The Power Source

If we're going to become a truly healthy church by becoming Christlike and effectively making disciples, then we have to be entirely clear on the source of our ability and competence in doing so. In short, our source is in the crucified and resurrected King. Yet, there is much to His death and resurrection that we must firmly grasp if we are to live in their power and promise for us.

We must understand that the death of Christ means that we can be forgiven and cleansed from the guilt of our past sins, rebellion and disobedience. There's more, though. We must understand that the death of Christ, the sinless and righteous One, means we human beings no longer need to live under the tyrannical boot heal of sin. We are no longer compelled to do its bidding. We are free to become the kind of people who actually live in the normality of obedience and submission to God. We can become the kind of people who see righteous living as the rule and sinful behavior as the exception, rather than the other way around. Without this, we have no hope of becoming Christlike, and we are inclined to throw up our hands and declare surrender before we even get started. Because of the death of Christ and His eternally resurrected life, we can set our faces toward the goal of becoming Christlike with confidence and eager expectation of success.

When we joined ourselves to Christ, the sinful self died and lost its power over us while the Holy Spirit filled us and gave new life to our spirits (thus we are "born again"). This awakening of our true selves means that we can actually love and obey God from sincerely devoted hearts! Becoming like Christ is not only possible now - it's actually expected! This is very GOOD NEWS for we who have decided to pursue Christlikeness above all else - in ourselves and others. This is truly the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ.

So then, no more pessimism or cynicism in the churches of Jesus Christ. No more "we're only human" non-sense. There's nothing "only" about being human. We are, after all, made in God's image and likeness and bought by the precious blood of His only Son. We are bearers of His holy name and His Holy Spirit. We are destined for endless life in His endless kingdom where we will rule and reign with Him. Where's the "only" in that? All of this humanness flows from the amazing and wondrous work that Jesus did on the cross and that God did in the tomb. May we never cease to be plugged in to this all-sufficient source of our power. Amen.

Better's Better than Bigger

"A healthy church will necessarily grow,

but a growing church will not necessarily be healthy."

As leaders of an organization, we have to be very much aware of the goals we have so that we can strive to reach them. I want our church leadership team to consider our goals very carefully together so that we can be very certain that our goals are Christ-pleasing and Kingdom-building. Each of us might have our own goals in mind for the church, but those goals cannot be helpful to the whole church body unless we can come together with agreement and channel our combined energies, passions, and resources to achieve common goals. I believe our overarching goals must be to 1) be a healthy church, and 2) be an effective disciple-making church. Truly, these goals are two sides of the same coin because they rely entirely on each other. How can we effectively disciple if we are not truly healthy? Likewise, how can we consider ourselves truly healthy if we are not effectively making disciples? (How to define these goals and how to pursue them will have to be dealt with more fully later.)

 Now, if you look around at the greater American church culture, you'll probably find, as I do, that there is a tremendous pressure on church leaders to grow their church organizations. Visible growth would seem to be the primary goal for some churches. "Seeker-sensitive" trends often flow from the drive toward and pursuit of getting more "buildings, bodies and bucks" (to use Bill Hull's language). That's one extreme of church goal-setting. I want to avoid this like the proverbial plague! As a counter-weight to that extreme mindset of focusing on the external (visitors) in order to build up the internal (the organization), there are other church leaders who think it noble and heroic to stay stagnant in growth because it's a sign that they are not compromising the truth or watering down the gospel - as if lack of growth was a sign of faithfulness! I don't know how you feel about that, but I say, "Nonsense!" This mindset is built on a faulty assumption that growth (especially rapid growth) must be the result of some leader selling out and scratching "itching ears" with empty preaching. Unless the apostle Peter was that kind of leader, the experience of the early church (as described in Acts 2) debunks this myth.

So what's the proper and sane middle view? I contend that good church growth is the inevitable result of good church health. A healthy body grows the cells it needs to thrive and carry on with energy and vitality. A dangerously unhealthy body can grow, too, though (think of tumors or obesity). Growth, then, can't be the primary goal. We must set our eyes on the primary goal of being healthy with the confidence that good growth will naturally come. I don't use the word "naturally" to imply that it comes passively, but that it does come as a part of a God-designed process (a passive church would never be healthy, anyway!). So, can we agree that our primary pursuit has to be good health rather than growth? Can we also agree that church growth is beautiful, Christ-honoring, and desirable for His sake when it's brought about His way? Now it's your turn to share... Comments away!