Leaning Forward

"Whatever" is not a question

Not long ago a pastor related details about how he came to lead what may be one of the most astounding turn-around church situations ever. It seems the pastor search committee of a dying church approached him about being their new pastor. So, he prayed about it and agreed to meet with them. The church had been in a serious decline for at least ten years. Attendance had dipped from a high in the 700s to below 100 and seemed to be tracking lower. At the meeting with the search group he asked what they were willing to do to reverse the trend. They gave him a long list of things they would not do. They indicated they would rather die than change. So, he politely told them he was not interested.

A few weeks later they contacted him again. They went through the same rituals of familiarization. Once again he asked them what they were willing to do to move the congregation in a more positive direction. Again, they gave him a list, albeit shorter this time, of things they would not do. He told them "no thanks" a second time. This dance went on for several months. Finally, after two or three additional meetings, he asked them one last time what they would be willing to do to keep their church alive. They said, "whatever it takes!". He became their pastor and today the church averages attendance 6000+ weekly. "Whatever it takes" was the right answer!

A non-committal world has turned "whatever" into a shrug and put a question mark behind it. Our contemporary ethos goes with the flow and is resigned to the dynamics of crowd movement. It's adaptability on steroids, the easy anwer to life's most pressing questions. Take the question mark away and insert an exclamation point, and the eight letters take on a totally different personality. That pastor search committee was evidently shocked out of denial about the death of their church and made a very serious, deliberate decision. They would do whatver was in their power to insure the continued viablity of their church.

It was a bold decision, not something peripheral, but something central. In effect, they signed the deed to the church back over to the One who had promised to build His church in the first place(see Matthew 16:18). You see, when humans make "whatever!" a declaration of their resolve instead of a question, they relinguish the owners perogratives and surrender their property rights to the new owner.

Check out a little biblical history regarding a "whatever it takes" decision. When Peter and John were arrested in Acts 4 and commanded "...not to preach or teach at all in the name of Jesus" (Acts 4:18), they said, "...for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard" (4:20). It was a "whatever it takes" declaration. Later, the apostles were jailed because of their continued teaching (5:18), another "whatever it takes moment". Still again, they were commanded to refrain from their teaching (5:28) and still again they gave a "whatever it takes" reply, "Me must obey God rather than men" (5:29).

Even more, when church leaders had to make a decision about the Gospel going to the Gentiles (Acts 10-16), James took a "whatever it takes" stance to keep the church obedient to Christ's commission of making disciples of all nations (Acts 15:19). It is apparent that until we cross this divide---human limits versus divine mandate---we can be of little use in fulfilling kingdom mission. If "whatever?" is the directional signal, the "whatever?" also is the outcome. Not good.

Signing over the deed may not be all that allegorical either. Many Baptist churches are in highly transitional communities where the cultural demographics signal a need for a radical "whatever it takes" mentality. Many congregations simply will not adjust their mission to include minority populations, no matter how prevalent, in their mission plan. Therefore, it may take an actual transfer of title deed to the property before this course correction can occur. This requires knowing the demographics of the local community and being willing to be a kingdom outpost to the people living in that demogrpahic.

A church on life support must say "whatever!", and not "whatever?". "Whatever" is not a question.

The people group next door

So, meet Vic and his neighbor Earl Keese, played by Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi. It was the 1981 flic Neighbors that made us laugh at the maniacs on our street. They were the neighbors from you know where! And, they may be a good caricature of the real people who live next door. It's comedy, and we laugh at it because it mimics real life. Neighbors may make life interesting. And, challenging. And, often frustrating. G.K. Chesterton said, "The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same person".

That was then, back in 1981, and this is now. Today, few of us even know the people next door or down the street, certainly not around the block. Harvey Cox predicted that life in the "secular city" would be characterized by mobility and anonymity. So, a world in constant motion doesn't have much time for relationships and some of the touchy-feely things that spark interest in the people across the street. Even more, most churches have no idea about the people who live in their "community", or sphere of influence. Sadly, a good many congregations don't know their neighbors. 

