We do not live to ourselves. . . . we live to the Lord.

I’m not very old, relatively speaking; I’ve only been around for 65 years, so in the grand scheme of things I’m really not that old. In my short time on this earth, I have never seen social change as rapid as the gay marriage change that is sweeping our country. I saw the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, etc. And each of them took many years – decades, in fact. But, for a variety of reasons, the current social change is the fastest I’ve ever seen. And it comes under the umbrella of the much larger topic of human sexuality (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transgender, you name it).

As denomination after denomination deals with this issue, the inevitable result seems to be church splits. Good people on different sides of the issue take their stand, dig in their heels, and form splinter groups.

Might I offer an alternative to denominational splits and backroom political maneuvers? It seems to me that a Christ follower might want to consider the 14^th chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Romans:

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (NRSV).

Yes, I know that Paul was writing about the morality of eating food that had been offered as sacrifices to pagan idols. Today’s LGBTQ issues were not on his radar; they didn’t even exist in the first century. I get that. But read this text deeply. And look at his main points:

1.      Do not quarrel over opinions.

2.      Some believers accept things that other (he calls them weaker) believers cannot accept.

3.      The two must not despise each other.

4.      None of us is to pass judgment on fellow believers.

5.      We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

6.      We should resolve never to put a stumbling block in the way of another.

7.      Anything is clean or unclean for the one who thinks it so.

8.      If your brother or sister is being injured by anything you do, you are no longer walking in love.
9.      Do not let your behavior cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.

10.  Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

11.  Do not, for the sake of your conscience, destroy the work of God.

Eleven pretty good, pretty strong, and pretty clear points. And I think they apply to many (perhaps all?) conscience questions, including this one. It seems to me that the underlying principles are:

1.      Love for every person for whom Christ died.

2.      Respect for every person for whom Christ died.

3.      Pursuit of peace and mutual upbuilding.

4.      Willingness to put aside one’s personal preferences for the spiritual good of another.

Before you beat me up over this, know that I have read and studied the biblical passages about homosexuality. My conclusions are, first, that the Bible makes it clear that homosexual practice is not consistent with Christian living. Period. And I am aware that people of good will disagree with me on this.

Second, that this issue is not really very important in the grand scheme of things, because the Bible talks a whole lot about God’s love for all of humanity, a whole lot about our responsibility to care for the poor and the oppressed, and very little about homosexuality.

And third, because there is no record that Jesus ever spoke of this issue (he spoke most often about our possessions and how we use them), I conclude that if this issue were really important, at least one of the Gospel writers would have included whatever, if anything, Jesus may have said about it. Near the end of his Gospel, John wrote that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (20:30-31). My conclusion is that the fourth Gospel writer (and likely the first three!) made some strategic choices of what to include and what to omit, and that the most important things for our salvation were written down. Therefore, homosexuality is not all that important for our salvation.

So, knowing exactly what I’m doing, I humbly offer a paraphrase of Romans 12, changing the issue from the original to the current.

Welcome those whose beliefs on homosexuality are different than your own, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in practices that you don’t believe in. Those who do must not despise those who don’t, and those who don’t must not pass judgment on those who do; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. And there are those who believe they practice one form of love in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; and there are those who believe they practice another form of love in honor of the same Lord and give thanks to God. Who is able to judge whether one’s belief is more correct than the other?

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you believe and practice sexually, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let your sexual beliefs and practices cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not sexual belief and practice but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 

Do not, for the sake of sexual belief and practice, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you do; it is good not to practice certain sexual acts or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they behave in certain ways, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (JHA, based on NRSV).

We do not live to ourselves. . . . we live to the Lord. Peace and joy and righteousness in the Holy Spirit to you and to all. I welcome your comments.

How Disciples Handle Conflict

A few days ago, I got involved in a social media dust-up with a good friend. He posted something and I responded. I thought nothing of it, but my response rattled his cage. He was surprised by my response, so he contacted me privately to ask if we could talk.

