Christian Standard | January 2017

Devoted to the restoration of New Testament Christianity, its doctrine, its ordinances, and its fruits.

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Glimpses of Glory

BY MARK A. TAYLOR

Like one writer this month (p. 24), many readers have lived in the embrace of the church since birth. They know what the church is, because they see what the church is accomplishing. They can’t imagine what life would be like without the nurture, community, and accountability uniquely provided by God’s people.

They’ve seen the parade of meals carried to the ill and the shut-in. They’ve experienced hours and days of quiet companionship from Jesus followers who walked with them through sickness, disappointment, or the death of someone close. They’ve confessed their sins and discovered a remarkable reservoir of grace unlike anything the world offers, forgiveness accompanied by partnership in the task of rising above failure.

And careful church watchers have seen goodness beyond what any one person can experience for himself.

Bob Russell, a lifetime churchgoer himself, described the bigger picture in this magazine two years ago.* He reminded us that 106 of the first 108 colleges in this country were started by the church. He recited a litany of good the church has done in the world throughout history: the hospitals, the inner-city missions, the relief efforts in areas ravaged by natural disasters, the benevolence—schools adopted, the hungry fed, the poor clothed, the penniless given Christmas gifts. “Churches are making a dramatic impact in nearly every community,” Russell wrote.

And this is true around the world. In Jesus’ name the church is digging wells, building schools, investing in microenterprise, and attracting new believers to thousands of new churches while showing them love inspired by God.

Russell acknowledged that the church, the bride of Christ, “has some blemishes and a few age spots.” But maybe it’s not the bride herself, but the way we’ve dressed her, that is tarnished and unworthy.

We’ve forced the bride into clothes that fit us but not her. We’ve fashioned her in our image; we’ve made her about us—our preferences, our preconceptions, our prejudices—instead of the persistent passion and the perfect love in her original mission.

Thankfully, God will overcome our shortsightedness. He sent Christ not only to establish the church, but to die for her, “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:26, 27).

We need not worry if we don’t see such perfection today. It’s God’s work and God’s timing to achieve. But in the meantime, we continue to recognize glimpses of that eternal glory as we take our place beside history’s heroes in the tasks of the world’s best hope, the church.

*Find Russell’s essay at http://bit.ly/2gwsCkN

Mark Taylor posts every Tuesday at christianstandard.com.

We see goodness beyond our own experience.

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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

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Contributing editors help define the focus of Christian standard, identify issues facing volunteer leaders and staff members in churches we serve, and suggest future themes. They periodically write for the magazine and regularly consult, advise, and react to the editors regarding past and future content in the magazine.

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THIS MONTH

10 What Is the Church?

Bible definitions help provide a clear answer.

By Mark Scott

13 6 Secrets Leaders Share Surprises . . . and solutions.

By Alan Ahlgrim

14 Redefining Success

Many definitions miss the mark.

By Alan Ahlgrim

18 Candlestick Framework

Revelation offers clues to “What is the church?”

By Jeff Faull

22 I Love the Church!

Five leaders tell why:

• Because It Pushes Against ME Rhesa Storms

• Because the Church Loved Me . . . Rick Chromey

• Because It’s Finding New Ways Dennis Bratton

• Because There’s Work to Be Done Miriam Perkins

• Because of What I See It Doing Scott Ancarrow

30 The Church’s Mission: Making Disciples

“Doing” church vs. the mandate of Christ.

By Ethan Magness

34 Smaller Churches: Here to Stay & Making a Difference

Examples from congregations in four states.

By Shawn McMullen

37 Our Link in the Chain

How a struggling church connected with teens.

By Andy Daniell

How one church is offering hope to children.

By Jon Hembree

42 Healthy Leaders, Churches

Crucial steps for strengthening the church staff.

By Jennifer Johnson

45 Being the Church

Looking again at who we are and what God called us to do.

By Glen Elliott

47 Beauty in the Battle

A minister and his family grapple with fear and faith after their teenage daughter is diagnosed with cancer.

By Larry W. Timm

Helping Ministry Leaders Develop Skills, Relationships C’s

This month, more than a dozen pastors in the Greater Los Angeles area will begin a journey of learning, leadership, and change as Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA) kicks off its second Communitas cohort.

The program, which began as part of the Lilly Endowment, is designed to connect senior leaders who have served in ministry for 5 to 10 years and help them develop greater leadership skills; grow in their understanding of significant issues facing their communities; build networks with civic, business, and political leaders throughout the city; and develop strong relationships with each other.

“Lilly discovered there was a huge attrition rate among pastors during that first 5- to 10-year period,” says Stephanie Cupp, program coordinator

My Take

Christian Churches & Churches of Christ

By Jennifer Johnson

for Pepperdine’s Center of Faith and Learning. “They approached us, as well as some other schools around the country, about creating something new to connect these pastors, help them develop new vision for their ministry, and introduce them to others who could help. Each participating school created different programs to fit their context.”

For Pepperdine, this meant beginning with their faculty and the resources those professors could bring to the experience. Cupp and her team developed a program

that includes classroom teaching and group activities related to organizational leadership, sustainability and poverty, domestic violence, mental health, criminal justice, prison reform, immigration, and more.

Eight three-day sessions are spread across two years, and a different Pepperdine professor leads each one. One session is a special trip to Washington, D.C., to look at issues on a national and international level, with an emphasis on religious freedom. Lodging, meals, and other costs are completely covered by the Lilly grant.

“We were a bit nervous at the beginning because we intentionally included participants from different racial,

socioeconomic, and theological backgrounds,” Cupp says. “But they have really bonded and challenged each other in respectful ways. When they’re together you can just feel the Spirit in the room; it’s about our unity in Christ and how we can bring our broken world back to the church where Christ can do his work. They began learning from each other and trusting each other and even working together on different initiatives. We’re excited to see what God will do with the second cohort.”

Learn more about Communitas and refer a pastor for future cohorts at https://www. pepperdine.edu/spiritual-life/ communitas/.

—Jennifer Johnson

Strategic Solutions for Significant Stages

Writers of short-think pieces like this one love to quote statistics about the hundreds or even thousands of pastors who are leaving the ministry each month. However, as Ed Stetzer pointed out on his blog last October, those provocative numbers have yet to be backed up with any solid data or reliable sources.

In fact, actual recent surveys, like the September 2015 study conducted by LifeWay Research, show that while the demands of pastoring a church can frequently feel “overwhelming” to more than 50 percent of senior pastors, the vast majority (92

percent!) also feel regularly encouraged by their congregation.

Being a minister is a challenge, but not necessarily one that swarms of pastors are quitting, and erroneously repeating that they are leaving church leadership at such high rates “is hurting pastors and the reputation of the church and ministry,” Stetzer says.

Both of the ministry initiatives profiled this month are addressing the stresses of ministry in different ways. In Ohio, 17 churches are participating in Cincinnati Christian University’s Teaching Church

“[The participants] have really bonded and challenged each other in respectful ways.”

Making Longer-term Connections

Although internships are invaluable for helping college students determine their vocational path—and although many Christian colleges and universities now require them for students across a variety of disciplines—ministry internships can be difficult for both students and churches.

“The shorter internships, especially, are challenging,” says Tim Dunn, minister at LifeSpring Christian Church in Cincinnati, OH. “With just a few hours a week, you don’t have time to really influence or invest in the students, especially when they are also participating in mission trips or camps. It’s hard to really include them in the life of the church.”

Cincinnati Christian University’s new Teaching Church Partnership, which launched in August, eliminates these problems with a four-year program for ministry students. Small groups of freshmen visit more than a dozen area churches during first semester to experience different-size churches and different approaches to ministry. Second semester, each student is assigned to a specific church where they are expected to attend and volunteer in some way on the weekend.

During sophomore year, the students continue worshipping at the church, as well as serving some other time during the week in an area related to their ministry focus. For example, a student

ministry major might return on Sunday nights to help with youth group, or a student interested in worship ministry might attend a midweek rehearsal.

“After their sophomore year, students decide if the major they’re working on is a good fit,” Dunn says. If so, during their junior year they will increase both

dents and help them grow in a way you can’t do with a short-term internship,” he says. “By the fourth year of the program, we could have 10 or more students here every week, making a contribution to our ministry. At the same time, the students get a bigger picture of ministry.

“Also, many students want to graduate and go immediately to the huge, well-known churches in our movement, but that won’t always happen. This experience exposes them to a variety of churches with different budgets in different communities. Our church isn’t as glamorous as some of the megachurches in the suburbs, but we are doing real ministry and we’re excited to find kids who want to be part of it.”

the amount of time and the depth of work they’re doing with the church and potentially apply to be an intern with the congregation in their senior year.

“At that point the student becomes basically a part-time employee of the church,” Dunn says. “It’s a paid internship for which they also receive credit. It involves leadership development and active participation in a ministry.”

LifeSpring is one of 17 Cincinnati-area churches participating in the program, which kicked off this past August. Dunn believes it can be a win for both students and churches.

“The church gets an opportunity to build a connection with a few specific stu-

Partnership program that gives ministry-minded students handson experience with real churches, beginning their very first semester.

Just as schools with good education programs will expose future teachers to the classroom before their senior year studentteaching experience, CCU is requiring ministry majors to explore the worship center, the classroom, and the church office before graduating and accepting a church staff position.

Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA) addresses the pastors who have served in ministry roles between 5 and 10 years—a window that the Lilly Foundation has identified as a transition point when many pastors might face new challenges. The Communitas program not only equips leaders for productive ministry in Los Angeles, but also connects them with a cohort of peers who can provide long-term support.

Both of these initiatives are important, as are efforts to support

The program is also designed so that the younger students assigned to a church will see the example of the juniors and seniors working there, an experience that can further assist the freshmen and sophomores as they explore their call to ministry.

“It’s going to be a lot of work for us, but we are looking at it as an investment,” Dunn says. “Even more importantly, we think there will be a ‘big-C Church’ payoff when more students leave CCU better equipped to do real ministry. I’m excited about the kingdom potential.”

www.lifespringchristian.org

www.ccuniversity.edu

—Jennifer Johnson

new ministers, leaders in crisis, women in ministry, small-church ministers, large-church ministers, urban leaders, rural leaders, career pastors looking toward retirement, and many other groups with unique needs.

As these two stories illustrate, none of this happens for any group without significant investments of money, time, and strategic planning. It also requires extensive discussion with real leaders already in the trenches. But if these efforts can lead to thousands of pastors having longer and more productive ministries, that’s time and money well spent—and it’s certainly more helpful than spreading false statistics that hurt us all.

http://lifewayresearch.com/2015/09/01/despite-stresses-fewpastors-give-up-on-ministry/

http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/october/thatstat-that-says-pastors-are-all-miserable-and-want-to-q.html

Media Matters

n Dave and Jon Ferguson recently released their newest book, Starting Over: Your Life Beyond Regrets. Learn more and download a sample chapter at www.startingoverbook.org.

n Room for Doubt, a website and a series of resources inviting and answering questions about faith, is releasing “version 2” of its popular message series and curriculum. It is written and researched by Mark Mittelberg, Garry Poole, and Lee Strobel. Go to www. roomfordoubt.com.

n The new book by Liz Curtis Higgs, 31 Verses to Write on Your Heart, features both devotional and study thoughts on 31 of the most popular verses of the Bible. Learn more at www.lizcurtishiggs.com/ books/31-verses-write-heart/.

Passages

n Professor, missionary, and ministry leader Eleanor Daniel recently published her memoir, Call Me Teacher. It’s available on Amazon, Kindle, and Google Books.

n In October, Denise Harlow and Lauren Harlow Carreras launched the WoMentum Podcast for women in ministry. Subscribe and read the coordinating blog at www.deniseharlow.com.

n Richard Marshall, a retired minister and alumnus of Lincoln Christian College/Seminary, recently published All Things Together, a short novel about the life of a preacher based on Romans 8:28. See www.amazon.com.

n The Slingshot Group blog offers insights on leadership, resources, and ministry transitions. Learn more at slingshotgroup.org/blog/.

n David and Kathy Bycroft, who began their ministry with Tyro (KS) Christian Church in 1969, will conclude their ministry there on Feb. 5. A celebration service is planned for that day with David preaching his final message as TCC’s evangelist.

n Alice L. Powers of Owasso, OK, wife of retired minister John M. Powers, died Sept. 6, 2016. She was a nurse who also served with her husband in planting new churches. She was involved in Bible Bowl for several years while they served at Christview Christian Church, Tulsa, OK. In addition to her husband, she is survived by one daughter, one son, three grandchildren, one sister, and two brothers. A celebration service was conducted at First Church, Owasso, OK, on Sept. 10. Burial was at Thayer, KS. Memorial contributions may be made to Restoration House Ministries, Manchester, NH (www. rhmnewengland.org).

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News items, such as anniversaries, changes in ministry, obituaries, coming events, and mission and college happenings, are posted free at Christian standard’s website, christianstandard.com, soon after we receive them. They may also appear in the print magazine.

“Good news, Pastor! . . . During this morning’s sermon, we were suddenly inspired to double your continuing education reimbursements!”

Classified ad-style news appears only on our website. This includes such items as help wanted (including ministry and college staff openings), jobs wanted (including ministers seeking positions), and other needs and opportunities.

BY SIMON J. DAHLMAN

Professor of Communications Milligan College, Tennessee

Weather Talk

“Don’t knock the weather. If it didn’t change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn’t start a conversation.”

Kin Hubbard (1868–1930), American journalist and humorist

“The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”

—George Santayana (1863–1952), Spanish philosopher and poet

Many Americans Can’t Afford Basic Legal Help

More than 100 million poor and middle-income Americans cannot afford representation for basic human needs, according to a recent report from the American Bar Association. (Basic human needs are defined in the report as cases related to shelter, sustenance, safety, health, and child custody.)

The study found that the public often does not receive effective assistance with legal problems “either because of insufficient financial resources or a lack of knowledge about when legal problems exist that require resolution through legal representation.” This underrepresentation, according to the ABA, has negative effects on all people involved in court cases, even those who have attorneys to represent them.

The deficiency is partly due to the traditional law-practice business model that “constrains innovations” that could provide more access to legal services. “The legal profession’s resistance to change hinders additional innovations,” the ABA concluded.

“The demand for services is certainly there, but an affordable supply of attorneys is not,” according to Stephen Rispoli of the Baylor Law School.

American Bar Association Commission on the Future of Legal Services, “Report on the Future of Legal Services in the United States,” 2016

By the Numbers

By more than a two-to-one ratio, American adults say employers should provide birth control in insurance plans—but the public is split over same-sex wedding services and the use of public bathrooms by transgender people.

“If you had to choose, which view comes closest to yours?”

“Employers who have religious objections to the use of birth control should be . . .

“. . . able to refuse to provide it in health insurance plans for their employees” — 30%

“. . . required to provide it in health insurance plans for their employees just as other employers are required to do.” — 67%

“Businesses that provide wedding services (such as catering, flowers, or photography) should be . . .

“. . . able to refuse to provide those services to same-sex couples if the business owner has religious objections to homosexuality” — 48%

“. . . required to provide those services to same-sex couples just as they would to all other customers.” — 49%

“Transgender people should be …

“. . . required to use the public restrooms of gender they were born into.” — 46%

“. . . allowed to use the public restrooms of the gender with which they currently identify.” — 51%

Pew Research Center (Religion and Public Life), “Broad consensus on contraception coverage, but public more divided over wedding services for samesex couples, bathrooms for transgender people,” September 28, 2016. (Results may not add up to 100% due to rounding and excluding “no answers.”)

“The sin which in English is commonly called Sloth (in Latin acedia) . . . is not merely idleness of mind and laziness of body: it is that whole poisoning of the will which, beginning with indifference and an attitude of ‘I couldn’t care less,’ extends to the deliberate refusal of joy and culminates in morbid introspection and despair. One form of it which appeals very strongly to some modern minds is that acquiescence in evil and error which readily disguises itself as ‘Tolerance’; another is that refusal to be moved by the contemplation of the good and beautiful which is known as ‘Disillusionment’ and sometimes as ‘knowledge of the world’; yet another is that withdrawal into an ‘ivory tower’ of isolation which is the peculiar temptation of the artist and contemplative, and is popularly called ‘Escapism.’”

Fulfilled Sex

“Like nitroglycerin, [sex] can be used either to blow up bridges or heal hearts. At its roots, the hunger for food is the hunger for survival. At its roots the hunger to know a person sexually is the hunger to know and be known by that person humanly. Food without nourishment doesn’t fit the bill for long, and neither does sex without humanness.”

Frederick Buechner (b. 1926), American author and minister, in Wishful Thinking

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.”

Parents Spend More Time with Kids Now

It may seem counterintuitive, but a survey across 11 Western nations found that parents are spending more time with their children than parents did in the mid1960s. That trend holds true across all education levels and in 10 of the 11 nations surveyed.

In 1965, mothers spent a daily average of 54 minutes on child-care activities, while in 2012 mothers averaged 104 minutes. Fathers’ time with children nearly quadrupled, from just 16 minutes per day with their children in 1965 to about 59 minutes a day in 2012. These numbers include parents from all education levels. Among the 11 countries analyzed, France was the only country that showed a decrease in mothers’ child-care time.

In addition, the researchers found that collegeeducated moms spent an estimated 123 minutes daily on child care, compared with 94 minutes spent by less educated mothers. Fathers with a college degree spent

about 74 minutes a day with their kids; less educated dads averaged 50 minutes.

The study was based on the Multinational Time Use Study Harmonized Simple Files, which focused on parents ages 18 to 65 living in households with at least one child under the age of 13. From 1965 to 2012, 122,271 parents in Canada, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Denmark, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Slovenia were asked to keep a diary of all their daily activities. Researchers analyzed differences by randomly selecting one day from each diary and tabulating the amount of time recorded for both interactive and routine child-care activities.

—Mother Teresa (1910–97), Albanian nun and founder of the Order of Missionaries of Charity (canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2016)

Dorothy Sayers (1893–1957), English author and Christian thinker, in a commentary on Dante’s Purgatory

Giulia M. Dotti Sani and Judith Treas, “Educational Gradients in Parents’ Child-Care Time Across Countries, 1965–2012,” Journal of Marriage and Family, August 2016

What Is the Church?

BY MARK SCOTT

Ask people on the street, and they’ll come up with many inadequate answers. But what would Christians say? A survey of Bible definitions gives us a clear answer.

In the mid-1990s, a few doctor of ministry students from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary hit the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, to interview people. One of the 10 questions they asked was, “What does church bring to mind?” Here are some of the answers:

• guilt

• obligation

• uncomfortable

• stuffy

• one and one-half hours of complete boredom.

Does the church need a better press agent? Did the church fail these people? Can the church be redeemed in their eyes?

And what about the church? Is she just a substitute teacher? Was the church “Plan B” in God’s total redemptive plan? Did Jesus’ efforts to usher in a kingdom get compromised by its lack of reception (cf. John

1:11)? Was the church just the next best thing God could offer? Or . . . is the church a stroke of God’s genius in the world? Is it a colony of Heaven on earth to make Jesus famous and help move creation toward new creation?

The church did not exist until the Day of Pentecost, but that does not mean it did not have an antecedent.

Of course, most church people know the church is not a place but a people.1 Since it is a group of people, what is the best English word to represent those people?

