One of the great things about going to conferences is the exposure to new books that are written to help ministers improve in doing their work, or for inspiration. Let me pass on some recent or current titles I'm reading, with the suggestion that you might want to fill some of your spare time with a good book.
What Bothers Me Most About Christianity, by Ed Gungor. Don't worry. The author is a Christian. He just puts things into words that we all think about, and which help us think about the way our faith is presented. His focus is really aimed at helping young adults wrestle with some of these questions, but it was an excellent discussion for me as well. I picked it up at Seeds, the bookstore at Willow Creek Community Church.
Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing, by Geoff Surratt. The author serves a growing church in South Carolina, so he should have some experience in this department. It's a lighthearted look at some serious things that churches really do to impede their growth, most of the time without knowing it. No, I'm not on some kind of negative reading kick this month. There are lots of positive ideas in this one. I found it in the Lifeway bookstore #1 in Nashville.
Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them, by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes. These are the Lifeway guys from Threads Media, and they work close to young adult ministry in the church. They share lots of research and lots of things that churches, successful in making disciples out of young adults, are doing. The research also points out a lot of misconceptions in the ministry regarding outreach to young adults. This one was on sale at the book table at the Connect Conference I attended in Nashville back in August.
You might think that these books would contain technical approaches and language for ministers that the average church member couldn't understand, but that's not the case. If you are serious about taking your ministry to the next level, and growing in your faith, helping your church move forward with you is a very important thing for you to do. If you travel, these are great for reading on the plane. If not, they make an excellent before-bed relaxer, or a get-up and get moving in the morning read.
They will challenge your pre-conceptions and move you to grow into Christian maturity. They are worth the time and the resources spent to get them and read them. Give it a try, and you might be surprised at what develops.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Thanks and Giving
This coming Sunday, November 22, is our annual Thanks and Giving Banquet. This is a tradition at Garden Oaks Baptist Church, and we are expecting 300 people in attendance.
Part of the event is to commemorate and celebrate Thanksgiving as a church family. We do this around a meal in the gym. This year, the food will be laid out in the fellowship hall so that there can be plenty of room to eat and visit in the gym. Bring your favorite side dish.
The other part of the event is to give an offering of thanks back to God. This is considered to be an over-and-above the tithe offering, something you give to bless God for the blessings he has given to you. How much you give is between you and the Lord. There will be a time for doing this in both of our morning worship services on November 22, as well as at the banquet and the singing to follow.
Hope to see you here.
Part of the event is to commemorate and celebrate Thanksgiving as a church family. We do this around a meal in the gym. This year, the food will be laid out in the fellowship hall so that there can be plenty of room to eat and visit in the gym. Bring your favorite side dish.
The other part of the event is to give an offering of thanks back to God. This is considered to be an over-and-above the tithe offering, something you give to bless God for the blessings he has given to you. How much you give is between you and the Lord. There will be a time for doing this in both of our morning worship services on November 22, as well as at the banquet and the singing to follow.
Hope to see you here.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Learning Experiences, Part 3
Change.
It is inevitable. Over the course of a lifetime, we see more of it than we could possibly imagine. Some we readily accept, while some we reject, or are at least suspicious of it.
When it happens in the church, it gets closely examined, sifted, turned, examined again, questioned and frequently resisted and rejected because we often equate changes in methods with doctrine and theology, and it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to pull the two things apart. Personal preference also makes it difficult. Change happens all around us, usually outside of our control but in the church, especially a congregational church where every member has a voice, one person can make a difference.
It is certainly not a bad thing to question change as it applies to the ministry of the local church. What we believe comes from the scripture, and we do not have the authority to change it to make it suit our own lives, though many, many people in the church do exactly that. But the way we do our work, the methods we employ related to evangelism, discipleship and missions, most definitely do change, in order to be relevant so that the message we preach and teach can be understood and accepted by people who come under the Spirit's conviction. Churches which do not change their methods in order to reach people with the gospel are churches which do not survive, or have a future. And I've heard some Christians express the thought that they would prefer to see their church die, rather than see it change, not a thought that I believe can be supported by scripture.