Talk we did. He explained himself and I explained myself. And we resolved our issue; our friendship was intact. Talking face to face, reading body language, hearing tone of voice, we were much better able to communicate than through social media.

And I got to thinking about his action. Surprised by my response, he asked if we could talk. He asked if we could talk. He did exactly what Jesus commanded in Matthew 18:15-20:

“If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love. Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

The Message

 And that is how disciples handle conflict! When we make a practice of what Jesus told us to do, “go and tell him—work it out between the two of you” works; it really works! But when we don’t make a habit of this, “going and telling” becomes hard, and few who name themselves Christians actually do it.

Ever since I discovered this peacemaking, reconciling teaching, I have tried to practice it. I’m sure that my practice has been less than perfect. I’m sure that I’ve missed the mark at least a few times. But “going and telling” has always been my hope and my goal. And when my friend did it, it warmed my heart.

One final observation: Note Jesus’ promise in verse 20, “And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.” How many times have we Christians taken that verse out of its context? For example, when the weather is bad, and only a handful of people show up for church, we often hear something like, “Well, let’s go ahead and have church, because Jesus said whenever two or three gather in my name!”

True enough, Jesus did say that. And I believe it. But take a look at the context – He made that heart-warming promise at the end of his teaching on how to handle conflict! What we have here is the solemn promise of the Son of God that whenever two or three of His disciples get together to resolve conflict that He will be there! Glory to God! We need not be afraid to “go and tell” because Jesus Christ himself will be right there with us as we work it out. No fear!

So my fellow disciple, next time “a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you.” You have Jesus’ word that He will be there. 

Important Information from Willow Creek

Everybody knows about Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL). From its inception, it was built on the attractional model – offer professional Christian entertainment and people will pack the place out. It made the “seeker sensitive” idea famous . It was phenomenally successful at growing bigger and bigger.

But then it took a good hard look at results. And shocked the Christian world in 2007 when it announced that it had failed to disciple people, and that “increased involvement in church activities ceases to predict spiritual growth.”[1]

It undertook a massive research project to discover factors that enhance spiritual growth, and I want to report some of them to you (I also recommend that you get the book, Follow Me, so you can read it for yourself and get all the juicy details!). So what I’m writing about today is not just somebody’s theory or nice idea. This is research-based information, and you can count on its usefulness in your ministry!

The first big discovery was that people follow a “Spiritual Growth Continuum,” which has four segments:

1.      Exploring Christ (people who believe in God but aren’t sure about Christ in their lives)

2.      Growing in Christ (those who have accepted Christ and are in the first steps of following Him)

3.      Close to Christ (people who daily build their relationship and obedience to Christ)

4.      Christ-Centered (those whose relationship with Christ is the most important thing in their lives)

See what I’m talking about here? A path of discipleship, where a person walks from exploring, through growing, into closeness and finally lives a Christ-centered life.

Second big discovery: There are three movements between these four segments:

1.      Movement 1, from Exploring Christ to Growing in Christ

2.      Movement 2, from Growing in Christ to Close to Christ

3.      Movement 3, from Close to Christ to Christ-Centered

So far so good. Big discovery number three is called the “Catalysts of Spiritual Growth.” Here, Willow Creek’s research found four kinds of things that actually influence and enhance spiritual growth (discipleship):

1.      Spiritual beliefs and attitudes (e.g., historic Christian theology)

2.      Organized church activities (e.g., worship, Sunday school, youth groups)

3.      Personal spiritual practices (e.g., Bible reading, praying, tithing)

4.      Spiritual activities with others (spiritual friendships, outreach, serving others)

From the research, I created this chart, which tries to picture the four segments, three movements, and top activities that enhance spiritual growth:

Note that the practices are listed in order of their strength in the life of the believer, as determined statistically by Willow Creek’s research. For example, in Movement 1, the three most powerful Spiritual Beliefs and Attitudes are (1) Salvation by Grace, (2) the Trinity, and (3) Personal God, in that order. Belief in Salvation by Grace is the #1 most powerful belief, #2 is belief in the Trinity, and #3 is belief in a Personal God. (If you want the complete list of all the beliefs and attitudes, you’ll have to buy the book!)