Is it the English word church? That par-

ticular word comes from the Greek term kuriakon (Lord’s house). Is the best word assembly? The New Testament Greek word for assembly is ecclesia. Assembly seems a bit bland to us, but in terms of how this word was used in the ancient culture, it actually is an accurate word (cf. Acts 19:32, 39, 41). Is the best word congregation? That word certainly helps us understand local fellowships, but what about the church universal?

I am persuaded that the best English word for church (ecclesia) is community It reflects the unity and warmth of God’s people.2

The English word church is used roughly 100 times in the English Standard Version of the Bible. It occurs as early as Matthew 16:18 and as late as Revelation 22:16 in the New Testament.3 The word appears only twice in the Gospels, and both references are in Matthew (16:18;

©Lightstock

18:17). The word occurs most frequently in the Corinthian letters and then in Acts. The church is both universal (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 1:18) and local (Acts 9:31; 13:1).

So, what is the church?

Perhaps She Is a New Community

Church is a New Testament term. If Jesus promised to build her (Matthew 16:18) then she must not have existed previous to the fulfillment of that promise (Acts 2:14). To have a church you must have the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). Since the Holy Spirit could not be given until Jesus had been glorified (John 7:37-39), the church has to be a new thing, right? After all, Israel was a religious state and not exactly like the church, correct?

Somewhat.

It would seem the church was a new entity, as it did not exist on this stained

planet until the Day of Pentecost. But just because it started that day does not mean it did not have an antecedent. What about the “congregation of Israel” ( kahal )?

As Bill Gaither sang many years ago, “God has always had a people.” Israel (and maybe even sojourners with her) was a gathered assembly that was intended to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6). Essentially the congregation of Israel was the new community (Deuteronomy 9:10; 18:16; 31:30) before the new community existed (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5).

Perhaps She Is a Distinct Community

Most people who work at defining the church certainly emphasize that the English word church translates from a compound word, ecclesia. The first part of the word (ek) means “out.” The second part

of the word (kaleo) means “to call.” Many sermons and lessons have taught that the church is the “called out” people of God. They have been transferred (called out) from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of God’s Son (Colossians 1:13).

There certainly is truth here. Believers are peculiar and distinct. Exodus is the story of getting Israel out of Egypt. Leviticus is the story of getting Egypt out of Israel.

Christians are to be intentionally different from the world. They are to be counterculture in a world bent on destruction. Christ followers have much in common with all humanity because all people descend from Adam.

One church has as its mission statement, “To blur the lines between church and culture.” I understand the missional

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

Continued from previous page

idea of striving to identify ourselves with those we are attempting to reach for Christ. But is that the right strategy?

Far be it from me to criticize a church’s earnest efforts to win people, but my friend J.K. Jones says, “We are best for our communities when we are most unlike our communities.” Redemption, at the core, makes us different than the world. We are a people possessed by God (Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9).

Perhaps She Is a Gathered Community

As noted earlier, the word ecclesia in its secular context had to do with a “duly constituted assembly.” It describes something on the order of town council meetings. Maybe instead of church being “called out,” it actually means something like “coming together.” Add to this emphasis the idea of “synagogue,” and then we see even more of this dimension of a gathered community (James 2:2).

I suppose one reason it is so easy to think of the church as a building is because we do think of church as a “coming together,” and that is done in a building. When the church gathers, she is carving out some sacred space because the Holy Spirit indwells the people (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20) and also interdwells the people (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17). God is among us because he lives in us and because we have gathered in his name.

Perhaps She Is a Metaphoric Community Metaphoric may not be the best label. The church is not a metaphor. The church is a certain reality. Yet the Bible uses many metaphors to describe the church. These metaphors tell us something about the nature of the church. A metaphor takes two unlike things and puts them together (A and Non-A). The combination creates something of a new reality (e.g., 20/20 hearing).

Kenneth Bailey said, “Jesus was a metaphoric theologian.”⁴ If that is true, should it surprise us to learn that many images are used to describe his church?

Not all of the metaphors are created equal, and some of them are more telling than others about the nature of the church. But we call the church the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22), the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17), the flock of God (Acts 20:28), a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), and many others.⁵ This gives a certain rich

kaleidoscope of thoughts about what the church is.

Perhaps She Is an Intimate Community

The major metaphor of the church not mentioned above is that of family. Just as the Trinity is a familial community, so the church is as well. God is intimate with his church as his bride. Add to this all the references to “brothers and sisters” and family becomes the driving metaphor of God’s people in the New Testament.

The church is God’s ambassador to reconcile the world. The church celebrates the rich diversity of the world by breaking down walls and building bridges to all peoples.

God took the most intimate of all relationships (i.e., marriage) by referring to his church as his bride (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3; Ephesians 5:22-31; Revelation 19:7, 8; 21:2). This intimate relationship has its roots in rich analogies and stories in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 16; Hosea).

In many ways one could argue we are “married to Christ.” We only think that Jesus was a bachelor. Reality is that Jesus was (and is) married. Jesus has a wife.⁶ That means the church is an intimate community.

Perhaps She Is an Inclusive Community

Everyone needs a place. The church is that place where everyone has a place. To be saved means the lost are found, the guilty are forgiven, the sick are made well, the world is set right, creation is healed, and the outsiders are brought in to community. When Jesus healed lepers he sent them home—back into their communities. He does the same thing with spiritual lepers.

I am persuaded that the only thing that will solve the “isms” (racism, sexism, ageism, etc.) of this world is Jesus and the church. The church is God’s ambassador to reconcile the world. The church celebrates the rich diversity of the world by breaking down walls and building bridges to all peoples. A good picture of this is the

table fellowship of Jesus⁷ and the worship scene in Revelation 7:9.

God can bring all people who are “far off” and unite them in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22; 3:14-21). Then all those people can use their giftings of the Spirit (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 2731; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Peter 4:10, 11) to build up the church. This creates an exemplary solidarity (not unlike the Trinity itself) for the world to see.

She Is an Eschatological Community

This, more than anything else, it seems to me, is the best description of the church’s nature. The church is a colony of Heaven on earth.⁸ The church is a preview of coming attractions for God’s glorious future. The church is the best expression of what God’s ultimate kingdom looks like.⁹ The church is a microcosm of what God is trying to do in getting the world back. When church is really church, it feels a bit like Heaven.

When our Restoration forefathers talked about restoring the church of the New Testament, they no doubt had passages like Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37 in mind. These summary paragraphs describe the church at its best. So, had I been interviewed by those doctoral students in Boston that day I would have said, “The church is the eschatological community of Heaven on earth that partners with God to move creation to new creation.”

¹The oldest church building in the world is evidently the Dura-Europos house church in Syria, which dates from the third century. There is some evidence, though, that an earlier house church was discovered in Jordan that could be dated to just after 70 AD, following the Christians’ fleeing from the siege in Jerusalem.

²It may not be much of an improvement on “congregation” when it comes to describing the church universal.

³“Church” does not occur in the Old Testament.

⁴Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 279.

⁵See Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004; originally printed in 1960). Minear traces more than 90 images of the church and misses a few minor ones.

⁶This idea was developed in a delightful way by David Erickson in his sermon at the 1999 North American Christian Convention in Denver, Colorado.

⁷This theme is especially rich in Luke’s Gospel.

⁸I am indebted to Carl Ketcherside for this insight.

⁹This article has not dealt with the similarities or differences between kingdom and church. It would seem kingdom is the larger term.

Mark Scott serves as professor of preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri.

6 Secrets

Leaders Share

BY ALAN AHLGRIM

Every person can relate to being at the end of his or her rope— especially leaders! But realizing that secrets like these are common to many can lead to solutions and calm.

Secrets—everyone has them. I’ve been close to a group of business entrepreneurs for years. We used to gather every week for lunch, now we connect every few months and it’s always a grand reunion. Recently, as we finished our sandwiches in a business conference room, I interrupted the chatter by reading a passage from Matthew 5. When I asked what stood out the most in this teaching of Jesus, several immediately referenced this paragraph from The Message paraphrase I was using.

“Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said: ‘You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule’” (Matthew 5:1-3).

Every person can relate to being at the end of his or her rope—especially leaders! I know . . . I’ve been there! These days my life is lived largely behind the leadership lines. I’m grateful to lever-

If anyone can understand what a leader must endure, Jesus can. That’s why Jesus has the credibility to counsel us.

Many definitions we give the word are far from the center of what it really means.

Re

de

fin

ing

BY ALAN AHLGRIM

In Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, Kent and Barbara Hughes begin with Kent’s angry lament: “Most people I know in the ministry are unhappy. . . . They are failures in their own eyes. Mine as well. Why should I expect God to bless me when it appears He hasn’t blessed them? Am I so ego-centered to think He loves me more?”

Success . . . and Disappointment

We live in a success-obsessed culture. No one hopes to one day be a colossal failure; we all dream of achievement. That’s not a bad thing. God created us to pursue our hopes and dreams, but what do we do when we are forced to confront the reality that our lives and accomplishments don’t measure up to our desires and expectations?

Dealing with disappointment is the common lot of every Christian leader. The apostle Paul himself repeatedly struggled with this. At one point he wrote, “We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it” (2 Corinthians 1:8, New Living Translation). At points, Paul and other godly leaders not only dealt with severe difficulties in ministry, but even feared for their very lives.

I’ve never feared for my life, but I have feared for my “success” and that of the church. After I led our church through a multimillion-dollar legal battle and a massive multicampus expansion, we were on the brink of bankruptcy. I’ll never forget the day our key financial person entered my office and said, “I would be remiss in my fiduciary responsibility if I didn’t tell you that the church could be defunct within six months.”

While our two beautiful campuses serving more than 2,000 people indicated success, I felt failure. I had many dark-ofthe-night struggles and relentless doubt. Did I over-inspire? Did I not listen to God? Did I position the church and the Lord for a colossal community embarrassment?

I felt trapped and daily pleaded for help. I learned a ton through that awful time. I learned, as the apostle Paul had previously, to stop relying on myself and to rely on God alone.

Success . . . and New Measures

My definition of success was reshaped forever. Years ago I studied everything I could about church growth and even earned an advanced degree in that specialty. I’m not against financial and numeric growth. I’m all for it. But I’m no longer enamored with it. I’ve been forever cured of measuring success merely in quantitative terms. Bigger isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just bigger and often not better at all.

Let’s face it, every person we add to the church is a potential problem; therefore, the more people we add, the more problems we will face. In his insightful book Leadership Pain, Samuel Chand makes the point: “You’ll grow only to the threshold of your pain.” Clearly, growth must have some qualitative markers.

If success is found only in mega this or mega that, few will ever experience it. In the church world, most congregations will never crack the 200 barrier, much less 2,000. Does that mean the devoted leaders serving as staff and volunteers

©Photodisc/Thinkstock

God created us to pursue our hopes and dreams, but what do we do when our lives and accomplishments don’t measure up to our desires and expectations?

REDEFINING SUCCESS

Continued from previous page

of smaller churches are to be numbered among “the lesser thans”—lesser than the influential leaders of the largest and bestknown congregations? I think not.

I am privileged to know the private struggles and battles of many large church leaders. I can assure you that mega sometimes can refer to mega disappointment, difficulty, and doubt. I have yet to see a correlation between church size and church health or leadership holiness. Some of the largest churches and their leaders are shallow and performance-driven; while some of the smaller churches and their leaders are happy and holy.

Yes, some small churches are hotbeds of pettiness and discord, while some of the largest are dynamic and devout. But the point is this . . . we dare not be guilty of focusing on mere externals. Just as God is not impressed with the outward stuff, but rather with the inward issues of the heart, the same should be true of us.

Healthy churches are noble ones and therefore led by noble leaders. Some of these churches are large, some are small. Most are somewhere in between. When it comes to nobility, size doesn’t matter. It’s a matter of heart.

A while back I was taken with a simple verse: “The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them” (Psalm 16:3, NLT). Another word for pleasure here is delight.

Success . . . and Good Models

That set me to quickly making a list of some of the people that my wife and I take delight in—our spiritual heroes. You might want to try it. If you do, you might be surprised who made the top 10 on your list and who didn’t! We discovered that our spiritual heroes, the folks we especially delight in, had several things in common.

• Long obedience: Everyone on our list happened to be married for a very long time. Not only that, but they had also typically been members of the same church for decades. While our consumer culture encourages church shopping for the freshest and most relevant experiences, the people we personally admire have chosen to stay put both in marriage and in a ministry. Endurance is underrated by the world, but is highly valued in the eyes of God and those who determine to measure

depth by his definition.

• Deep joy: Everyone on our list loves to laugh. While laughter isn’t always possible, it is important and reflects an attitude of confidence in God. Life is hard, but God is good. We believe that no matter how tough the times may be, our times are in his hands, and he will redeem all things. Those who made our hero list all enjoy life and breathe life into us rather than suck life out of us! For us, holiness and humor are closely related. We have learned that joy is a choice we make despite the circumstances we face. We must always default to joy!

• Strong generosity: Everyone on our list actually believes it is more blessed to give than to receive. Imagine that! The godly make a lifestyle of living generously.

more than doing. It’s celebrating who you are and whose you are and the particular place to which God has called you.

Successful people are devout, not driven . . . grateful, not envious. I love how Paul phrased it, “But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us. . . . For we are not overextending ourselves” (2 Corinthians 10:13, 14, English Standard Version). Much of our problem with success has to do with our sin of discontent. We all have a propensity to long for something more—and while there’s a place for holy ambition, we need to be careful not to miss the privilege of being gratefully present where we are.

Success is certainly defined by influence. That’s why we consider the most successful churches to be the largest, the most successful conferences to be the biggest, the most successful authors to be among the best sellers, the most successful bloggers to have the most followers, and the most successful politicians to have the most supporters. However, ironically, influence like this rarely translates to personal impact, much less personal transformation.

While that certainly means giving beyond a tithe of their income, it isn’t just confined to tangible things. Generosity is an attitude that permeates their lives. It’s revealed in their decisions to consistently give others the benefit of the doubt and to forgive those who have failed. The generous are compassionate, and it’s contagious!

Success . . . and True Impact

Could it be the same markers for our personal heroes might also apply to churches? I think so. The churches I find most impressive are those that have been rooted in their communities for years, those that have a joyful atmosphere permeated with frequent laughter, and those that delight in generously giving in a variety of ways.

What? You say, what about their faithfulness to the Bible? Doesn’t that matter? Of course, and their devotion to the authority of the Scripture is reflected in their attitudes of obedience, joy, and generosity. Therefore, these are within reach of us all.

At the root, it’s really more qualitative than quantitative. It’s a matter of being

The ones who have had the most impact on us are almost always among the ones we are closest to. We measure the success of others mostly by their contribution to us and their model for us. As a young convert said of her new church friends, “I want to be just like them!” I’d say that tiny new church was already a great success!

Success in the eyes of God is to serve well and to finish well. Finishing well is a heart issue, it’s growing more in love with Jesus until we see him and serve him throughout eternity. This is the best definition of success I know—and it applies equally to individuals and to churches. Our primary focus is not on what we do for him but on what he has done for us.

So here’s the bottom line, success is not based on our performance for Christ, but on our position in Christ. That’s the gospel, and that’s good news for us all!

Alan Ahlgrim served as founding pastor with Rocky Mountain Christian Church, Niwot, Colorado, for 29 years and now serves as pastor-at-large. In addition, he serves as director of pastor care and leadership development with Blessing Ranch Ministries, New Port Richey, Florida.

I’ve never feared for my life, but I have feared for my “success” and that of the church.

6 SECRETS LEADERS SHARE

Continued from page 13

age the agony and ecstasy of 40-plus years in ministry to encourage so many serving so well. I don’t just hear interesting and amazing stories that usually can’t be shared in public. I often hear the private and painful struggles of those tasked with leading others.

Some of these leaders are serving in business and government, but most are serving in the church. Here are some of the “secrets” I’ve recently heard.

1. “I’m not sure how much longer I want to do this.”

Leading anything is hard; leading a local church is exhausting. As Dr. John Walker from Blessing Ranch Ministries likes to remind pastors, “Nothing requires more of you than ministry.” Being on and available and prepared at all times is impossible. That’s one reason the vast majority of those who begin in ministry don’t actually finish in ministry. While not everyone flames out in some flagrant fashion, many just lose their capacity or desire to go on.

2. “I’m shocked by how sin still stalks me!”

Whether the struggle is with lust, pornography, alcohol, or anger, everyone faces the unrelenting reminder of his or her humanity. While we all can easily admit to faults in a general sense, or with a carefully crafted illustration from a time long ago and in a place far away, the reality is our struggles are not all minor ones nor all rooted in ancient history. All too often our struggles and sins are current events—we just can’t admit them in real time for fear others will lose confidence in us. We’re not sure whom we can trust with our stuff.

3. “I’m waking every morning with thoughts of failure.”

There’s never been a time when the stakes were so high and the expectations so unrealistic. This is especially true in the local church. No pastor could hope to fulfill even 80 percent of the hopes and dreams of those in any given congregation.

Not a week goes by that a leader isn’t reminded by someone that he just doesn’t measure up in some way. Some of this may

be legitimate; however, many criticisms are petty, pointless, and even ridiculous. Here’s the ugly truth: the greatest critic of most every leader is the one he sees in the mirror every morning.

4. “I’m increasingly feeling out of touch and irrelevant.”

The times are changing, for sure! While not long ago leaders in their 50s and even 60s were considered to be in their leadership prime, now they’re the “old guys.” As churches consider candidates to be their next “senior leader,” he is unlikely to be very “senior,” or even much over the age of 40.

One large congregation is seeking a gifted preacher between 28 and 33 to lead them in a high-growth area. While many strong leaders and communicators can be found in this age bracket, few would honestly describe themselves as mature, experienced, or seasoned leaders. Yet those are the leaders most in demand right now.

true for those in high-stress roles. Who better understands what it’s like to be a surgeon with someone’s life literally in your hands than another surgeon? Who better understands what it’s like to be a cop called to defuse a domestic violence situation than another cop? And who better understands what it’s like to be a pastor using the Bible to address controversial issues in public, such as sexual abstinence or gay marriage, than another pastor?

In addition to preaching weekly on a wide variety of topics, the typical pastor gets dizzy changing hats for the wide variety of other roles he is expected to fill. To be a leader is to be stretched and misunderstood.

Expressed and Addressed

The not so secret “secret” is church leaders live with stress that eats away at their confidence and joy. However, once these stresses are expressed and addressed, they become less formidable and more manageable.

No leader is ever truly alone in what he faces or how he feels. Isolation is just the devil’s tool to discourage and dishearten those in vital roles, and the isolated leader is the most vulnerable leader. The reality is everyone can relate to stress; however, properly understood it can remind us of the ultimate solution.

5.

“I’m feeling unappreciated.”

One pastor told me he hates Pastor Appreciation Month—the celebration promoted each October on Christian radio. This pastor hates it, not because he hates appreciation but because he needs it and yet rarely receives it. That hurts. What can hurt even more is when the pastor’s wife is rarely recognized for the contribution and sacrifices she makes for the good of the church. It’s painful to be repeatedly taken for granted simply because you’re called to be a servant leader.

6. “I’m feeling misunderstood.”

Every leader at times lives with pressure and private pain. That’s especially

Jesus is the ultimate leader. Jesus knew stress. He knew temptation, disappointment, criticism, abandonment, and betrayal. If anyone can understand what a leader must endure, Jesus can. That’s why Jesus has the credibility to counsel us.

“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace” (Matthew 6:6-8, The Message).

