Category: Uncategorized

Do Not Judge

Posted on by Rich

The Bible says that we should not judge others, because the same standard will be applied to us.

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:37

 

There are many, many passages in the New Testament about judgement. This may be the most quoted, and most misunderstood. The sense of judgement used here indicates a “cutting off” – a finality – that would prevent someone from being eligible for God’s grace. In a clear sense, in modern english – it says “Don’t write someone off, totally – such that you are no longer willing to “hope” for their salvation or repentance.” Continue reading “Do Not Judge” →

Five Signs of a Recovering Church

Posted on by Rich

A couple months ago, I read this article about five signs of a declining church, or something like that. When I wrote my curation post, I said that I might write a post about five signs of a recovering church.

Your church has been through a difficult time. A split, a staff member is disciplined, core members dribble away for a couple years, a big fancy mega-church opens a campus down the street and half of your congregation is now “over there”, your senior pastor left to answer a call in Tucumcari, NM. Stuff happens, and it can take the wind out of your sails.

What are 5 signs of a recovering church?

1) Leadership is not in denial about the underlying problems that caused <whatever problem> and are actively forming a plan to correct them. Continue reading “Five Signs of a Recovering Church” →

Sunday School vs. Small Groups

Posted on by Rich

Sunday School
Those of us who came to Christ (especially within the evangelical movement) in the 70’s and 80’s and before are very familiar with the notion of Adult Sunday School. We got much of our deeper teaching in this structure, usually either directly before or directly after our Sunday worship service. In the churches I attended in the 80’s and 90’s we had age based communities, that were rather larger (10-50 people) subgroups of the church, where people who had things in common could learn together. Usually there was a single teacher, or a rotation of teachers (opportunity for new teachers to develop) and a couple of administrative types (organize socials, coordinate teaching schedules, deal with coffee and treats, etc). The social life of the church was somewhat organized through these groups, who generally formed as new married couples, or new parent groups – who helped each other and grew deep friendships along the way. Kids grew up together. Often there were bespoke college age and adult singles classes, because they were different adult communities with different synergies that didn’t really fit well in the married adult communities. Continue reading “Sunday School vs. Small Groups” →

Mission Vs. Discipleship

Posted on by Rich

Talking about Mission vs. Discipleship and I have been noodling some dumb ideas for a couple weeks. A couple weeks ago when I was mowing the lawn for the last time this year, an analogy presented itself, and so I thought I would share that as a way of expressing how mission and discipleship work in the Body of Christ.

My analogy is that of an orchestra or other musical group. Mission is like the performance. We share our love for the music, and the composer with others who are not in our ensemble. Our mission is to help as many as possible take up an instrument. Continue reading “Mission Vs. Discipleship” →

Church and State

Posted on by Rich

I saw this article by Nova Spinack (internet entrepreneur, and pragmatist) who is advocating a separation of corporate interest and state. He patterns this after the separation of church and state (Establishment clause).

Except that most people today don’t understand certain truths about the founding of our country, the establishment clause, and freedom of religion. While I don’t claim to be an expert – I want to push a non-political view forward that will help us (Christians) understand what the founding fathers intended. Continue reading “Church and State” →

Church as Ministry Platform

Posted on by Rich

A few years ago, my senior pastor asked me what I looked for in a church. At the time, I had been attending and a member of that congregation for about 15 years, and I really hadn’t thought about it before.

The answer I blurted out was “a platform for ministry”. To this date, I do not know what pastor thought about my answer. He asked me what I meant, and I shared (see below) and about the only response I got was “Hmmm”. I however, have continued to value the church as a platform for ministry, and I think that many mature believers instinctively look for something similar. Continue reading “Church as Ministry Platform” →

Linking Front and Back Doors

Posted on by Rich

I recently read this post by Thom Ranier about “closing the back door”, which is about helping new attenders become long term participants.  It seemed at the time, similar to a post I wrote about serious defections from churches called “Dealing with Leaks“. 

Thom talks about 4 “keys” to assimilation.  They are pragmatic, relatively easy to measure, and relatively well understood by most evangelical church leaders.  The problem I had with them as I read, was that they keys treated all people walking in the door generically – with no concern or understanding of what brought that person to your midst.

My proposal is that you have to tie that back door to the front door. I expect that most people who “bounce” off your church, who don’t stick, stay, or plug in; can be predicted by understanding where they are “spiritually” and practically, when they show up. Continue reading “Linking Front and Back Doors” →

Ministry Job Descriptions

Posted on by Rich

Job descriptions are a necessary evil – or at least that is the way many view them.

The thing is, that most ministry or church leaders are not managers. Seminary does not focus on this aspect of ministry leadership. Hiring ministry leaders is not a frequent activity, and most churches go through a calling process that is dramatically different than most executive searches. So what about a job description.

Here is my take on ministry job descriptions – especially as pertain to calling a pastor, or hiring a ministry leader:

What you expect a ministry leader to DO is what belongs in a job description. So start with a list of activities. What activities do we expect the individual to participate in, and what is their role relative to that activity. Continue reading “Ministry Job Descriptions” →