THE CURSE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CHURCH: Bleacher Christianity

Tell me something!  When did the church of North America start to become a gathering of spectators sitting in bleachers watching their favorite highly talented performers but on a show that would wow their socks off?  Tell me, when did going to church become an event one attend for an hour or two a week, on a special day, at a holy hour to watch consecrated hired men put on a religious show to astound their people?   What I'm describing here is what I call:

BLEACHER CHRISTIANITY!

In Bleacher Christianity people are recruited to attend church by promising them:

1. Great music by either an amazing band or an astounding orchestra. 
2. Fun, humorous and relevant messages that will capture and hold your attention.
3. Warm and friendly people who will greet you and make you feel like part of the family.
4. Fun filled Children's Ministry and action packed Youth Ministries
5. All delivered in our brand new or recently remodeled church facility.

Now is there anything wrong with great music, well delivered sermons, friendly people, great ministries for youth and children or even nice facilities?  No! In and of themselves alone there is absolutely nothing wrong with them at all. But when those things become the hook to attract people to church then you'll get what you advertise.  Let me say it again. When you make those things: music, humorous sermons and nice facilities your hook for reaching people 

YOU'LL GET WHAT YOU ADVERTISE!

And here is what you are advertising! You are advertising for people to check out your music, sermon or facilities. And what kind of people check out these kinds of things? 

SPECTATORS!

What are spectators looking for? Yes, of course the most obvious thing that people would be looking for is what you advertised!  But more specifically they are looking for what you were promising and that was entertainment.  Spectators attend to be entertained.  Whether it's sports event, musically event or a movie people are attending to be entertained. That's the bottom line.  

Now here is something that I learned from a church planter a long time ago: Churches will keep the people they reach the same way they were able to reach them in the first place.  If you promised the people who come to your church great music, great sermons, great facilities and great ministries then you will be able to retain them by providing them great music, great sermons and great facilities! Sorta! Why do I say, "Sorta"?  Because it also has to continue to be the best music, the best sermon, the best facilities and the best ministries in town if people are going to continue to come!  If the church stops being the biggest and best spiritual show in town and another church starts to offer better music, better facilities and better ministries then the people you reached will jump ship and go over to the newest show in town.  

So what does a church do to keep up with reaching more and more people while at the same time maintaining those that they already have reached?  

EVERY FEW YEARS THEY HAVE TO REINVENT THEMSELVES IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN BEING THE BIGGEST AND BADDEST SPIRITUAL SHOW IN TOWN!

That means that churches have to build more facilities or remodel the existing ones to look contemporary; they have to get newer and more sophisticated audio/visual equipment; and they have to add new ministries that promise to meet the newest needs of society.  In other words the church has to find new ways to WOW their members and prospects alike.  

Pastors and staff alike are working harder and harder to answer the call of their congregations crying, "Give me more, give me more, give me more."  And what happens if the church stops giving them the more and the better?  The people leave and go to next newest and baddest spiritual show in town.  There's a Biblical word for this attitude:

CARNALITY

In other words it is worldly carnality wrapped up in a pseudo spiritual covering or it's sinful worldliness made to look spiritual.  And it in no way produces what Jesus commanded the church to produce right before he ascended into heaven!  His last command to the church before he left was to go make disciples.  Listen to me carefully for I tell you the truth. While Bleacher Christianity will produce a crowd it will not produce people who are fully devoted followers of Christ; it will not produce people who love Jesus and God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength; it will never produce people who are ready to stop watching the game to jump into the field to play the game.

We think we're successful because we count the number of butts in the seats but the real measure of success is how many butts are back in the streets shining the Light of Christ!  We think we're successful because of how many people pray a sinners prayer and even go as far as getting baptized but the real measure of success is how many of those people experience a life transformation that resembles Christ!  

But we can't blame anyone but ourselves! We are the ones who have created this monster!  We invited people to come check out our music, our sermons, our buildings and our ministries and we got what we advertised for! We got spectators who came to be entertained.  The problem is that we advertised the wrong thing!

THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE ADVERTISED THE WRONG THINGS!

Instead of promoting our music, our sermons, our buildings and our ministries we should be been advertising Jesus.

JESUS SHOULD HAVE BEEN WHAT WE WERE ADVERTISING.

Listen to what Philip was promoting when he found Nathaniel:

"Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.  

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. 

“Come and see,” said Philip." John 1:45,46 (NIV)

Yes Philip was promoting something but he wasn't promoting music, sermons, buildings or ministries.  No, Philip was promoting Jesus.  His invitation to Nathaniel was to "Come and See" Jesus!  In other words the invitation of the early church was always to come and experience the Power, Presence, Provision and Proclamation of Jesus the Messiah!  And what happened to people when they came to see Jesus?  They either loved Him or hated him but those that loved him were radically transformed as they began to follow him and his way of living.  Those that followed him were not spectators who were sitting on the bleachers watching a great show they were back in the world joining Christ as He went from town to town, finding the lost and saving those who were ready to be saved.  Those who followed Christ became the participants in the ministry. They were the players on the grid iron bringing the Kingdom of God into this world with their pain and sweat.  They were the ones receiving the beatings, the floggings, the imprisonment, and yes, even the death sentence. They are the ones who gave up all this life had to offer to follow Christ, to minister with Christ and to be obedient to Christ.

NOW THAT'S THE KIND OF CHRISTIANITY THAT 

NORTH AMERICA NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE!

Let's break the curse of the North American Church! Let's stop entertaining people and start challenging people! Challenge them to follow Jesus! And we they follow let's teach them to obey all that Christ has commanded and get them back in this world to shine the Light of Christ.

Ordinary Christian it's time to get out of the bleachers and back onto the game field.  You're not to be a spectator! You're intended to be a players.  

Go Play - Go Shine 

Go Be The Light of the World!

I personally invite you to join us at THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN where we can empower you, encourage you and equip you to live a missional life for 
Christ and shine His light back into this dark world.

THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING: It's Time To Throw A Party, Step 6

We are now at step six in this blog series and this is where the rubber hits the road and where you will quickly move toward the starting of a church!  So what exactly do you do?  Up until now you have been planning and preparing.  It's been all about you and making sure you are ready to launch a new church.  Now the emphasis changes from being about you to being about others.  Now is time to start gathering people together for a common purpose that will eventually form into being a church.  Now its time to plant the seeds (people) that will take root, grow and become the church you have been praying for.  

So what do you do? How do you begin the process of gathering people that will become a new, vibrant and reproducing church?  

YOU ARE GOING TO THROW A PARTY!  

Yes, that's right I said: Throw A Party!  You may be wondering how in the world does throwing a party help launch a new church?  You may have been thinking that you needed to start with an in depth Bible Study or host some intensive Spirit filled prayer meeting.  And by the way those are good things, but when it comes to starting a church that intentionally reaches the unsaved or backslidden Christians the place to start is by throwing a party!

As one does a survey of the New Testament Gospel and the life and ministry of Jesus a very common theme keeps reoccuring.  It seems to be a very common practice of  Jesus that when he enter a new town or village due to His growing popularity that someone in that town would invite him over for a dinner party.  The truth of matter is that Jesus was very popular and was invited to lots of parties, weddings,  banquets, and receptions.  He was definitely the Who's Who among the young and upcoming Rabinical teachers and as such people felt it was good for their social standing to have Jesus as an honored guest in their home.

We need to remember that during Jesus' time and in the villages he visited there was not a whole lot of entertainment going on for the people.  For the most part the daily life of people during that time never really changed.  They would get up in the morning, eat breakfast, go bust their butts at whatever job they had, come home, eat dinner, go to bed and wake up again the next morning.  They didn't have movie theaters, theme parks, fine dinning or anything else that most of in the 21st Century use for entertainment.  So when a person of growing popularity would enter a village that was a very special treat for that community and most everyone would get involved.  Let's take a look at a particular time when Jesus invited man to come follow him and how this man responded.  It's found in Luke 5:27-32:

"After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (NIV)

This is the story of Jesus calling Matthew the tax collector, also known as Levi, to come and follow him as one of his disciples.  From this story we can learn a couple of really important things:

First, we see that when Jesus invited Matthew to join him he immediately responded and left everything to follow Christ.  God had so prepared Matthew's heart that when the opportunity to join Christ presented itself there was no hesitation on Matthews part. He immediately responded and left everything to join Christ.  This was no small sacrifice.  Matthew was a tax collector and as such was part of the higher income group of the community.  Because of his profession he was not very popular among the rest of the community. He was a Jew but worked for the Romans and as was the common practice among the tax collectors robbed the people by taking more taxes from them than they owed and pocked. In other words they sole from the people.  But now Jesus was giving Matthew a chance to change his entire life.  Matthew is now invited to become one of the disciples of one of the most popular new rabi's.  And he left everything to join Jesus!

Second, we see that after Matthew agreed to joined Jesus he immediately threw a party in honor of Christ and invited all of his friends to be guests.  Now we need to understand that Matthew's guest list was not all of the well respected people in the community because Matthew had no friends that were well respected. His relationship with the well respected people in the community consisted of gathering their taxes and probably over charging them.  Even if he had invited them they probably wouldn't have accepted out of fear of becoming a social outcast.  So who were Jesus' friends?  They were other tax collectors and those that would associate with tax collectors, sinners. His guest list consisted of the social and religious outcasts, the people that no one else would want to associate with.  Now here's the great part! 

JESUS ACCEPTED THE INVITATION TO COME TO A 

PARTY FILLED WITH SINNERS!

Jesus didn't only accept the invitation he wholeheartedly embraced it.  Jesus wasn't a reluctant attender but he was thrilled to have such a wonderful opportunity to hangout with these people.  Why?  Why would Jesus be so excited to rub elbows and party with a bunch of sinners?  Well that's the same question that some of the Pharisees asked and complained about to Jesus's disciples.  I love the response Jesus gives them and its something that we should all consistently remind ourselves as we come to start a new church.  Jesus said: 

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Why did Jesus enthusiascially accept Matthew invitation to be the honored guest at a part filled with sinners?  

BECAUSE THEY WERE JESUS'S TARGET GROUP

They were the reason why he came!  They were the central objective for his mission on earth.  Jesus explained it a little differently when he went to the home of another tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus. He told him  that He had come to seek and to save that which was lost.  

Jesus' mission was to come for people who knew they were sinners and desperately wanted to be freed from that life.  

Matthew was such a person and many of Matthews friends were those kinds of people.  Unfortuantly the Pharisee that came to check out Matthew's party wasn't one who recognized his own sin and thereby wasn't desperate for forgiveness. 

Now I think it's important to note that Jesus' mission wasn't  just to hangout and party with a bunch of sinners.  Please don't make that the lesson you learn from this.  Jesus said he had come to call sinners to repentance.  There was a redemptive purpose behind Jesus' intent for attending that party.  He came to call Matthew's friends to repentance and thereby be saved from their sin!  

I also believe that was Matthew's intent as well!  Matthew had just experience Christ himself, his call to follow and Christ's forgiveness. So now Matthew is wanting to introduce his friends to this same Jesus so they can receive what he got also.

So again I say that the next step in starting a rapidly reproducing church is to throw a party - A MATTHEW PARTY - and invite all your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers who are either unsaved or very backslidden Christian so they can experience Jesus and repent.  In step five you started to put a list of  people together and you have started praying for them, now its time to invite them over for a party where they can begin to meet Jesus.

Some of you might be thinking that it was easier for Matthew to throw this kind of party because he had Jesus there for the people to meet.  Here's my response to that:

SO DO YOU!

Jesus said  that where two or three are gathered in his name there he would be in the midst of them.  When you and your church planting partner throw this party with the intent to introduce your prospects to Jesus, Jesus himself is there through the enacting work of the Holy Spirit.  As a matter of fact it is Jesus who is doing the work, it is Jesus who is introducing himself to your friends and Jesus who is creating within your friends a prepared heart.