Alan Ahlgrim served as founding pastor with Rocky Mountain Christian Church, Niwot, Colorado, for 29 years and now serves as pastor-at-large. In addition, he serves as director of pastor care and leadership development with Blessing Ranch Ministries, New Port Richey, Florida. This piece is adapted from a post that appeared first at his blog: https://blessingsahead.wordpress.com/author/ blessingsahead/.

The typical pastor gets dizzy changing hats for the wide variety of other roles he is expected to fill. To be a leader is to be stretched and misunderstood.

7 clues to answer our question, “What IS the church?”

Candlestick Framework

BY JEFF FAULL

One of the most beautiful and reassuring scenes in Scripture is found in the opening pages of Revelation. It focuses on the all-holy, all-seeing, all-powerful Jesus walking among the seven candlesticks or lampstands. And with unmistakable clarity John declares, “the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:20).

Incredible! In all of his love, majesty, and insight, Christ has the church as his overriding concern and passion! He moves among the candlesticks. As church members and church leaders, we frequent this place of beauty—immersed in, obsessed by, and saturated with visions of the church in Scripture.

Some of us have spent decades dreaming, praying, and pondering such questions as these:

What is the church and what should the church look like?

What constitutes the church? When does it cease to be the church?

What does the church do? What should it be? How rigid or flexible is the definition of church?

What’s right with the church? What’s wrong with the church? We think of everything the church is and wants to be.

What are we trying to do? Where are we headed?

As ministries and as leaders, as churches, what are we becoming before God?

What are we really building for God? What kind of “house” should we build for him?

Bill Hybels, pastor with Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Illinois, was recently interviewed

live in front of thousands of young leaders. He was asked to offer one word of caution or advice for young leaders and church planters. His answer was simple yet profound: “Make sure that what you are building is really a church.” But how do we know if we’re building a church or something else? One way is to think about candlesticks. I’ve identified seven of them that give light. These are the concerns that ought to occupy our thoughts and illuminate our hearts and minds when we think about the church. Unfortunately, many church leaders focus on one or two of these but neglect, or even oppose, the rest of them. But all of them are necessary for a balanced perspective of church.

1. The images of the church

The New Testament does more than merely give a strict technical definition of the church—it gives us pictures we should gaze on often: an active sheepfold, a preparing bride, a burgeoning construction site, a fruitful field, a co-op of fellow workers with God, a healthy functioning body, a united family, an illuminated kingdom, a focused army of believers. There were even some clues given in the Old Testament about what the church would eventually look like.

CANDLESTICK FRAMEWORK

Continued from previous page

Though these metaphors are diverse and varied, there are common threads woven through these pictures of the church.

They all have their imperfections. Sheepfolds are odorous, fields have weeds, bodies have ailments, brides have blemishes, construction sites are messy, and families have problems.

But those imperfections are continually being overcome with improvements. The building is being constructed, the bride is being made beautiful, the crop in the field is growing, the body is functioning, the fold is providing safety, and the family is together. All of these improvements require involvement, submission, and effort.

2. The definitions of the church

In his ecclesiology blog, Alan Knox wrote,

Look in an English dictionary under the letter “C,” somewhere between “chocolate” and “cider,” and you’ll find the word “church.” “Church” is an English term that has many different definitions. In that dictionary, you will probably find five or six different definitions for “church.” Many of those words are related, which makes this process even harder.

What process is that? I’m talking about defining the word “church” as it’s used in the New Testament. In other words, I’m trying to answer this question: When we read the New Testament and come across the word “church,” what does this word mean?

The church is called out and called together “the assembly.” Sometimes it is the church throughout the world, sometimes the church throughout a region, and other times, the church in a local city.

This is a discussion far beyond the scope of this article, but it is an avenue worth exploring and pursuing if we are serious about the church. I wonder how many of us who have devoted our lives to planting or building the church would pass the “red-faced” test in a serious conversation about the meaning and the origin of the term “church.”

3. The “templates” of the early church

Historically this is where our Restoration predecessors set up camp. What did the early church do? What decisions did the apostolic leaders make? What guidelines did they provide? Is the book of Acts a rigid blueprint or a flexible example? How much of it and which parts of it are intended as an ongoing model for us? Which pieces simply describe the church in its infancy and what was intended to be the church in perpetuity? What can and cannot change? Which parts are prescriptive and which parts are simply descriptive?

There are conflicts over excessive patternism in theology and practice. That’s often been demonstrated for us. But the overemphasis on patternism is not reason enough for us to err at the opposite end of the spectrum. While there is room for latitude in some things, there are some indicative phrases in Scripture that would lead us to believe God’s picture for the church is a bit more standardized than we would care to admit. Paul uses language like, “as in all the churches,” and the phrase “according to the pattern” or “according to the patterns I made known to you.”

Then there is the obvious reality that God is a God of pattern and order. Perhaps some of us make too much of that characteris-

tic of God, but others completely ignore it. It is true there is room for variety in the structure and methods of the church, yet it is also true that Scripture provides some framework and sets forth some indispensables for the church. The masthead of this magazine reflects this worthy objective. “Devoted to the restoration of New Testament Christianity, its doctrines, its ordinances, and its fruits.”

Simply put, Scripture does not give us an entirely blank slate for church building, nor does it leave us without sufficient design for building God’s church. And even if we disagree on the particulars, we can at least agree that this is a well from which all who love the church should drink deeply.

4. Subsequent glimpses of the church

The churches in Ephesus, Rome, Colossae, Corinth, Thessalonica, and in history all give us clues. We can consider more than just the opening chapters of Acts to paint this picture.

Many years ago my father wrote an imaginary letter to an imaginary preacher without a pulpit.

Greetings in him, I heard you were looking for a congregation to whom you may preach and labor with throughout the years. I am well acquainted with your kind of preaching. I commend you for it. We need strong doctrine and preaching on worldliness. However, I hesitate sending you this letter for fear that the church which I am going to refer you to would not appeal to you. You may not even fellowship with them and even less want to go and labor among them.

The church does have its problems. They are quite liberal, although they have had some very powerful preaching from a very dedicated group of preachers. However, this is exactly the problem. Some of the people here like one kind of preaching and another group like another kind of preaching, so they are divided over this.

This church is full of troubles and needs a firm hand to straighten it out. Some of the people do not believe that some of the New Testament books are valid. Some do not believe that there will be a resurrection; and still others believe that it is a sin to eat meat. They all seem to have a perverted view of the Lord’s Supper. These are their doctrinal errors.

Their errors, as far as godly living are concerned, are even worse. One man is living in adultery and no one will condemn him for it. Two of the brethren are going to law with each other over a boundary line. There are a lot of petty jealousies in the church, and some of them are

All seven of these “candlesticks” can shed light on our quest to be the church.

puffed up with pride about their talents. Some of the people are quite snobbish.

But put this all aside and they are a good New Testament church. I do not think we ought to throw them away, do you? They are divided on the name of the church, but they are a church set up after the apostolic order. I fellowship with this church as I expect some of its members to be in Heaven. I’m confident that if you go there, some of the brethren will think that you have backslidden. Some of the “loyal brethren” will not even have fellowship with them.

Now I do not know if they use an instrument or not. I think they use more than one cup at the Communion. I know they contribute money to a common fund for the poor with the other churches in the area.

I hope I have not made the church sound too terrible to you. These brethren need your help. Why don’t you consider going there and laboring among these saints? If you are at all interested, drop them a line and I will forward your letter on to the church at Corinth by Timothy, my son in the faith.

Sincerely, The Apostle Paul

—Written by George Faull

Though imperfect, these New Testament churches help us fill in the blanks in our pursuit of church.

5. Specific purpose statements

Alger Fitch wrote an incredible book called Reading Between the Lines—Discovering the One Purpose Behind the 27 Books of the New Testament. His approach was unique. He divided the New Testament into four sections: the Gospels as missionary sermons, the book of Acts as the missionary records, the Epistles as missionary correspondence, and the book of Revelation as missionary struggles.

His argument is airtight and persuasive. The New Testament is about the church’s primary task of evangelism and missions. He maintains that Scripture was written so that the church might become incurably mission-minded. He wrote, “Whether a letter calls for attention to doctrinal correctness or moral purity, the motivation is to protect the church’s witness on the field. Immoral living contradicts Christian testimony. Heretical teaching turns minds from the gospel.”

John’s picture of the local church is that of a lampstand. Its reason for existence is to let the light of the gospel shine forth from it. It is the nature of light to shine. The church is to be the pillar and support of the truth and to make known the manifold wisdom of God.

6. The actual candlestick statements

The situations with the seven churches in Revelation can also provide some guidance. Two of those churches were very dysfunctional, two of them were relatively healthy and commended, and two of them received mixed reviews. What were they rewarded for? What were they rebuked for? What were they all reminded of?

The church assessments here go way beyond pragmatism. There is a mother lode here for all who care about this thing we call church.

7. Healthy contemporary models

We can certainly learn from contemporary examples of the church. We can look to churches that are successfully modeling what the church is to be.

All seven of these “candlesticks” can shed light on our quest to be the church. A great struggle and tension of ministry and leadership is to discern from Scripture what God wants the church to be. We are continually intrigued by what the New Testament church is supposed to look like.

We know it doesn’t look like some of the anemic, legalistic churches we all have observed, but neither does it look like the consumer-driven, cookie-cutter churches that are a mile wide and an inch deep. We know true Christianity is not seen in the shibbolethpronouncing legalists, nor is it demonstrated by the fad-driven liberals of pop spirituality. God leads us to real devotion and helps us to be the real New Testament church.

Some would dismiss the validity or necessity of this discussion by saying the call for the church is simply to follow Jesus, and though that is true as a summary statement, it is not legitimate when used as a reductionist approach.

Ultimately we want to be devotees and imitators of the architect and builder of the church. We desire to please the One who walks among the candlesticks. We want his stamp, not ours, on the church. Conventional wisdom says a church takes on the personality of its senior leader. We must make sure Jesus is who leads our church.

Our minds are drawn to the powerful conclusion of a sermon Stephen preached that literally cost him his life. He was trying to build something for God, and it cost him everything. Let’s replay the end of that sermon moments before Stephen’s audience murdered him.

Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?” says the Lord, “Or what place is there for My repose? Was it not My hand which made all these things?” (Acts 7:44-50, New American Standard Bible).

The question God asks in Scripture could be directed to church leaders today: What kind of a house will you build for me? As the people of God, we are still called to answer that question.

Jeff Faull serves as senior minister with Mount Gilead Church, Mooresville, Indiana.

I LOVE THE CHURCH! 5 Leaders Tell Why . . . Because It Pushes Against ME

BY RHESA STORMS

My morning glance at social media often resembles a life-coaching session. Between headlines about politics and opinions about the politicians can be found several self-improvement titles:

“Find Your Passion”

“Know Your Home Decorating Style”

“Describe Yourself in Three Characters”

“Your Fall Fragrance, According to Your Meyers-Briggs Type”

Self-improvement articles are enjoyable, even a bit addicting. It is wise to

know what makes us tick, what gives us joy, and the gifts we possess. I suppose knowing what perfume someone with an ENFP personality should wear has some value. Our media does run the danger of becoming an incessant drumbeat of M-E, however. Even our news, delivered via Facebook and Twitter, comes tailored to our individual interests.

I love the church because participation in church pushes back against a self-oriented culture.

Unfamiliar Languages

I work for Orchard Group, an organization that helps new churches get started in cities around the world. I recently attended services at one of our new churches, Miami Church in Florida. That Sunday was a highlight of my year.

Much of the speaking was in English, but a good amount of singing and prayer was in Spanish. My grasp of Spanish is poor,

but the people’s joy in God and enthusiasm in worship was evident. I attempted to read and sing alongside them, grateful for their wholehearted inclusion of me, despite my rudimentary Spanish skills.

That Sunday was a vivid reminder: God’s kingdom is full of songs of praise in languages not my own.

I love the church when the church moves across racial lines and cultural backgrounds, and when it bridges misunderstandings. Unity in Jesus is one of the greatest gifts the church can give our world. Scripture tells us Jesus has destroyed barriers between people and the artificial dividing walls that breed mistrust (Ephesians 2:14). The church doesn’t perfectly embody this unity (yet). We must persist.

Imagine the discomfort of some of the first Christians! Peter ate food that not only was unfamiliar, but abhorrent to his cultural heritage. If Philemon welcomed the slave Onesimus back as a brother in Christ, surely he risked the displeasure of a few wealthy friends. Philip baptized an African man who would, at the very least, be considered an outsider because of his sexual identity.

The early church consisted of insiders and outsiders, the oppressed and oppressors. It is crazy business—this building the kingdom of God, this church of Jesus followers. God’s Spirit is too big for us to be content with the comfortable.

Seeking to Understand

My husband, Brent, and I meet weekly with a small group from our local church in Brooklyn, New York. This group is made up of people with a wide variety of

skin tones and life experiences. Some are doing well financially; some scrape by. Some were born in this country; others came at later points and stayed.

In the midst of studying Jesus, we have had honest conversations about privilege and oppression and cultural preferences. These friends have allowed me to ask hard questions. Our conversations have led me to confess long-held assumptions.

We don’t always agree, and we don’t always understand each other’s perspective. But when we pray for each other, we

Miami Church launched in September 2015. It meets on the 20th floor of the Courtyard Marriott in Coconut Grove. The church's vision is to plant a new church in every neighborhood of Miami-Dade County over the next 30 years.

Brent and I have laughed at many a greeting gone wrong. Fortunately, our friends realize we’re likely to mess up. It’s not a bad thing to feel a bit off-balance for the sake of someone else. It opens us up to trust in our friends and not take ourselves too seriously. It’s humbling to realize that for many, their days are riddled with uncomfortable experiences due to anything that marks them as “other.”

Changed Us

I love the church because the church is the strongest push against the constant cultural promotion of my own myopic self. God is more powerful, more aweinspiring, and more breathtaking when he is seen and experienced through the lives—and cultures—of others. Jesus’ sacrifice is more astonishing when we get to witness him change people who have committed themselves to him.

are reminded that God’s grace is present by serving each other, by listening, and by seeking to understand.

One delightful aspect of having AfricanAmerican friends is the variety of greetings. It’s easy as a woman; hugs are relatively straightforward. For Brent, the improvisation of fist bumps, hand slaps, and hugs with a firm pat (or two) on the back create some hilariously awkward moments. I’m convinced our friends like changing it up just to see what Brent will do.

I’ve been known to botch a few cheek kisses with Orchard Group’s European church planters. It’s humorous when you think this is a “one-cheek” kiss occasion, only to realize halfway through—oops!— this is a “two-cheek” kiss occasion.

Paul reminds the Ephesians that in Christ our minds are renewed (Ephesians 4: 22, 23). Maybe we can include our preferences in that renewal. We can hold those preferences and even our opinions loosely, allowing the possibility that maybe God might want to change us and not just them.

If the work the Spirit is doing in our hearts doesn’t sometimes stretch us and make us a little uncomfortable, creating room for people not like us at the table, maybe we have forgotten the wildness of the grace that would include even us in the first place.

Rhesa Storms serves as director of communications with Orchard Group. She helped start Harbor of Hope Church in New York City.

That Sunday was a vivid reminder: God’s kingdom is full of songs of praise in languages not my own.

. . .

Because the Church Loved Me, and Still Loves Others

BY RICK CHROMEY

I love the church. I love going to church. I love hanging around church people. I love experiencing church stuff—from camps to conferences to cantatas. I love that I grew up in church within earshot of the saints and under the watchful eyes of the “brethren,” many of them little old ladies with blue hair, quaint dresses, and perfect attendance pins. I love the smell of a hardwood pew, the taste of church coffee, and the sound of steeple bells. I can still sing the first and last stanza of many hymns, including favorites like “Revive Us Again,” “Love Lifted Me,” and “When We All Get to Heaven.”

If the church doors were open, my grandparents were there (with me in tow). Sunday morning. Sunday night. Wednesday night. My church used to hold an annual revival to inspire faith in both the unconverted and believer. I never missed a service, nor a Bible study, special event, or “singspiration.” I learned the lingo, absorbed traditions, discovered church politics, participated in conversations, and embraced the faith. It’s no wonder my preachers became mentors. Many still are.

I grew up in a Restoration Movement church that taught and modeled biblical Christianity. My church wasn’t like many

of today’s churches. Outside of Vacation Bible School, church camp, and Sunday school, we had no children’s ministry. The youth group met in private homes. Baptisms were reserved for older kids (12plus) and no one took Communion without baptism.

Every first Sunday we lingered after church for a fellowship dinner boasting casseroles, breads, soups, and desserts whose memory still makes my mouth water. Then we played, chatted, debated, and learned the rest of the afternoon. Many even stayed until evening services reconvened.

Rick Chromey celebrates a week of training with African brothers in Mooketsi, South Africa.

Our preacher was the only paid employee. All other “staff” positions—Sunday school superintendent, secretary, janitor, and youth leader—were volunteer.

Children and youth were highly involved and actively leading. I washed Communion cups as a preschooler. I passed offering trays as a child. I led worship, preached in nursing homes, designed the church newsletter, and took Communion to shut-ins in adolescence. It’s no wonder I gravitated toward the pastorate.

My church didn’t need a youth minister, because we excelled in making ministers of the youth. We weren’t segregated. We weren’t overlooked. The best teachers taught us.

I grew up in a small church in a small town in a small state (Lewistown, Montana). Youth group activities were fellowship-driven: fifth quarters, secret destinations, lock-ins, and campouts. Youth ministry happened in homes.

I learned early, through my church experience, that numbers don’t matter. What matters is people, and you never count people as much as make people count. Everyone could participate. Sing a special song. Give a testimony. Paint a picture. Share an announcement. Play an instrument. We all had a place and space.

I also love the church because my church loved me. And I was hardly a lovable kid. My troubled childhood produced an angry, bitter, mean, and hurtful soul. But I wasn’t alone. My junior boys

class once covenanted to force our teachers to quit and proved, sadly, quite successful. A series of teachers tried (and failed) to handle us.

Then the new preacher’s wife (Donna) took the challenge. But she refused to leave, despite the pain we inflicted or trouble we caused. One day I asked Donna why she stayed. She just pointed to the cross and said, “because Jesus didn’t quit on me and I’m not quitting on you.” Sud-

My church didn’t need a youth minister, because we excelled in making ministers of the youth.

denly everything changed. Donna was Jesus incarnate for this troubled kid, and she loved me without condition, shame, blame, or gimmick.

Today, as the director of leadership for a major missionary training organization, I’m privileged to experience worship all over the world. I’ve particularly been drawn to the African church for its focus on community, ritual, metaphor, and sacrifice.

In Tanzania, for example, the church expects everyone to give. Every person has something to present, so the offering becomes an active experience (like a dance) where everyone “offers” something: money, fruit, tools, even animals. After the service, the nonmonetary items are auc-

tioned, and the proceeds fund members who need special financial assistance.

We Need a Reboot

American church statistics reveal stagnation and decline. Many churches today, including once influential bodies, now struggle to attract, engage, and disciple postmodern generations (currently anyone under 55 years old). Some futurists see dark days ahead for U.S. congregations, but I don’t. We just need to reboot our original DNA.

The modern church is culturally defined by “space and time” (we “go” to church on Sunday mornings). In stark contrast, the early church gathered every day—sometimes every hour—along roads, from morning to midnight. The DNA of the early church was also clear. They gathered to learn the apostle’s doctrine, pray, fellowship, and participate in the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42). This is the blueprint for biblical gatherings. Interactive. Experiential. Participation. Prayerful. Disciple-focused. Communal. Insightful. Spiritual.

