The Times, They Are A Changin'

My friend who I've never met in person but have admired for years, Marty Duren, has written what for him is a very rare post about something in the inner workings of the Southern Baptist Convention. He does a great job with it, and you should read his thoughts on the "Great Commission Resurgence" document. I've also been meaning to write something about where we at New Hope find ourselves, so this is that rare day when both Marty and I write about the SBC. I expect Halley's comet's return before it happens again.

Having successfully avoided every state and national convention for the 36 years I have been a Baptist, you could say that I'm not really interested in what happens in the SBC. You'd be wrong. I care a great deal about what the SBC does where the rubber meets the road. That would be the local church, BTW. People seem to forget that the convention exists to serve the churches instead of the other way around, and that the various entities that make up the SBC exist for the same reason. Absent that need, they should not exist.

Our church is a contributing member of the local group of Baptist churches, the Florida Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention. We give money. We pray for our leaders, and those who serve our Lord as missionaries. As far as I know, that's about all they want from us.

That's just not enough.

We have flung the door open for a delivery of new wine skins and aren't looking back. Our people are being encouraged to sponsor children through Compassion, World Vision, or other Christian efforts. (We'll soon hit a dozen kids!) They are engaged in helping across the world with other groups who are making a difference. For example the younger girls have in successive months made crafts that were sold to fund stainless steel food bowls for kids in Haiti, formula for an orphanage in Guatemala, and VBS materials for kids in the Ukraine. We've given the shoes off our feet (and out of our closets) to Soles4Souls.org and left worship barefoot. We're about to embark on the most radical thing I've ever been a part of - a challenge to eat as the orphans do for 5 days, and give the money difference between that and what we normally eat - to the orphans at Amazima Ministries in Uganda.

Oh and lest you think we've forgotten the Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria part of the Great Commission - we have 17 folks away on mission to Appalachian KY right now, have done more local benevolence work this year than ever in our history, and are about to start our summer movie outreaches.

And exactly what has the SBC have to do with any of that?

Nothing.

That's not intended to be a swipe at the SBC, just a fact. Times are changing. Churches are looking for ways to DO SOMETHING, not outsource it to "professional missionaries." There are many outlets for that desire that lie outside the SBC and are easy to find. Why is that? And why are the leaders of the SBC fixated on a document like the "Great Commission Resurgence" (which in classic SBC fashion will be submitted to a committee at the convention to be studied for a year) instead of asking the local church what we need?

We're going to continue to look for the most effective way our local church can change the world for God's glory. If that's through the SBC, great. But I doubt it. I also expect that we will find a better way to ensure that the monies we contribute to God's work through the SBC don't get frittered away at the state level or absorbed into the "machine" and get to the missionaries on the field. The times, they are a changin' - and I'm thrilled about how much more impact we are having for the Kingdom of God - and can't wait to see what's ahead.

How would you describe Southern Baptists?

Thom Rainer wanted to know... so he asked folks on Twitter. This is a wordle created by someone to contain all the words. Those most often occurring are the biggest.

Just for fun, find "Jesus" and "Loving."

The Art of Deck Chair Management

This is a modern version of the Titanic's deck chairs. Looks very functional, doesn't it. I'll bet on a sunny afternoon up on the lido deck a person might find real contentment on one of these. The trick in weather like that would be to find which side of the ship was facing toward the sun.

As long as the weather held up, and the ship was in good shape, the chair would really provide a benefit. Just keep them placed where they need to be, and maybe rub a little oil in every so often.

Those skills you'd have used to keep the deck chairs managed were awesome until they weren't.

When Titanic struck an iceberg, any time spent looking after the deck chairs was wasted. Deck chairs are a luxury item.

What brought my mind to the Titanic and deckchairs?

Our local Southern Baptist Association - oh scratch that - "fellowship of churches" has reorganized for the second time since I have been here and changed its name.

Because that's what was making it ineffective.

Right?

Things Aren't Always What They Seem

"At some point in the life of most local churches a critical point is reached when the core fellowship of those committed to gospel vision are outnumbered by a fringe who are there for quite different reasons, be it spiritual comfort, kids activities, personal support, or whatever.

Regardless of the particular type of church government, all fellowships struggle to maintain focus around core vision when the fringe, be they believers or not, outnumber the gospel-oriented core.

It is very hard to maintain focus, or alter any aspect of church life to reflect the gospel needs of a fresh generation, when the majority are committed to maintaining their comfort.

When this happens "Christians" have been replaced with "churchgoers" who assume they are Christians." Marcus Honeysett

The reason that new church plants succeed in reaching more unchurched people than do churches 5 years old or older is just what Honeysett outlines here. Gradually the organization becomes the focus. The number of people who are involved in the core mission shrinks, while the organizational work gets done. The ministries starve for lack of funding, but the buildings get taken care of.

Churches like that may max out on Lottie Moon offerings and the like, but they are practicing missions by proxy. The greatest change agent we have to bring to bear on the human soul is the love of Jesus Christ flowing through them as they do work for His glory. It's not information they need - it's inspiration - God's Holy Spirit working through them.