So, a couple of weeks ago, while in Chicago, I attended a Blue Sky conference at Willow Creek Church related to change; why it needs to happen, how it happens, and how the church can deal with it. It was the second time I've attended a conference utilizing Christian principles combining an audience of both church and business leaders, and that makes for an interesting presentation. It also helps make the presentation crystal clear with very pertinent examples.
In the church, when it comes to methods, there is a unique dynamic at work. Doctrine and theology do not change, and the text that provides the basis for these beliefs is anywhere from two thousand to thirty-five hundred years old. In addition to that, most Christians believe the church is headed by Jesus, who works through the Holy Spirit to provide leadership. So a church, seeking to do God's will and carry out its assigned purpose, must seek the face of God first before doing anything. The whole process changes from "what I'd like to see happen," or "what I would like to do," to a question, "Is this what God wants us to do?" And who decides that?
The bottom line is that churches which have a sense of the leadership and movement of the Holy Spirit are the ones which transition necessary change with success. Principles of human origin, and thinking which travel along the lines of pop culture and the "latest ideas" generally meet with limited success in the church, and fade quickly, in terms of providing spiritual growth and progress in discipleship. They may draw a crowd for a while, as many fads do, but without substance they cannot be measured as success in Biblical terms. It's a fine line, but a critical one, in determining the difference between a church which "attracts" people through its own effort, or one to which people are attracted because the Holy Spirit is at work.
I hope we are the latter.
It is inevitable. Over the course of a lifetime, we see more of it than we could possibly imagine. Some we readily accept, while some we reject, or are at least suspicious of it.
When it happens in the church, it gets closely examined, sifted, turned, examined again, questioned and frequently resisted and rejected because we often equate changes in methods with doctrine and theology, and it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to pull the two things apart. Personal preference also makes it difficult. Change happens all around us, usually outside of our control but in the church, especially a congregational church where every member has a voice, one person can make a difference.
It is certainly not a bad thing to question change as it applies to the ministry of the local church. What we believe comes from the scripture, and we do not have the authority to change it to make it suit our own lives, though many, many people in the church do exactly that. But the way we do our work, the methods we employ related to evangelism, discipleship and missions, most definitely do change, in order to be relevant so that the message we preach and teach can be understood and accepted by people who come under the Spirit's conviction. Churches which do not change their methods in order to reach people with the gospel are churches which do not survive, or have a future. And I've heard some Christians express the thought that they would prefer to see their church die, rather than see it change, not a thought that I believe can be supported by scripture.
So, a couple of weeks ago, while in Chicago, I attended a Blue Sky conference at Willow Creek Church related to change; why it needs to happen, how it happens, and how the church can deal with it. It was the second time I've attended a conference utilizing Christian principles combining an audience of both church and business leaders, and that makes for an interesting presentation. It also helps make the presentation crystal clear with very pertinent examples.
In the church, when it comes to methods, there is a unique dynamic at work. Doctrine and theology do not change, and the text that provides the basis for these beliefs is anywhere from two thousand to thirty-five hundred years old. In addition to that, most Christians believe the church is headed by Jesus, who works through the Holy Spirit to provide leadership. So a church, seeking to do God's will and carry out its assigned purpose, must seek the face of God first before doing anything. The whole process changes from "what I'd like to see happen," or "what I would like to do," to a question, "Is this what God wants us to do?" And who decides that?
The bottom line is that churches which have a sense of the leadership and movement of the Holy Spirit are the ones which transition necessary change with success. Principles of human origin, and thinking which travel along the lines of pop culture and the "latest ideas" generally meet with limited success in the church, and fade quickly, in terms of providing spiritual growth and progress in discipleship. They may draw a crowd for a while, as many fads do, but without substance they cannot be measured as success in Biblical terms. It's a fine line, but a critical one, in determining the difference between a church which "attracts" people through its own effort, or one to which people are attracted because the Holy Spirit is at work.
I hope we are the latter.
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