I love the church because no matter how culture changes or history moves or life happens, the blueprint doesn’t. The culture, times, media, and political forces may evolve, but Jesus doesn’t. As long as we keep the original DNA (Acts 2:42) in view, the church will always be alive and well on planet earth!

Rick Chromey serves as director of leadership and online training programs for KidZ At Heart, International, in Mesa, Arizona. He has empowered children’s ministry leaders to lead, teachers to teach, and trainers to train for more than three decades. His website is www.rickchromey.com.

. . . Because It’s Finding New Ways

BY DENNIS BRATTON

“It’s what you do” is the theme for an entire series of insurance commercials. If, for example, you’re a parrot, “you repeat things. It’s what you do!”

What would a Christian version of that commercial look like? “If you’re a Christian, you [blank]. It’s what you do!”

The possibilities are endless. There are legitimate options on every page of the Bible, and there are pressing needs and opportunities everywhere you look. And

where there is a legitimate need, within the family of God, there are spiritual gifts sufficient to respond.

Hebrews 6 encourages Christians to “keep doing” so you’ll get a “Well done!” The Message includes the unusual phrase “salvation things” in the verse. There are endless tasks, or “salvation things,” the church ought to do in the name of Jesus Christ. But what the writer mentions by way of illustration stokes my imagination.

“I have better things in mind for you—salvation things! God doesn’t miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you’ve shown Him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it” (Hebrews 6:9-12, The Message).

I love the church for going into the world with the gospel to win the lost and disciple the saved. Evangelism and disci-

. . . BECAUSE IT’S FINDING NEW WAYS

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pleship will always be “what we do!” But it is this thought of “helping needy Christians” in some sustainable manner that has captivated my latter years of “doing.”

Fresh Approach

KORE ministry was founded to pursue sustainable solutions to extreme poverty within the Christian community of Haiti. “It’s what we do!” Today there are nearly 200 KORE families who have their own poultry businesses. We call it “business as ministry,” giving an economic foothold to impoverished believers.

I love that many in the church are embracing this fresh approach toward the plight of the Christian poor, brothers and sisters stuck in extreme poverty. And I am excited to see many Christians, especially young adults, working together, developing innovative and sustainable ministries that attack poverty wherever it is found.

The church has a history of extending charity to the poor in times of need. Unfortunately, in recent years too often our well-intentioned generosity has done more harm than good. No place is this better documented than Haiti.

The story of charity there is one of fraud, greed, corruption, waste, and competing agendas. For decades the church has been obedient to the Great Commission, resulting in tens of thousands of

. . .

Haitian believers. But in spite of millions of dollars contributed there for ministry, the vast majority of those Christians still exist in extreme poverty. Most are still dependent on missionaries to provide for them.

But a new wind is blowing. It is a biblical approach to enabling the poor to stand on their own. Rather than mission dollars being funneled as handouts, creative thought is focusing those funds as investments in God’s people.

KORE uses a chicken coop as a tool

against poverty. Other ministries are trying other creative options. The Christian poor need opportunities and resources, rather than continuing relief, if they are to ever experience economic freedom.

I love the church for challenging traditional thinking and searching for better ideas to honor Christ and his people. “It’s what we do!”

Dennis Bratton, a retired preacher from Gallatin, Tennessee, is the founder/CEO of KORE Foundation, which pursues sustainable solutions to extreme poverty within the Christian community of Haiti.

Because There’s Work to Be Done

BY MIRIAM Y. PERKINS

There are reasons I ought to love the church.

The church refined the families who raised me. My connection to the Christian churches stretches back three generations to my great-grandparents Esther and Howard Dillon and grandparents Miriam LaRue and Hershel Dillon and Gladys and Carl Perkins. And this circle includes my mother, Linda Perkins, who has dedicated her life to family and the education of children, and my father, Gary Perkins, who was seminary-trained, ordained, and a career military chaplain.

If I love the church at all, it is because of this generational legacy.

Not Easy

But in truth, love for the church has not come to me easily. As a woman, I entered vocational ministry cautiously and hesitantly even while confidently serving and leading. Like my father, I am seminary-trained and was ordained in 1997 in the Christian church.

To this day, I remember my grandmother LaRue searching for my ordination picture and announcement in Christian Standard, as

Dennis Bratton holds Jefferson while visiting an orphanage in Haiti. The orphanage is part of KORE Foundation’s 6.25 Project, which seeks to add animal protein to the diets of malnourised children; the cost is $6.25 per month. (Such proteins have been shown to aid physical growth and cognitive function in malnourished kids.) Poultry is purchased from KORE farmers and then donated to children in need of nutrition intervention.

was then the custom for men who were ordained. I told her gently that even though women had been ordained in the Christian churches as early as 1888, a public announcement would close more doors than open. Her proud and profound sadness still runs in my veins.

It has been hard to love the church.

While working toward a PhD, I did extensive research on preaching during times of war, listening and transcribing sermons given in response to September 11. In the sermons of white Evangelical-leaning ministers, I found more calls for war than peace, more focus on nationalism than allegiance to God, and more concern for a so-called “Christian” America than Christian love for Muslim neighbors.

It has been hard to love the church.

I am now nine years into teaching theology as a professor at Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan, and nearly half of my students are women. Their numbers reflect significant and important shifts in scriptural understanding and church leadership. Nevertheless, the church still is largely governed by men, with men in the pulpit and men presiding and serving at the table.

So I anxiously wonder whether there will be churches who receive these strong and gracious women I am so privileged to teach. Churches who recognize their gifts. Churches who learn from their leadership.

It has been hard to love the church.

And while we need so many more, three of our current seminary students are smart, passionate, prophetic, and young African-American men. I will give everything I have to teach them (along with every female and male student) to be determined disciples, courageous prophets, and compassionate pastors.

Yet these young African-American men may not live into full

adulthood because their vulnerable bodies are so often targets for violence. My own legacies of white privilege bear down on their young shoulders in ways I have not yet fully understood or been willing to see. They study and yearn even as they grieve each dead black body whose life should have mattered. And they do this while so many white churches and white Christians say nothing, do nothing, and smile at them blankly.

It has been hard to love the church.

Strong Conviction

And yet I do love the church. I love the church large, small, black, white, nearby, and around the globe. I love working for the church and working to love the church. And this love grows from a strong conviction at the core of my being: I love the church because I believe there is work to be done in the world that only the gospel can accomplish. Love. Mercy. Reconciliation. Grace. This work God alone can inspire, Jesus alone can guide, and the Spirit alone can enlarge. When the church is in love with God, I know of no other community more invigorated by the image of God in every human creature and each person’s unique dignity and giftedness. I know of no other community whose vision demands more cooperation, fellowship, and mutual service across every fault line of human difference and indifference. I know of no other community whose compassion in the name of Jesus can unfold, unintimidated and undaunted, with grace stretching even into the far depths of darkness.

I love the church because of the many educators who taught me to love the Lord with all my heart, mind, and strength: Lee Magness, Robert Hull, Fred Norris, Patricia Magness, and Phil Kenneson. I love the church because of brothers in ministry who made space for me as an equal: Rick Ruble, James Street, Rich Teske, Jeff Giesey, and Tim Ross.

I love the church because the photograph of Imogene Williams, ordained in 1947 and longtime missionary to Thailand, was added to the wall of “Timothys” where my father’s photograph has always hung at Broadway Christian Church, Lexington, Kentucky.

I love the church because I was invited to write this essay for Christian Standard in keeping with the spirit of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.

And I love the church because shortly after September 11, on a college campus charged with bitterness, Tim Ross gave a sermon in which he said, “Victory by the cross comes not with force, but with service and love and submission.”

Dr. Miriam Perkins (in the blue jacket) and the Emmanuel Christian Seminary students mentioned in the essay (from left): Kalvin Cummings, Jordan Gignilliat, Stephond Allmond, Perkins, Sarah Colson, and Trevor Wentt.

It has been hard to love the church.

Photo by Trevor Wentt

. . . BECAUSE THERE’S WORK TO BE DONE

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I love the church because when the African-American congregation at Greater Love International in Johnson City recently invited one of my Caucasian students, Sarah Colson, to preach, she spoke with passion about the power of the cross in overcoming racial violence and oppression.

And I love the church because last week, in a chapel service on lament, I heard Stephond Allmond read a poem by Maya Angelou, Jordan Gignilliat sing “Freddie Gray

. .

.

Blues,” Trevor Wentt perform spoken word, and Kalvin Cummings say, “Streets are our new open graves. . . . But I can still hear the singing, louder it gets as the list lengthens . . . ‘be alright . . . alright, alright, alright. . . . Evrything’s gonna be alright.’” These men and women are the church of our future, and this future is unfolding in the hands of a joyous God.

Though many moments are hard, and though the tasks are labored, I love the

church. I love the church because I am passionately in love with all that God can make possible, the love of Jesus ignite, and the Spirit set aflame.

And with all of this on the horizon, what is not to love?

Because of What I See the Church Doing

BY SCOTT ANCARROW

“This is why we planted a church here.”

That phrase ran through my head as I tried to rest in the midst of the unrest in our city in April 2015. As peaceful protests following Freddie Gray’s death turned into a night of violence captured and shared on video all over the world, our family knew that moments like this are why we were where we were.

A hundred times I had repeated the refrain “the local church is Plan A for bringing hope to bear in the world.” I said it every time I talked to churches while raising the necessary funds to start a church. While we know that hope is an everyday necessity, this moment in our city was a huge opportunity to actually display it.

In the days that followed, the world offered spectators, lecturers, and a seemingly merry band of “I-told you-so’s” to Baltimore. Those looking for reason to validate their viewpoint found it. Those wanting to find outrage found it. Those looking for an opportunity to exploit the commotion found it. As in all tragedies, you don’t have to look far to see people using it as a prop to their views (this cycle has continued deep into the next round of elections). We tweet, turn to our pundits, and share in like-minded circles how the problem would be fixed if the other side would just think like them.

But this isn’t the way of Jesus.

For an incarnate Savior, our broken world isn’t a prop. Rather, it is a place to be present. It’s a place where the church has been called to witness. A light. It’s a place to be the visible church, where the people of God live on display. It is a place where hope could be both declared and demonstrated. As The Message puts it, “The Word became flesh . . . and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14).

In the days that followed the uprising in our city, our church (the Foundry) bought pizza for kids who would not get lunch at school that day. We prayed . . . a lot. We threw parties. We helped run soccer camps for young people. We con-

nected churches to a mobile food pantry in a neighborhood where looting had created a food desert. We were asked to help with grief counseling. We helped connect people in neighborhoods separated by segregation’s old “unspoken” lines. We created spaces for difficult conversations in the climate of both our city and country.

These opportunities have been the byproduct of listening, opening our eyes, and asking God to help us know how to seek our city’s prosperity.

Out of these immediate opportunities, there have emerged additional opportunities for the church to be both visible and present. These reflect activity that the news media hasn’t captured on film and run constantly through a 24-hour news cycle. Yet these opportunities created additional spaces for greater investment in the city.

The pain in our world, the pain in your city, is not a prop. It is an opportunity to be the visible church.

Miriam Y. Perkins serves as associate professor of theology and society at Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan in Tennessee. She teaches courses in theology both in residence and online.

I think of Wendell, who moved to Baltimore from New York City to start a high school youth program in the impacted neighborhoods in the days that followed the unrest in our city. He is seeing tremendous fruit in this ministry in a place where many would not think there could be such fruit.

I think of Brandi, who helps victims of human trafficking with math homework.

I think of Steph, who helped our small group with furnishing an apartment for a family of refugees who had just arrived in our city.

I think of Jeff, who has coordinated a youth football league that reconnects churches to the youth of their neighborhood.

I think of several friends who have noticed that prison recidivism is a huge issue

in our city and are beginning to take next steps to learn what they can do about it.

I think of a friend in Southeast Asia who is equipping local churches to address the issue of human trafficking in their country.

I love the church because of what I see the church doing.

May the church be more like Job’s friends during the first seven days of his

suffering (when they sat with him in silence), than how the friends behaved in the days that followed (when they were more concerned about the “correct answer” to the problem of pain than in providing any comfort).

We have a theology and a mission shaped on the brokenness of the world around us. The New Testament church is founded upon the most selfless act of love the world has ever known.

We have the greatest reason for hope, even in a world that often feels increasingly hopeless. May that truth help us know how to visibly demonstrate and declare our hope while we are “here.”

Scott Ancarrow, his wife, Amber, and their daughters live in Baltimore City, Maryland. Scott serves as lead minister of the Foundry, a church launched by Orchard Group in 2013.

The Foundry transformed tragedy into opportunities in downtown Baltimore. Lead minister Scott Ancarrow writes, “These opportunities have been the by-product of listening, opening our eyes, and asking God to help us know how to seek our city’s prosperity.”

The New Testament church is founded upon the most selfless act of love the world has ever known.

The Church’s Mission: Making Disciples

BY ETHAN MAGNESS

My first formal ecclesiological training came from a song:

The Church is not a building, the Church is not a steeple, the Church is not a resting place, the Church is the people.

It was not an especially good song, but it had hand motions (perhaps you know them). I am grateful for this song, because it provided a sufficient ecclesiology for my early years of life. I did not merely go to church; I was part of the church. We were the church, the people of God.

My second round of training came from the back of my church’s bulletin. I was 5 or 6, sitting in the second pew. My mom was at the piano, and we were expected to be in our seats early and reasonably well behaved. So I read the bulletin. It was a good bulletin. And the back page was the same every Sunday:

“The Nature of the Church to Which We Aspire”

The Congregation of Christian people by custom meeting for worship in the Hopwood Memorial Christian Church building perceives the Church of Christ as characterized by one Body, one Spirit, one Hope, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism; and one God the Father of all, who is over all, in all, and through all. Christian people are related to God as his children; to one another as brothers and sisters; to Christ as our Savior, our Lord, our Teacher, our Model, and our Mediator of salvation and restoration to true humanity and to fellowship with God in life eternal. Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”

We confess one Creed: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

We confess one Discipline: The word of God revealed in the New Testament.

We hold one measure or standard as Authoritative: That course of life, personal and corporate, practiced and enjoined by the Apostles whom Christ appointed to be His Witnesses.

In sum, the Marks of the Church are: Unity, Holiness, Universality, and Apostolicity.

Such is the Nature of the Church.

We aspire to work toward its realization.

Dr. Dean E. Walker

This was a pretty good start. I remember reading these words again in the summer between my second and third years of college, just after I had decided to pursue ministry. “We aspire to work toward its realization.” I shared that aspiration, and I was ready to work toward it.

So I started working.

What, but Why?

Unfortunately, without realizing it, I allowed neither of these ecclesiological lessons to inform my early ministry. Instead of focusing on the human nature of the church, I focused on the tasks I needed to accomplish. (One of my early ministry coaches asked me to put a note near my phone to remind me I was talking to people on the phone.) Instead of focusing on the ideals from which the church emerged, I focused on the programs I was expected to maintain.

I knew better, but I acted like the church was a set of programs. I was in seminary at the time being taught better, but when I was on the clock, my self-imposed operational mandate was clear: maintain and incrementally improve the programs of the church.

I diligently pursued this mandate for more than 10 years. I flatter myself to think I accomplished this mandate reasonably well. And God was faithful and used that work to further God’s good purposes.

I pursued this mandate in small churches and medium-sized churches and megachurches. I focused my attention on the differences between their programming models and thought about how to launch new programs and improve old ones. I was honored to be part of programs that grew in number and where lives were being transformed. But I was always faced with a nagging insecurity.

I knew what I was doing but I had no clear idea of what I was trying to do.

By this I mean I knew what tasks were keeping me busy, but I had no clear sense of what I was trying to accomplish.

I was doing church—preaching, teaching, planning, leading, visiting, serving, recruiting, and passing the offering tray. I was even good at doing church, but I was unsure of the connection between what I was doing and the mandate of Christ.

I had read that bulletin too many times: “We hold one measure or standard as Authoritative: That course of life, personal and corporate, practiced and enjoined by the Apostles whom Christ appointed to be His Witnesses.” I wasn’t sure that this was what I was doing.

Wise Followership

This reflection led to my third round of constructive ecclesiology. I began to ask again of Christ, “What are we trying to do? To what end should I be working?” With great clar-

Testimony from a preacher who once was preoccupied with programs.

©Lightstock

THE CHURCH’S MISSION: MAKING DISCIPLES

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ity I was led to focus my attention on discipleship. I was convicted that too much of my energy had been focused on making members and converts and students and participants. Very little of my energy had been focused on cultivating wise followership of Jesus.

It would be some years before I would encounter this quote from Mike Breen, but I had already come to this conviction: “If you make disciples, you will always get the church. But if you make a church, you will rarely get disciples.”1

That was what I feared I had done— made the church and rarely gotten disciples. Of course, “rarely” isn’t “never,” and God has been faithful to demonstrate the fruit of God’s work in all of my ministry, but the clarity with which I now knew what I was trying to do was a watershed moment in my ministry.

To move forward I needed to do two things. Figure out how to make a disciple, and then only do things that worked toward that goal.

Before I share where this clarity has taken me. I give you this challenge. Stop reading and write down how to be a disciple using, at most, three or four sentences. Then in three or four more, write down how to disciple someone.

Don’t beat yourself up, but it is worth realizing that if you don’t know the answer to this question, you won’t have a target to aim for and the people you lead probably won’t either. Don’t wait for the perfect answer. Any half-decent answer can become a clarifying tool for your ministry.

I’ve had three working answers since this clarity. One I have since discarded. One I am using now. One is a work in progress. The one I am using now is as follows:

To be a disciple I must:

1. Know where I am.

2. Know where Jesus is.

3. Follow.

Consequently, for a church or a program to make disciples, the following factors are needed:

1. A discipler who knows a person well enough to know where they are.

2. A context in which that person can come to see where Jesus is.

3. A conversation in which the discipled and the discipler can mutually discern in what direction they need to move to follow Jesus.

4. A context in which the discipled can begin to walk in that direction with the coaching and feedback of the discipler.

Renewed Clarity

This tool has given renewed clarity for every aspect of my ministry. I preach according to this tool. In my preaching I need to know where people are and develop a relationship within that shared place. From there we together look to see where Jesus is and together discern what it would look like to follow him.

The talking portion of the sermon is complete when we find ourselves with a clear sense of our next step toward Jesus as disciples. But the momentum of the sermon must be designed to carry us beyond the sanctuary into a shared context in which the community is challenged to be walking toward Jesus.

Stop reading and write down how to be a disciple using, at most, three or four sentences. Then in three or four more, write down how to disciple someone.

This is the tool I use to evaluate programs at both the macro and micro levels. At the macro level I ask myself, Do we have programs that excel at every part of this process? At the micro level I have become convinced that softball teams, small groups, Sunday school classes, accountability groups, and knitting circles are all perfectly good places for discipleship to happen, if there is a leader who recognizes he or she is called by God to be a discipler and is leveraging the context to get to know the people he or she leads, helping them see Jesus, discerning the concrete steps of movement toward Jesus, and then walking with them and providing coaching and feedback along the way.

Having this tool prevents me from naively rejecting church programs that are working well even though they may be old-fashioned, but it also gives me a clear way to coach and improve those programs that no longer move the church toward its mission of making disciples. This tool helps me evaluate the discipling potential

of existing programs and new ones that we might think to start.

