What Does It Take To Plant or Turn A Church Around?

Resurrection faith.

You have to believe - not in your skills, or methods - but in the absolute fact that in light of what God did on Easter, there is always hope. You will encounter many reasons to cause questions to appear in your mind and even doubts to form in your heart. There will be days that you wonder why you even though you could possibly be used by God to bring the dead to life.

But then comes Easter. And you remember, God can do it. William Willimon, UMC Bishop of North Alabama writes today:

In a workshop with Paul Borden last year, someone asked him, “You are a natural leader in starting new churches. What is the main thing you look for in selecting new pastors?” Borden responded, “An Orthodox faith, a vivid belief in the Trinity, and of course, a sure faith in the resurrection.”

Don’t you find that an amazing response? I thought Borden would say something managerial, “an entrepreneurial spirit,” something like that. Or, I thought he might cite some psychological configuration or organizational expertise in the pastor. No. Borden demands theology, faith in resurrection.

It really makes a huge difference as we go about reaching a new generation of Christians, starting new churches, energizing established congregations, making disciples (our Conference priorities), if Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. If Easter is not true, then why bother?

Since Jesus Christ is raised, let loose, invading a world, returning to the very people who betrayed him, then we work not alone. The risen Christ goes before us. We serve a God who lives to raise the dead--even us. Therefore, we work with hope--not hope in ourselves and our efforts, but with hope in Christ.

It never ceases to amaze me. How little people really believe that God can do. That he is exceedingly abundantly able to do - to do more than we could ever ask or imagine. How we take resurrection and confine it to two choruses of "Up from the Grave He Arose", then resume our normal programming.

Well, no.

Resurrection changes everything.

Living the Resurrection

"The do it yourself, self-help culture of North America has so throughly permeated our imagination that we ordinarily don't give attention to the biggest thing of all - resurrection. And the reason we don't is because resurrection isn't something we can use or control or manipulate or improve on."

Eugene Peterson, from Living the Resurrection pg 13

I LOVE Easter. It's my favorite holiday by far. For us, living away from our families means that it's not a real "family" day. There's no real distraction with shopping and gifts either like there is with Christmas. No real commercialism. It's about Jesus, His resurrection, and being with others who feel that way too in worship of our Risen Lord.

Every year I go into my role as pastor and teacher thinking "If I can just get them to understand and believe, believe and understand - then everything is different - everything CAN change.

When I was looking through the Scriptures this year, I came across this.

32 The whole congregation of believers was united as one— one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't have it." They shared everything. 33 The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.

Acts 4:32-33 (MSG)

Right there - right in the center of their everyday God-blessed life - was the resurrection. They used it much like a diver uses a springboard to propel their faith to do amazing things. Christ had risen - just as He said. Because He had, everything was possible. We look at the cross and in our 21st century view, see that as the center of everything for the early church.

No.

It was the resurrection.

10 If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! 11 Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!

Romans 5:10-11 (MSG)

The resurrection was the ultimate reminder of God's power AND His love. They reveled in it, rejoiced because of it, lived in it - everyday. The life after the resurrection is full of possibilities through the power of God.

14-15 God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?"

Romans 8:14 (MSG)

It provided a bulwalk against all the hazards and hardships that the early Christians faced, and provided them with a glimpse of God's glory and His grace. It was motivation enough to endure, but not just endure - to undergo the worst - and STAND.

31 I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I'd do this if I wasn't convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? 32 Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn't be the end of me? Not on your life! It's resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live.

1 Cor 15:31-32 (MSG)

So friends, LIVE THE RESURRECTION! You've been given not just a new lease on life, but a new life today and a new life tomorrow and beyond. You've been led from prison cells into the wide open spaces of God's love and eternal power. Look up!

1 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. 2 Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ— that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life— even though invisible to spectators— is with Christ in God. He is your life.

Col 3:1-3 (MSG)

Join with me to see where our freedom takes us - where this incredible opening we have in the veil of this life leads us into resurrection life today, tomorrow, and the days after that.

Resurrection. Just LIVE It!

Twas the Night Before Easter

I had no idea there were so many parodies of Clement Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" having to do with Easter until I Googled that phrase. Everyone seems to have beaten me to the punch.

Having entered the "preacher bubble" some years ago, I tend to forget what the rest of the world is doing during Holy Week, and just how messed up the culture is when it comes to holidays. Now don't get me wrong, I love holidays. But come on. Easter changes everything!

So later this morning I'll stand in front of a congregation and try to get them to think through what an awesomely staggering accomplishment God did when He brought His Son back to life.

This is no "one off" miracle that God did just to make a point.

Easter changes everything.

It's either true or it isn't. And if true, we must decide whether to reject Christ and His amazing offer of forgiveness and restoration, or die in our sins.

(BTW - I'm taking the "it's true" POV) :)

So I'm done with the darkness of Good Friday.

It's Easter. He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

Living in the "different-ness"

To preach the Resurrection is to announce the fact that the world is a different place, and that we have to live in that "different-ness." The Resurrection is not just God doing a wacky miracle at one time. We have to preach it in a way that says this was the turning point in world history. NT Wright

Exactly. It's as if God turned to Satan and said:

"Death? Ha! What else you got?"