Quick takes: Article Summaries - Christianity Today

* REACHING THE HAPPY THINKING PAGAN

In an interview, apolo-gist Ravi Zacharias offers lessons he’s learned in presenting the Christian message to postmodern people.

The “happy pagan” feels no need for anything transcendent and though often a sophisticated thinker, does not ask the questions of life. Most of the intellectual elite of this country, in fact, completely disavow the idea of absolute truth. Ironically, while the average secular person will believe something without subjecting it to rational critique, he disbelieves Christian ideas on the basis that, he or she says, they are rationally inadmissible.

Often behind a difficult or angry question is a hurting heart; the intellect is intertwined with the heart. Even while you wrestle with the ideas of an opponent, you must keep the dignity of the opponent intact. In the years ahead, evangelism will increasingly become more difficult; it will be less propositional and more relational.

While our country’s intellectual skeptics attack us rationally, the arts attack us by appealing to the passions. Today there is no force greater in the molding of the North American mind than the invasion of the imagination by the medium of the visual. And in a pleasure-mad society, the idea of God is a hindrance.

Postmodernism is dangerous not only because of what it has done to the secular person but because it destroys our apologetic, our methods for determining truth. In the postmodern world, however, the cries of the human heart can be smothered only so long. And in these yearnings, the search for significance and fulfillment continues.

Every generation will try to get us to change the message, but we are called to be faithful to our calling in the Word. It is fatal to assume that everything we preach should be on the bottom shelf, where people don’t have to reach for it. When you preach engaging the mind–keeping the idea within reach–you are complimenting your audience.

* WHY CHURCHES DON’T WANT TO GROW

Respected consultant Lyle E. Schaller examines why Christians who believe in evangelism may not want to make the changes necessary for it.

The fact is, most longtime members find it more comfortable to attend a church plateaued in size, or one experiencing gradual numerical decline, than to participate in a fast-growing congregation. Why?

* Stability. People who find their life complicated by unwanted change appreciate a congregation filled with predictability.

* Continuity. In the church that is shrinking in size, there is much continuity in familiar faces, traditions, customs, and events. Rapid numerical growth, on the other hand, often brings a flood of strange faces.

* Giving cycles. Rapidly growing congregations often see a two-year lag in giving: Contributions usually match the financial needs of two years earlier. In the numerically shrinking congregation, that lag disappears.

* Complexity. Growth almost invariably is accompanied by an increase in the level of complexity. The vast majority of people prefer simplicity.

* Neglect. For a church to grow, a substantial proportion of the pastor’s time and energy must be allocated to potential future members. This often causes longtime members to feel neglected.

* Commitment. Numerical growth tends to be more common in congregations moving toward the high-commitment end of a spectrum. Frequently, numerically shrinking congregations are drifting toward the low-commitment end of that spectrum; a decrease in the level of expectations for members can raise the comfort level.

Perhaps the most productive response to people’s discomfort is to accept it as a natural and predictable price tag on growing younger and larger. Then offset it by:

* Developing more comprehensive pastoral care of longtime members.

* Improving internal communication; for example, changing the newsletter from monthly to weekly.

* Having a team call on all members to ask “How are things going with you?”

* Creating task forces that include both new members and veterans.

* Organizing events to bring together both old and new members.

* Designing two worship experiences for Sunday morning, one traditional and one for the unchurched.

* Rewarding the work and support of longtime members.

* THE GOSPEL FOR GENERATION X

Dieter Zander, a pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, discusses how to minister to baby busters–those now in their late teens, twenties, and early thirties.

The surge in births following World War II gave us the “baby boom.” From about 1965 through 1980, the number of births went “bust,” giving a name to a new generation with a substantially different mindset.

Sometimes called Generation X, this group holds many who believe the American dream is beyond their grasp. They yearn to be whole, to live in harmony with others. Other characteristics:

Pain. Close to 50 percent come from divorced and blended families; many were latchkey kids. This pain in family life created an alone-ness, driving many busters to search for the family they never had.

Postmodern mindset. Busters don’t believe in absolute truth. To them, everything is relative, and everything could be true.

Fear. Many busters fear the future. The economy seems beyond repair. The environment is ruined. Sex isn’t fun anymore because of AIDS, and marriage is a risky venture likely to fail.

Grassroots orientation. Since they feel they can’t win on a large scale, some busters look to win on a small scale–in relationships, or local causes, or personal contributions to global needs.

Spiritual hunger. Busters don’t believe science alone can solve our problems. They believe there must be something beyond what they can see.

Busters may be part of a fellowship for months or years before taking that first step of faith. Churches effective at reaching busters for Christ encourage nonbelieving busters to participate in small groups or other ministries. Busters are attracted to Christ by being attracted to what’s happening in the lives of Christians.

To present a picture of Christ that busters can relate to, we need to rely on the power of story. Busters have never read the Bible, and unlike boomers, they don’t care what Time magazine or other experts have to say. But they will listen to your story, especially if it honestly describes the difficult as well as the good aspects of following Christ.

* WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CLEAR INVITATION?