Legalists want a concise definition of "neighbor". Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan just to illustrate, most definitively, the concept of neighbor. But, lately I've been learning that it's not such an academic exercise. Our Executive Pastor Chuck Mayo, in preparing us to participate in MY HOPE AMERICA with Billy Graham, keeps telling us that three things are necessary for relational evangelism---prayer, passion, and proximity. In this sense, our neighbor isn't a theological abstraction. They are the people who are close to us. Most churches have been planted to bring spiritual influence over an area of close proximity. Sure, the church isn't confined by geographical boundaries, sub-division lines, or even cities. But, if mission doesn't start at the back door, then we've misunderstood the meaning of mission.

So, what's the deal with 80-90% of churches in America being plateaued or declining? Well, some rural congregations in limited-growth population areas are going to have some challenges in the proximity thing. But, a good many of these churches are in areas of expanding population. The deal in these places is that (1) the congregation doesn't know their neighbors, or (2) they do know their neighbors and have chosen not to include them in their mission statement. Both are problems.

Northwood Baptist Church just received demographics that are helping us identity our neighbors. Two research organizations can provide pin-point statistical data, from the 2010 United States Census, to give us an accurate profile of the people who live in a defined circle around our church. The Percept Group works through our state convention to give us very intriguing information about the people close to us. There's a small charge for the information but it has been invaluable in helping us to make course corrections in shaping mission to our neighbors. If you want to know about them, go here. Also, the North American Mission Board can provide another grouping of information through the Center for Missional Research. For more about this source, go here. We recently received comprehensive statistics that project our neighbor in a 1-,3-,5- mile radius, and from a 5 minute, 10 minute, and 15 minute drive from our campus. It is amazing.

It is an important step in mission focus, identifying our neighbor. Many congregations are aiming their ministry at people groups not in proximity to them. Ours is a highly mobile apartment rich world of younger Americans, mostly in their first jobs, mostly young marrieds. The statistics provided by Percept and NAMB give us a very accurate appraisal of the people around us. To ignore these demographics is to overlook God's strategic placement of our church in such a rich environment.

To know our neighbor and refuse to include them in our mission focus is another problem indeed, a deep spiritual error. What the Bible calls sin. Making disciples of all nations begins with the people group next door. Anything else is playing games with the Word Jesus gave His disciples. Read through Luke 5:27-32 and decipher the truth about the who of our mission.

Matthew invited the people close to him, his people group next door.

Et vu? 

The gates of hell

So, a group of church deacons sought my counsel a few years ago. The church was on life support and had been in decline for several years. Like many humans facing death, they were in denial. In that context our meeting was therapy, when they would have to face the reality of impending death. But, their denial was deeply rooted. They believed the very gates of hell could not prevail against their church. They were safe.

There's a dangerous assumption here. It's about the promise Jesus attached to Peter's confession. It is straight-forward and clear. He said, "...on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18). Oops. That's the trouble. You see, His church had become their church. Over the years they had taken ownership of the church to the point that it no longer reflected His heart, His mind, His spirit, or His mission. They were counting on a promise that was made to another church, the one that was His. Their denial was was immersed in theological and biblical error. Jesus didn't guarantee protection to their church. He said, "I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overcome it". 

OK, perhaps this is quibbling. But, it's a distinction worth making today, or any day. Of course, the world system is arrayed against His church now, and has been in all of church history for that matter. There's a new twist however. As church influence continues on a sharp down-slope, proponents of change within the church are creating a new version, you know, "not your grand-mother's church", church 21.0 that hardly resembles the traditional church of our past. Hundreds and thousands of our younger believers are flocking to these churches because they are fresh, focused on life, vibrantly effective in their outreach, no nonsense in their administration, frank, honest, and authentic.

There's a simultaneous counter-move happening too. The old, traditional, declining or plateaued congregations don't want that modern devil stuff in their church, so they seize control of everything, grant themselves title-deed to the church, find security in restrictive governing documents, narrow the scope and direction of their mission, and then institute protective measures to preserve their church. In such a state of mistaken identity these leaders believe Jesus will fortress the church they are guarding against even the hordes of hell.