I even use this tool to analyze curriculum for all contexts—from kids to students to adult small groups. I want curriculum that helps my leaders see themselves as disciplers and helps them build relationships that allow them to know their students. I want curriculum that takes them to God’s Word to learn about Jesus and know where he is leading. I want conversational tools that help them discern together what next steps to take, and I want concrete strategies for follow-up and experiment as we try to live out our followership together.

(I happily share a wink with any oldschool Christian education people who hear echoes of Hook, Book, Look, and Took. It isn’t the same, but I can’t pretend that the echoes aren’t there.)

There is nothing special about these four steps. As I mentioned, I’m reflecting right now on another way I might talk about this process. The key is that I have a working answer to the question, “How are disciples made?”2 Having this answer is the strategic bridge between what I am trying to do—make disciples—and what I am doing—the programs, practices, and preaching of my congregation.

Without this clarity, I am sure I would be stuck on the treadmill of simply chasing marginal improvement to the programs I inherited, or hoping that the latest conference guru will finally have the program that saves us all.

Just like I learned on the second pew from the back of the bulletin:

We hold one measure or standard as Authoritative: That course of life, personal and corporate, practiced and enjoined by the Apostles whom Christ appointed to be His Witnesses.

Their course of life was the life of making disciples.

Such is the nature of the church.

We aspire to work toward its realization.

¹Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture (Pawleys Island: 3DM Publishing), 11, 12.

²For answers from other writers who have thought about this, check out Alex Absalom at http:// dandelionresourcing.com (especially his e-book with Greg Nettle, DisciplesWhoMakeDisciples, where he champions the REI model) or Mike Breen’s book (mentioned above).

Ethan Magness serves as senior minister with First Christian Church, Johnson City, Tennessee.

Smaller Churches . . .

Here to Stay & Making a Difference

BY SHAWN McMULLEN

Thom Rainer, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, notes that 90 percent of all churches in America average fewer than 350 in worship attendance and that 50 percent of all American churches average fewer than 100.

Smaller churches have been a part of the American landscape since our country’s inception and they’re here to stay. Across the nation, smaller churches are making disciples and impacting their communities.

Here are some examples.

JERUSALEM CHRISTIAN CHURCH Greenville, Pennsylvania

John Canon worked full time and was serving as an ordained elder in his home church when he received an invitation from a smaller church in his area to preach for them after their minister resigned. The church was part of a mainline denomina-

tion, and the arrangement was to last a month.

Pleased that John’s sermons came directly from Scripture, the church leaders asked him to remain with them until

any denomination? Let’s just be Christians and follow the Bible.” The congregation agreed and became an independent church, taking the name Jerusalem Christian Church.

they found another full-time preacher. That same year, the church voted to break ties with their denomination. After their decision, the leaders asked John what denomination they should align with. John responded, “Why join

As the church continued to grow and change, John called on Ron Swartwood, a longtime friend, Bible college graduate, and experienced minister, to come alongside him to help in the teaching and shepherding of the congregation. Together the two worked with existing leaders as they taught the Word of God faithfully and consistently. Over time the church installed a baptistery and began to practice the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper.

Today this smaller church is thriving in rural western Pennsylvania, having launched a disciple-making strategy that is transforming lives in the surrounding communities.

Encouraging stories about local congregations you may not know, but churches still having a huge impact for God.

This smaller church has launched a disciplemaking strategy that is transforming lives in the surrounding communities.

BLACK HAWK COMMUNITY CHURCH Rapid City, South Dakota

Black Hawk Community Church opened her doors on the outskirts of Rapid City, South Dakota, in the early 1950s to provide Sunday school for the children of the Black Hawk community. For years the church remained relatively small as it continued to reach out to children.

Led today by Ken Fairbrother, the church has grown from 50 to nearly 125 in average worship attendance and offers two Sunday worship services. A recently formed committee is working on plans to build a new building.

The church continues to impact its neighborhoods through a community food pantry, serving local residents as well as families from Rapid City. Each year members of the congregation visit the neediest families in the community to provide holiday food boxes.

A women’s group in the church operates a layette ministry to families of newborns, including a partnership with the Rapid City Community Health Center. The ministry provides quilts, bath towels, washcloths, soap, infant outfits, notes of encouragement, and gift Bibles (one for the infant and one for the parents).

Each year the church blesses the community around the Christmas holidays with a standing-room-only Christmas Eve service. An annual soup and sandwich supper and fall bazaar raise money for local missions: a children’s home, a rescue mission, and a pregnancy-care center.

MARION CHURCH OF CHRIST Rochester,

Minnesota

Dr. Rick Walston’s background as preaching minister, counselor, Bible college professor, and academic vice president prepared him well to lead and serve

the Marion Church of Christ in Rochester, Minnesota.

Rick describes the church as small but intentional. While some churches have chosen other means of making disciples, the Marion church has found a niche offering a traditional Sunday school program for children and adults. A Wednesday night teaching time preceded by a fellowship supper allows the church to train about 50 percent of her Sunday worship attendees during the week.

Several times a year the church provides intergenerational ministry opportunities for its members, serving the community in a variety of ways while giving adults and young people the chance to work side by side. Young people in middle school and high school are given a variety of opportunities to serve in the church—

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from assisting in the nursery to helping serve Communion to running the soundboard.

“While we remain traditional in many ways,” Rick notes, “we are always trying to breathe new life and creativity into how we do it.”

KALKASKA CHURCH OF CHRIST

Kalkaska, Michigan

Thirty years ago God called Dan Johnson and his family to the ministry of the Church of Christ in Kalkaska, a small community in northern Michigan. When Dan arrived, the church was small and stable but not thriving.

The previous senior minister, who had served faithfully for nearly two decades, had resigned nearly a year before. The congregation was approaching its 100th anniversary and had seen a significant decline in attendance. The small rural community itself was experiencing an economic and population downturn.

Less than a year after Dan’s arrival the associate minister, the only other minister on staff, departed on friendly terms for another ministry opportunity.

Dan, trying to find his way forward, attended a church growth conference where he explained his situation to the presenter. To Dan’s dismay, the presenter acknowledged that his potential for success was limited and encouraged him to find another church with greater possibilities.

At about that same time, a hard-working, blue-collar deacon approached Dan and asked if he could pray with him before the start of each Sunday worship service— something Dan confesses he had never before considered. Today Dan views that moment as a turning point that helped move the church from its slow and steady decline to a sustained season of health and growth.

Together Dan and the deacon began to seek God’s blessing and favor. They prayed for wisdom to lead the church into God’s preferred future. They prayed for the lost, for the saved, and for the strays. They prayed for Dan’s preaching.

Soon other men joined the two in prayer. From there Dan personally recruited 30 men in the congregation to be

part of a group known as the Preacher’s Prayer Partners. He asked them to pray one day a month for him, his family, and his ministry. Each week’s prayer partners met to pray early Sunday morning, asking God to bless Dan’s preaching, empower it with his Holy Spirit, and cause it to be effective in the lives of the members.

God heard and answered their prayers. The spirit of the congregation began to improve. Their outlook became brighter. Dan’s preaching improved. There was more unity and harmony in the congregation. Attendance rose and participation broadened.

Dan and the elders prayed together, read books together, attended conferences together, and went on retreats together. They learned to understand one another, trust one another, rely on one another, and forgive one another.

Bolstered by the power of prayer, Dan determined to become a better leader and to help the elders of the church become better leaders. They prayed together, read books together, attended conferences together, and went on retreats together. They learned to understand one another, trust one another, rely on one another, and forgive one another. They learned to confront conflict and criticism together and to make “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” a hallmark of the congregation.

The elders began to invest more time in the Scriptures, more passion in prayer, and more sacrifice in giving. God honored their commitments as the congregation followed their example, slowly but surely.

As the leaders grew, they often took significant risks to encourage people to serve in unusual ways, including allowing a church member who was a former exotic

dancer and drug addict to begin a ministry to women in a local strip club.

One ministry that made a big impact on the community was the brainchild of a young mom who had a heart for people who were struggling to provide gifts for their children at Christmas. She approached the elders with a plan to solicit new and like-new toys and clothing to distribute to the community. The plan was simple. The enthusiasm of the church was evident. The response was overwhelming.

The event has now grown to serve more than 300 families in the community annually. Donated items are beautifully displayed for holiday “shoppers.” The church provides a free coffee and cookie bar, free gift-wrapping, and “elves” who carry shoppers’ packages to their cars. One family who owns a tree farm generously donates Christmas trees to the families as well.

In providing for families in this way, the church doesn’t ask for names, phone numbers, or personal financial information. There is no requirement to attend a worship service. The church simply provides the service in the name of Jesus so that everyone in their community can have “A Merry Little Christmas”—the name of the event.

Dan Johnson recently retired from the church, and the congregation is now led by Andy Bratton, a gifted leader and shepherd. And the small and declining church now averages more than 400 in weekly worship.

These four congregations are but a microcosm of a large body of healthy, vibrant, smaller—or formerly small—churches across the country that are reaching their communities, making disciples, and transforming lives. It’s clear that smaller churches in America are here to stay. And that they’re making a difference.

Shawn McMullen is director of church relations at the Center for Church Leadership in Cincinnati, Ohio (centerforchurchleadership.org). He works closely with smaller churches and is establishing a smaller churches network within the center’s larger network. He is the author of Unleashing the Potential of the Smaller Church and Releasing the Power of the Smaller Church

Our Link in the Chain

BY ANDY DANIELL

Almost all church growth and leadership models are built around these main factors:

• being true to your church’s DNA and finding your role in the kingdom;

• being willing to test and employ various approaches related to the vision that fulfills that role;

• being willing to change and/or shut down ministries and initiatives based on the first two factors;

• allowing room for God to bless the activities and use them in

ways that are beyond what’s humanly possible.

This is the story of how a small independent Christian church worked within these four parameters to discover and achieve her link in the chain that is God’s earthly kingdom.

Called

After working in the corporate world for 20 years, I was called into ministry a little over three years ago to help turn around a church that had served a small community outside of Atlanta, Georgia, for more than half a century. As with countless other churches across America, many of the founding members had passed away and the neighborhood had become stressed economically. The vast majority of students in area public schools are on free or reduced breakfast and lunch. Unemployment and poverty are higher and average incomes lower than those in most of the remainder of the metro area.

In the four years prior to my arrival as senior minister, the church’s attendance had declined by 48 percent and its financial income had deteriorated by more than 85 percent. Upon my arrival, a group of dedicated elders and I prayerfully, but quickly, determined God, indeed, wanted us to remain here, so we set off to experiment with different ways we could impact his kingdom in this setting.

We tried an evening worship service, including “rebranding” the service to make it more appealing to younger folks and seekers. We improved our social media presence. We put together men’s and women’s Bible studies, some meeting in homes, some

How a small, struggling local church found new vitality by simply meeting the need across the street.

Finding and fulfilling our role in the local community where God has placed us

Teens listen to the devotion during a Wednesday night service at First Christian Church of Mableton (Georgia).

OUR LINK IN THE CHAIN

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on weekday mornings, others after work at night. We focused on building a family ministry and considered single-parent ministry. The result of all those efforts, however, was quite limited indeed.

But soon enough—and more by the power of prayer and the grace of God than through any stroke of genius on our part—we became more deeply involved in the public high school located directly across the street.

Involved

Years before, the church had been involved with “5th Quarters” after football games on Friday night, and we had occasionally held “Spring Flings” on church property the week of spring break or the last day of school. But there was no concentrated ministry focused on the thousands of lost souls in that school.

The associate minister and I became involved as chaplains for the football team, and we expanded our Wednesday night dinners, which included free food for the students who walked across the street.

What was being planned as a community worship service on Wednesday nights was quickly retooled as a teen worship service, complete with a 15-year-old youth worship leader. We started building our themes and devotions around the topics we knew were most relevant to these kids.

The bustle of activity increased dramatically through these efforts. We knew our new focus was God-directed, but we also knew such a God-powered initiative could produce greater results, so we continued praying and making adjustments.

We shifted attention, energy, and resources from other endeavors to the newly revived teen ministry (shutting down the Sunday night worship service, for example). But most important, we continued to change our tactics within the teen ministry itself.

We pulled back a bit from the football team and now direct some of our support toward the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program, the orchestra, and the soccer teams.

We have representatives on the school’s campus as often as we can to promote the church generally, but more specifically the Wednesday night meal and the teen worship service.

Our school campus activities include attending games and JROTC competitions, working concession stands, and act-

ing as monitors in the lunchroom.

We hold receptions for the orchestra after their concerts and invite singing and dancing groups from the school to perform at our church.

For our efforts, we were awarded the Outstanding Partner in Education Award

table manners to balancing a checking account.

It feels good to feed a hungry kid (and some of the young people who come through our doors are hungry indeed), and seeing growth in worship attendance is certainly rewarding. But we really only began to see spiritual growth and fruit when we implemented the following:

The chairman of our elders restructured his Bible study from a morning event for men at a local restaurant to an evening cookout hosted in his backyard to which boys to men, middle school age and older, are invited. These gatherings include periods of fellowship, devotion, and time for Christian men to be paired up with the boys for sharing and praying together.

for 2015 by the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce and nominated again for the award in 2016.

Church members tutor students in math, science, statistics, economics, and physics. We held a college seminar at the church; and we conducted a multiweek life training class that taught everything from

Our college girls, when they are home from the university, are conducting Bible studies and seminars on purity for the younger teen girls.

Our associate minister regularly takes the teens to a women’s shelter to serve food and play with the children and to prepare food for and feed homeless individuals living in Atlanta, primarily under the bridges downtown.

Shawn Smith (third from left) leads the youth praise band at First Christian Church of Mableton.

Our church has radically changed for the better more by the power of prayer and the grace of God than through any stroke of genius on our part.

The church is also coaching and encouraging young people who begin to pursue a deeper faith to demonstrate it and publicly share the role their faith is having in their life. We invite them to ask friends and family to join them at church. The power of organic church growth should never be underestimated.

Surprised

The results over the last three-plus years have been surprising to us.

While the Sunday morning worship attendance is up more than 70 percent in that period (a 17.6 percent annual growth rate), the Wednesday night teen attendance is up 942 percent over the same period (a 92.4 percent annual growth rate).

More than 60 percent of the graduating classes over the last two years are enrolled in college, with half of them attending private Christian schools.

The makeup of our Wednesday night worship service is the most diverse in the area both demographically and in total number of religious affiliations represented. Agnostics and atheists join us—some of whom have since been baptized and joined the youth praise team—along with

a few Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, and Jews. Perhaps the most exciting part is the non-Christian seekers and Catholic-affiliated seekers who regularly attend and ultimately convert.

Our church looks radically different from how it did just a few years ago (and radically different from every other church in the area). We are engaging more unchurched individuals on a weekly basis than we ever have. Though we lost a few couples here and there, overall the church has adjusted brilliantly to the change and been more supportive than I could have ever imagined.

These young people come from humble means and bring virtually no money to the church. When I became the senior minister three years ago, we could not have afforded to invest as much in these young people as we are now. But somehow God keeps providing and we continue to, if not thrive financially, at least survive.

Convinced

Even in areas such as ours, which cannot support new church plants and have relatively negative economic and demographic trends, God still needs ambassadors as a link in the chain to disciple the next generation of ambassadors to be links in the chain.

There are options in our area for teens

who want to attend church with their parents. But until God directed us as such, there really was no good option for unchurched kids from unchurched families to be welcomed and assimilated, hear the gospel, be baptized, and be taught to obey everything that Christ commanded.

We are convinced we are in God’s will on this. Working with these kids, through all their struggles and challenges, answering all their questions, baptizing them, exhorting them to greater emotional and spiritual maturity, and turning them into evangelists is the link in the chain that God has called us to fulfill.

As soon as school is out each May, we have reassessment meetings to refine our tactics. But there can be no doubt the overarching mission is to provide a place of safety and acceptance (for young people who are struggling and facing some daunting challenges), a place of earnest spiritual seeking and discovery (for nonbelieving kids with more honest questions than answers), and a place of Christian growth and service to the thousands of unique and vibrant young people God has placed only a few hundred yards from our front door.

Andy Daniell has held various executive positions in corporate America. Currently he is bivocational, serving as senior minister with the First Christian Church of Mableton (Georgia) and as president of an analytical consulting company.

Senior minister Andy Daniell delivers a devotion.

Fostering the Good News

BY JON HEMBREE

The county where I live has a serious problem. By all appearances, Barton County, a rural area that’s almost precisely the geographical center of Kansas, is a nice place to live. It’s population isn’t quite 30,000, and the people who live here are, in many ways, hardworking and kindhearted.

This county, driven by agriculture and oil, offers quite a bit for the people who live here. The county enjoys a small zoo, a number of restaurants, a local water park, and, perhaps, the pièce de résistance: a 24-hour Walmart Supercenter! Woo-hoo!

When digging beneath the surface of a seemingly charming place to live, a problem comes to light: Barton County has a ridiculously high number of kids in foster care. Shortly after moving here in early 2015, I was made aware of this issue when I met with a local ministry leader. She told me Barton County has been as high as No. 1 in Kansas for children removed into state care, per capita, but she said that, to her knowledge, it had dropped to No. 3. (That’s not much better, we both agreed.)

There are about 74 million children under age 18 in the United States1, with about 415,000 of them in foster care2. That translates to about 0.56 percent, or 5.6 kids per 1,000. But in Barton County, out of 6,722 children in the county, 134 were in “out of home placement” as of June 30, 20163. That’s 1.99 percent, or 19.9 kids per 1,000 in

Barton County. This is not OK.

To my understanding, this isn’t a new phenomenon here. We are dealing with the fallout of years and years of brokenness among families in our community. But what can a church do, especially a small church like ours?

What We Can Do

We recognize the biblical precedent. We understand 1 John 3:17: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (English Standard Version). We understand what Jesus talks about with the “cold cup of water” in Matthew 10:42. We know the call to care for widows and orphans—and we’ve got a lot of orphans on our hands here—but where do we even start?

A Familiar Home in a Familiar Location

A neighbor boy, Ethan, would often come hang out with Jason and Pam’s family. He’d come over to play video games with their son Justin, or just to spend time with their family*. When the couple started to notice things weren’t right at Ethan’s home, they decided they’d go through foster parenting classes in order to give Ethan a familiar home in a familiar location if he needed it. That’s exactly what happened.

The ideal situation would be for every child to go back home with Mom and Dad after things got better. But Ethan’s parents have drug issues. Not only was Ethan removed from his parents’ home, they were not allowed visitation rights with him until after three consecutive negative drug tests. But eventually the parents just stopped showing up to take the tests. Things weren’t getting better.

Pam decided to do something a little different. Ethan’s parents could give every excuse in the book for why they missed their drug tests, but Pam wanted to take

away their excuses. When she would learn the parents didn’t show up to be tested, Pam would go to their house. She’d tell them to get in the car.

“Well, we missed our appointment,” they said.

“Late is better than never,” Pam would reply.

Unfortunately, Ethan’s parents haven’t turned their lives around yet, but Jason and Pam continue to give this boy a loving, stable home.

*Names have been changed.

To address a problem that plagues our country and ravages their community, here’s how one church is offering hope.

It’s a dark situation, but some light has been peeking through the clouds. There are a handful of members at our church who have gotten actively involved in the process. It’s incredible to hear some of their stories. Read two of them on these pages.

Families like these are doing incredible good by becoming foster parents. Meanwhile, I’m seeing a push from the church (and I’m proud to say I’ve heard it from a number of Restoration churches) encouraging people to explore becoming foster parents.