So what do you do at one of these parties?  Well, that depends on you!  How would you normally throw a party? What kind of things would you do at a party? Would there normally be music? What style of music? Would you serve food? Would you play games?  I can't tell you how to throw a party for your friends!  You know what kind things you would normally do at one of your parties.  That's for you to decide based upon your culture and likes. I am quite sure that Matthew's party included all of the things that he would have normally done when he threw a party.  There was probably music, dancing, food and talking and in this case listening to Jesus as he talked and taught.  So you need to throw a party that would be culturally acceptable and normal for you and your friends.

However, I can give you some basic guidelines that will help you in the planning process:

1. Make sure it includes the things that would be culturally acceptable for you and your friends.
2. Make sure there's nothing illegal, immoral, unethical or sinful.  (No strip dancers, no illegal drugs etc..)
3. Make sure that you introduce Jesus at the party and give your guest an invitation to join you and your partner in a study to learn more about Him.

Let me talk a little bit more about this third point.  Your primary objective in throwing this party is not to just have fun but to introduce Jesus to your guests and to invite them to join you in a 7 week study on Jesus. The introduction of Jesus to your guests is the objective for your party.  So how to communicate that to your guests needs to be a well thought out part of your party.  Their are three parts of your party you need to consider when planning it:

 THE INVITATION STAGE:   We are not trying to pull a fast one on our friends by inviting them to a party and then blindside them with talking about Jesus.  I am very sure that Matthew made it very clear when he threw the party that his invitation was for his guest to come and meet Jesus.  Matthew's guests knew when they came what they were getting into and could decide based upon accurate information whether they wanted to attend or not.  We need to do the same for our friends also.  So as you are designing your invitation to send out to your potential guests you need to think through how to clearly and accurately invite people to come and hear about Jesus in a way that is intriguing.

THE PARTY ITSELF:  So now you're at the party and all your friends have shown up how do you share Jesus at this party that is natural, compelling and intriguing?  Along with the music, food and games you might be doing at the party you also need to make the sharing of Jesus a major part of the party.  How do you do that?  Let me give a few suggestions to help you think through it.  Three parts to consider:

• AS PEOPLE ARE ARRIVING: Plan out what you are going to be doing while people are arriving.  Making sure the earliest guests are not just standing around getting bord.  Are you going to be playing games or offering snacks for people to munch on while others are still arriving?  Your aim here is to keep people engaged from the moment they attend.  To introduce Jesus in this part of the party you can play a game where you have people fill out a survey on how much they actually know of Jesus' life and then offer a gift for the one who gets the most right. Make sure you know the answers to the questions and where its found in the Bible.

• DURING THE PARTY ITSELF:  Along with the games, eating and dancing that you maybe doing there needs to be a well thought out time to talk about Jesus to your guests.  Where that falls into your party depends on you but you need to clearly plan how you are going to introduce Jesus to them.  This should not be left up to chance or trying to do it by flying by the seat of your pants.  Here three suggestion:

1. Show A Movie:  You could easily invite your friends over to see a movie about Jesus like The Jesus Film or The Passion Of The Christ.  Other movies might work well also like Courageous or Facing The Giants.  Movies are a great way to engage our North American Society and get discussion started.
2. Give Your Testimony:  You can use this opportunity to share with you guest about what your life was like before you give your heart over to Jesus, who you met Jesus and what your life has been like since Jesus forgave you of your sins.
3. Share A Gospel Presentation:  A Gospel Presentation is a clear and easy explanation how a person came come and experiences Christ's forgiveness of sin personally.  There are lots of good Gospel Presentations available. A couple  for you to consider are: The Bridge Presentation or The Roman Road Presentation.

• CLOSING THE PARTY:  At the close of the party you need to offer a compelling invitation for your guest to join you for a 7 week study on Christ himself as told from the Bible.  Your guests need to know that they don't need any prior Bible knowledge or religious education and that its just an opportunity for them to find out who Jesus really is according to the Bible.  Let them know when the study is going to start along with the time and location. I feel the best time to start the study is within a week and no longer than two weeks of your party.  Personally I feel 1 week should be your goal otherwise we give Satan time to distract them.  Let them know before they leave your party that you will be calling them within a day or two to see if they would like to be part of the study.

"INVITE YOUR GUEST TO JOIN YOU IN THE 7 WEEK STUDY OF CHRIST"

Following up with phone calls is absolutely essential.  Within two days call guest and answer any questions they might have and try to secure their commitment to attend.  Now here is what's going to happen. Some of the guests  will definitely say no to participating in the study of Jesus, others will say they might but may need to take care of others things first and then a few will say, "YES" and they will be ready to learn and eventually receive Jesus.  Don't worry about the one's who say, "NO". Let them walk.  The people are wishy washy about being part of the study consider them as a "NO" also and let them walk.  Put all your time, attention and effort to the few who say "YES" and are eager to know more about Jesus.  It is these people from which the fruit will grow and from which more disciples will come.  They are the good soil that will reap a harvest of 40, 60 and 100 fold.

What if by some chance you throw your party and no one decides to be part of your study of Jesus?  Do what Jesus taught the 72 to do in Luke 10.  Shake the dust off your feet and move on to other family and friends who need to hear about Jesus and throw another Matthew Party and you keep doing this until you find those people who are ready to get to know Jesus.

Home Work:

1. Set a date, time and location for you PARTY.
2. Design and mail out your party invitations in a way that will let you guests know that you will be sharing Jesus with them.
3. Plan what you will be doing at your party and specifically how you are going to introduce Jesus to them.
4. Pray for the party and those who might attend.
5. THROW THE PARTY!  Do It!!

