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EVANGELISM THAT FLOWS (p. 22) Jerry Cline, pastor of Upland (Ind.) Evangelical Mennonite Church, Mark Mittelberg, executive vice president of the Willow Creek Association, and Mike Slaughter, pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio explain how your church can keep its outreach strong when natural forces drain its evangelistic energy.
How do you shift people’s attitude from “I should evangelize” to “I want to evangelize”?
Jerry Cline: If I as pastor don’t say to others in the church, “Hey, there’s something missing here,” it’s probably not going to happen.
Why do some churches with godly leaders who teach the truth see few people, if any, come to the Lord?
Mike Slaughter: In many churches we can’t do things that will make a difference in unchurched people’s lives because it’s against our traditions. Jesus had a marketplace theology. Paul had to find Jesus on the Damascus Road, Bartimaeus on the Jericho Road, the Ethiopian eunuch on the Gaza Road.
When should we tell people the price of Christian commitment? Bonhoeffer says when Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die. That’s a tough sale.
Mark Mittelberg: There’s a rumor that if you want to attract unchurched people you’ve got to tell them what they want to hear. We’ve found just the opposite. People are looking for leaders who have the guts to tell them the truth.
CONTACT (p. 34)Mark Lauterbach, pastor of First Baptist Church in Los Altos, California, shares his refreshing discovery on how lifestyle evangelism is possible for a pastor.
All of my evangelism was “official”—preaching, funerals, walk-in counseling. I wondered what sort of evangelist I would be without all the official opportunities. If I were not a pastor, would I be any good at doing what I told my flock to do?
I asked God to teach me to be a “fisher of men.” Since then God has given me some wonderful and painful pointers.
To my surprise I found non-religious people remarkably open, even hungry, for friendship. My first step in telling people about Jesus was to look for people who liked me. I made friends through common interests.
I found becoming friends takes a lot more energy and commitment than short-term involvement. It takes time to know people, time for them to trust me and think about what I say. This means doing things socially, usually more than once.
ACCEPTABLE LOSSES (p. 38)Two pastors debate whether alienating some people to attract others is good practical theology or a failure of leadership.
Robert V. Acker, pastor of Community Baptist Church, in Rancho Cucamonga, California, argues that health requires pruning.
While my pastoral instincts lead me at times to try to please people, I have come to realize that sometimes losing members is God’s way to church health and church growth.
While we’re on this earth, and when thinking about our efforts for the kingdom, I believe the military metaphor is appropriate. Our evangelistic mandate cannot be set aside just because some church members don’t want to cooperate. As one pastor says, “Time is short, and hell is hot.” Loyalty within the church means affirming the mission (goals and strategies) established by those placed into leadership.
David Hansen, pastor of Belgrade Community Church in Belgrade, Montana, says if the only way to pastor a church is to annihilate it, we should leave and find a church we can pastor the way we want to—or start a new one in our own image.
I don’t think that to make an omelet, first you put a full carton of eggs in a trash compactor. When the Spirit wants to begin this work, the Spirit starts by hammering on me. The first challenge of assimilating new members into the life of an established church is for the Spirit to assimilate the pastor into the life of the congregation. Often the pastor is one of the church’s newest members.
FREED FROM NEEDING THE NUMBERS (p. 44)Craig Brian Larson, pastor of Lake Shore Assembly of God in Chicago, Illinois, has found that the cost of counting is often a bottom line of despair. Fortunately, there’s a better way.
At one time in ministry I was angry and disappointed with those who were not performing the way I wanted. The more frustrated I became with people, the less I enjoyed ministry. The more I tried to make things happen, the more discouraged I became when nothing did happen.
Too much of my energy was tied up in things I could not control. My expectations were higher than God’s.
After two years the bubble burst. A small group of people rose in opposition to my leadership and talked to others in the congregation about how they felt. Within a few months the church dropped in attendance by nearly half.
As it turned out, that revolt was a gift from God, for it taught me that numbers that go up can also go down, but who I am in Christ is the person who endures.
WHY SEEKERS COME TO CHURCH (p. 49)James Emery White, pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, responds to criticisms of the seeker-church model and gives advice on how to reach today’s spiritual seeker.
Are today’s seekers even curious about the church?
Nothing could be more irrelevant to them than a local Christian church. The average seeker has gone through the “great divorce,” to steal a line from C. S. Lewis. The great divorce is the separation of spiritual longing from thinking it can be fulfilled through a particular religious faith, much less Christianity. Most people no longer see their spiritual desire and search as involving the discovery of a faith or religion.
One critique of seeker-targeted churches is that to get seekers in the door, they dumb-down the gospel. I hear you saying that seekers aren’t attracted to any church, dumbed down or not.
Many who critique seeker-targeted churches would be well served to visit one. A seeker service does not attract a secular person. Yes, the entry points of the church are designed for seekers, but what attracts them is an invitation by a friend.
HELPING GUESTS FEEL AT HOME (p. 53)5 churches’ bright ideas for a warmer welcome.
Merle Mees, pastor of Western Hills Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas:
The most important thing we do is develop the value within our people to build relationships with spiritually unconnected people and bring them to church. Thus the welcoming part is easy because most guests come along with a regular.