So here is how to use this chart:

Discipling at its best is personal, one-on-one. Yes, it can and does happen in groups, too. But it happens best in the relationship between a discipler and a disciple. So for example, if you are discipling someone in Movement 1, you will want to engage that person in conversation and study about Salvation by Grace: That person has already accepted Christ, because they are moving toward Growing in Christ, so your role is to help them explore their salvation and develop the understanding that they were saved by grace (not by works, etc. – you know the drill J).

You will also want to teach them about the Trinity – this deep mystery of one God in three persons. Nobody fully understands it, yet we believe it. That is why Willow Creek labelled it “Spiritual Beliefs and Attitudes.” And, of course, your disciple will also need to work on belief in a Personal God. If you can help them with these three things, that’s pretty good.

Intermingled with all of that, you will also want to involve your disciple in the top three “Organized Church Activities,” along with the “Personal Spiritual Practices” and “Spiritual Activity with Others.”

Likewise with a disciple who is in Movement 2 or Movement 3. It seems to me that this simple chart provides enough agenda for a pastor or any discipler to stay quite busy guiding a developing disciple toward Christ-Centered living.

Enough of church programs, committee meetings, budgets, bylaws, and buildings! Let us get on with the work of discipling others, and let us use the best practices discovered by trustworthy research!

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[1] John Ortberg, “Foreword,” in Follow Me: What’s Next for You? by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson (South Barrington, IL: Willow Creek Resources, 2008), 3.

An Indictment of “the church”

I wish to indict “the church” for sins against God’s people. By “the church,” I mean organized religion and nominal Christians who have done massive damage to the souls of God’s beloved children. I do not mean The Church, the Body of Christ, those genuine Christ followers who are the real deal, the authentic disciples who are doing God’s work in the world. Are we straight?

Here are two examples of why I bring an indictment of “the church:”

1.      A while back, I wrote about the Freedom From Religion Foundation (http://21stcenturydiscipling.blogspot.com/2014/10/freedom-from-religion.html). On their website, they have a video of Katie, “an out of the closet atheist.” She encourages other atheists to come out of the closet. If you listen to her, you will hear her say, “When I was in grade school I had to go [to church] five days a week and once on the weekends” (http://ffrf.org/video-landing). This is part of the reason she’s an atheist today. She was forced to go to church.

2.      I teach a course called “Faith and Human Development,” and my students’ very first assignment is to write a Spiritual Autobiography. In some of those papers, I have encountered some tragically heartbreaking stories of deep spiritual damage done in the name of “the church.”

For example, one student wrote, “I have witnessed firsthand where these people were treated so poorly in the church that they would go outside and sit during the service and cry. This is not what is supposed to happen in the church. We are all there to help each other grow in their faith and develop into the people that God would want us to be. If this is how the church was going to be I would rather stay home and do my own thing than sit there and witness things like this.”

This, and many similar stories, remind me of what Jesus said about those who turn people away from God: “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.”

- Mark 9:42 (NRSV)

There are three kinds of teaching in the church:

1.      Explicit. These are the intentional teachings we do through organized classes, worship services, etc. Perhaps best represented by printed curriculum and lesson plans.

2.      Implicit. These are the unintentional teachings that happen by the way we do our organized classes, worship services, fellowship meals, service projects, etc. For example, a smiling face and a warm welcome to visitors.

3.      Null. This is the unintentional nullification of our Explicit and Implicit teaching. An example would be forcing a child to attend church six days a week; or snarling at a crying baby during worship; or asking a visitor to move because they are sitting “in my pew.”