These children can’t help that they are taken from their homes. Whether the children are removed because of abuse, neglect, parental drug use, or a dozen other possible reasons, these kids need to be shown they are loved and cared for, even if it’s just for a short time. Jesus followers should provide these loving homes. Really, there should be no better home.

But foster parenting isn’t for everyone. It’s really, really hard work, and it takes special and wonderful people to do it successfully. So if that’s not your calling, what do you do? What can a church do? We can’t just sit idly by while this type of issue is in our own backyards.

In an elders’ meeting, while discussing a possible ministry in this area, Bob, one of our elders spoke up. As a boy, Bob’s father served in the Air Force; Bob is a tough guy, but he cares deeply. With tears in his eyes, Bob told us about foster kids having to take their things from house to house in garbage bags, which instilled in them the image and idea that they are garbage. No child should ever feel that way. He was crying as he spoke: “I don’t care what we do, but we have to do something.”

An Opportunity to Care

The ministry we chose is called CarePortal. As of this writing, we’re only a few months into implementing the program in our community, but we love the opportunity it presents. CarePortal (www.CarePortal.org) connects families in need to churches that can meet those needs, through social workers, primarily working in the fields of child and family services.

The agency that oversees child welfare and adoption services locally is St. Francis Community Services. St. Francis essentially works as an arm of the Kansas Department of Children and Families.

When a social worker from St. Francis finds out about a legitimate need from one of its clients—be it an electric bill that needs to be paid, an infant car seat, or a dresser for a foster child’s clothes—a representative can put that need onto the CarePortal database. CarePortal then sends an e-mail to the point person at all the participating local churches. Those point people make the need known to their church family, and if someone can meet the need, they respond, and arrangements are made. And there you have it—the church is meeting the real needs of real families and children right in our community.

This is a growing problem in our county and our nation. Once we became aware of what was happening in our backyard, we had to take action. We’re not solving the problem overnight. But we’re taking steps to bring light, little by little, into a dark situation.

¹Forum on Child and Family Statistics (www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/pop1.asp).

²Child Welfare Information Gateway (2016). Foster care statistics 2014. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau (www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/foster.pdf).

³Children in Out of Home Placement by County on June 30, 2016; Kansas Department of Child and Family Services (http://bit.ly/2dGqMbC).

Jon Hembree serves as senior minister with Community Christian Church in Great Bend, Kansas.

‘I Had a Lot More Love to Give’

Sandra is a learning disabilities teacher at a local elementary school who, at 64, is one year away from retirement. She’s also a single parent, foster mom to two beautiful and rambunctious little girls, Elizabeth, a preschooler, and Maleah, who’s in kindergarten*.

Why would a 64-year-old woman want to take on small children? Sandra’s answer is simple, beautiful, and quite frankly, amazing: “After my husband died, I knew I still had more love to give.” As a schoolteacher, she’s had a front-row seat to many of the foster kids our county has produced. And she felt like she could do her part to help show these kids they are loved.

Sandra has ridden the roller-coaster through the ups and downs of it all. The downs can be so frustrating.

Sandra’s is the only home Elizabeth can remember, as she was placed in Sandra’s care at 9 weeks old. Elizabeth would have severe anxiety about making visits to her biological family. She’d have to leave with a stranger (a social worker, but still a stranger), ride an hour to visit family, and leave with that stranger who drove her an hour back home. She’d work herself up so much, even as a baby, that she’d throw up. As she got older, she’d tell Sandra, “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be back home soon.”

Maleah has been with Sandra for about two years now. In all that time, her birth mother has lived two hours away, and often she would not show up when Maleah was taken to visit her. Sandra has been there to comfort and love this little girl as she’s dealt with the anger and frustration, though Maleah is too young to really understand the depth of it all.

When Sandra found out that Elizabeth’s parents’ rights were going to be severed, she prayed fervently about the situation. It would be hard for Elizabeth to transition into another house, but was it a good idea to try to adopt her? Sandra prayed for wisdom, and for the best outcome for this beautiful little girl. One day, 3-year-old Elizabeth said out of the blue, “Mom, you’d just as well keep me.” The ups have been pretty wonderful, too.

*Names have been changed.

. . .

Healthy Leaders,

The two are always connected

Leaders, Healthy Churches

BY JENNIFER JOHNSON

Christian leaders often try to “fill the well” by reading, praying, resting, and spending time with God, and they talk about “leading out of the overflow” of a life that’s replenished by these activities. This type of spiritual development is about much more than sermon preparation, and it’s vital to strong leadership at churches of every size.

J.K. Jones, pastor of spiritual formation at Eastview Christian Church in Normal, Illinois; Kelly Kastens, worship arts pastor at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland; and Glen Schneiders, lead pastor at Crossroads Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, each play a role in prioritizing this type of soul care at the churches they serve. They recently talked to Christian Standard about disciplines and decisions that can lead to healthier ministers, staff, and churches.

An Ounce of Prevention

The abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass once said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” A paraphrase for the church might be, “It’s easier to prevent burnout than to fix it.” Churches that make it a priority to develop and sustain healthy leaders may still have staff members who experience struggles, but “preventative maintenance” goes a long way toward building healthy teams.

Kelly Kastens learned this lesson the hard way.

“At one point, my ministry became my

identity,” she says. “Scripture and prayer were not a connection between God and me; they were tools to do ministry with others. I was at a crisis point when I went to the Transforming Center, a ministry of Ruth Haley Barton.

Mountain Christian creates regular opportunities for leadership teams to spend time together and with God.

“Since 2009 I’ve been part of a transforming community that gathers several times a year. It has been absolutely life changing. The people in my group don’t know about my job title and aren’t impressed by my ministry credentials. What’s important is that I am a soul on a journey.”

At Crossroads, Glen Schneiders is also intentional and proactive about leading himself and his team toward health. He brought Haley Barton to coach his church’s staff in spiritual formation several times over a two-year period, and he has

continued to create formation opportunities on a regular basis.

Many of these are simple, such as a daily half-hour gathering of the Crossroads church staff every morning, Monday through Thursday. The group spends the 30 minutes praying and worshipping, and Schneiders often shares a few thoughts about a portion of Scripture as they work through the New Testament together.

“It’s two hours a week that we’re paying them to be at work but not be on the job,” he says. “But it’s a small investment compared to the benefits we receive individually as well as in our unity as a team. We’re not just talking about spiritual leadership and connecting with God; we’re doing it in an authentic way.”

A Culture of Health

Consistent and intentional activities like these are crucial to developing healthy leaders. Although the specifics may vary from church to church, it’s important for senior leaders or elders to outline the “rest requirements” for staff members—and to

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hold staff accountable for following the plan.

At Eastview Christian Church, this includes two team retreats each year and an annual “play day” for staff. Like at Crossroads, the Eastview staff prays together regularly—at Eastview it’s every Monday morning for an hour or more. The church also encourages leaders to take at least two paid personal retreat days per year.

Mountain Christian also creates regular opportunities for leadership teams to spend time together and with God. Monthly staff meetings include not only the regular round of updates and information, but also time set aside for a spiritual exercise as well as extended celebration of what God has done in their lives and in the church over the last few weeks. At every staff meeting someone gets a “fist bump,” a simple but significant way to publicly recognize an individual’s excellent work or extra effort.

“We have 15 commandments of culture that we go over with our staff at a vision day every September,” Kastens says. “These are key to us being healthy individually and as a team, because they remind us not only who we are and what we’re doing, but also that this is Jesus’ church and not ours. When things are going poorly, it’s his church and the gates of Hell will not prevail. When things are going great, it’s his church and he gets the credit.”

In addition to these vision days, people are invited to take paid days throughout the year to go away and spend time with God, and those who are involved in leading or teaching in the weekend worship experiences take off one out of every six weekends. In fact, not only do they not work at Mountain that weekend, they can choose to worship somewhere else.

“People say, ‘You do what? You give the staff how much time off?’” Kastens says. “But it’s a game changer when people are healthy. And the vision days and time to eat and laugh and talk together—it matters more than you can imagine.”

Habits of Health

Regularly scheduled days to step aside from the demands of ministry are important; equally important is helping leaders learn to use that time well.

“Sometimes we call these spiritual disciplines, but I like the term ‘holy habits,’”

says Jones. “Cultivating these habits will look different for different people, but they’re absolutely necessary. In his Gospel, Luke said Jesus prayed or visited the synagogue ‘as was his custom.’ Jesus had some spiritual habits, and we need to [have some] as well.”

In addition to basics like Scripture reading and prayer, Jones suggests other holy habits to strengthen and sustain leaders, like developing “sacred friendships” and connecting to people with whom you can share your struggles, serving others beyond the requirements in your job description, and even embracing your own pain.

“You can’t lead very long and not be hurt by someone,” he says. “If we don’t learn to process that pain, we short circuit what God is trying to do in us.”

At Eastview Christian Church, senior pastor Mike Baker keeps a stack of cards—one for each of Eastview’s dozens of staff members—and prays through them regularly.

Like Mountain and Eastview, the Crossroads team goes on staff retreats several times a year, and each one includes significant time for solitude, silence, and reflection.

“Rest is important,” Schneiders says. “We start every retreat with a time of quiet, and some people take a nap first thing. There’s room for that, because sometimes that’s what we need.”

Schneiders also invests in resources and coaching to help his team grow in spiritual disciplines. Matthew Sleeth, author of 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life, has spoken to the Crossroads team about the biblical principle of Sabbath and the importance of stepping away from technology. Schneiders also finds the Enneagram personality test to be helpful for both personal and team development, and a member of his staff is responsible for taking new staff through the assessment and providing ongoing coaching.

“It’s a tool that can help us understand our predispositions as well as why others react the way they do,” he says. “Understanding your Enneagram number can shape your spiritual formation.”

It Starts with the Senior Leader

Just as Schneiders takes the initiative to provide these resources for his team, every leader who wants a healthy team must model it and make it a priority.

“Obviously the spiritual health of the leader affects the health of the church, but it also influences the entire staff,” Kastens says. “Our church values, the opportunities for time away—all this works because our lead pastor, Ben Cachiaras, lives it and makes it important. He’s the one who invites the staff to his house after an entire weekend of Easter services. He is more exhausted than anyone, but he says, ‘Let’s play. Let’s be together.’”

At Eastview, senior pastor Mike Baker keeps a stack of cards—one for each of Eastview’s dozens of staff members—and prays through them regularly. Schneiders spends time early each morning reading the text he’ll later lead his staff through during their 30 minutes together and takes an hour-long walk with his wife almost every night.

“It’s a simple thing,” he says, “but it’s significant in helping me deal well with stress.”

Ultimately, this type of spiritual “selfleadership” benefits everyone: the senior leader, the staff, and the church as a whole.

“It takes time, but knowing that the people I’m serving with have my back, that together we’re building a safe community, that’s what allows me to grow,” Kastens says. “If we as leaders don’t invest in our own relationship with God, it can damage everyone around us.”

“A lot of older, wiser voices, the monks and nuns, were right,” Jones says. “They knew that if you stay in a place very long, that place and those people take on your personality and your perspective. If we’re out of step with Jesus, this influence can lead to all kinds of unhealthiness. If we are walking with Jesus, it can be a beautiful thing.”

Jennifer Johnson, a Christian standard contributing editor, is a freelance editor and writer living outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Being the Church

BY GLEN ELLIOTT

What does it mean to “be the church”? If we were meeting as a group and discussing this, our conversation would be all over the place.

The church is to make disciples. Yep.

The church is to reach the lost. Yes, for sure.

The church is to protect and care for its members. Check.

The church is to ensure that the values and morality of God are lived out and taught. Sure!

And the conversation would still not be finished. We have not included any discussion of whether the church is, in fact, being the church or how effective she is at it.

For 46 years I have loved the church. That will never change. But right now, I’m

ticked at the church, in particular local expressions of the church that are right in my own community (and most likely yours too). Here’s why.

Our world is going to Hell. Literally! Our country is a mess and the world is a mess. Fewer and fewer people are attending church. In my city fewer than 10 percent attend any church on a weekend.

Our communities are in serious trouble. Mine, for example, is at the bottom of the list in terms of the quality of education. My metro area is listed as the sixth poorest in the nation. There’s a long list of kids wanting to be adopted. And where is the church in all this?

As I try to engage with leaders from local churches, there are so many who don’t

even want to meet and discuss how they could join us to be the church and make a difference for now and for eternity. Far too many local churches are focused on themselves. This is a form of narcissism. Too many churches are absorbed in their own programs and needs. They see their members as theirs to own and use to keep their church operating. These churches care about only what goes on inside the buildings while ignoring their neighborhoods and communities.

To challenge these churches to look outside themselves is to hear a host of excuses. The churches don’t have “enough” to spare. They don’t have enough volunteers,

Scripture’s demands and troubled times demand that we look again at who we are and what God has called us to do.

BEING THE CHURCH

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money, energy, or time. There is nothing left for others. Does that sound like the church of Jesus? Does that sound like Jesus? Yet the church has more resources to solve more real problems than any other institution or group in any community.

The church all too often is . . . well, church-centric. It is narcissistic, inwardly focused, and selfish. The church is too often about just the church. Is that what Jesus created the church to be? What does it mean to be the church, according to Jesus?

Kingdom of God

I analyzed the concept of the “kingdom of God” (called the “kingdom of Heaven” in Matthew) a number of years ago. Wow, was I surprised! Jesus’ focus was all about the kingdom of God. You probably already knew that. I was late in the game, I guess. But I seldom hear church leaders speak about the kingdom. Sermons rarely address the kingdom. Yet, the kingdom for Jesus is a huge deal. Let’s take a look at Matthew’s Gospel, for example.

John the Baptist prepares the way and introduces Jesus. The summary of John’s message is: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2).

After John baptizes Jesus and Jesus endures the temptations, Jesus begins his public ministry. Matthew 4:17 summarizes Jesus’ teaching and purpose with the exact same words John used: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” By the way, repent is a call, invitation, and demand that our whole way of life and thinking change and allow the kingdom of Heaven (kingdom of God) to orient, direct, and consume our entire life. The kingdom is to be our focus and the dominating factor in our lifestyle and decisions.

Then, in what we call the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus teaches his disciples about how to live the kingdom of God life. In that sermon Jesus teaches us to pray this way: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). That’s the model for how we are to pray. It is all about the kingdom coming into our world like it is Heaven. That should be core to what we pray about. Later in that same chapter, he tells us to “seek first his kingdom” (Matthew 6:33). The kingdom is to be first and foremost!

Then, in Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the disciples on their first short-term mission trip. He summarizes what they are to say. Any guesses? Yep, the same words

again—“The kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 10:7).

Then, in Matthew 13, we find seven parables describing the kingdom—one that advances and can’t be stopped. Finally, in Matthew 24:14, Jesus says the “gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (italics added). Jesus will not return until the gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed to all nations. There is no better or clearer statement of the ultimate importance of the kingdom. The very end depends on the message of the kingdom getting out to all.

The Kingdom on Earth

The church, comprised of the followers of Jesus, was created by Jesus for one ultimate purpose. The church’s existence is to be the agent to bring the kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. The church is essential to advancing the kingdom. The kingdom of God (this is my working definition) is anywhere God has influence— in me, around me, and through me. The church, the followers of Jesus, are to be influenced by the kingdom and seek to take God’s influence everywhere they go.

erous to the lost and hurting world around her will reap the blessing of God to do and be the church God created her to be. Remember what Jesus said: “Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8).

A Blessed Church, a Generous Church

I see it over and over. A blessed church is a generous church that never really lacks what it needs. Most of us have heard a preacher say, “You can’t out give God!” That is a selfish statement if it applies ONLY to church members giving to their churches. Is it not also true for churches giving to their community?

A church that is generous to its community is kingdom-centric. It encourages and finds ways to launch its people into serving the community.

Our church’s mission is this: “Loving people to Jesus, launching passionate people to make a difference.” That is what we do. We actively encourage all kinds of ways to launch our passionate, Jesusfollowing people into their world.

When we plant a new church, we strongly encourage our folks to go and help start it. To date, we’ve sent more than 700 people—their money, service, everything!—to launch new life-giving churches in Southern Arizona.

The kingdom is a huge deal. It is Jesus’ focus. It is why the church exists. Now, back to my frustration. How did the church become so church-centric and lose its essence as being kingdom-centric? As long as the church is church-centric the expansion of the kingdom of God or the influence of Heaven will be hindered in our world.

Core to the failure of the church being the church is the deficient mind-set and belief of church leaders that they don’t have enough to give away. That is driven by fear. Fear causes a church to be church-centric.

Yes, to give away people and resources will cost us. But fear and bad theology cause us to believe God can’t or won’t provide. For all we give away in kingdom mission, he will more than supply and resupply (see 2 Corinthians 9:8-11). Our fear and lack of trust serve to limit our abundant and generous God.

If the church wants to be kingdomcentric, then the key thing we must do is to become generous. A church that is gen-

We give away about 20 percent of our income. I could write an entire article on the numerous ways we’ve made a difference in our community and around the world. We urge our staff to use part of their time to serve our community.

So I challenge you to ask yourself these questions:

Are you being the church?

How is your church practicing a kingdom-centric life versus a churchcentric existence?

Is your church generous to the community it is called to serve and save?

Does your church love your community so much that the community loves your church?

Is God’s influence or his kingdom growing in your town or area? Are you being the church?

It is time for the church to do what John the Baptist and Jesus invited us to do: “Repent!” Our churches must change the direction we are going. Our churches must become kingdom-centric to bring the influence of Heaven to earth.

Glen Elliott, a former missionary in Ukraine, serves as lead pastor at Pantano Christian Church in Tucson, Arizona.

The church all too often is . . . well, church-centric.

A minister’s family grapples with fear and faith.

Beauty in the Battle

BY LARRY W. TIMM

When the sun rose on Thursday, October 29, 2015, my family hummed with anticipation over our quickly approaching family vacation to Florida. After the sun set that cold night, we were stunned and afraid and gathered together in a hospital room in Illinois.

The terrifying journey from happiness to horror started that morning when my wife took our 14-year-old daughter, Jayne, to see a pediatrician.

After struggling through a lingering cold, Jayne had noticed a lump on her neck; if she needed antibiotics, we wanted to get the prescription before beginning our trip.

Her appointment led from a precautionary ultrasound of Jayne’s neck to a CT scan of her upper body. Then, designated as an emergency patient, Jayne was swiftly transferred to the Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria.

Nearly drowning in disbelief, we fought to keep from being pulled down by the ominous whirlpool that churned more powerfully with each procedure and each doctor who spoke in guarded medical lingo. Yet certain words had burned themselves into my awareness as though pressed there by a red-hot branding iron: mass . . . lymphoma . . . oncologist. The more I tried to ignore these scorching words, the more each syllable throbbed.

Later, sometime about midnight, with my battered emotions reeling between pain and desperation, I drove

Jayne Timm last spring at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, Florida. At the time, Jayne had already undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy and 20 rounds of radiation.

BEAUTY IN THE BATTLE

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to our house to pack some clothes for my wife and daughter. They would stay at the hospital, but due to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit regulations, I would eventually need to bring our 7-year-old son home.

At home, as I stepped into Jayne’s room to get her clothes to put in the suitcase— the same suitcase we had planned to pack for our family vacation—the swelling streams of sadness, despair, anger, denial, and helplessness merged into a raging torrent of grief I could no longer contain. I loudly implored God to make the scans and X-rays wrong; just one big mistake, easily explained by something harmless.

