments of my life (for instance, as I’ve studied and taught through the book of Acts, I’ve been thinking more about the way Paul and the earliest followers of Christ called both insiders and outsiders to repent and respond to God in Christ).
Guatemala Mission
Tomorrow after lunch, I’m flying to Guatemala with a medical team from Church of the Servant. No iPhone, no computer, no Twitter, or blogging until August 9th. We do, however, have a journalist on our team who will be blogging his experience should he have a good enough internet connection in Chichicastenango where we will be staying most of the time. Throughout the week we’ll be heading to rural sites to provide medical care from our home base in “Chichi.”
I’m looking forward to the trip and the opportunity we’ll have to share the love of Christ with these distant neighbors. I’m also looking forward to seeing all the ways God is at work in and among the Methodists of Guatemala. Keep us in your prayers, and I’ll give a report when we return.
Core Values & Mission
While the United Methodist Church has agreed on its mission, “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,” we have yet to have a common agreement on what this means! Words like “disciple” and “transformation” are fairly nebulous and vague when you don’t have a common culture throughout your organization. Maybe this is just the nature of having a statement that is supposed to fit a global organization. Perhaps the best place to truly have mission and vision statements are on the local level.
In my mind, the best vision statements provide focus. They set the scope of your mission. In a way, they function like fences around a daycare playground. The fence keeps the kids in one general area, but within that area they have the freedom to play and do what kids do. Core values then, are like the behaviors we expect from the kids: play nice, share, etc.
So, a congregation and its leadership functions best when focused by a clear vision and guided by core values that can be embodied across the board. One of the places that understands core values better than anyone is Zappos, the online shoe specialist. Their core values are clearly and concisely articulated both in their culture and in their employees imagination. They are focused – THE online shoe store – and they understand the behaviors they embody in carrying out that mission.
- Deliver WOW through Service
- Embrace & Drive Change
- Create Fun & a Little Weirdness
- Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
- Pursue Growth & Learning
- Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
- Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
- Do More With Less
- Be Passionate and Determined
- Be Humble
In my two interactions with Zappos, they deliver. While I was serving in a rural area of Oklahoma, I needed some brown dress shoes. Wearing size 14s, it becomes pretty hard to find exactly what you want and get them quickly. A friend told me about Zappos, so I took a chance. I needed them in a few days, and figured it would be cool if they could get them there in a couple of days, but if not I wasn’t going to have a real problem. I ordered them on Monday, and they were sitting on my porch Tuesday afternoon. Magic. WOW. I told everyone. They knocked core value #1 out of the park, and I’ve told the story several times. Mission accomplished on their part.
What are the core values in your church? What are the values you communicate in evereything you do from greeting guests on Sunday morning to cleaning up after wedding receptions? Do you know? When people leave your church on Sunday, do guests say, “WOW, I felt like an honored guest,” or do they say, “Wow…they acted surprised I was even there”? Do the people on your leadership team understand the values they’re called to embody in everything from answering the phone to sending out emails? If not, it may be time to give it some thought.
Book Review: A Lovers Quarrel with the Evangelical Church
I just finished reading Warren Cole Smith’s A Lover’s Quarrel with the Evangelical Church. You can find the official website here. You could probably more accurately call this book, Smith’s Quarrel with the Republican-Evangelical Alliance, Historical Amnesia, Megachurches, Christian Consumerism, Pragmatic Evangelism, and the Uncritical Embrace of Technology. If you’re in the camp that equates the Evangelical Church with these six characteristics, then you’ll likely be on board with Smith’s critiques. However, I don’t tend to lump these together uncritically.
For instance, in the chapter on Megachurches, Willow Creek and Joel Osteen’s congregation are both included as examples of the triumph of sentimentality. I, however, wouldn’t lump these two in any category outside of sheer size. It is also hard to see the hard and fast link between technology and megachurch growth while I’m serving in a megachurch that doesn’t use video screens during Sunday morning services.
All in all, Smith’s critiques aren’t critiques the average seminary student hasn’t heard by their second or third year. Smith’s audience is likely laypeople who already have an issue with any of the things listed above.
