The Only Change That Changes Anything

Leading always involves change. It's unavoidable. It's almost always uncomfortable. It's always necessary. Leadership by definition involves taking people or an organization where it's never been before, so change is inevitable. When leading a congregation, change is especially difficult & sometimes deceptive. It's difficult because in many settings there hasn't been meaningful change at the structural or organization level for years, decades, or maybe ever! Ironically that lack of change makes change even more necessary in order to move forward. 

Here's where the deceptive part of change comes in. It's tempting & dangerously easy for both leaders & those in the congregation to believe the lie that simply changing programs, schedules, strategies, & structures will affect lasting, meaningful change for the congregation & that all of issues the group may have endured will magically disappear. I'm sure as you're reading that you're realizing how silly it is to think that way, but deep down we've all been fooled into thinking those external changes will some how lead to drastic internal changes. I wish it were that simple, but it's far more messy & complicated than that.

"Changing Programs & Structures Doesn't Change A Church. 

Only Changed People Change A Church."

Changing programs & structures is actually a lot easier than changing people. However, changed people are far more powerful than changed programs & structures. The hope is that changing structures & programs may create a more suitable environment for people to experience the life changing power of the Gospel & the community of the Church, but that doesn't guarantee that we will actually experience it. We are incredibly skilled at resisting Jesus & His desire to transform us. Our structures & programs are important, but don't be fooled; they're no magic bullet. If they were, 75%-80% of evangelical churches wouldn't be plateaued or in decline. If changing your groups structure or worship service or meeting space did the trick, we would have stumbled onto the right trick by now. 

Instead, we need a renewed commitment to creating the right environments & structures for growth to happen while also praying desperately that God would do what only He can do in our lives & in the lives of those we serve with & lead. So if you're a leader, don't think you can program or structure life change & heart change in your congregation. You can't. You're not Jesus. That doesn't mean you shouldn't boldly lead & implement the changes that are necessary. It just means that you need to remind yourself that those changes aren't really the change we're hoping for & praying for. If you're the member of a congregation that's in the middle of some kind of transition, change, or revitalization ministry, embrace the change that comes, but don't assume that those changes are just going to "fix" everything. Instead, immerse yourself in a fresh pursuit of Christ & what it would look like to embody His life through your life. Don't just attend a Bible study; pursue meeting with Christ through that Bible study & let Him begin to change you. Don't just serve in that ministry; seek to make Christ known through your ministry to & love for those you serve. After all,  the only thing that will really change your congregation, is when you & I are changed. Changing programs & structures can't affect meaningful change, only changed people.

Reflections On Church Revitalization & Replanting

Nine months ago I became the lead pastor of a congregation in the foothills of north Georgia that was coming out of some pretty difficult circumstances. To be honest, the church was dangerously close to death. Attendance was down. Giving was down. And morale was even lower. 

The congregation had been through a lot, but it hadn't given up. It wasn't just going to assume that death was inevitable. Since then we've been doing what we can to position ourselves as a congregation to get healthier so that we can again be a congregation that advances the Gospel & makes disciples. 

My story & our congregation's story isn't unique. In fact, it's unfortunately normal. Depending on which stats you cite, somewhere between 70% & 85% of evangelical churches in America are plateaued or declining, & just so we're clear "plateaued" is just a nice way of saying stagnant. The bottom line is that the majority of churches in America are not fulfilling their mission. There are lots of reason & more than enough blame to go around. That's not the issue. It is what it is. The question is what are we going to do about it.

Last week I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with about 40 other ministry leaders who are in over their head in this ministry that people have labeled "church revitalization" or "church replanting". The truth is that days like the ones we had last week are desperately needed because most of us who lead churches are leading churches that need revitalization. Revitalization isn't a new ministry. There have always been congregations that needed to get back on track & become the people they're called to be. However, this is the first time that I know of where there is an intentional effort to connect, resource, & encourage the people who are pouring themselves out to reduce the death rate in the American church. 

After spending a couple of days with several other guys who are doing what I'm doing, here are a few observations:

1) It Could Always Be Worse

It's easy for us to think our situations are unique & that no one knows how difficult we have it. Believe me, the work of revitalization is difficult, & there are lots of issues you have to wade through. However, there are people who are facing things far more dire than I am. Stop assuming God can't work through your situation & remind yourself He will build His church. 

2) Stop Thinking In Terms Of Big & Small

Mega-churches are great. They have done some great things for God's glory, but they aren't normal. What is normal? Normal is a church of 150 or less. Simply in my denomination there are tens of thousands of "normative" churches, yet there are only a few hundred mega-churches. The potential of what God could do through the normative, neighborhood church is unimaginable. So stop thinking that your congregation is somehow inferior simply because it's a smaller crowd than the mega-church in your area. Both have a place in God's Kingdom & mission. Stop assuming you're too small & simply dive into the mission.