Something . . . benign.

“God, nothing is impossible with you. I believe you can heal her with your miraculous touch! Please!” I begged.

My assurance of God’s omnipotence was countered by the unsettling thought that maybe my faith was too weak to help my daughter. I became like the father who desperately cried out to Jesus, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24*).

No doubt with clouded motives, I reasoned with God that healing my daughter would be a perfect opportunity to bring attention and glory to his name.

Then I bartered with our sovereign God to take the cancer from my daughter and put it in me. If someone had to go through this hideous disease, let it be me Make me crawl through this fire, all the way to the valley of the shadow of death if necessary. Me . . . not my daughter.

Please, God . . . not her.

I knew my strong and godly wife was lifting up the same unceasing pleas from Jayne’s hospital room.

Jagged Anguish

On that October night, jagged anguish stabbed deeper than anything we’d ever suffered before. And even as we hoped for a less-than-deadly explanation of the early test results, we could still hear the menacing hiss of two of the most venomous words in the human language: “What if . . .”

We cried to God because we knew he was there, listening. We weren’t blindly groping for an unknown, inattentive higher power; instead, we were desperately reaching out to our heavenly Father.

We believed he heard our every word, understood our every groan, translated our every tear. My family was agonizing, but we were not alone. Our faith rested on the promise that nothing could separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. Ever.

Not even cancer.

And if God chose to give us endurance instead of instant healing, we could trust him. We held firm to the belief that his sovereignty meant he could do whatever he wanted, and whatever he wanted to do was always right.

The next morning, in a small nook off the hallway outside Jayne’s hospital room, I stared at X-rays of my precious daughter’s

tized her.

On that Friday morning, we joined trembling hands in a hospital room that existed because sometimes a child’s wellbeing is assaulted by far worse than an imaginary beast that waits under her bed or lurks in her closet.

Some monsters are real.

And, on the day before Halloween, we told her the name of this one: Cancer.

We cried together, then prayed together for strength and guidance, help and healing.

Intense Intercession

On that Friday, the elders and congregation at the Morton Christian Church also flooded Heaven with intense intercession. People across the country and the world also prayed for us. Texts and calls lifted us up on waves of love beyond anything words can describe.

upper body. My stalwart wife stood statuestill, distress etched on her pale face. The doctor pointed to a ghostly mass that covered more than a third of my daughter’s chest, just above her heart. The worry engulfing us thickened into suffocating terror when the doctor said, “In addition to the mass in her neck, it appears this is a second tumor. A biopsy will reveal what type of cancer she is facing.” (It turned out to be stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma.)

Rather than having the doctor inform Jayne, I muttered that my wife and I should tell her.

How do you tell your child that she has cancer?

We went to Jayne’s bed, trying not to allow fear to trample our faith, or sorrow to silence our words. I held my daughter’s hand, just like I’d held her hand when she was a sweet baby and needed to be comforted, or an ambitious toddler and needed help to stand, or my little princess who just wanted to cuddle on daddy’s lap and tell him about her fun-filled day.

Or like the time I held her when I bap-

My wife’s parents drove from Kansas to stay with us (and their amazing help has continued). The incredible leadership team of elders and staff at our church circled around us, took on the responsibilities of ministry, and freed me to put all of my energies into caring for my family. For as long as necessary, I was on paid leave, with a standing offer that if we needed anything, all we had to do was ask.

That was just the beginning. It was Friday . . . but Sunday was coming.

And Sunday, November 1, 2015, will remain a day my family will never forget, because as part of the morning church service, the congregation came to our house. They stood in the yard, the driveway, and at the edge of the street. And, with my daughter watching from her bedroom window and my wife and I standing out in the yard in the midst of the crowd, the church prayed.

And they haven’t stopped.

Three weeks later, I returned to the pulpit and preached from Psalm 42. I longed to share with those who were hurting along with us that hope still belongs to God’s people, under any circumstances. I confessed my struggle to understand the “why” of this season of our lives. But I shared my conviction that a day is coming in which none of this pain and sorrow will matter.

The psalmist wrote, “Why are you in

Some monsters are real. And, on the day before Halloween, we told her the name of this one: Cancer.

despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence” (Psalm 42:5).

The bottom line is this: Because Jayne knows Jesus, she wins in the end—no matter what happens along the way.

A Grueling Road

Yes, this road has been grueling. We wouldn’t have voluntarily chosen it. And I’d still trade places with her, if possible. It’s been heartbreaking to see our daughter undergo five multistage rounds of chemotherapy, get sick, lose her hair, and wrestle with anxieties that would drain an adult, let alone a teenager. But she’s handled it all

with grace. And I’m so proud of how she accepted the ironic turn of events that led to her finally getting to go to Florida . . . but for 20 radiation treatments instead of a family vacation.

We are not better than others who face trials. We are trying to face this journey with the awareness that, each day, we must choose whether we’ll walk in faith or fear. Frankly, some days are better than others. But we are trying hard to believe that “in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). With God’s help, and the prayers and love of an amazing congregation, and so many other wonderful people, we will not lose hope.

Jayne’s spirits are high, her attitude is inspiring, and her faith is courageous. She is truly one of the bravest people I’ve ever known. I’m humbled and honored to be her dad. Her unquenchable love of life and her relentless determination to find joy and laughter in each and every day continue to teach me that sometimes God’s mightiest warriors are also his most beautiful.

*Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible

Larry W. Timm is a husband, father, writer, and the preaching minister with the Morton (Illinois) Christian Church.

They’ve accelerated multiplication like nothing else.

How Residencies Prepare Emerging Church Leaders

BY DAVE FERGUSON AND WARREN BIRD

How and why residencies have become standard operating practice for all of NewThing’s new church planters.

When you think about a residency program, you might envision doctors in training, honing their craft under the tutelage of seasoned physicians. For NewThing (www.newthing.org, an international church-planting network birthed out of the Chicago-based Community Christian Church, www.communitychristian.org), a 9- to 12-month residency is required for any emerging leader who wants to start a church in NewThing’s network. It’s standard operating procedure for all of their new church planters.

“For us, residency is the chute before you launch a new church,” says NewThing director Patrick O’Connell. “It’s the final step before you plant a new church, not the place to determine whether you’re called to plant.”

O’Connell sees one distinctive that sets NewThing’s residency apart from

other intensive leadership development programs: Instead of remaining in the local church, like Community Christian’s fold to fulfill a leadership role there, some of the church’s best leaders are pushed out of the nest, and new churches always result.

“A lot of churches develop really great leaders through residencies and hang onto them,” O’Connell says. “They plug them into existing ministries or into an existing campus. Those are good things; we celebrate that. But the purest essence of a churchplanting residency is to start something brand new.”

Fishing in Two Pools

That’s the way it’s been for NewThing since it was started 11 years ago as a catalyst for “a movement of repro-

ducing churches.” Reproduction was a primary part of Community Christian’s DNA from the beginning, and NewThing’s residency has been a key driver of that vision.

“We want to plant new churches that plant new churches that plant new churches,” O’Connell says. “Our focus has always been on multiplication.”

O’Connell fishes in two pools for new residents. “Free agents” are ministry leaders—seminary or Bible college graduates, church staff members, etc.—who connect with NewThing through conferences, books, blogs, etc.

If O’Connell had a favorite child,

“[Residency is] the final step before you plant a new church, not the place to determine whether you’re called to plant.”

though, it would be those who grow up in Community Christian’s “farm system”— leaders who come to Christ at the church, grow into ministry roles, and get bitten by the church-planting bug.

“We are committed to fishing in both of those ponds,” O’Connell says. “But we are deeply convinced that the next generation of leaders in the church can be found in our congregation because of our focus on reproducing at every level.”

Three Phases and Two Focus Points

NewThing’s 250 current residents are dispersed among other churches that are part of the NewThing network, and all of

the residents are being mentored by senior pastors or ministry leaders in those congregations around the world.

All residents go through three phases of development at their pace:

• “Unlearning” things they thought they knew about ministry that might make them ineffective church planters. “Just because you did some kind of ministry doesn’t mean you will make a great church planter,” O’Connell says.

• “Learning” the key elements to getting a successful church off the ground— leading teams, reproducing, teaching, communicating, vision casting, and fundraising.

©Lightstock

• “Sending”—reproducing out of their current role and finishing well, leading a new team of people, fund-raising, and moving onto the church-planting field.

“We find the process usually takes at least nine months, but it could run longer,” O’Connell says. “It’s up to the speed of the leader, what they need to learn to be ready, and the learning plan they put together to prepare.”

NewThing residents go through a twopronged development process. The bulk of the time is spent in life-on-life ministry at the field location, with an additional three

HOW RESIDENCIES PREPARE EMERGING CHURCH LEADERS

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hours a week in a classroom environment around a 40-week curriculum. Residents can earn master’s degree credits for classes from Wheaton (Illinois) College, and NewThing started a leadership training center to centralize some of the learning modules.

“We think it makes for a fantastic residency to live in the intentionality of doing life and engaging in ministry and being in the classroom,” O’Connell says. “But so much is dependent on the leader in the field being willing to mentor the residents and involve them in reproducing ministry in their setting.

“If we have a great classroom experience, but a poor experience in the field

of ministry, it’s all for naught,” O’Connell says.

Some Vital Lessons Learned

Since NewThing has been around for many years, it can pass along lessons it has learned to churches that would like to follow a similar path.

For starters, O’Connell says there have been times when residents needed a longer incubation period and they planted a church too early. “They didn’t have the time and space to learn what they needed to learn before we sent them out,” he points out.

NewThing has also learned there are advantages to bringing all residents to-

10 Qualities that Make a Great Leadership Residency Program

Leadership Network conducted a survey of more than 300 churches doing internships, fellowships, and residencies. Research director Warren Bird then interviewed a number of residency-level pioneers (free download at www.leadnet. org/intern). Below are his findings about what makes the “best” leadership residency programs.

1. Committed to multiplication. Residencies replicate the DNA of the sponsor church, and the best residencies are built around what the church does best. If the church champions multiplication, the residents will also.

2. Focused on full-time ministry. Participants enter the program with clarity on specific ministry outcome vs. a more general goal of becoming more effective in ministry.

3. Already seasoned. Participants are generally older with ministry experience vs. college age or early 20s.

4. Top team oversight. The senior pastor regularly interacts with residents, while another paid staff member “owns” the program.

5. Trained trainers. The sponsoring church also invests time/ energy in developing/supporting the staff, volunteers, or outside resource people who will be training the residents.

6. Support raising. Most residents must raise some or all of their

financial support, demonstrating their ability to do so and putting “skin in the game.”

7. Hands-on emphasis. A majority of the residency time involves character development experiences and hands-on ministry, both with feedback; classroom time does not exceed one-third of the total program.

8. Leadership development. Most churches indicate that leadership development is the top reason they’re offering the internship/residency program.

9. Multiple pathways. The sponsor church offers multiple levels of internship (which goes by various names) with the highest level being residency (but not always using that name) and multiple tracks for each level.

10. Next-stop overlap. The best residencies transfer seamlessly from the end of the residency into the next ministry for the resident; there has even been intentional overlap and preparation for it.

—D.F. & W.B.

gether regularly in a peer-to-peer learning environment. Also, the money equation is always a balancing act. NewThing’s residency has always been a self-funded enterprise, with some residents paid by their sponsorship congregation and some not paid. Residents are responsible for raising funds needed to plant the new church.

“We’ve never had a big pot of money to distribute to our residents,” O’Connell says. “The fund-raising piece is the first hurdle we want to see them overcome. There are advantages to not having a pile of cash, because it puts the onus on the residents. But there are some disadvantages to that as well.”

The Ultimate Aim

Through all the growth and learnings of NewThing’s 11-year-old residency program, the primary objective hasn’t changed: Produce more “Patrick O’Connells.”

O’Connell was a business leader far from God when he became a Christ follower at Community Christian. He got involved in different ministries at the church, and eventually became an apprentice who was leading ministries and then coaching others.

O’Connell and his family moved to Kansas City as a leadership resident and launched a new church there. He began coaching and training church-planting residents—including a leader named Matt Miller who started another church in Kansas City that now has two campuses and two more residents in training.

“That’s a perfect illustration of how it works—people who found their way back to God, found a ministry, got a language and a license around church planting, and made their way through the pipeline,” O’Connell says. “I never dreamed I would be a church planter or leading a churchplanting organization. That’s proof God has a sense of humor.

“But I like to say I found two big things at Community—I found Jesus, and I also found my life mission.”

The article was adapted from Leadership Network Advance; it is used by permission. A free subscription to Leadership Network Advance is available at leadnet.org/ update.

Dave Ferguson serves as lead pastor of Community Christian Church, provides visionary leadership for NewThing, and is an adjunct professor at Wheaton Graduate School. Warren Bird is director of research and intellectual capital at Leadership Network.

Divine Encounters, Good Good-byes, Genes Seen

BY LEROY LAWSON

What’s in a Phrase? Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014

A Faithful Farewell: Living Your Last Chapter with Love

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015

When I learned of Marilyn McEntyre’s 2014 book What’s in a Phrase? I had to add it to my “must read” list. Earlier I had read her Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. Her purpose in that book was to urge us to pay attention to words—close attention.

In What’s in a Phrase? she moves on from words to phrases, those little vocabulary clusters that snare our interest and lead us beyond mere definitions to the bigger realities behind them. She believes “phrases have lives of their own.” They catch us unawares, insinuate themselves into our awareness, and attach to our memories; in time we adopt them as our own, not being able to remember when we were first introduced but finding them oh so useful.

In this book she combs the Scriptures for such gems, holds them up to light, and reports what she sees in—and through— them. She sees meaning. She sees wonder. She sees God.

McEntyre, an English professor at Westmont College in Santa Barbara and University of California, Berkeley, is a woman after my own heart. In these 50 selected phrases she packs enough food for

A Long Letting Go: Meditations on Losing Someone You Love

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015

The Gene: An Intimate History

Siddhartha Mukherjee

New York: Scribner, 2016

thought to deepen one’s devotional reading. It did mine.

“Incline your ear, O Lord” (Psalm 86, English Standard Version) is the first phrase, a perfect opening meditation. It’s an appeal to God, of course, but a helpful reminder that the reader’s ear is also inclining toward God. She holds that inclination through the following ruminations as she considers what it means to be “fearfully and wonderfully made,” or to look with reverence on “the beauty of holiness,” and to rest secure in “the fullness of time.” To the author, phrases like these are more than words; they are “places of divine encounter.”

Saying Good-bye

A couple of other treats from this thoughtful, poetic thinker are A Long Letting Go: Meditations on Losing Someone You Love and A Faithful Farewell: Living Your Last Chapter with Love. Both deal sensitively with dying, the first as a guide for caregivers who want to do the right thing but are often at sea as to what that right thing is. They are, after all, standing at the threshold between earthly and otherworldly existence, a dizzying prospect.

The second empathizes with the mind and heart of a person whose life is slowly, painfully, inevitably ebbing.

These are companion volumes. I recommend both. Pastors especially will

recognize hers as the voice of one who knows, her hands having held the hands of so many as their life ebbs away. She has heard the thoughts of the dying, struggled with their questions, listened to their complaints and their utterances too deep for words. The sufferings of others have tempered her own faith, moving her hope beyond mere wishful thinking into trust in the God who cares.

I especially liked A Faithful Farewell She is not dying (to my knowledge) but imaginatively writes as one who is. Every emotion is expressed here—hopefulness, discouragement, anger, doubting, believing, laughing, scolding, hanging on, and then, at last, letting go.

Read the books slowly. Savor them. They are not handbooks for caregiving or getting your house in order before you die. Rather, they lead the reader to deeper reflections and more sensitive awareness of another’s (and one’s own) difficult passage to and through the final leave taking.

Manipulating Genes

Carrie Buck was a young woman in 1927, capable of conception and delivery

Every emotion is expressed here—hopefulness, discouragement, anger, doubting, believing, laughing, scolding, hanging on, and then, at last, letting go.

DIVINE ENCOUNTERS, GOOD GOOD-BYES, GENES SEEN

Continued from previous page

if she had been left alone. Both were taken from her when she was sterilized. The treatment was science’s answer to a perplexing problem: How can dumb, obviously inferior human beings (in the opinion of their self-appointed superiors) be prevented from producing more dumb, obviously inferior human beings?

The solution seemed so obvious then, humane even. Later, when the obsessed Dr. Josef Mengele of Nazi Germany performed his nefarious “experiments” on Jews, twins, dwarfs, and other “defectives,” experiments that were part of the Third Reich’s campaign to rid itself of “undesirables” such as Jews, homosexuals, and others—an estimated 11 million died in the Holocaust—the new science of genetics seemed anything but benign.

This is only part of the gripping story Siddhartha Mukherjee tells in his masterful The Gene: An Intimate History. A professor of medicine at Columbia University, Dr. Mukherjee, a former Rhodes scholar, is Indian by descent, a cancer physician and researcher by passion and profession, and recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for his 2010 study of cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies. Add to all these accomplishments his elegance and unusual clarity of expression and you have the ingredients for a fascinating history of our growing understanding of the gene.

In his sweep he includes the insights of Aristotle, Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel, James Collins, James Watson, Francis Crick, and many, many others who have pondered the inner workings of organisms, human and otherwise. The scientist Mukherjee becomes the poet/novelist Mukherjee as he tells their stories in brief, memorable vignettes.

This 608-page book, rich in technical detail, could have been pretty tedious slogging, but it isn’t. Potentially dry discussions of the workings of genes and chromosomes and genomes come alive with the author’s narrative skills and his

candid sharing of what he learned from his family’s struggles with inherited mental illness.

My own interest in genetics has been heightened by a simple fact: for a long time in my long life I have been observing how certain traits make their way—in my family and several others I’ve known well—from generation to generation. Not just the obvious physical traits (“he looks just like his grandfather,” “she has her mother’s eyes”) but emotional behavior and even political leanings and other traits which seem to be totally dictated by nurture and not nature—except that they aren’t. What governs this inheritance? The Gene provides answers—some reassuring, some not so.

As I neared the end of the book I was cheered by Mukherjee’s treatment of the ethical issues involved in genetic manipulations. Scientists now have the capacity to ease or even wipe out certain illnesses. Should this genetic engineering be employed? Other illnesses can be avoided by prenatal testing. Such tests can have serious consequences. What if the test shows Down syndrome or sickle-cell anemia, for example? Should the pregnancy be aborted?

There is no denying that the human race stands to benefit from judicious tampering with the human genome. What also cannot be denied is that we stand to lose a great deal. Here is a good place to apply some of Solomon’s famed wisdom. History provided a great lesson when scientists in Nazi Germany—in the name of eugenics (“good birthing”) trying to dictate who was worthy of life—triggered horrendous consequences. Scientific capacity undocked from ethics can be pretty scary. Does the fact that we can mean that we should? Who decides?

We haven’t heard the last of this debate. The Gene is a good resource for it.

LeRoy Lawson serves as international consultant with CMF International.

This 608-page book, rich in technical detail, could have been pretty tedious slogging, but it isn’t.

Out of Network

BY TIM HARLOW

My best advice for your ministry: share the Spirit

So Moses . . . brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. . . . However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. . . . Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” (Numbers 11:24-28).

I love this. It’s so . . . human nature. We can’t let these people prophesy—they are “out of network!” (Sorry, I’ve been dealing with health insurance lately!)