About four times a year, I give a manners talk to the congregation: Guests get the best parking, the cleanest restrooms, the highest quality nursery, the warmest welcome (“Make sure to introduce them to others, invite them to sit with you, offer them directions, invite them to lunch”). I remind the church what it’s like to visit a church for the first time. I give examples of how to meet people with embarrassing them or yourself: “Hi, my name is Merle Mees. How long have you been attending Western Hills?”
CASE STUDY: “WE SHOULD BE GROWING” (p. 60)Three experts offer help for a church that’s worked hard without harvest.
“This is year six,” writes the pastor of the case study, “Looking back at all the strategies we’ve implemented, the vision meetings we’ve held, the conferences our leaders have attended, it still appears that in size, we are just about where we were when I arrived.”
The experts recommend:
The congregation may be stuck in the exploration phase. This phase is typified by a lack of focus, an outbreak of the “crazies” (both people and ideas), and a need to quit doing some things. In the exploration period, the congregation needs some quick wins under their belt to build confidence that their future dreams are realizable. —Reggie McNeal
If God’s call is to reach northern-born, non-Baptist, native-Michiganders, more cultural changes may be necessary. Then the question becomes: What are these people like, and what kind of church will most effectively reach them? The wrong question: How can we get these people to like the way we’ve always done church? —Leith Anderson
I wonder if the obstacles do not lie in the pastor’s presuppositions. The pastor appears to be driven by a particular church growth model. Numerical growth is his goal; size is his indicator of success. —Paul M. Dietterich
THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER’S PREACHING STYLE (p. 83)Danny Harrell, associate pastor at Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts, tells how to speak the language of the “whatever” generation.
Sarcasm: Though sarcasm typically intends to tear down and destroy, if used properly, it can have a positive place in preaching. Sarcasm connects with the young listener; it is the language of a generation in which everybody plays the cynic. If you avoid sarcasm, you can get pigeon-holed as an unrealistic Pollyanna.
Ambiguity: Ambiguity runs rampant throughout Scripture. Rather than force clarity where it is not evident, I prefer to allow the congregation to wrestle with the ambiguity. I often conclude a sermon with a question rather than a final point of application.
Discomfort: Xers like to feel the intrinsic tension and the discomfort Jesus brings to everyday life. God presents radical challenges throughout Scripture. Why not leave them radical?
Dialogue: I talk to the congregation like I would talk to one person in my study. I stick my hands in my pockets, I think out loud, I pause and allow for quiet, I scratch my head, shrug my shoulders, and roll my eyes.
GROWING GENEROUS GIVERS (p. 90)Jay Pankratz, pastor of Sunrise Church in Rialto, California, offers 12 tools for cultivating an unselfish church.
1. Plan ahead. We must prepare for our church resource development strategy as carefully as we do for our church music program.
2. Emphasize discipleship. Effective resource development is not a money grab. It has a spiritual foundation that makes discipleship its primary goal. The key to resource development is growth in people.
3. Bathe in prayer. Without prayer a financial program loses its spiritual foundation.
4. Identify specific goals. We detail the specific projects that the increased giving will enable us to attain.
5. Get commitments. If I don’t get a specific commitment from people, my Bible teaching has little effect.
6. Involve more people. Seventy percent of offerings will come from those who serve in the church.
7. Build trust. People are more generous when they see they can trust me not to overspend and to get maximum ministry value out of the budget.
8. Build relationships. Most do not give to the greatest need but rather to the closest relationship.
9. Model generosity. Even when financial records are confidential, people somehow discern a pastor’s level of giving.
10. Be positive. I found negative motivation produces far more irritation than maturation.
11. Spell out sacrifice. The only way most people will be able to fulfill their giving promises is by sacrificing a current expense.
12. Point out the reward. Jesus talked often about rewards.
HOW CAN I PREACH WITHOUT A VOICE? (p. 100)James Wilson, pastor of First Baptist Church Alameda in Albuquerque, New Mexico, tells what he learned about his relationship to God when he lost his preaching voice for a year after surgery.
I’m not proud that I asked God: “Why are you doing this to me?” Yet I know the question is a statement of faith. It presupposes that God exists, and that he loves me and is in control of my destiny.
CHILDREN OF A LARGER GOD (p. 108)In this interview, J.I. Packer tells how good theology expands the soul.
For many, “theology” is a bad word. Why have you devoted your life to it?
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the providence of God, the Puritans and Calvin taught me that’s what theology is about. The truth I try to grasp and share is truth that enlarges the soul because it tunes into the greatness of God. It generates awe and adoration.
What does God-exalting theology say to a culture like ours, which aims to exalt the self?
The business of religion, in many circles, has become trying to make people happy. Anything that enlarges my comfort zone is regarded as good, godly, proper, and to be integrated into my religion.
But true theology challenges the presuppositions of North American culture, both secular and churchly, both of which seem to be primarily concerned, with the “right to happiness.” True theology calls on us to deny the claims of self and exalt God instead.
1998 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us.