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A NORTH AMERICAN CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT INITIATIVE

A North American Church Planting Movement Initiative

UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS: By A Guest Post Writer, Dr. Terry Dorsett

The phone call ended with a sense of frustration. I had just finished yet another conversation with the same pastor about some struggles he was having in his church. The struggles were very real, and sadly, quite common. Some leaders in his church had different opinions about how certain things should be done. This was creating tension between himself and those leaders. It was not really a theological issue, since both the pastor and the leadership group seemed right on target theologically and doctrinally. But they did not seem to be able to find unity on how to do certain things in the church. Regretfully, that tension had begun to build and, as often happens in the church, people were starting to use the "God told me" line. Once people start claiming that God told them something, it is almost impossible to compromise with them and the only solution they will accept is one that agrees 100% with their viewpoint. I did my best to offer helpful advice and spent time praying with the pastor, but deep in my heart, I feared that it would not end well.

Though I wish this phone call was rare, the reality is that this is a common experience, not only for pastors, but for anyone who aspires to be a leader in the context of Christian community. I have spent a lot of time thinking, reflecting and praying about why these things happen. Though I am still formulating my thoughts, it seems to me that one of the key reasons this happens is because we often have unrealistic expectations of others. We expect people to be perfect, forgetting that we are not perfect ourselves. We do not like it when people use a sharp tone of voice with us, but excuse ourselves when we are tired, or frustrated, and use a sharp tone with others. Just because a person is a Christian, even in a position of leadership, does not mean they are perfect. People have bad days and good days. People have weeks when they spend extra time in prayer, and weeks when they do not spend enough time in prayer. It is an unrealistic expectation to think that everyone in leadership will be perfect all the time.

Even when everyone involved has a good day at the same time, we may have different opinions based on our life experiences. I recall getting frustrated once with a group of church leaders about an insurance matter. I just could not see why they could not understand my perspective. After the meeting was over, one of the leaders spoke to me privately. He simply said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but how much do you really know about insurance?" I had to admit that I knew very little. He went on to explain that two of the five members of the group had extensive experience in that area and it just made sense to trust their judgment on the matter. I was humbled, and decided to heed his advice. It is unrealistic to think that we will understand every detail about every issue.

Many churches would have less tension if they let go of unrealistic expectations. We should accept that sometimes people say and do things they should not have said or done. Obviously, if a pattern of bad behavior exists, then the person may need to be removed from leadership. But if no such pattern exists, then we should accept that they were having a bad day and we should forgive easily and pray fervently for them. We should also accept that no one person is an expert on everything, including ourselves. We should offer our opinions on matters that we are knowledgeable about and remain quiet on issues that are outside our scope of expertize. Just because a thought comes to our mind, does not mean it must escape our lips.

Being a leader in a Christian community can be a challenge, but if we let go of our unrealistic expectations, it is a challenge worth engaging in!

You can find this post in its original form at: Next Generation Evangelistic Network

Dr. Dorsett is an amazing church life and missional practitioner. He has lots of insights and understanding in the ways of God.  I encourage you to subscribe to his blog and be blessed.

THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN'S GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING - Step 4: Develop A Prayer Strategy

Now that you have formed a church planting team of at least two people to start this new church what do you do next?  Do you immediately go out to the mall with your huge family Bible in tow screaming to those passing by,  "Turn or burn"?  (Please know I mean that only tongue in cheek).  But really!  What do you do?  Where do you start?  How do you go from forming a leadership team to having a vibrant and growing church family?  The answer might surprise you, might even seem somewhat passive and to some unproductive.  But let me assure you this next step is definitely not passive nor unproductive and if left undone or poorly implemented will be a surefire way to failure.  I CANNOT OVER EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS NEXT STEP so please pay close attention and heed my words.  This next step is not just a good thing to do but when it comes to starting a new church it is an absolutely essential thing.  Success without fully implementing this next step is impossible.

So what is it?  When Jesus sent the twelve out two by two and then later when he sent out the 70 he taught them the importance of this next essential step.  Read what God's word has to say:

"Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest ... Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness ... These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: 'Do not go in the way of the Gentile, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  And as you go, preach, saying 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand."  Matthew 9:36-10:1; 10:5-7 (NAS)

"Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He himself was going to come.  And He was saying to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." Luke  10:1-2 (NAS)

In both of these scriptures we see Jesus getting ready to send out teams of people to spread the Kingdom of God to those towns and villages where he was about to go and in both instances Jesus emphasizes the importance of PRAYER.   In both verses Jesus first shares the observation that the spiritual harvest fields were ripe and ready to be picked but there was not enough workers to gather the harvest.  Then Jesus gives them the same solution.  The solution wasn't for the teams to just work harder or for the teams to just do their best.  No, the solution that Jesus gave them was to PRAY!  Pray to the Lord of the Harvest (God our Father) to send out more laborers into the field.  The fourth step in starting a healthy and reproducing church is for you and your team to:

DEVELOP A POWERFUL AND COMPREHENSIVE PRAYER STRATEGY

The importance of prayer in the church planter's personal life  and in the vitality and strength of the church itself cannot be over emphasized.  As a matter of fact I am not sure if we can emphasize it enough.  Prayer is the spiritual conduit from which the power and provision of God flows from His throne into our lives.  It is the means by which his children receive all they need! It is impossible to live the Christian life apart from the daily communion with God through prayer

WHAT DOES AN EFFECTIVE 
PRAYER STRATEGY CONSIST OF?

PERSONAL PRAYER LIFE. As a church planter your personal prayer life is of first importance.  It is naive to think that a person can start a healthy and reproducing church without their own personal prayer life being up to par.  Church planting is a highly volatile enterprise to undertake spiritually.  When a person decides that they are going to be obedient to Christ and start a church where people will come to faith in Christ, grow spiritually stronger and actively engage in the mission that Christ has set for us they have in essence put a bulls eye target on their chest offering a challenge to Satan to take his best shot.  And I guarantee you that Satan will take that challenge.  Just like he did with Peter and Job Satan will be demanding of God the opportunity to sift you like wheat and the interesting part is that there will be times that God will grant Satan permission.  There will be times that God will allow Satan the opportunity to attack you spiritually and press you to your limits.  As hard as that might be to understand it is absolutely true.   Thankfully, though, God also determines the limits of what Satan can and cannot do.  Do you really think that a person who is not daily close to God through prayer will be able to stand up under the pressure of the trials and tribulations that Satan will bring upon him?  It is for this very reason that Jesus, on the night he was arrested took Peter, James and John further into the Garden of Gethsemane and asked them to join him in prayer.  Jesus was about to go through the biggest spiritual battle of his mortal life and he knew he needed to be prayed up to go through it.  But not just Jesus!  Jesus knew that Peter was about ready to experience a huge spiritual battle as well.  That's the reason why Jesus came back and said to Peter who was sleeping,  "Keep watching and praying that you may not fall into temptation the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."  Here we have two perfect examples in contrast.  Jesus understanding the seriousness of the moment sought strength from God his Father while Peter who had failed to take Jesus' admonition seriously slept when he should have been praying and as a result was spiritually unable to meet Satan's challenge and failed miserably.  