Strangely enough, Smith’s conclusions seem to come from a different planet than his critiques. While reading the first six chapters, I thought it would be impossible for me to recommend this book to anyone. Chapters seven and eight softened my stance. Strangely enough, Smith’s prescription for fixing what he describes in the first six chapters is a movement of strategic church planting movements and strong biblical communities. In fact, I find it hard to see the connections between what he describes and what he prescribes. However, in the end, I would say I agree with the prescription even if I don’t totally agree with the diagnosis.
Even with the sharp turn at the end, I would have a hard time recommending this book. If you know me you can borrow mine, since I won’t be reading it again.
Megachurch Pastors
Leadership Network has just released the results of a study of 232 pastors in megachurches around the United States (h/t John Meunier). Their criterion for being a megachurch is averaging more than 2,000 in worship. Since I’m in a megachurch now (even though we miss their average by about 150), I’m really interested in the results of the studies being released. Here are the basics.
- They think of themselves more as teachers and directional leaders than as pastors.
- Preaching tops the list of things they do best.
- They haven’t always worked in churches.
- Being an extrovert isn’t mandatory.
- Family stays at the top of their mind when it comes to prayers.
- They usually like the people they work with.
- They believe their top gift is leadership (77% of respondents reporting they have this gift). The second highest response is teaching (67%).
- They are actively involved in sports.
- They find worship at their church helpful for personal spiritual growth.
- They’re not thinking about quitting.
Top five magazines read by Senior Pastors of Megachurches:
Top five books recommended by Megachurch pastors (wow, I’ve read all of these…associate pastors in megachurches must all read the same books as their senior ministers. ha!)
- Simple Church by Thom Rainer
- Axiom by Bill Hybels
- The Reason for God by Tim Keller
- It by Craig Groeschel
- Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordiero
If you’re interested in these findings, I recommend you download the full study. It’s pretty good information for understanding today’s megachurch pastor. There is also a study of executive ministers in megachurches that is well worth a read.
See any surprises here?
Methodist? Move to Oklahoma & Live Longer
Reports on the UMC aren’t usually an encouraging thing, unless you live here in Oklahoma. Check out this report (h/t John Meunier). All kidding aside, are we really this much younger than the rest Methodism in the US? If so, wow…
Making Disciples: Assembly Line or Environmentalist
As United Methodists we’re given the task of Making Disciples of Jesus Christ. Much has been said about this statement, but in my reading I haven’t seen much made of the word “making.”
Today, I was part of a terrific conversation regarding discipleship within our local congregation, and I realized something. The word “making” assumes more of an assembly line mentality than the way I think disciples actually develop. Much has been made of the REVEAL survey at Willow Creek and the findings that participation in a series of programs often fails to bring profound Christian transformation in people’s lives. In my mind, this is clear evidence against the assembly line model. And yet, it seems that even congregations who are influenced by the REVEAL survey refuse to move away from programattic approaches and simply switch to different or better programs.
And yet disciples develop in Churches around the world. As we spoke today, I remembered some of the deepest times of growth as a disciple in my own life. Although I did participate in programs (Walk to Emmaus, Disciple Bible Study, Mission Trips), there was never a sense of working through an assembly line process. It was much more organic. This led me to suggest that our role as pastors is more like that of an environmentalist or a landscape artist. We are responsible for making sure there is an environment (or landscape) within our congregations in which disciples can develop organically. Notice, I didn’t say “naturally.” I think discipleship requires a lot of input and effort. It doesn’t happen accidentally.
Like most of my blog posts, I’m still wrestling with an idea. Is organic discipleship is an adequate model? One can definitely argue that “making” disciples is adequate. A person could easily say that Jesus himself uses this language in Matthew 28:19, however in the original Greek we could just as easily translate matheteuo as follows, “As you are going, ‘disciple the nations,’” The process-oriented word “make” really isn’t there. On the other hand, this is a two-fold activity for Jesus: baptizing and teaching. However, this is overseen and empowered by Jesus himself who says, “I am with you always…” This makes me think more of apprenticeships within a community – again a more organic model.
So, what is our role in helping people experience transformation as Jesus’ apprentices? How do we aid people in development as disciples? Are we charged to “make” disciples, or is our task one of creating an environment in which discipleship can flourish? What does that look like? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Expectation Overload
If you don’t already read Tim Stevens’ blog, let this post be an introduction to his sharp insights about the ins and outs of today’s church (especially megachurches).