How many acts of love and reconciliation would it take to heal one act of Null Teaching? Ten? Fifteen? Twenty? Probably.

And how many souls have been lost to the Kingdom because of Null Teaching? Thousands? Millions? The damage done by “the church” is breathtakingly stunning.

Disciplers – let us resolve to be aware of our Explicit Teaching, our Implicit Teaching, and our Null Teaching. Let us strive to reduce and eliminate all Null Teaching. Let us not put any stumbling blocks in the path of these little ones. 

4X4 Movements

I've had it with programs. We have been programmed us to death. Programs don’t disciple. Disciples disciple.

So you can imagine how my interest was piqued by the idea of “4X4 Movements.”[1] As a lifelong Church of God-er, the idea of a movement intrigued me. Still does! I think that the ChoG stopped being a movement long ago, and that those who still use movement language are only fooling themselves. But these 4X4 Movements might be the real deal.

4X4 Movements are happening “as the Holy Spirit leads disciple-makers in birthing 4 or more unrelated lineages of 4 or more generations of reproducing disciples, each training new disciples within days or weeks in loving obedience to Jesus.”[2]

Hmmm. Now that grabs my attention! Here I am, 49 years a Christ follower, having never birthed even one line or generation of reproducing disciples. Like I said, Hmmm.

Robby Butler challenges us, “Each disciple-maker must train their disciples to pray for and map their generations with as much interest as they would their own grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”[3] It might look something like this:

How many of us take the time to map the generations of people we have discipled?

For that matter, how many of us have even discipled anyone?

Is it not time to get out of the boat and start walking on the water?

Hmmm?

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[1] Robby Butler, “Introducing…‘4X4 Movement Starts,’” http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/introducing-4x4-movement-starts.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Seven Things I Think I Know About Discipling

FIRST:

There are no easy answers, no quick fixes, no big box store solutions. There is no effective program or kit or carton of resources. Discipling is a process and a lifestyle. It is a never-ending quest with eternal consequences.

SECOND:

The indispensable resources, according to everything I have read, heard, and experienced, are: 

1.      Passion for Christ

2.      Clarity of purpose

3.      Churchwide commitment to scripture

4.      High quality well trained leaders, based on their spiritual gifts

5.      Ample opportunities for everyone to use their gifts

6.      Opportunities to build meaningful relationships that lead to accountability

THIRD:

All church activities must be streamlined to prioritize and support discipling. If your church is doing something that does not lead to discipleship, stop doing it. Redirect your time, money, and energy toward activity that will disciple believers. For example, I am deeply appreciative and committed to the Sunday school, but I wonder if maybe it has outlived its usefulness? If it is discipling people, great! If not – well,  you know. Under this general heading:

1.      All ministry programs must be intimately tied to discipling outcomes

2.      The number of church programs should be minimized

3.      All teaching in the church should coordinated, aiming toward discipling

FOURTH:

Find and call a leader. No ministry will prosper without a champion, someone who is passionate about discipling and is called by God to take the lead. Make this a matter of prayer. Look for someone who is willing to learn and grow and take leadership. Then issue a call to that person: ask them to pray about it and accept it only if they sense God’s call. Then train and support that leader.

FIFTH:

Measure your results:

1.      Keep track of every member’s spiritual gifts

2.      Keep track of how many volunteers you have ministering in your church

3.      Keep a record of who has a personal growth plan

4.      Keep track of how many visitors come to your church

5.      Keep a record of your members who participate in local and foreign mission projects

6.      Keep track of how many disciples are discipling others who are discipling others

SIXTH:

What this looks like when it works:

1.      There is holistic personal transformation

2.      Your members are determined to bless others

3.      Christians aggressively pursue spiritual growth

4.      People have renewed lifestyles

5.      There is more concern about quality of character than extent of knowledge

6.      Your church is known for its culture of love – commitment – service

7.      Your people are devoted to a lifelong journey to imitate Jesus Christ

SEVENTH:

George Barna[1] lists the following advice from the pastors of the most effective discipling churches in his research:

1.      Discipling is a process not a program

2.      It won’t happen without the senior pastor’s leadership

3.      The church’s focus must be streamlined to prioritize and support discipleship

4.      You need a simple but intelligent plan

5.      There must be a designated leader to facilitate progress

6.      Adapt lessons learned by other effective disciplers – but do not just buy some program from a “successful” church

7.      Burnout and complacency will set in after 2 to 3 years

Blessings!