Hold it. There's enough presumption to go around when we start labeling churches as His, ours, or theirs. My fallen, dark heart wants to make more of me than is really there and I tend to be hyper-gracious when I look in the mirror every day. You know, generous to a fault when I'm the one under the microscope. But, there are signs, you know, evidences of just how close we resemble the One who died for us. Traits like loving our neighbor, hanging with community sinners and tax collectors, feeding the hungry, caring for the widows, homeless, orphans, less fortunate, and the people who live around us. His church is about light, life, redemption, grace, submission, others, engagement, bibical and doctrinal integrity, and the commission He gave His disciples. His promise about the gates of hell were given to the church He is building. His church.

Church revitalization begins by settling the issue of ownership. That's what I told the deacons that night, and what we must underscore if we are to reverse the lagging trend lines of the contemporary church. What is more, facing the gates of hell is not going to be our most horrible accountability. 

"So then, each of us will give an account of Himself to God" (Romans 14:12).

"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you" (Hebrews 13:17).

"So, he called the manager in and asked, 'What is this I hear about you? Gve an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager'" (Luke 16:2).      

Grave markers

What's wrong with the picture at stage left? Yes, it's an abandoned church. But, it's not an accurate picture. According to statistics I read in a Tweet by @johnmarkclifton 15 SBC congregations closed their doors yesterday. The inaccuracy? The picture I used is a rural church, distanced from major population centers. In the SBC, 90% of the churches that closed Sunday were in growing communities.

A couple of months ago I was in a church that is on life-support. Some locals remember when I served as Director of Pastoral Ministries for the the South Carolina Baptist Convention. In that context I was in many of the congregations eleven years ago that are experiencing final rights today. So the deacon body of one of them related that their slide began when the population of their community declined. Of course, I was equipped with census data and knew their population had never declined. What in fact happened is that the population changed, and the church decided not to connect to their new neighbors. 

Well, it's actually more complicated than that! Before the community changed the younger generation had already abandoned the church and the neighborhood. Like so many others, the church had experienced glory days back in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Then, without a vote or committee recommendation, or even discussion, they slipped into maintenance mode, the holding pattern of preservation, the belief that what got them to that point would get them to the next level. When they could no longer sustain the plateau, and decreasing attendance, energy, enthusiasm, and energy followed, they dug their heels in against change, culture, or anything alien to their old way. So, the decline happened...numerically, theologically, and in every way that should characterize church. 

Enter church revitalization. They were the buzz words after the church growth fad went the way of the hoola-hoop. Denominational entities, state conventions, and local associations hyped church revitalization as the new revelation for ushering in the Kingdom. Trouble is, many of the churches needing a spark of revitalization didn't really want to be revitalized. Often, they were not willing to do what was necessary to experience a resurgence, you know, what we used to call revival. Some of them were simply stuck in the past. Others were mired in the sins of prejudice, racial exclusivism, and disconnect from the real world around them. Revitalization was successful in some congregations, those who were ready and willing. Others just continued to slide.

Church planting is a logical response to the closing of 800+ SBC congregations every year. Thankfully God is raising a generation of planters who are willing to endure the rigors of a new church start. Our North American Mission Board is shifting resources to facilitate the man-power and financial needs that enable an aggressive planting movement. Partnerships with state conventions, associations, and many sponsor churches have ignited this movement, especially in the church rich suburban south. We should rejoice that this movement is gaining momentum. Praise the Lord!

But, still, the signs in front of fifteen Southern Baptist churches are becoming grave markers every week. In this environment, church re-planting is slowing entering church vocabulary, and is achieving some traction. Reflecting on our own city, South Carolina, and across America, it is a possibility I find thrilling.

Perhaps re-planting a few struggling churches could change the scenario somewhat. Maybe those signs don't have to become grave markers. Perhaps the wording could change and it could be a church sign again, written in the language of the people who live in the community now.

That would be a WOW!        

Going

So, anthropologist Robin Dunbar estimated that the well-developed human brain could store information enabling a personal social network of 150 close relationships. That was in 1992, before the the digital explosion and the connection possibilities of the brave new world. Sociologists now refer to his work as the Dunbar Number. It's the standard of social measurement. If you're into to such stuff, you can more stuff here. 