Evangelist and pastor Greg Laurie writes that evangelistic preaching is challenging because it must remain relatively simple.

The temptation is to be clever, but it’s best to keep an evangelistic message direct and clear. An evangelistic invitation depends on clear content, clear language, and clear directions.

Clear content. An evangelistic sermon should include the message of the Cross.

1. Where listeners stand before God: “You have to admit you’re a sinner.”

2. Christ’s provision: “Scripture tells us, ‘While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'”

3. The need for repentance: “You must walk away from sin and walk toward Christ.”

4. The choice: “You must receive Christ into your life.”

Clear language. Nonbelievers today are always less churched and further removed from Christianity than we think. Christian jargon repels, not attracts, nonbelievers. I’m not saying avoid biblical terminology like “repent” and “justification.” We must simply define ourselves as we speak.

Clear directions. The prospect of raising a hand or walking the aisle is scary enough without adding confusion. First, people need to know what you want them to do. I will often say, “In a few moments, I’m going to ask you to do such-and-such, if you would like to make a personal commitment to Christ.” Second, listeners need to know why I’m asking them to, say, stand in front of a platform. “Jesus said, ‘If you’ll confess me before men, I’ll confess you before my Father who is in heaven. But if you deny me, I’ll deny you.’ So you need to make a public stand for Christ.”

In the final analysis, though, giving an effective invitation depends more on our God-given burden and sense of urgency than any technique we might employ.

* MOVING FROM SOLITUDE TO COMMUNITY TO MINISTRY

Author Henri Nouwen draws from Luke 6:12-19 three spiritual disciplines for Christian life and ministry:

Solitude. Is there space in your life for being with God and God alone? In solitude, you can listen to the voice of the One who calls you the beloved.

There are many other voices speaking in this world: “Prove you’re worth something.” But if you know deeply that you are God’s beloved, you can deal with an enormous amount of success as well as an enormous amount of failure without losing your identity. That allows you to go into this world and touch people, heal them, speak with them, and make them aware that they are beloved, chosen, and blessed. When you discover your belovedness by God, you see the belovedness of other people and call that forth.

Community. Solitude always calls us to community. Community is a way of living: you gather around you people with whom you want to proclaim the truth that we are the beloved sons and daughters of God.

Community is not easy. Somebody once said, “Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives.”

We can stay in community if we practice forgiveness, which is to allow the other person not to be God. Forgiveness says, “I know you love me, but you don’t have to love me unconditionally, because no human being can do that.”

Community also calls for celebration: to see the love that person is giving you as a reflection of God’s great unconditional love.

Ministry. Ministry is not, first of all, something that you do (although it calls you to do many things). Ministry is something that you have to trust. If you know you are the beloved, and if you keep forgiving those with whom you form community and celebrate their gifts, you cannot do other than minister.

What counts in your life and mine is not successes but fruits. The fruits of your life are born often in your pain and in your vulnerability and in your losses.

When you are aware that you are the beloved, and when you have friends around you with whom you live in community, you can do anything. You’re not afraid anymore.

* WHEN YOU NEED TO CONFRONT

One of the great challenges of leadership is learning to confront, comments Daniel Brown, pastor of The Coastlands Church in Aptos, California.

Principles for this touchy yet essential task:

Avoid avoidance. Often we think, If I just ignore the problem, it might go away. However, most problems that require confrontation are infections: if we ignore them, they get worse.

Focus on prevention. Try to address problems before they become crises.

Receive permission. I may ask, “Do you want everything Jesus has in mind for you?” Or “Would you like to know what I see in your life right now?” The person better receives the correcting advice or admonition, since he or she has already agreed to hear it.

Build on people’s strengths. If we tell people only where they’re wrong, they’ll become discouraged. We need to show people where they’re right, at the very least affirming them as unique, beloved creations of God.

Instill hope. If we have a clear sense of the bright future Jesus Christ has for people, we’ll have less trouble confronting them for their spiritual benefit.

Wrap truth in mercy. One of the greatest personal transformations in my ministry began a number of years ago when I came across the biblical proverb, “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee.”

Confronting others will never be easy or pleasant. But if we want to see people change, we will have to develop the courage and skills to do it as well as we can.

* SPECIAL SECTION: LEADING THE SMALLER CHURCH

I. Lonely in a Close-Knit Church

Steve Bierly, pastor of The Cobblestone Church in Schnectady, New York, paints a scene many pastors understand: The pastor tried to enter conversations with members his own age, but found, to his surprise, that he really didn’t have much in common with anyone. They were forever talking about people in town they had grown up with. Since the pastor didn’t share these relationships, experiences, or memories, he had little to say.

Small-church members often have lifetime friends and close family members just down the road. A support system is such a natural part of their lives that it never occurs to them a newcomer wouldn’t have one. Besides, as a pastor, you are supposed to be spiritually stronger than the average Christian. Help can be found by:

Changing expectations. A small-church pastorate may be like being a missionary on a foreign field. You are among people of a different culture who, at least initially, will have little understanding of, or interest in, you and the things that move you. Missionaries often must get their emotional and spiritual support long distance.