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[1] Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2001).

Learning from the Mistakes of Others

You know about Willow Creek, right? The megachurch in South Barrington (Chicago), Illinois that was famous for its “seeker sensitive services?” And after three decades they did what most of us are afraid to do – they measured their results and found out that their model was a mistake. Famously, they said that the seeker sensitive model “produces numbers but not disciples.”

So Willow Creek changed. They moved away from the attractional model and toward the discipling model. And they did some amazing research into the inner workings of discipling. Today I want to share some of their most important findings, which they reported in the 2008 book, Follow Me, by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson. You really should buy this book and read it for yourself – the only thing I can do here is give you some of the things that stand out to me.

A SPIRITUAL CONTINUUM

Willow Creek studied itself and expanded its research to almost 80,000 people in more than 200 congregations, and they discovered a Spiritual Continuum:

1.      Exploring Christ, where people believe in God, but are not sure about Christ. Faith is not yet a significant part of their lives.

2.      Growing in Christ; these folks believe in Jesus and are working on what it means to get to know Him.

3.      Close to Christ, when people really feel close to Jesus and depend on Him for daily guidance.

4.      Christ-Centered; people who say, “My relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship in my life. It guides everything I do.

SPIRITUAL CATALYSTS

So how does a person move along the continuum? What moves someone from one stage of spiritual growth to the next? Willow Creek’s research revealed four categories of Spiritual Catalysts: (1) Spiritual beliefs and attitudes, (2) Organized church activities, (3) Personal spiritual practices, and (4) Spiritual activities with others. Each category includes a list of specifics (that’s why you should buy the book!), and the research discovered that certain catalysts are particularly effective at certain stages of growth:

Movement 1: Moving from Exploring Christ to Growing in Christ.

Movement 2: Moving from Growing in Christ to Close to Christ.

Movement 3: Moving from Close to Christ to Christ-Centered.

The following chart, which I developed from chapter 2 of Follow Me,  summarizes the most important research findings regard the most influential Spiritual Catalysts in the three Movements:

I included only the Spiritual Catalysts that measured the highest in influence; there are other Catalysts that are also influential, but not as influential as these. And note that these are listed in their order of importance. That is to say, in Movement 1, for example, the Spiritual Belief “Salvation by Grace” is more influential than belief in the Trinity, which in turn is more influential than belief in a Personal God. See how this works?

TWO BREAKTHROUGH DISCOVERIES

When Hawkins and Parkinson pushed back and looked at their data as a whole, they found what they labelled two “Breakthrough Discoveries.”

1.      “Christ-Centered people show enormous capacity for increased kingdom impact.”[1] That is to say, even those of us who are Christ-Centered are falling far short of our potential. We still have much room for growth. Hence the need for biblical preaching, challenging teaching, opportunities to serve and grow.

2.      “The Bible is the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth.”[2] Take another look at the chart above – Reflection on Scripture is the #1 most influential Spiritual Practice in all three Movements! And it is the only Spiritual Catalyst that shows up at the top of all three Movements.

I think that a pastor, armed with this information alone, could put together a pretty effective discipling ministry. Work with each individual; discern where they are on the Spiritual Continuum, and offer them the Spiritual Catalysts that have proven to be the most influential. And leave the results to God. Sort of like Paul who planted, Apollos who watered, and God gave the increase (1 Cor 3:6). Go and do likewise.

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[1] P. 105.

[2] Ibid.