Since 1992 the bar on this kind of research has been raised substantially. Now that Face Book has logged it's 1 billionth friend the scientists have begun to question if such low limits are realistic. Several other studies suggest the revised numbers are perhaps in the neighborhood of 610 close personal contacts. Of course, any of these numbers are skewed by the mega-peep address books of Face Book, Linkdin, and Twitter super-stars with thousands of contacts. Still, defining my own personal circle is complicated by the fact that many of my friends are actually friends while many are friends of friends, and even friends of friends or friends.

At the same time, researchers are having some fun playing word games with the terms underneath the social networking phenomenon. We may be back to the riddle of "who is my neighbor?" as we try to put some feet on the contact list. Some people on my friend list automatically hide my stuff, others share it with their friend list, quite a few read and move on, and still others re-post. The bottom line may be that the size of our contact list or social network isn't the real deal at all. Down there in the fine print may be the question of influence. How does my personal influence drip through the layers of names and contact information?

Nevertheless, social networking makes the "As you are going..." (Matthew 28:19) of the Great Commission somewhat cloudy. If the vision is that we're making disciples as we're going, you know, in the routine motion of high-velocity living, then certainly the social networking aspects must figure in. If the Bureau of Labor Statistics data is anywhere near accurate the average American spends 37 minutes every day doing all the communicating and social networking necessary to maintain minimal contact. The "as you are going" assumption, then, is that the contact list is as much a part of my concentric circles of concern (to use the book title of Oscar Thompson) as my shopping list, and all the other routine stops of my circular life.

Today at church we're in the second part of a series titled THE PEOPLE GROUP NEXT DOOR, preparation for the MY HOPE AMERICA with Billy Graham crusade scheduled for this November. The concentration this morning is on the incredible promise of the Great Commission, "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). But, in thinking through the "As you are going..." part, we will have to give some attention to the social networking element, a very new and broad field of influence. How will this very large world figure into my own "As you are going..." process.

Faith in the secular city gets more challenging and interesting by the day. Even in our digital world the promise of the Great Commission remains firm. As we try to figure it out, "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

WOW.

Chuckle

I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24 hours.' He said, 'Yes, but not in a row.' -Steven Wright.

It is what it is

The blackboard in my head

The outer edges of prayer

The screen in my imagination pictures him as much older than his years, his face etched by years of travel and abuse. His body is hidden but bears the scars of hardship. He is stooped and walks with a shuffling gait. In everything the Apostle Paul transmits brokenness. But, his eyes flash confidence.

It is not the arrogance of a self-made man! No, what I imagine in him is an assurance rooted deep in the soil of prayerful living. Church planter, missionary, theologian, scholar, teacher, writer, colleague, partner, and all the other labels are but the outer edges of his amazing prayer life. All through his letters are the petitions and requests he placed before the Father, most of them for the benefit of the churches to whom he wrote and the people with whom he shared mission. It is one of the things that draw me to him, that he preached and prayed with a limp, the injured and broken man who stood tall because he stood with God.

So, he didn't submit prayer requests too often! When he did, the prayer took an odd turn, at least they seem somewhat odd to me. That's because I usually don't include the items on my prayer list that he always included on his. You, see, this man who lived in the frontiers of faith only asked things that would only cause him trouble. He lived on the outer edges of prayers because he asked prayers that took him there.

Three of them challenge me today, right now. 

Pray for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in Him to speak as I should.
Ephesians 6:19-20

At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message    to speak the mystery of the Messiah---for which I am in prison---so that I may    reveal it as I am required to speak.
Colossians 4:3-4

Finally, pray for us, brothers, that the Lord's message may be spread rapidly and be honored, just as it is with you...
2 Thessalonians 3:1

These prayers move me. In each Paul asked them to pray that he would speak the Gospel boldly and that the Good News would spread to the world around him. What  transparent, heart-touching prayers. Here's the thing, though. He asked them to pray for the one thing that had caused his suffering, pain, and imprisonment in the first place, his bold, Spirit led proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus.  

