Good Advice From Someone Who Knows the Score

Lifeway research has an interview with Perry Noble (pastor at Newspring Church in South Carolina) out today, in which Noble is asked this question:

What advice would you give to churches in America? What elements would you say are a must in any church?

Noble: I would say two things.

Number one, you must keep your focus on Jesus.

Don't lose sight of the gospel. Don't lose sight of the fact that people are dying and going to go to hell unless they know Jesus. If the church loses the centrality and the urgency of that message, I think the church dies.

And I think the reason that churches all over America today are closing their doors and shutting down is because they forget the gospel. They have forgotten that Jesus Christ died on a cross not so we could have a holy huddle or a stained glass fortress or us four and no more. He died on a cross so that we could reach the world. They have got sin in their lives. And because of that they are separated from God. They go to hell. That is not necessary. Jesus died on the cross to make forgiveness and redemption completely possible.

Number two, don't try to be anything except who God called you to be.

Maybe God didn't call you to go multi-site. Maybe God called you to one location. You need to be completely content with that. Maybe God called you to go plant churches instead of doing video venues. You need to do that. Maybe God told you to do video venues and plant churches. You need to do that.

You don't ever, ever need to feel pressure because another church somewhere else in America or somewhere else in the world is doing something to think, "Oh, wow, we have got do that." Our call as a church is to do exactly what God called us to do.

In the book of Revelation chapter two and chapter three Jesus gives seven different messages to seven different churches. If he wanted every church to be the same he would have just said, "All right. Here is my message to every church and it is just the same." But he addressed seven churches specifically and said, "Here is what is going on with you. Here is what is going on with you. Here is what is going on with you." I just think that each church has a unique DNA that it needs to focus on. The gospel should be central, but the strategy and the structure of the church should be completely open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Churches who get those two principles are on track. That doesn't mean they are guaranteed to grow, but it does mean that they are honoring Jesus and living out their unique reason for being where they are. Not every church in every area, at every time is going to show the kind of numerical growth that Newspring has. God has His reasons for blessing in one way or choosing another. But if our focus is on Jesus and His heart for people far from God, we are walking with Him.

There's not one church in this area I'd want New Hope to turn into. We're a unique collection of people placed here on this corner to do the works God prepared in advance for us. Can we learn from Saddleback, Willow Creek, Granger, even Newspring? Absolutely. And we should.

However we need to be the local experts on our culture and the needs of the people here. The expression of Church here then will reflect that culture as we seek to bring people into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

So hats off to Perry Noble and may his tribe increase.