Around the world where we find God's activity through church planting movements we see the "ordinary" Christian church planters getting up each day early in the morning to spend an hour or two in prayer.  This is their normal daily prayer routine.  Compare that to the North American Christian who spends less that 15 minutes a day in a time of consecrated prayer.  The "ordinary" Christian church planters around the world understand that prayer isn't something you can hurry through.  They understand their spiritual health, vitality and protection is directly dependent upon the amount of time and quality of time they spend with God through prayer.  When they pray they're praying for themselves, their family, their lost family, friends and co-workers and the salvation of people. When they pray they're asking for God's power, presence, protection and provision.  They are praising God for all the great things they have witnessed him doing.  They are confessing their sins and forgiving those who have sinned against them. They are praying on the spiritual armor of God so they will be fully prepared to face the enemy when, and not if, he attacks.  

So with this in mind you need to ask yourself how much time do you spend in consecrated prayer.  That means a specific time set aside for you to meet up with God. I'm not talking about offering up prayers throughout the day (which is needful) but I'm talking about a specific time set aside for you to meet with God daily.

How much time, like that, do you spend with God daily?  If it is anything under an hour you need to improve.  An hour should be the minimal amount of time you spend in prayer with God each day.  Why?  Because Jesus when talking with Peter in the garden asked him, "Couldn't you keep watch with me for one hour?" as if one hour was no big deal.  Jesus knew that Peter was about to have the biggest spiritual fight of his life and in essence was telling him that he was going to need an hour at least to get through it.  We should take heed of Jesus' advice as well.  

CHURCH PLANTING TEAM PRAYER MEETINGS.  In addition to having your own personal daily and powerful prayer life the church planting team needs to spend time together at least weekly praying for God's power and wisdom in developing this new church.  Remember we talked about having a church planting team of at least two people for the purpose of encouragement and greater effectiveness.  Prayer needs to be one of the regular activities that the team does together.  Praying together will bring the team under the Lordship of Christ; create unity of heart, mind and spirit; and enable them to experience the power of God in a unified way.  If it's not happening yet your church planting team should IMMEDIATELY start meeting weekly.  START PRAYING TOGETHER WEEKLY AS A TEAM!

PRAYER WARRIOR GROUP.  A prayer warrior group is a group of people committed to helping you start this new church through daily prayer.  These are people who love to pray and love you.  These are people who will pray for your needs, the needs of the new church, the needs of people who you are reaching, for your spiritual protection and for God's favor in this church planting venture.  

In the area of spiritual warfare the prayers of these warriors are like shooting off spiritual tactical missiles into the enemy's territory which create the SHOCK AND AWE EFFECT that will send Satan and his crew retreating.  Every church planter needs this kind of prayer support.  Even the Apostle Paul thanked and praised different churches who ministered to him not only physically while on his missionary journeys but also spiritually through prayer.  There is something very comforting and reassuring knowing that there are people who are lifting you and your new church up before the throne of God.

With the advent of social media like Facebook the creating of this kind of Prayer Warrior Group has become easy with the ability to gather several hundred people to pray very quickly.  A church planter that I am mentoring right now, Tracy Odom, has created a prayer group that has over 240 people in it in less than two weeks.  He is now able to at least weekly, if not daily, update his prayer warriors on new things to be praying about and how God has answered old prayer requests.  Quite literally you could have people all over North America, if not around the world, praying for you.  It is my suggestion that you should strive to form a group of 200 to 300 people who will truly pray for you.  You should update them at least weekly with both new requests and updates on old requests.  Send them pictures of the people you are witnessing to and the new converts you are praying for.  When you do events or activities take pictures and send them to your prayer warriors so they can rejoice with you and offer up heartfelt thanks to God.  Let this group pray about EVERYTHING concerning the new church.

CATEGORIES TO PRAY OVER

• CHURCH PLANTERS NEEDS: Every church planter/team will have personal needs that they will need for God to provide.  God has promised that if we are seeking His kingdom and His righteousness that all the things that we need, not necessarily the things we want, will be provided for us.  In the book of James we are told that we do not have what we need from God because we don't ask God to meet that need.  It also tells us that the times we do ask but don't receive is because we are asking with the wrong motives of gratifying our sinful flesh or we ask with a lack of faith.  

• WORKERS: In the verses we cited earlier from the books of Matthew and Luke we see that the solution to the lack of workers in the field is to pray for God to raise them up and send them out into the field.  Therefore, it is vital that prayers be lifted up to provide more workers for the church. 

• SPIRITUAL SIGHT TO SEE WHERE GOD IS AT WORK: Jesus shared his strategy for knowing what to do.  He said that he did nothing on his own initiative but only what he saw the Father doing and whatever he saw the Father do he joined him in that work.  That should be our strategy as well but in order to do that we need to have spiritual eyes that God has opened to see where He is working.  This spiritual sight can only happen when God reveals to us what he is doing.  As a church planter our daily prayer should be for God to open our eyes to see where he is at work that day and to give us the faith to join him.

