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.

More Good Discipling Ideas from Barna's Research

Last week I wrote about two of the most important discipling ideas in George Barna’s Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2001). The first was to develop a long-term strategy with observable and measurable goals, and the second was to start with children and youth. Today let’s move ahead to:

Develop a mentoring or coaching plan 

The jury is now longer out on this: discipling happens best in one-on-one relationships. For way too long, we have relied on preaching and teaching to disciple people. Note: there is nothing wrong with preaching and teaching – in fact, both of them are necessary! – but all by themselves they are not effective means of discipling. Sound doctrine is imparted in both preaching and teaching, but discipling happens in interpersonal relationships.

So Barna recommends a mentoring or coaching plan. And the absolute best mentoring or coaching plan that I have ever seen goes under the name “T4T” (see my August 8, 2014 post). T4T means Training for Trainers. Its philosophy is that we train others who train others who train others; kind of a 21^st Century spin on discipling others who disciple others who disciple others. I cannot give too high a recommendation to T4T. Check it out! J

And here is another option, With Me: Relational Essentials for a Discipleship Ethos, by Lance Ford. It is available free at https://my.exponential.org/ebooks/withme/. 

Get this book and read it. J

The congregation must emphasize personal spiritual growth.

Most of the churches that I have been in emphasize things like attending worship, coming to events, participating in small groups, giving time and money, and many other good things. But they do not emphasize personal spiritual growth. So this is the next important insight from Barna’s research: emphasize personal spiritual growth.

Now watch how this all fits together: By having a long-term strategy with observable and measurable goals that starts with children and youth, and includes a mentoring or coaching plan, every member of the church develops a personal plan of spiritual growth. Note that nobody does this on their own, as an isolated individual; each one does this under the guidance of a coach or mentor. Each one has a personal growth plan.

To support and fulfill these plans, the congregation provides tools for personal spiritual growth (that’s where materials like T4T and With Me come in!). And there is an accountability system, sort of like John Wesley’s Class Meetings (see http://www.warnerpress.org/Product/9781928915706/A_Model_for_Making_Disciples.aspx). Every week, members of the class would answer the question, “How is it with your soul?” Honesty was expected. Accountability was on the line. And discipling happened.

Don’t buy curriculum from “successful” churches

This is the final idea from Barna that I wish to share. One of the key mistakes made by pastors and lay leaders is to look for “what’s working” and to purchase curriculum from so-called successful churches. Thirty years ago, when I was a pastor, this is what I did. And it didn’t help. It still doesn’t help, so don’t do it (!). 

You can certainly use good ideas that you find in other places, but you are only going to be disappointed if you buy the latest and greatest curriculum that worked somewhere else and expect it to do miracles in your church. Forget about buying curriculum, programs, materials, etc.

A home-grown approach to discipling is best – as long as it’s a biblical approach! Develop a long-term strategy with observable and measurable goals that starts with children and youth, includes a mentoring or coaching plan, with every member of the church developing a personal plan of spiritual growth, and the congregation providing tools and accountability.

Make it so.

Read Books and Think

My good friend and colleague Merle Strege is fond of saying that a professor’s job is to read books and think. I agree with him, as far as he goes. But I think that a professor also has to do some other things, like teach, speak, and write. J

But let’s go with “read books and think” for today. One of the most influential books that I have read on discipling is George Barna’s Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2001). Written toward the end of his leadership of The Barna Group, this book presents insights gained by years of research into discipling in American churches.

On the back cover, Barna wrote, “My study of discipleship in America has been eye-opening. Almost every church in our country has some type of discipleship program or set of activities, but stunningly few churches have a church of disciples.” Wow. That statement stopped me dead in my tracks. Lord, have mercy on us for disobeying the Great Commission.

So in this essay, I will share two of the most important insights from Growing True Disciples. I hope you’ll buy the book and read it for yourself. It’s much better than anything I could write!