Changing your job description. Many pastors of small churches wind up, unintentionally, narrowing their job description to “ministering to the needs of these particular people and solving the problems of this local church.” Loneliness may be reduced by mentally expanding that to “advancing the universal church of Jesus Christ in my local area.”

Changing ways of relating. If your congregation knows you only as “Pastor,” you will remain an employee, spiritual giant, counselor, hero, villain, someone to put up with for a few years–but not a friend. How can you help your congregation relate to you? Let your people know the real you.

II. Coaching the Little League Church

Coaching a Little League baseball team is completely different from coaching a major league team, writes Ed Rowell. The players and approaches to motivation are vastly different, a metaphor that may serve the smaller-church pastor.

“Little League churches” are characterized by the depth and maturity of the starting players (leaders). Major league churches are often full of new believers, too, but those churches are not forced to put them in the starting rotation. The Little League church, on the other hand, must put rookies in the lineup just to field a team.

Other characteristics of the Little League church:

* Focuses on the fundamentals of the game.

* Has difficulty recruiting talented, mature players.

* Struggles with low self-esteem.

* Allows for mistakes stemming from immaturity.

* Bases success on effort, not results.

* Isn’t interested in statistics; players play for the joy of the game.

* Encourages equal playing time for all team members.

* Celebrates even following apparent losses or setbacks.

In coaching such a team, the rewards are different but just as significant.

III. What Matters in Ministry

Linda Riley, director of Called Together, a ministry to pastors’ wives and women in ministry, reflects on a time when “I was back in my dumpy church, feeling inadequate, wondering why anyone even comes.” After visiting a church in which “people who had little were happy to have it,” she contemplates what truly matters in ministry, concluding with a tribute to her pastor husband, Jay, “a small-church pastor who sometimes bungles the things that don’t matter much, but is an expert in what matters most.”

* AND THE PATRIARCH FELL

The true story of a pastor who finally needed to confront “the church patriarch,” a key but controlling lay leader.

* PREACHING TO ORDINARY PEOPLE

In this LEADERSHIP Classic from 1983, former Fuller Theological Seminary ethicist and writer Lewis Smedes faces the ordinary people to whom we preach.

Early in ministry, I was ripe with scholarly insights. I was tuned in to my theology. I was tuned in to the craft of sermonizing. But I was not tuned in to the ordinariness of the people who listened to my idealistic preaching.

Ordinary people are non-heroes–not cowards, just not heroes, limited folk, afflicted with the malaise of too-muchness. We ordinary people cannot manage life as well as we would like, at least not in our secret places. We cannot get all the strings tied; it won’t wrap up the way we want it. For us, survival is often the biggest success story we dare hope for.

What they all have in common is they desperately need a miracle of faith to know that life at the center is all right. Yet they often resist God’s gift of grace. Why?

We do not want to accept forgiveness because if we feel forgiven we will have to let go of some prime anger we’ve stewed up against some lousy people who did us wrong.

Second, ordinary people keep the doors closed to their hearts because they are too tired to open them.

The surprise is that God does give us the gift. And sometimes we accept it.

* MANAGING THE INFORMATION OVERLOAD

With so much to keep up with, how do you decide what to read? Six leaders answer.

Leith Anderson: First and foremost, I’m a curious person. I’m interested in life, and I like information. If something satisfies my curiosity, I tend to read more of it. Second, I’m a professional; I’ve got to keep up with my discipline. Third, I read for what I can use in my preaching, writing, or leading.

Ben Patterson: I would rather know a few things well than a lot of things pretty well. When I was twenty-five, I wanted to be a renaissance man, but I’ve finally given up.

Micro-reading is the preparation we do to deliver a sermon or write an article. Macro-reading is the reading we do just because it’s good. I like good writers, people who can handle the English language in a way that sparkles.

Barbara Brown Taylor: When I read I’m looking for truth; I want incarnate narrative from people’s lives, not abstract propositional thought. So I read authors or listen to people who are speaking to truth out of the depth of their own lives. In a sense I’m looking for revelation.

Frankly, though, I’m more and more tired of paper, and more and more interested in the people I live with and among. Somebody has used the phrase “the living human documents.” Those are the documents most interesting to me right now.

David Hansen: I mostly read dead people. Reading things that are old delivers me from the feeling of information overload. So much of what’s promoted now will be gone in three or four years. You can’t run a ministry on that. You have to run the ministry on proven gospel principles, and that’s what you get from the old guys.

Jay Kesler: My interests and reading are in the areas of education, the church, society, and social problems. I see myself as an interpreter between the popular public world and the academic and research world. My role is to read and grind things down into understandable terms for others. I’ve tried to keep my preaching fresh by reading things other people don’t.

Gordon MacDonald: Like most preachers, I gravitate toward seven to twelve subjects that have become my themes. I’m fascinated with relationships, so I read and file heavily on the subjects of marriage, family, friendship, community. Other favorite themes are organizational behavior, leadership and management, spiritual disciplines and the development of the soul, the nature of God, and the meaning of worship.

lespr95mrw5L21355426