3) Satan Doesn't Easily Give Up A Place Where He's Had Dominion

This is an uncomfortable truth, but if a congregation is on the downhill slide or near death, it's not because Jesus has been King. Bad doctrine, internal unresolved conflict, & structural/traditional idolatry are all symptoms that the enemy is doing his business. Don't think that just because you showed up, he's going to run away. Instead, get ready. He will plan a counter attack. 

4) Revitalization Begins With God's Glory

Programs, new structures, or changing your church governance can only bring about limited change. However, turning the congregation's eyes toward God's glory & toward the Gospel can initiate limitless change. It's only the Gospel that changes hearts. So start there. Start with scripture, elevate God's glory, proclaim the Gospel. After all, the Gospel doesn't merely save us; it transforms us, & that's exactly what we're going for as we do the ministry of church revitalization: life transformation.

5) Know Your Context & Congregation

This is absolutely essential. There are no cookie cutters here. Sometimes you'll need to move really slowly. However, there are times when you can & should move quickly. In my particular context, we really needed to move more quickly than expected & even more quickly than I was comfortable with. However, our situation dictated that we be open to moving forward sooner rather than later. If you don't know your context & your congregation, you're almost sure to mess this up. Know as much of the back story as you can & listen not only to what people say but what they're not saying. Then PRAY. When God gives you clear direction, seek wise, godly counsel. Then don't be afraid to move if God is telling you & your team to move.

There's way more that I could talk about, but these are some basics that are non-negotiable insights that you have to understand if you're leading in a revitalization or replant context or if you're a part of a congregation that's seeking revitalization.

Filling The Room Isn't Enough

All of us in ministry want a full room. I don't know anybody who says, "I want to spend the next 5, 10, or 20 years leading an empty church." We want our churches to grow, period. However, to both Christians & Christian leaders the definition of growth is far to narrow. Even though it feels really shallow to admit it, we believe that a growing church is simply a church that fills the room.

What if we used just one new metric? What if we celebrated the fact that the crowd gathering in the room is getting bigger but also asked about another number? What if we not only looked at how many people we're able to gather but also how many people we're able to send? There are a lot of things we could measure, but I think this one thing could revolutionize our ministries & congregations. You see in Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables about lost things: a sheep, a coin, a son. In all three stories the lost thing is recovered. However, in the last story, the one about a lost son, no one actually went looking for him. Someone tracked down the lost sheep. The lady tore her house apart to find a lost coin, but nobody went looking for the lost son. Why did Jesus leave that out of the story?

You see, godliness isn't just about being well behaved & moral. If it were, the older son in that final parable wouldn't look so bad at the end. If he were really as good & righteous as he claimed to be, wouldn't he have gone looking for his lost brother to invite him to come back to the father? The father was waiting. The father was hoping, but no one went out looking for that young, rebellious boy. As Jesus looked at the spiritual landscape He saw older brothers who were moral & who thought they were pretty righteous. He also saw the ones who were far from God. They were the "sinners & tax collectors." They were "those people." However, the supposedly godly religious elite didn't reach out to those who were rebelling against God in hopes that they might repent & come back to the Father. Instead, they condemned them, marginalized them, & encouraged everybody else to as well.

Jesus however was the true older brother. He did what the older brother in the story should have done. He left the Father & at His own expense set out to find those who were lost & do whatever it might take to bring them back home. For Jesus no price was to high to rescue the lost. As followers of Jesus do we have that same mindset? Do we see that part of our growth as a Christ follower is that we would set out to seek that which was lost so that we might invite them to come home to the Father? Shouldn't that reality be a huge part of how we measure growth? Shouldn't we be looking at how we're going out into the world seeking the lost? Shouldn't we value boots on the ground as much or more than butts in the seats?

"We Should Be Just As Concerned With Filling The Field

As We Are With Filling The Room."

Jesus told His disciples that the field was ready for harvest. That wasn't the problem. The problem is that there weren't enough people willing to go into the field. Things haven't changed. The Gospel is still powerful, still life changing. People are still lost in sin & held captive by the things of this world, & the Gospel is the only thing that will set them free. The issue isn't our message. The issue is that not enough of us are in the field. There aren't enough of us filling the field of our community, our school, our workplace, or the field that extends to the ends of the earth. Filling the room is actually kind of easy, at least easier than filling the field, but it's filling the field that changes lives & give us even more to celebrate the next time we gather to fill up the room. Filling the field actually makes filling the room more meaningful. Are you out in the field or are you content with just being in the room once a week? Does your congregation value filling the field the way they value filling the room?

The Gospel Isn't An Appetizer

Most of us have a terrible problem with our faith. It's something that we all tend to drift toward if we're not really careful. In fact, Martin Luther called it our "default mode". Even 500 years ago, Luther understood that it's as if our hearts come with a factory setting that we will constantly be tempted to go back to in our relationship with God. That default mode is religion, the pursuit of a right standing with God based on our own hard work & goodness (which is just a toned down, less offensive word for self-righteousness).