How lame and pathetic my prayers must appear in the shadow of such humility. My air-conditioned office, large executive chair, stylish art pieces, and book lined shelves are a little pretentious in comparison to the worn out old man who wrote, "I'm talking like a madman---I'm a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, near death many times. Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among the brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing. Not to mention other things..." (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). 

All because of his obedience to speak the words of the Gospel to the people to whom he was sent. And, he asked them to pray for his proclamation, knowing that the outer edges of their prayers would mean more suffering, imprisonment, and shame.

Dare I live in the outer edges of prayer?

No greater joy

Then, there are mysteries. Perhaps they are to keep us fixed and stayed on Him, a means of trusting so we can navigate these times without knowing everything. They just might be the means of walking by faith, these odd phenomena that we cannot grasp, even with all the noodling and googling and pondering in the hopes that we could.

The truth is, "The hidden things belong to the Lord our God but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever..." (Deuteronomy 29:29). Like it or not He has not given us a pass word to the secrets of the universe. We must wonder through them and trust. So, that being said, I cannot for the life of me understand why some believers will not open their hearts to the generations in our world who are living, and yes, dying, apart from God. There's a back-story.

It's startling to me, the loss of our national standing in just one generation. You'd think the slippery slope would take a little longer than forty or sixty years. But, it is biblical, the decline of the prevailing spiritual culture, what happend to Israel after they entered the promised land. Shoot, in the Book of Judges, Chapter 2, Joshua and his cohort all died and their children jumped into the leadership void. They "...did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel" (Judges 2:10). So, if this is a mystery, it's just because I haven't been paying attention, either to motion of culture right now, or to the Scriptural guidance from way back then either.

The statistics, however we might tip-toe around them, are a wake-up call. Of the living generational cohorts, the millennials are the largest, numbering close to 80.0 million, and the least attracted to traditional religious preferences. Thom Rainer, President of LifeWay Christian Resources, and author, with his son Jess W. Rainer, of the Broadman-Holman publication The Millennials: Connecting to Americas largest Generation, estimates that only 13% of the millennials are interested in any kind of spiritual life. A vast majority of the respondents to their research indicate that they are "...agnostic toward all matters religious" (page 23). This breaks my heart. The generation behind us a slot or two have moved in a totally different direction. The future of the nation may just hang in this balance. 

Now, to the mystery part. Maybe it's just me, but my dark heart wants to understand why so many of us older, supposedly mature believers, are not willing to do what- ever is necessary to communicate the Gospel of Jesus to these unbelievers. Should not the heart of mature Christ followers be that of old beloved John, who wrote, "I have no greater joy that this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth"    (see 3 John 4, as pictured above). 

Teaching the Epistles of John in our New Testament Survey class last week gave me a fresh look at the Apostle John. Jesus named John and his brother James the "sons of thunder". They wanted to call down fire from heaven to engulf the Samaritan village that would not receive the Lords ministry (Luke 9:54). James and John also presumed the two most prestigious seats beside Jesus in heaven (Mrk 10:35). So, if I were to profile John it would be as something of renegade, perhaps rough and direct, maybe somewhat crude, another fisherman. 

Then, there is the alter-ego John, the beloved disciple, the one Jesus loved, the longest living apostle, the one who told us to love one another over and over again. Here is the one who first identified Jesus on the shore after the resurrection (John 21:7), who stood in the shadows as Jesus gently yet firmly restored Simon Peter (John 21:15-23). Suddenly the love and compasion and redemptive heart of Christ changed the Son of Thunder from a self-absorbed fire-brand to a gentle, loving soul. He came to understand love in another dimension, and then lived to a ripe old age describing that love to others.

This is the mystery I want to understand, the mystery of this old man, subject to all of the ravages of age, perhaps set in his ways, an eye-witness to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, who found his greatest joy in knowing that his children were walking in the truth. 

Please Lord Jesus teach me how to make those kind of disciples! And, please Lord Jesus, help me to be that kind of disciple myself. 

Amen.