When that doesn't happen - when the leadership isn't clued into missional attitudes and practice - the church is dead. It may look thriving from the street, may draw a crowd, but once the cultural "Christians" outnumber the disciples, decline has begun and save radical intervention, someone should call a code.

Think about this quote

“The point is.. all the effort to fix the church misses the point. You can build the perfect church–and they still won’t come. People are not looking for a great church… The age in which institutional religion holds appeal is passing away.

“Church leaders seem unable to grasp this simple implication of the new world–people outside the church think church is for church people, not for them.” Reggie McNeal

He goes on:

“The church was created to be the people of God to join him in his redemptive mission in the world. The church was never intended to exist for itself. It was and is the chosen instrument of God to expand his kingdom. The church is the bride of Christ. Its union with him is designed for reproduction, the growth of the kingdom. Jesus did not teach his disciples to pray, “Thy church come.” The kingdom is the destination. In its institutional existence the church abandoned its real identity and reason for existence.

“God did not give up on his mission in the Old Testament when Israel refused to partner with him. God is a reckless lover. He decided to go on with the mission himself. We do not need to be mistaken about this: if the church refuses its missional assignment, God will do it another way. The church has [refused], and he is [moving on]. God is pulling end runs around the institutional North American church to get to people in the streets. God is still inviting us to join him on mission, but it is the invitation to be part of a movement, not a religious club.”

Sometimes I wonder about why I see the church's future to be not in bigger buildings but in bigger people - people who see success as followers of Jesus not in the "position" they hold in the organization, but in the influence their life has on their family, their workplace, their neighborhood.

Why can't I be satisfied with where I am? With where we are?

Because I know in my gut that time is running out - not just for the organizations we call our churches, but for the opportunity to redeem the time we've been given in this life for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

Because lost people matter to God.

This Isn't Rocket Science

It's easy to dismiss the smaller church today. The rise of the mega church, not just the big church - these are small cities - grabs all the attention and makes most all of the noise. With their names and their pastor's names legends around the evangelical watercooler, those of us who work in smaller churches could suffer from inferiority complexes. Granted, I've written before about the "Walmart Effect" that the mega has on smaller churches around it - kind of like "that's no moon, it's the deathstar!" But today I'm here pounding away to say we've got much bigger fish to fry.

A recent book, The American Church in Crisis, by David T. Olson reports these

1) Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church - half of what the pollsters report. There are approximately 330,000 churches in America; out of those churches approximately 17.7% (52 million) of Americans attend church on an average Sunday.
2) American church attendance is steadily declining.

* Evangelical 9.2%
* Catholic 5.5%
* Mainline 3.1%

3) Only one state is outpacing its population growth. Hawaii.
4) Mid-sized churches are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches are growing.

* Churches under 50 and over 2,000 are growing
* Average attendance of Protestant church: 124
* 1,250 mega-churches in America/one emerges every three days

5) Established churches, 40-190 years old - are, on average, declining. New church starts reach more people better, faster, cheaper than existing churches.
6) The increase in churches is only ¼ of what's needed to keep up with population growth.

* 3,000 churches close every year
* 3,800 new church starts survived
* Net annual gain: 800 new churches
* Net annual gain needed to keep up with population growth:10,000 new churches

7) In 2050, the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it was in 1990.

* US Population in 1990: 248 million/20.4% church attendance
* US Population in 2050: 520 million/11.7% church attendance

Chew on that for a while. Then come back and tell me why your church doesn't need to change.

I read this obituary yesterday, written by a pastor. Only he doesn't know it is one.

My church is a small congregation with the average age probably in the mid to latter-fifties. They enjoy singing hymns and when I have provided an alternative it has not been well received. They have indicated that they would like to attract younger couples with children to the church but are not totally open to doing a few things different to attract this age group.

Here's what happens.

I was in a church like yours about 25 years ago. My husband and I were the young folks they wanted to keep but we left. They said that they welcomed young couples but treated us like young children. They never considered any of our suggestions because they didn't want to change. Out of the couple hundred hymns in the Hymnal, they sang the same few of them, week after week. No one would sing if it was a new song. They are very nice folks. They are kind and faithful. But we wanted to improve and grow.

In this case, the couple left and found a church that welcomed people of all ages, that listened to them, and that ministered to all ages and intentionally changed to reach people that weren't just like them.

But not all of those who leave try again. Then there are the countless others who never even think of entering a church. Lost? They don't even know what it is they are missing. What they need are friends who will take the time to invest their time into the relationship. To listen far more than talk. To be there to live out the Way. To be ready to give an answer with gentleness and respect.

We need followers of Jesus who gather for worship and help understanding what Jesus wants them to do who then scatter and live those instructions out in their everyday lives. Who do more together than they could ever do separately and who look for ways to partner with other Christians to do even more. Who will be salt to flavor the communities and workplaces in which they live, and light for others to see the way home by.