For a church that is ready to get serious about discipling, the first thing is to develop a long-term strategy. Do not rush out and buy “the latest and greatest” program or ministry kit that promises to be the answer to your discipling needs! You’ll be wasting your time and money, and the only thing you’ll accomplish is enriching the clever entrepreneur who marketed that program to you.

Develop a long-term strategy.

This means that, among other things, you will set observable and measurable goals. In doing so, you will want to include some of the things that I wrote about on July 18, 25, and August 1. Figure out, in your ministry setting, what a disciple should know, feel, and do. And set some appropriate goals. Make sure those goals are things you can see and count. For example:

1.      A disciple will give evidence that they understand the content of the Bible.

2.      A disciple will disciple others.

3.      A disciple will worship God regularly.

4.      A disciple will give generously to the work of God.

5.      A disciple will ____________.

See? Observable and measurable goals.

The second piece of your long-term strategy should be to start with children and youth. Why? Because all of the research indicates that if we don’t reach people while they are young, most likely we never will. So start young. Begin teaching Kindergarteners who Jesus is, what the Bible is, how to tell others about Jesus, how to worship, how to give, and so on and on.

Start young. As a child grows up, she should be loving God and loving people. And discipling others. She won’t really be a disciple until she disciples someone else. Nurture and encourage your young people to disciple others who disciple others who disciple others. That is God’s plan, and He has no “Plan B.” That is how I came to faith in Christ. That is how you came to faith in Christ. That is how every Christ follower ever came to faith – someone discipled someone who discipled someone who discipled someone who discipled you!

And oh – By the way, this is exactly what Paul told Timothy to do: “What you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well” (2 Tim 2:2). Notice that there are five generations of believers there:

1.      Paul, who discipled

2.      Many witnesses, who discipled

3.      Timothy, who is instructed to disciple

4.      Faithful people, who will be able to disciple

5.      Others

Well, that’s enough for today. Let’s pick up here next week. Peace be with you.

Love God. Love People. Reject Religion.

Last time, I mentioned the Freedom From Religion Foundation, whose tagline is “Protecting the constitutional principle of the separation of state and church.” I value the separation of state and church – even though it is not a constitutional principle; the Constitution only says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” it never says that state and church must be separated.

The idea of “separation” comes from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."

And herein lies my intellectual quarrel with the FFRF: it seems to be quite religious in opposing religion. It declares freedom from religion, but its words and actions seem very religious. Consider the following evidence:

1.      FFRF’s tagline sounds like a creed. But it’s not based on historical reality; it’s a canon of faith, declaring “separation of state and church” constitutional even though it is not. The tagline is more emotional/religious than intellectual/cognitive.

2.      FFRF’s website states, “The history of Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion. In modern times the first to speak out for prison reform, for humane treatment of the mentally ill, for abolition of capital punishment, for women’s right to vote, for death with dignity for the terminally ill, and for the right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion have been freethinkers, just as they were the first to call for an end to slavery.” That paragraph is so full of historical errors that I hardly know where to start. History records that most of the “social and moral progress” cited was introduced by the people of God – disciples of Jesus (which is what this blog is all about). I’m content to allow FFRF to take credit for the “right to right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion,” because Christ values life in all its forms, as do Christ followers. What I want you to see in this quotation is FFRF’s emotional, fanatical, religious devotion to a canon of faith.

Well, that’s enough of that. No use wasting an entire blog entry “bashing” somebody. I only want to point out the irrational nature of a group that claims to be completely rational. They religiously reject religion.

And I reject religion, too! See my last post for a brief explanation. For an example of the kind of danger produced by religion, watch this short video of Katie, who describes herself as “an out of the closet atheist.” Part of her testimony is heartbreaking; she says, “When I was in grade school I had to go [to church] five days a week and once on the weekends.” And I say, “NO WONDER she turned her back on Christ!” As a young child, she was not introduced to Jesus, she was introduced to religion – and it had a deleterious effect on her. This is only one example of why I reject religion.

And I can’t think of any better stance to take than that taken by Jefferson Bethke in his popular YouTube video, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” He says it all. Amen, brother!

Love Jesus. Love people. Reject religion.