the reluctant leader

Mega-Church Myths

Mega-church bashing is gaining popularity these days. But is it fair?

Last year Ed Stat-King Stetzer blogged about the Baylor Religion Survey, one of the most extensive surveys ever conducted on American religious attitudes.

Baylor Professor, Dr. Rodney Stark, commented about the survey results that, "none of the things we all believe about the megachurch is true."

Here are some interesting and surprising facts about the American mega-church, from the Baylor survey:

When compared to small congregations, megachurch members…

1 - display a higher level of personal commitment by attending worship services, Bible study groups and tithing

2 - are more likely to accept that heaven "absolutely" exists and that God rewards the faithful

3 - are more convinced of the reality of evil

4 - have far more religious and mystical experiences

5 - are significantly younger in age

6 - are remarkably active in volunteer work (as much or more so than tiny churches)

So, if you want to increase the commitment level, the tithe level, the volunteer level – then don’t stay small, grow your church.

Why Are So Many Churches So Weak?

Many churches are weak because…

- People need discipleship and leadership, but pastors offer counseling and pop psychology

- People need the eternal life-changing truth of God’s word, but pastors preach relevant and entertaining, but powerless messages

- People need to do life together, but they end up doing church together instead

What do you think – why are so many churches so weak?

Evil Religion

Ever noticed that religious people value programs more than people, rules more than relationships?

Jesus addressed this attitude when he rebuked the Pharisees and their religious system for allowing people to help a donkey on the Sabbath, but not allowing them to help hurting people on the Sabbath. (Luke 14:14-16)

Why did Pharisees value donkeys more than people?
Why do we act like our religious programs, rules and traditions are more important than people?

Since Jesus died for people, not for donkeys - maybe we should value people more than religious traditions, programs and rules.

***posting from gate 10, melbourne airport - nz to australia to singapore to manila - 18 hours - almost home - yea!***

Church is Boring

Church is boring, at least that’s what millions around the world think. How about you, is your church experience boring you to death - eternal death?

Victory’s Metro Manila congregations are starting a 3-week series called, “Church is Boring.”

According to the Bible the church is supposed to be marked by:

-  Authentic Community (week 1)
-  Prayer for All Nations (week 2)
-  Active Participation (week 3)

Unfortunately church experience is often:
-  more pretend than authentic
-  more about itself than the nations
-  more about watching spiritual superstars than personal participation

That’s why church is boring.

Is church boring to you? Why?

Money & Ministry

A few months ago, I was asked to talk to 150 of our Victory and Every Nation staff members about budgeting and money at our annual Manila planning meeting.

After telling old stories, I mentioned 6 principles and attitudes that have guided the way we have raised, managed, spent and accounted for money at Victory-Philippines for the past 25 years.

1. Faith – God is our source. Always has been, even when the church was small and poor, and our offerings were heavy (all coins, no paper).

2. Stewardship – God owns it all, and we will give an account to Him for how we raise, manage, spend and account for His money.

3. Generosity – We give our best to our missionaries our staff, and to the poor in our congregations and those we serve through the Real Life Foundation. It is now popular in the West to be generous to the poor in Africa, while ignoring the poor in our communities.

4. Integrity – How we raise, manage, spend and account for ministry money is important to God, and to people. Our goal has always been to raise and spend money in ways that honor God. It is possible (and common) to raise ministry money, but dishonor God at the same time.

5. Professionalism – Churches and ministries should live by the highest professional standards. We hire the best to do our external audits, and we have made it clear to them that we want to be held to the highest standards, not to the barely-get-by the law standard.

6. Wisdom – I am fortunate to have smart people around me I can ask for help with negotiations, contracts, investments, legal issues and other financial matters that pastors are not trained to handle. (Lost a key adviser last week.)

What guides you as you manage God's money?

Thoughts on Building a Multi-ethnic Church

My home church in America, Bethel-Brentwood, is about 45% African-American, about 45% white and about 10% Latino and Asian.

It did not get that way by accident - but by combination of divine call and deliberate leadership decisions.

Bethel is a big church, but if we decided to be a black church or a white church or a Latino church, we would probably be a bigger church. But we would not be what God wants us to be. We will get bigger, but we’ll do it the slow way, by keeping diversity and discipleship as non-negotiable principles.

Here’s how one Bethel pastor explained Bethel’s multi-ethnic mix to a university student who was doing a research paper on race relations and religion:

• Bethel rejects the concept of “race” as presented by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

• Bethel embraces God’s classification of humanity as expressed in Acts 17:26.
("From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.")

• Bethel is intentional about diversity on its pastoral team, staff, pulpit and worship team.

• Bethel celebrates different cultures and ethnic diversity.

Doing church with deliberate diversity might be the slow way, but for us in the Every Nation world, it is the only way. I love the way God has called us to do church, by reaching "every nation, every tribe, every language" and every generation!

*** New post on the "accidential missionary" site: Urgent Prayer Request from Friends in India

Why Some Church Plants Succeed and Others Don’t

More thoughts from our Church Planters Boot Camp…

Some church plants succeed.
Others fail.
Why?

Here are some reasons new church plants succeed:

1. Above Average Leadership. Some leadership guru said: “everything rises and falls on leadership.” If you are not an above average leader, you can be. Find a mentor or a coach, and you will become a better leader.

2. God’s Blessing. Church planting is spiritual business and therefore requires supernatural power in order to succeed. That’s why you have to pray. And believe.

3. Good Plan. Supernatural power and strategic planning are not mutually exclusive. Successful church plants require both. Again, if you are not a strategic thinker, find a mentor or a coach and start learning.