• SPIRITUAL PROTECTION:  As I shared earlier there will be times when Satan is going to ask God's permission to sift you like wheat and God is going to grant him that permission.  We call this spiritual warfare.  Satan's intent is to destroy your faith but God's plan is to use it to strengthen your faith.  James 1:1 says, "Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing."  We need prayers lifted up on our behalf asking God to strengthen and encourage us during those times of testing.  AND ORDINARY CHRISTIAN YOU ARE GOING TO BE TESTED!

• NAMES OF THE SPIRITUAL LOST:  Our mission is to Make Disciples of Christ. That means we are to seek out, in this dark world, people who don't know Jesus, befriend them and share the good news of Jesus with them.  Those people need to be prayed for by name.  Prayer is our way of preparing the spiritual ground of lost people's lives to be ready to receive the seed of the gospel.  Preparing the hearts of the lost is a work that only God can do.  God the Father is the gardener who prepares the ground.  The Bible says that no one comes to Jesus unless the Father first draws him.  Our prayers, therefore, are to intercede on behalf of the lost people we have met, pleading with God to work in their lives and draw them to Jesus.

• NEW DISCIPLES SPIRITUAL GROWTH:  As people come to faith in Christ and experience the new birth they need to grow up and learn to obey all that Christ has commanded.  As we all know that growth is not always an easy road to travel.  These newborn children need the prayers of their spiritual family interceding before God on their behalf.  

HOMEWORK:

1. Pick a time and place where you will meet God daily for at least one hour for a personal time of prayer.
2. Start meeting weekly together with your church planting team for prayer and planning.  Pick a day and time for that weekly prayer/planning meeting.
3. In some way form a Prayer Warriors Group using social media or some other way and start sending weekly prayer requests and updates.  Make it your goal to recruit 200 to 300 strong prayer warriors.
4. Start a Prayer Journal listing the prayer needs from the four categories (Church Planter Needs, Workers, Spiritual Sight, Spiritual Protection, Names of Lost People, and Names of New Disciples).  Start praying over them personally, in your leadership team meeting and share them with your prayer warriors.  
5. Keep a record of how God has answered your prayers.

THE ORDINARY CHRISTIANS' GUIDE TO CHURCH PLANTING Part 1: INTRODUCTION

LET ME JUST STATE VERY CLEARLY FROM THE BEGINNING!  

It is my firm conviction that the best people to start churches are ordinary Christians, with no special religious training, who are bold in their witness, indigenous to their target group

 and spends a lot time with Jesus! 

THEY ARE THE ONES WHO CAN BEST REFLECT THE GLORY OF GOD TO A LOST AND 
DYING COMMUNITY.

These are the kind of men that Jesus chose to be His disciples and to become His apostles.  These are the kind of people that God has used throughout the centuries to spread the Kingdom of God.  These are the individuals that God used in Southern Baptist life to start churches that caused them to become the largest protestant denomination in North America.  These are the kind of men that God used in the 70's during the Jesus Movement  to start some of the largest churches we have today in North America.  And this is the kind of person that God is still choosing to use that will ignite a new church planting movement throughout North America at this very hour!

ORDINARY PEOPLE USED BY AN  EXTRAORDINARY GOD 

TO START AMAZING CHURCHES!

In cooperation with what I see God doing I write this blog series.  This is a blog NOT for:

• the trained professional ministers who have spent countless hours in study and preparation to do the work of ministry from some seminary or Bible college, 
• or the Christian who is looking for some nice devotional material on missions to meditate upon,
• or the academic theologian who wishes to debate the theological implications of church planting!

No!  This is for those ordinary Follower of Christ who is sensing God's leadership to become actively involved in His mission by starting a new church.  This series of blogs is intended to encourage the People of God  to have the faith that God can do anything, through anybody, including them, and even if that means starting a new church.  I am writing this blog to take away the mystery and mystic surrounding church planting.

 THIS BLOG SERIES IS FOR YOU 
THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN!

It is my prayer that two things will develop as a result of these blogs:

1. First that you the ordinary Follower of Christ and others just like you all over North America will begin to sense God's leadership in starting a new church and that an army of  ordinary church planters will be raised up, trained up and unleashed into the church planting fields of North America.
2. Second, that this army of ordinary christian church planters will ignite Church Planting Movements throughout the urban centers of North America unlike the world has ever seen before.

So before I get started in writing the other blogs, that actually give more of the "how to's" of church planting, I need to share what I mean by a church planter.  I do not believe that the term Church Planter is necessarily synonymous with Pastor or Elder.  There have been many people who have started churches that were not pastors nor every became a pastor.  A church planter is one who knows how to reach people for Christ and gather them together to form a body of believers under the Lordship of Christ.  That doesn't mean they are the one who will sit down and deliver a sermon or teach a Bible lesson.  So regardless of your personal theological position of women pastors or women in ministry a woman could be a church planter.  There have been many great churches started by some amazing and ordinary pioneer women who never preached a single sermon from a pulpit or a taught Bible lesson to a man.  These churches later would called a pastor to come shepherd them.  I personally am very conservative in my theological view points in this matter but I have no problem whatsoever when it comes to women starting/planting churches.  So quite literally this blog series is for all people who claim to have faith in Jesus Christ and a growing, vibrant relationship with Him.

So let's see if you could be part of this new breed of church planters that God is raising up in North America.  Answer yourself the following questions:

1. Have you personally, by faith, repented from your sins, believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, raised back to life three days later and confess Jesus to be the Lord of your life?
2. Do you have a vibrant and growing relationship with Jesus where Christ is living His life through you and you are resting in His completed work in you?
3. Do you believe that God can do anything, through anybody, including you?
4. Are you passionate about actively participating in Christ's mission of discipling the nations (every ethnic group)?
5. Are you willing to go whereever Christ leads and to whomever He leads even if they are pretty undesirable people?
6. Are you willing to gather these people into your home for Bible Study, worship and prayer?
7. And finally, are you teachable, faithful and humble?

If you can answer "YES" to these questions congratulations!