So how does this work? Typically it goes something like this. Somehow we recognize our sin. We may be like the younger son in Jesus' Parable of the Lost Son, & we've rebelled & chased after all the stuff this world promises only find a bunch of broken promises. Through the Gospel, we're humbled, & we return to God repentant & looking for restoration in Jesus. Or maybe we're the older, morally upright brother. We've been working really hard to do the right thing & be a good person, but at some point the Gospel reveals the futility & emptiness that lurks at the end of that road as well. So we stop trying to slave away for God hoping to earn a place in His family, & instead we embrace that through faith in Christ we are His child. In an instant our sins are washed away, & we're justified before God through Jesus.

Then it begins to happen. And it usually doesn't take very long. We begin to drift toward the default mode of hard work, self motivated moral goodness, & religious goodness. We begin to measure our growth by how hard we try or by pointing out "those things" that others do that we don't. Starts sounding strangely like the religious, yet lost condition that some of us were rescued out of, doesn't it? In fact, for many of us it becomes so extreme that we begin to act as if our relationship with God is reliant on how good we are. Somewhere along the way we think we outgrow the Gospel. Sure, the Gospel is what saves us, but it's our hard work that keep us saved.

"It's Time For Us To Stop Viewing Our Justification As An Extension 

Of Our Sanctification & Start Viewing Our Sanctification 

As An Extension Of Our Justification."

What do I mean by that? Well answer this question? What saved you? Your hard work or the power of the Gospel? Well if the Gospel is the only thing that saved you & brought you into the family of God, why would you think that all of a sudden you can grow & become more like Christ in your own strength & goodness. Instead of outgrowing the Gospel, we need to be camp out in the Gospel. If you're trying to become more generous, it doesn't happen by just trying hard or by beating yourself up for being greedy. You & I become more generous by constantly meditating on the Gospel that reminds us of the generosity of God revealed in Jesus. When we walk with a constant awareness of how sacrificially generous Jesus was on our behalf, becoming more generous with something as trivial as our stuff will start to become second nature. The same is true in our marriages. We don't become better husbands or wives by working harder. We grow by constantly reflecting on the incredible love of Christ toward us & His submission to the Father's will. As we see the lengths Jesus was willing to go to for us, we'll become more loving toward one another & sensitive to each other's needs.

The Gospel isn't the appetizer to your relationship with God. It's not something that gets you started. It's the appetizer, soup, main course, & dessert! Tim Keller says it this way, "The Gospel then isn't the ABCs of the Christian faith. It's the A to Z of the faith." If you think you've grown to the point of moving on from the crucified & resurrected Jesus, then you might want to think about what exactly it is that you are growing. So stop snacking on the Gospel, & feast on the glorious depth & riches that it holds for us as we not only come into the family of God but as we grow as His children.

That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Ah the brilliance of Inigo Montoya. Most of us have either been in Inigo's position or Vizzini's. A word gets used, but maybe we're not exactly using it correctly. After all, when someone says, "I could care less..." there actually saying the opposite of what they mean.

There's a word kind of like that that we have thrown around for centuries in regard to one of Jesus' stories, but it's nowhere in the actual story, & the way we've used it has actually hurt the meaning of the word. That word is "prodigal." It's a famous word because it's in the Bible, & it has made it's way into our culture, but very few people even know what it means, but if they did, it may make a big difference in how we understand Jesus' parable. If you were to ask someone on the street what "prodigal" means, you'd probably get responses like "rebellious", "runaway", or "wild child". But that word doesn't mean what you think it means, & it doesn't really apply to who you think it does.

"Prodigal" means "extravagant, reckless, lavish", & in the story Jesus told we assume that it applies primarily to the younger son who ran away from home & wasted his inheritance on wild living before he had to humbly come home. The truth however is far more complicated & more beautiful. You see that son was prodigal. He was reckless. He did live extravagantly, but when the money ran out, & he came home what he found was a far more extravagant, reckless, & lavish father than he could have predicted. Instead of being shunned or run off the property because of the dishonor he had brought on the family, the father welcomed him home, restored his place in the family, & threw a lavish party to celebrate. And Jesus uses that story to illustrate the graphic, extravagant, reckless, & costly grace that God has extended to us.

You & I have sinned lavishly, reckless, & extravagantly. The human heart has devised some ingenious ways to dishonor & rebel against God. However, when that rebellion or self-righteousness leaves us empty & we're brought to a place of repentance, what we find is that our extravagant sin is met with even more extravagant grace. Paul tells us in Romans 5 that "where sin increased, grace increased all the more." What that means is that no matter how rebellious or self righteous we are we are met with more than enough grace to cover the cost of our sin & restore us to our Heavenly Father.

"God Responds To Repentant Rebels & Pursues Religious Rebels With Reckless Grace."

In Jesus' parables both sons are cut off from their father. One is cut off by his rebellion, the other by his self righteousness. However, the father reaches out to both with reckless, extravagant, lavish, over the top grace. In Christ that same grace is being offered right now to all of us who've run away & chased our own path & to all of us who have tried to put God in our debt due to our own goodness. No matter which son you identify with, there's grace enough for us all if we will simply come back to the Father.