4. First In. Location, location, location. One simple key to church planting success is to get there before everyone else. The first church plant in a community has a better chance of success than the 100th.

5. Healthy Launch. Some of my smart expert friends say that a good launch is 80% of the reason for the success of a new church plant. How you start predicts your future. So, if you did not start right, find a mentor or a coach and consider a re-launch.

Most Churches are Small…

Most churches are small. Here are the facts:

- Of the 380,000 churches in America, only 1500 are mega-churches (larger than 2500)
- Most of these mega-churches are in six major metro areas, with Dallas and Atlanta topping the list.
- 90% of churches in the world are 200 or smaller.
- 98% of Filipino churches are under 300
- Most churches that stop growing at 75 never reach another lost person, ever.

I am often asked if I think all churches can/should be big.
Depends on what “big” means.
        300 is big in Japan, not in Manila
        100 is big in Bangladesh, not in Nashville
        50 is big in Laos, not in Korea
        15 is big in Afghanistan, not in Nigeria

No, I don’t think all churches should/can be big. But I do think all churches can and should be BIGGER than they are right now. 

As long as there is 1 unsaved person in your family, in  your neighborhood, on your campus, in your office, in your city, then your church is not big enough and it needs to be bigger.
 

Big? Not necessarily.
Bigger? Absolutely!

Maybe we can’t all be big, but we can all be bigger. And we should all want to be bigger. We should all occasionally leave the 99 and go after the lost 1. Too many churches function as if the 99 are more important than the lost 1.

Warning: controversial statement coming…
Jesus seemed to put evangelism, not worship, at the top of the spiritual priority pile.

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents (that sounds like EVANGELISM) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent (that sounds like a CHURCH MEETING).    Luke 15:7

Wanna make heaven happy? Wanna please God? How about occasionally skipping the non-stop 24/7 worship/prayer/revival meetings that only involve the “99” and instead, engage your community and culture so you can find “1” who is not currently a “99” and introduce the “1” to Christ. 

That should ruffle some feathers.

How to Plant and Grow a Healthy Church

I'm sitting in a class room with a group of church planters listening to church plant guru, Kevin York. He realy knows his stuff. I'm learning things i wish i knew 25 years ago. Would have saved me a lot of pain.

Here are some thoughts from the Every Nation Church Planter’s Boot Camp:

Prerequisites - PERSONAL FOUNDATIONS
Don’t even attempt to start a church without having spiritual disciplines, personal integrity, living faith, balanced priorities, solid theology and a healthy marriage.

Growing from 0 to 100 requires PEOPLE SKILLS
Jump-starting a new church plant is about people not programs and facilities. If you don’t like people, better find another career.

Growing from 100 to 250 requires MINISTRY SKILLS
Preaching and public ministry skills are the keys to this phase of growth. Larger crowds demand a higher level of communication, discipleship and preaching skills. Communications skills can be learned, so if you are not a good communicator adn you want to grow larger than 100, start learning.

Growing from 250 to 2000 requires LEADERSHIP SKILLS
To lead a really large church, you will have to develop greater leadership skills including high level vision casting, team building, organizational management, strategic planning and delegation.

Growing from 2000 and beyond requires TRUST
It is possible to grow a church to 2000 and still be a hands-on controlling leader. But leading a church beyond 2000 requires trust, delegation and an empowering leadership style (according to my real smart friend, Ed Stetzer).

***New "accidental missionary" post: Inside Steve's Brain: Phelps, Obama, McCain & RIck Warren

 

Intentional Community

I’m about to break some unwritten blog law and post a long quote and call it a blog. It comes from “Breaking the Discipleship Code” by David Putman. I read these paragraphs several times this AM, underlined them, then decided to post here. Read slowly.

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At the risk of hyperbole, the need for belonging is what got me started on the journey I am on now. When my wife, Tami, was hit by a van, I began a serious assessment of our relationships. I soon discovered that while we had our families, they lived in other states, and no matter how close the relationships seemed, we were hindered by time and space. While Tami was in the hospital recovering, I was astounded by the number of people all over the country who were praying for us, e-mailing and calling, I loved those people for loving us so much, some of whom I didn’t know. Two of our pastors were there that night, yet something was missing. Even with hundreds of people pouring prayers and blessings on us, I knew that authentic, personal relationships were conspicuously absent. We had to admit that we weren’t belonging.

Not long after the accident, I was having coffee with my pastor when he asked me about the people at our church who had connected with and cared for us while Tami was recovering. I ran through the list of people who had responded: a couple of pastors, one of the wives, and another couple in the church. I immediately saw the disappointment on his face, but I stopped him and explained that we had no one to blame for this lack of belonging other than ourselves because we had not connected with people in our community or the church. I had traveled all over the country telling people how to create communities in their churches, but I had only attended out church on those occasional times when I was in town, and as a result, Tami and I were dying for belonging.

During that time, I decided to change gears and move my ministry to the local church. I kept having these thoughts that if I died no one would be around to care for my family. I was longing to belong in relationships with others at a more intimate and authentic level. I wanted to love and be loved by close friends and to be in significant, meaningful relationships with people who really knew me at more than a surface level. It was a tall order, though, and I knew it was going to require radical shifts in my life.
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Do you have that sense of belonging in your local church? If not, why not?

Too many disconnected people blame it on the pastor or the church and go on an endless journey trying to find a perfect church to connect with.

I think the answer to church disconnection is to look in the mirror, then make what David P calls “radical shifts” in how we do life. What do you think?