YOU CAN BE A CHURCH PLANTER

If you are willing to come with me on this journey in starting a new church I would ask you to commit to a few things:

• First at the end of this initial blog leave a comment that says, "I'M IN!" With your name and place where you live.  I ask this because I wanting to pray for you along with my DREAM TEAM/PRAYER WARRIORS as you plant this new church.  Having people committed to praying for you in this spiritual endeavor is absolutely essential.  I have over 300 people who are committed to praying for me as I start a new church in Tucson, AZ called The Fellowship Of The Cross and for Church Planting Movements throughout North America.  So please leave that information.

• You will have ASSIGNMENTS to complete.  Each new blog will build off the previous blog so it is essential that you complete each assignment.  Please don't try to skip an assignment and just move on.  To do so is a plan to fail.  You will be asked to share what you did in your assignment as a "COMMENT" at the end of each post.

• Daily pray for all those who say, "I'M IN" because we are going to become a FELLOWSHIP OF CHURCH PLANTERS storming the gates of hell and we will need the encouragement that each of us can provide.

So here it goes, that competitive part of my nature is coming out in me! 
How many of you will accept the challenge of starting a new church this next year?  

I DARE YOU!  I DOUBLE DARE!  

If you accept the challenge you will be utterly amazed what God will do through you!!  Here we go!  The journey has now begun!

SO WHO'S IN?

THE NEW BREED OF CHURCH PLANTERS: Part 5: They're Indigenous

My first four posts on this blog series were about the New Breed Of Church Planters that God is raising up in North America and dealt specifically with the characteristics that were identified with Peter and John as they stood before the Jewish council giving an account for their witness and preaching of Jesus' resurrection.  They were found to be bold, ordinary, uneducated men who had spent time with Jesus.  I think that no one would disagree that these two apostles were pretty effective in their endeavors as church planters.  But in this final post and as I talk about the fifth characteristic of the New Breed of
Church Planters I draw my conclusions from my own personal observations of being a church planter and mentoring church planters.

When wanting to start a new church in a particular area it has been a common practice among many denominations and in particular my denomination (Southern Baptist) to look far and wide to find that perfect church planter.  Many times these church planters are brought in from states different from the place where the new church is being planted.  The group that is calling this new church planter then spends money relocating them, getting them set up, and providing start up equipment and this is in addition to the time and money that has already been spent searching for this new church planter.

In other words a huge financial expense has been invested and the expectations for success are enormous.  Sadly to say, a large percentage of these church planters just don't pan out.  They're on the field for a few years, three to five, and then they are heading back home, wherever that might be.

There are two major reasons why these relocated church planters have not panned out.  The first is due to their outside financial support running out and the new church is not yet strong enough financially to support themselves.  When starting a new church denominational leaders have an expectation that over a  period of a few years the new church will be able to be financially self-supporting. This time period, ironically, is the same time period in which church planters usually leave to go back home, it is a three to five year period.  What happens is that the church planter and his family are then faced with the decision to either look for another job in addition to pastoring the church or take the experience gained from starting the new church and going back home to pastor a more established church that is able to support them.

The second reason is more sociological than financial.  There are many cultural differences throughout the North American landscape and taking a person/family from one culture and placing them in a different culture and still expecting them to thrive can be a tall order if they have not been adequately trained.  What happens over time when the newness and romance of the new location and church wears off, is that the internal calling of "HOME" keeps getting louder and louder.  Memories of family and cultural traditions keep tugging at the heart.  Over time this tugging keeps getting stronger and stronger. Sometimes it's not even an internal calling but a real and physical calling of family members back home asking if they are planning to come home soon.  Some people will say that the solution is to do an even better job of interviewing or to do a better job of preparing the church planting family for cross cultural ministry.

QUITE FRANKLY THE PROBLEM IS THAT THIS STRATEGY IS  DESIGNED TO FAIL!

Most people are not spiritually gifted for cross-cultural ministry.  Moving a church planter from one part of the United States to another, regardless if he is reaching out to people who are of the same ethnic group, he will encounter a huge cultural divide.  The solution is not to tweak this ineffective strategy - the solution is to scrap it and establish a more effective and, I believe, Biblical one.

THE SOLUTION IS TO LOOK FOR THE PERFECT CHURCH PLANTERS

FROM WITHIN THE HARVEST!  

A church planting professor of mine always said, "The resources are in the harvest!"  Whether it be financial resources or ministry personnel, resources can always be found in the harvest of new souls being reached for Christ.  I most certainly believe that is also true when it comes to finding the perfect church planters to start the large number of new churches that we need in North America.

THE BEST POTENTIAL CHURCH PLANTERS ARE THOSE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE THAT ARE REACHED FROM WITHIN THE NEW TARGET AREA OR PEOPLE GROUP.

The rising new breed of church planters are those people who have been born and raised in, and are part of the targeted community.  They are truly the absolute best candidates for being successful as a church planter.  This is true for a few reasons:

• Indigenous Church Planters Don't Have To Exegete the Community They Are The Community. Indigenous church planters instinctively know what will work and what will fail.  This hasn't been learned by books or studies.  They understand it because they understand the values of the community intrinsically.  

• Indigenous Church Planters Won't Get Homesick Because They Are Already Home.  Indigenous church planters already have a network of family, friends and business associates well established. Family members won't be pulling on the emotional heartstrings because the family members only live a few miles away.

• Indigenous Church Planters Don't Need Financial Support Because God Has Already Provided That Support Within The Community.  This rising new breed of church planters, for the most part, already have the financial support they need.  For many, their spouses are the primary bread winners, or the church planter has another source of income, and some are able to work a full time job as well as start a church.

THIS IS NOT ONLY TRUE SOCIOLOGICALLY BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE BIBLICALLY!

In Luke 10:1-24 Jesus is sending out the 72 into every town and village he is about to go.  After appointing the 72 Jesus said this to them:

"The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.  Therefore, pray earnestly to the 

Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."  (v. 2)

Then Jesus teamed them up two by two and gave them some very specific instructions. Part of those instructions were:

"Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace be to this house!' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him.  But if not, it will return to you.  And remain  in the same house, 

eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go 

from house to house." (v. 5-7)

It is my personal belief that the finding of this "Person Of Peace" is the answer to the prayer that Jesus instructed the 72 to pray in regards to finding more laborers in His fields.  Truly this is finding the church planter resource from within the harvest.