This is not rocket science. But it is mission critical.

Are you in?

For the Next Few Days...

As you read what's happening at the annual Southern Baptist Convention, held this year in Indianapolis, Indiana, try to remember the message contained in this video.

If it's a typical convention, you'll hear about boundary markers like alcohol, cultural battlegrounds like the public school system, and about how churches sometimes have trouble counting just exactly how many people are suiting up for their team.

Go watch the video again if you get confused.

The people and churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are at their best when they are living out the words of Jesus, not shouting them at a group that doesn't hold the same values.

The people and churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are at their best when they are giving themselves and their fortunes away to people in need, not hoarding them for consumer goods or burying them in million dollar "campuses."

The people and churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are at their best when they come as people once broken, but restored in Jesus and compelled to help those with lives still torn apart.

You might forget that if you read the papers over the next week.

Bookmark the video folks, that's who we are or hope to be.

Shalom,

David

The Baptist Association Revisited

New Hope had a business meeting tonight to discuss the plans our local Baptist Association has for building on the lot next door. We talked about what that would mean for the association, for our neighbors here in Valparaiso, and for New Hope. Then we talked about what our response would be.

As the Holy Spirit worked among us, we worked through misunderstandings, moved past the quick and easy snap judgments, and arrived at common ground and a graceful response. I know some people have a problem with the words "Baptist Business Meeting", but if you feed Baptists dessert beforehand they are much sweeter. :)

I'm sitting here now about to go to bed and thinking about how I wish, wish, wish the association would relate to us as a smaller church. Back in January I took this up and wrote:

First: Quit trying to do the work of the local church.

Second: Quit hurting the work of the local church. Every dollar spent on associational buildings and people that cannot be justified by a resultant effect in growing the Kingdom through the work of the local church is wasted. Wasted.

Three: Help our pastors help our churches. I know we're a prickly bunch and not easily led or helped, but we are the people that God called and placed in the churches of the association to help see His will done on earth as it is in heaven. And we are the ones who will have to give an account for what we have done and haven't done. We need help - especially (but not limited to) those of us who pastor smaller churches. Every new initiative we undertake - someone has BTDT. We need the DOM and the association to serve as facilitator and network respectively. Hook us up when we get a wild idea with someone who knows how to pull it off. Help us find the resources to accomplish it. Maybe the association could serve as part file cabinet, part rolodex, part storage building.

Personally I'd love to see our association buy a trailer like they use during emergencies to feed people. Self contained kitchen etc., but with a PA system and a few of those "jumpy toys" and stuff like a rock climbing wall so we could do block parties and cross church fellowships. But that's just me.

Perception is that the current system of funding the DOM position makes him far more attentive and reactive to big churches and big church pastors. It ought to be just the opposite. YMMV. I'd love to see that position become a Missionary position again with the small church and church planting through all the churches be the focus. I know there are a lot of DOM's who do a great job of looking after the needs of smaller churches, but not all of them do.

Finally (for now) - Help us see the bigger picture. Fight us to help us see it. By that I mean the DOM has to be working to take what the pastors dream and see if it will synergize into something that will not only allow the local churches to fulfill their calling, but will help other local churches do the same. We need to see more of that birthed out of what God is telling the local churches, not out of the Lifeway catalog or a DOM association meeting.

For me, this is sort of a final attempt to try to work through what an association ought to be and do. In the small church I serve, we're not going to nod our heads anymore and send our money to anything that doesn't help us do our job more effectively than we could do alone.

Since then, none of those things has happened, if anything the local association has moved in the opposite direction. But New Hope has worked on its own to build relationships with a local Presbyterian church and the City of Valparaiso, and we'll be seeing some real impact come from those.

We just don't have the luxury of spending time worrying about them - too much to do.

If anyone anywhere can give me some examples of an association that's working to help the average sized Baptist church reach their neighbors, let me know.

On Missions

When I think about how we as Southern Baptists do missions - I mean after I get past the incredible people we have placed on the mission field - there's always been something that bothered me. I've sort of narrowed it down to the fact that most Southern Baptists will never actually DO missions, even if they give to Lottie and Annie faithfully every year. Reading this today stirred me to wonder if others are coming to the same conclusion.

More often than not, when you say that a collection of churches is “partnering in missions,” you really mean that small churches give what little money they think they can afford to a larger church or a missions sending agency that will handle mobilization, screening, indoctrination, training, sending, and maintenance of missionaries on the field. This is not “partnering,” it’s outsourcing. Ernest Goodman

That's what we are doing. There's no attachment there - none of the formative benefits of doing missions. It's just a different box to check off on the do-gooder's guide to church.

We have to change. We have to get as many people in as many ways possible to be ON mission locally, regionally, and globally for Jesus.

Read the rest of the article and pray about how God would lead us all - small and large churches both - OUT and into missional work.

Ernest's last few words are where the SBC needs to go. Missions are too important to leave to the professionals.

A true missions network would not connect churches in order to do missions, it would connect churches who are doing missions.