So let me offer this suggestion to denominations on a new strategic direction for 

church planting in North America:

1. Hire a few people with the spiritual giftedness for cross-cultural ministry to be, not church planters, but to be what the International Mission Board calls Strategy Coordinators.  The Strategy Coordinators job would be to develop a strategy for raising up indigenous and ordinary Christians as church planters in their particular people group or geographical area.
2. Create a discipleship/mentoring process for training these indigenous church planters.
3. Unleash these church planters and try not to control them.  Don't bottleneck the movement of God with a bunch unnecessary rules and regulations.
4. Don't pay these indigenous church planters a salary.  Since they are indigenous they have already established their financial resources.
5. Do provide resources for culturally relevant evangelism/outreach and discipleship events and materials.

God is raising up a new breed of church planters.  Some may feel a sense of excitement and anticipation with their arrival.  Others may hate it and wish it wasn't so.  Whether you like it or hate it God is bringing it about.  You can either hop on the train and join it or move out of the way and get left behind but one thing is for sure you won't stop it.  I for one am only filled with gratitude and thankfulness for this new fresh wind and this new breed of church planters.  

THANK YOU GOD FOR THIS FRESH BREATH OF AIR!

THE RISING BREED OF CHURCH PLANTERS: Part 4 They're Peculiarly Odd

For church planters to be effective there needs to be something about them that is radically different from the rest of the world.  Their values, ambitions, and goals need to be peculiarly odd to the rest of the world.  This kind of difference only comes from the time spent hanging out with one who embodies those particular peculiarities.  Values are more caught than taught!  People become like the people they spend the bulk of their time with.  If you hangout with people who value money more than anything else you are more likely to become a person who values money more than anything else.  If the majority of your time is spent with people who are bigots and prejudice then there is a pretty good chance that you will become a prejudiced bigot.  So for a church planter to be spiritually peculiarly odd to the world around them they need to have spent a significant amount of time hanging out with someone who is spiritually peculiarly odd!  So where does a church planter find such an association?  We find the answer again with the Apostle Peter and John as they are standing in front of the Jewish leaders being ordered not preach or teach in the name of Jesus.

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.


One of the characteristics of Peter and John that caught the eye and attention of the Jewish leaders was that they had spent time with Jesus.  Now the most probable interpretation of this passage was that they recognized them as ones who had been with Jesus because they had seen them with Jesus teaching at the Temple or at one of the many parties that they had attended with Jesus.  It's probably not the best interpretation to say that this passage is referring to some lifestyle that the disciples were exhibiting that was intrinsically Christ-like that caught the attention of the Jewish leaders though that was probably true about them.  Instead, it is more accurate to say that the Jewish leaders were amazed that these disciples were not trying to hide themselves or deny the fact that they were followers of Christ.  Their conduct and speech were blatantly unapologetic that they were Christ's followers inspite of the fact that Jesus not much earlier had been executed.  The question that these Jewish leaders must have been asking themselves was, "Why would anyone wish to be associated with a convicted and executed criminal?"  Peter and John made no attempt to hide their association with Christ. It was an easy conclusion for the Jewish leaders to arrive at.  Anyone listening to them teach would quickly recognize that association.

The church planters that God is raising up today make no apologies for the fact that they are fully devoted followers of Jesus.  It's not hard for the people who come into contact with them to quickly discover that they are Christians and that they follow the way of Jesus.  It's not because these church planters dress differently from other people or that they speak with some special vocabulary that reveals it.  No, the fact is that most of these new church planters look very much like everyone else and their vocabulary is pretty ordinary as well.  It's not the choice of words that makes the distinction but it's content of their message.  The message of these new church planters is strictly Christ centered.  These church planters make no attempts to hide the fact that they follow Jesus.  It is clear to all who get to know them that Jesus Christ is their highest value.

These new church planters aren't trying to sneak in the name of Jesus or covertly  attract the unchurched by promising them special worldly things.  That might work well for a marketing campaign for secular businesses but that is not the message from this new breed of church planters.  No, these church planters understand that their mission is not to build a crowd but to make disciples of Jesus and how one chooses to pursue that mission will greatly affect the outcome.  These church planters understand that just because you can build a crowd doesn't mean you have made disciples who love Jesus more than anyone or anything else.  They know that just because you have people flocking to your church facility doesn't mean that these people are willing to sacrifice their lives in obedient service to Christ.  So instead of thinking up gimmicks that will attract a larger crowd or even satisfy the insatiable carnal appetite for a religious high this new breed of church planter preaches Jesus Christ crucified, raised from the dead and coming again to judge both the living and the dead.  They preach that the way to find your life is to first lose your life for Christ.  They are teaching that in order to experience true freedom from sin you must first offer yourself as a slave to Christ.  When this new breed of church planters speak there is no doubt that they have been with Christ, they love Christ and they have forsaken everything to follow Christ!  And because of this clear and close association with Christ the world looks at them as being peculiarly odd.

But it is the peculiar oddness that seems to be attractive to some who wish to know the truth.  It is both the sense of these church planters being in the world but yet in many ways not of the world that intrigue many lost people.  It is the fact that these church planters might look like everyone else, sound like everyone else and in many ways enjoy the same things as everyone else but yet have a totally different value system that causes the unchurched to stand up and take notice.  The world looks at the church planters sees the difference and also clearly, powerfully and unapologetically hears that the difference is JESUS. For many this verbal and lifestyle message of Jesus is like honey to a bee.  For this rising breed of new church planters making sure the message of Jesus Christ is clearly heard in all that is said and done is of paramount importance. This new breed of church planter instinctively knows that the world will have nothing to do with the church if the church is no different from the world.  These church planters also know that the world's first contact with Christ quite possibly is  through them. 

SO I SAY,
" LET'S BE PECULIARLY ODD FOR JESUS!"