It’s similar to the New Testament incident when John told Jesus: “Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us” (Luke 9:49).

I love it when Christians censor each other.

“Moses replied, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!’” (Numbers 11:29).

And, in turn, here was Jesus’ reply to John: “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you” (Luke 9:50).

I think I’m getting better at this with age. At some point, you have to wake up and realize God doesn’t actually need you to save the world. He doesn’t need my church or your church, either. He doesn’t even need my “tribe.” I love my tribe. This movement of churches we call the Restoration Movement is so attractive; it’s a church magnet. I was recently at a gathering of some of our largest churches and more than 20 percent of the churches joined this conference recently, from out-

side of the movement. To quote the musical Wicked, we’re “very very pop-u-lar.”

What should “sharing the Spirit” look like?

Our church has adopted the nation of Malawi. Our goal is PEACE.

Plant churches that promote reconciliation.

Equip servant leaders.

Assist the poor.

Care for the sick.

Educate the next generation.

We are partnering with Rick Warren and Saddleback church in bringing a model they’ve pioneered in Rwanda. (They came from a Southern Baptist background.) The beauty of the PEACE plan in Malawi is the unity of the churches working together.

So we’ve started this process in Malawi, and we have already seen almost all of the major churches and denominations come together. It turns out there are only a few religious institutions and seminaries in that region of Africa, so most of these pastors are trained at the same schools.

They already know each other. They have high respect for each other. In most cases, the denominational markers are only on the buildings and the signs. They think and act very similarly.

In Rwanda, from what I’ve seen, when churches work together, then business and the government take notice and join them.

Maybe the problems in Africa are so vast, the Christians have decided that

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OUT OF NETWORK

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solving the problems outweighs denominational differences.

Working Together

But we don’t have issues in the United States, right?

Let me remind the majority of the readers of this magazine: our movement was birthed in the idea of putting denominational differences aside and “sharing the Spirit.”

I love that Scripture says God actually took “some of the power of the Spirit that was on Moses” and spread it around.

I LOVE that.

Moses had to share. The Spirit of God is limitless in power, but the Bible tells us it can be limited by our “quenching” (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

If we worked together, perhaps the Spirit would flourish.

In my younger days, I wanted to hog the Spirit for my church and the things I thought God wanted us to accomplish. I was jealous of the Spirit in others. Now, I’m trying to learn how to share.

That makes my perspective so much different when one of our leaders leaves to go to a new place and share the Spirit.

New and Exciting Ways

Casey Tygrett served on our staff for seven years and was recently called to the lead teaching role at Heartland Community Church in Rockford, Illinois.

I am sad. Casey will be missed; his family is dear to our family in many ways. But this is good. It’s great, actually, because the Spirit will be able to move through him in new and exciting ways. It’s great for Heartland Church.

Heartland is the church that sent three Spirit-filled couples to Ventura, California, several years ago to plant a church. Parkview partnered with them in that plant. I’m still an “elder” at that church plant.

And then my daughter, Lauren, and her husband, Tommy, decided to take a deeper look into doing ministry and did a residency with Mission Church Ventura. After a year of residency, the church hired them, and my granddaughter is now growing up in that church. I’m sure glad Heartland shared the Spirit!

So put this all together. Heartland shared the Spirit with Ventura, who shared it with my kids. How could I not be excited to share the Spirit back with Heartland?

Heartland didn’t come from our tribe of churches. Who cares? They shared it.

obvious. He saw in Jesus the One long promised, the One who would save. He saw the Word incarnate. That is why he stood at the cross. Heartbroken. He was losing his good Friend. He was losing his favorite Teacher. He was losing the One he had long awaited. Now . . . for John, the future was as uncertain as the future always is. What now?

One of the most Spirit-filled moments of my life was when we first gathered church leaders together in Malawi. A group of 60 of the top leaders from the country gathered and selected nine men and women to serve as the steering team for the PEACE plan. There were people with big titles—apostle, archbishop. There were multiple denominations.

As we asked them to come forward for prayer, I thought to myself, it sure would be good to have them kneel as we lay hands on them. But I didn’t know how that would play out culturally. Then, as they came forward, several of them turned to each other and motioned that they should kneel, so they did.

I’ll tell you, if tongues of fire had come and rested on their heads, I would not have been shocked. It was one of those moments!

I agree with Moses. “I wish the Lord would put his Spirit on everyone!”

It may come back to bless me personally; it may not. Who cares? Share it!

Tim Harlow serves as senior pastor with Parkview Christian Church, Orland Park, Illinois.

standing at the cross. Tomorrow—the future—is irrelevant. Joys and sorrows—the business of daily living—inconsequential.

This is the one fact worthy of thought, at the cross: “Jesus loves me; this I know!”

BY RON DAVIS

John at the Cross

As Jesus died, John stood at the cross. The apostle describes the scene in his Gospel, John 19:25, 26. He is the one who called himself “the disciple whom he loved.” He fully sensed and experienced Jesus’ love. Jesus did love John. He saw in John a young man capable of a lifetime commitment. And that was realized.

John’s love for Jesus is likewise

Certainly John could not envision the future as he stood at the cross. He could not imagine that his own brother would one day die by the sword of Herod, as Luke records in Acts 12:2. He could not look into his own future and see himself as an old, old man living the lonely life of an exile on the small island of Patmos. (That island may have finally contained this “son of thunder,” but he could still boom and startle with the explosive, apocalyptic words of Revelation!)

Probably, John, at the cross, could think only of the fact that there before him, in writhing anguish, was the One he knew loved him. And that is all one needs to think when he or she is

Jesus loves me; this I know, For the Savior tells me so; On the cross, by flesh and blood; He has said it, “You are loved!”

And we must never forget that . . . here . . . here at the cross! Nor there . . . there in our world of the emptied tomb.

Lay aside your thoughts of tomorrow. All the possibilities do not matter here at the cross. Put aside your delights and concerns of today. God is here; he is in control. Here, think this grand truth: Jesus loves me.

Ron Davis loves “standing at the cross” reverently and thankfully each week at the Lord’s table of grace and sensing God’s love. Read another meditation by him each Friday in January at christianstandard.com.

What Is a Christian Movie?

BY JOE BOYD

Is there such a thing as an “environmentalist” film? Or a Christian hamburger?

Among other things that I do for a living, I’m a movie producer. Rebel Pilgrim, my production company, was briefly mentioned on Fox News as one of several companies specializing in making “Christian movies.” As an independent producer, I’m happy to have my company mentioned on a national platform. Fox stated that we have six “Christian films” in development. That’s (sort of) true. We have six or so films in development at all times. I’m a Christian. Some of them overtly address God and faith. Some do not.

It begs the question, What is a Christian movie?

It seems accurate to call box office successes like Fireproof and God’s Not Dead “Christian” movies. In the industry, we might say these films are “on the nose.” They address the Christian faith—at its core—head-on. But is Noah a Christian film? It’s inspired by a Jewish story. Christians are, technically speaking, a Jewish movement . . . so, yeah. Maybe? It also has Rock People . . . so there’s that. Maybe it’s just a big-budget action movie.

If you were to ask for a list of my favorite Christian movies, I might say The Apostle, Leap of Faith, Sister Act, Lars and the Real Girl, The Matrix, Wall-E, Elmer Gantry, and Les Misérables. I was recently moved by Mel Gibson’s film Hacksaw Ridge

Are these Christian films? Do the director, producer, and writer have to be self-confessed Christians for it to count? Does the film need to clearly address God or Jesus? Do the Christian gatekeepers need to sign off?

Are Avatar and Promised Land “environmentalist” films? Maybe. Probably. Who cares? They are what they are. You either liked them or you didn’t.

No Labels

This is when we will know Christian movies have made it—when the movie doesn’t need the “Christian” label to draw an audience.

But I’m not naive. It is the label that allows these movies—generally made for budgets of less than $2 million—to exist. If Christian movies are a genre, they most closely resemble horror movies (from a business perspective) more than anything else. A decent movie in either genre, with the right elements, can serve a niche audience and succeed financially. The filmmakers need just to follow the unwritten rules of the audience they are serving. Both genres—Christian and horror—can be blasted by critics and those unfamiliar with those types of films as “cheesy,” but the core audiences don’t care. They like what they see. A business plan for making a slate of Christian movies is very similar to a business plan for producing a set of horror movies. And in reality, these two types of films are probably the safest movie investments in the film world.

By the standard definition, some of our films in development are more “Christian” than others. And for the record, we aim for “not cheesy” . . . and usually get there.

Informed by Faith

Personally, I’m a producer. I’m also a Christian. My faith informs everything I do, so in that regard I make Christian movies. I suppose it also means I make a mean Christian hamburger on my backyard grill.

It’s my job as a businessperson to give people what they are asking for. My job as an artist is to give people what they aren’t asking for but need to see. That’s the trick of making any movie with a message. When we learn to do both, we’re onto something.

One of our more recent movies, Hope Bridge, mentions God only once. It never mentions Jesus or church. It stars Kevin Sorbo, the lead in Christian films like God’s Not Dead It also stars Booboo Stewart who plays Warpath in X-Men: Days of Future Past. It’s a sometimes-dark story about suicide and a boy’s journey to find answers. There is hope in it.

If I can help spark a little hope in the world, then I’ve done my job. People can call it a “Christian” movie or not— that spark of hope is what I deeply care about. The truth is, many stories point us to Christ. The most important thing we can do as disciples is to tell our stories in such a way that gives God the opportunity to change a heart.

I don’t know if movies, books, music, or anything else can technically be “Christian.” But people can be. And the world needs more of us to create stories that make a difference.

Joe Boyd is founder and president of Rebel Pilgrim Productions, Cincinnati, Ohio.

This poster is for Joe Boyd’s film Hope Bridge

PREACHING

The Best Sermon I’ve Ever Heard

BY ARRON CHAMBERS

Christian leaders, some of them preachers themselves, tell us about a sermon they can’t forget—and maybe you won’t either.

Neill Snyder

Neill Snyder grew up in the church and became a Christian at the age of 12. His love for Latino people led him to plant Iglesia Cristiana Southwest in Denver, Colorado. He and his wife, Rosy, have two preschool-age children.

Neill’s Best Sermon: The best sermon on compassion is “Get God in Your Gut” by Vince Antonucci. The sermon can be heard at http://vivalaverve.org/media/ messages (it’s part of the Renegade series).

Why Neill likes this sermon: “It is one of my favorites because it explains what Christ had when he had compassion on a great multitude of people. This nearly four-year-old message still colors my thinking.”

Dan Schaffner

Dan Schaffner and his wife, Sue, live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where they get to enjoy God’s creation. He loves animals, music, books, and sports, but most of all he loves people. He serves as pastoral care minister with Journey Christian Church in Greeley, Colorado.

Dan’s Best Sermon: Every new sermon, no matter who speaks it, is great because it’s fresh and touches me in that very moment of time. One that has affected me greatly recently was preached by Ramelia Williams at Jesus People USA in Chicago, Illinois. “When Did Your Hope Die?” is based on Hebrews 6:17-20 and is available at http:// jpusa.org/sermons/when-did-your-hope-die/.

Why Dan likes this sermon: “This sermon is one of encouragement for the broken person. Ramelia mentions different individuals from Scripture, their painful situations, and how God touched them at what seemed to be a hopeless time in their lives. Ramelia also reveals some of her personal hopelessness, which gave me helpful insight into my sister in Christ. It reminded me that everyone’s perceived reality and hopelessness is real to them even if I don’t see it. I need to accept this if I am to minister to people effectively to help them regain hope.”

Matt Shears

Matt Shears serves as director of alumni relations at Johnson University. He is a 2016 graduate of Johnson University and is currently an MDiv student at Emmanuel Christian

Seminary at Milligan College. Matt also serves as a representative of the Christian churches/churches of Christ on the Stone-Campbell Dialogue. He and his wife, Lauren, have been married for a year.

Matt’s Best Sermon: The best sermon I have ever heard on what it means to be part of God’s community was “When the Roll Is Called Down Yonder” by Fred Craddock. Watch the sermon at www.youtube.com/watch?v=X20Sd8NKLsk.

Why Matt likes this sermon: “The sermon text was the list of personal greetings at the end of Romans 16. He talked about how each of these names was a particular person who had a particular role within the life of the community. The sermon focused on how God’s community is just that . . . a community. We are a group of people who share a common connection through Christ. More than the programs we have, the buildings we build, and the goals we set, the item that defines us most is our relational connection with each other. We can live out our faith only within the context of community, and for that we rely on each other—the church.”

Seth Andrews

Seth Andrews came to Christ his senior year of high school while attending Wednesday night Bible study at his home church in Elizabethton, Tennessee. His minister, John H. Smith, mentored and encouraged him to go into Christian ministry. Seth obtained at BA in Bible and preaching from Johnson University Tennessee (2005) and an MA in religion in Christian leadership from Liberty University School of Divinity (2009). He has ministered with churches in Tennessee and North Carolina. He currently works as an emergency medical technician and provides supply ministry to churches in northeast Tennessee. He is the husband of Ashley, and they have three sons.

Seth’s Best Sermon: The best sermon I’ve heard on persevering in ministry is by Scott Kenworthy, lead and teaching pastor at Owensboro (Kentucky) Christian Church. The sermon was delivered at Johnson University Tennessee Homecoming 2016. Listen to it at http://bit.ly/2eghAQX.

Why Seth likes this sermon: “The powerful sermon from Isaiah 2:1-5 inspired me to persevere through the difficult, draining times of ministry. He exhorted those attending to find seasoned ministers to ‘fan into flame the gift of God’ (2 Timothy 1:6), and for those seasoned in the ministry to mentor and encourage Christians to use their gifts and abilities to carry the gospel to our particular ‘vocations and locations.’”

Arron Chambers, a Christian standard contributing editor, serves as lead minister with Journey Christian Church, Greeley, Colorado.

best practices

COMPILED BY MICHAEL C. MACK

HOW DO WE MINISTER IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF TERROR AND VIOLENCE?

In the midst of what seems like a constant stream of terror attacks, racial violence, and other tragic events, how do church leaders help their congregations navigate the current realities and uncertainties in the world? Steve Norman of Kensington Community Church in Michigan looks at these developments as opportunities to speak boldly into current social issues.

“For too long, many of us have parsed social engagement out of gospel proclamation,” says Norman in “The State of Church Ministry, 2017,” a guide from CT Pastors (www.CTPastors.com). “But we must proclaim and demonstrate that the gospel is about reconciliation: reconciling spiritual runaways to Christ and reconciling people at odds to one another in and through Christ.”

Tod Bolsinger, who teaches leadership and practical theology at Fuller Seminary and is author of Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory, begins with two questions:

• What will be the church’s witness and voice to a world that’s becoming more polarized along political and cultural lines?

• What will be our witness as a people who believe that the reign of God and the new identity in Christ calls us to a commitment to each other that transcends economic, political, national, and racial lines?

“The greatest opportunity the church has,” says Bolsinger, “is to demonstrate a life of witness and unity that is a radical alternative to an increasingly polarized and reactionary culture.” Leaders must embrace and shape churches that reproduce the ideology of Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” If we do, says Bolsinger, we can “offer the world a glimpse today of the way the world will someday be.”

—“The State of Church Ministry, 2017,” available from Building Church Leaders

3 Characteristics of a Jesus Apprentice

In Exponential, Dave and Jon Ferguson outline three qualities of an apprentice from Jesus’ model:

1. Spirit-led apprenticeship: The value of listening to and obeying God.

2. Missional apprenticeship: The willingness to live for and die for God’s mission, and the readiness to give our lives to God’s mission and for seeing it accomplished.

3. Reproducing apprenticeship: The God-given authority or influence a person has with others that puts them in a place of godly leadership.

3 Ways to Develop Leaders Without More Events

Volunteers are busy, yet they need appropriate equipping and ongoing development to lead well. An overdependence on events and programs doesn’t always get the job done. What can you do? Vision coach Will Mancini offers three simple solutions:

1. Use real-time, teachable moments to equip leaders with a storytelling technique. Mancini learned this from Noel M. Tichy in his book, The Leadership Engine: Building Leaders at Every Level. Begin by writing down a Top 10 list of your best leadership learnings. Then develop a two-minute testimony or story about what you learned for each one. When a teachable moment presents itself, share the appropriate learning and encourage the person to do likewise.

2. Provide self-led opportunities for people to learn at their own pace, in their own place, and on their own timetable. Most of these are virtual opportunities: videos, webinars, articles, blog posts, and discussion forums, for instance—or a combination of these. Be sure these are more than content-based, information downloads. Think in terms of steps to leadership development using these opportunities. Ministry Grid (www.ministrygrid.com) is one available tool.

3. Embed apprenticeship into your leader development process. An obvious advantage of apprenticeship, says Mancini, is you don’t have to create a separate training environment because each ministry is a training environment.

No one understands and practices apprenticeship better than Dave and Jon Ferguson, says Mancini. Their book, Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement, provides a simple strategy that engages every Christ follower and challenges every leader to be a reproducing leader. Apprentices don’t just learn; they do what they have been taught and aspire to lead themselves.

—www.willmancini.com

The Vitality of Apologetics in Our Ministries (Part 2 of 3)

This is part two of a three-month series by David Holdcraft about the vitality of apologetics in ministry. Holdcraft is regional director of Ratio Christi (ratiochristi.org) in Kentucky and a longtime minister. This month he answers the question, “Why should someone involved in a serving ministry care about and seek to learn about apologetics? In other words, what real need does an understanding of apologetics fill?

Evidence indicates the average believer is woefully ignorant of basic Christian doctrine and is largely unable to defend what he or she believes. This ignorance results in two deficiencies:

1. Most believers have a lack of confidence in their faith because they do not know the essentials of the faith.

2. A believer who does not have confidence in what comprises the truths of the faith is unlikely to open his mouth

to share his faith with unbelievers.

Apologetics should be seen as a key way to root believers firmly in the historic truths of the faith in systematic theology and also natural theology. Imagine how the church could be transformed with a generation of believers well equipped and trained in the faith who are then let loose to live out the great commandments and the Great Commission!

Nextmonth:HowtheaverageChristfollowercanbeginastudyinapologetics.

—David Holdcraft, davidholdcraft@ratiochristo.org

5 Ways to Serve Moms & the Unborn

Sunday, January 15, is National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Here are five ways to serve moms and the unborn:

1. Pray.

“Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.” —J. Sidlow Baxter

• Pray that women who have suffered abortion will come in contact with people who understand their pain and are able to minister forgiveness and healing.

• Pray that churches and individual Christians will take a stand on this issue.

• Pray for repentance for our nation.

• Pray we will be committed to prayer and action, including reaching out to those in need.

• Pray our government leaders will recognize they are appointed by God to represent him in government.

• Pray that Christian doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals will stand for life.

• Pray for doctors and medical professionals who are proabortion, asking that they will come to repentance.

• Pray for moms and dads who are contemplating abortion today. Pray they will understand that children are a gift from God, that God has a purpose for their child, and that help is available.

• Pray that babies will be saved from death today.

• Pray for pro-life organizations, pregnancy centers, and telephone hotlines—that the Lord would provide for them financially, they would overflow with volunteers, and there would be a pro-life pregnancy center in every town.

2. Support or volunteer at a Christian crisis pregnancy center. Christian crisis pregnancy centers seek to empower women and families through pregnancy diagnosis, decision support, and sexual

health education by providing compassionate medical, emotional, and long-term care that specializes in hope, healing, and recovery. As a church or individual, consider partnering with a crisis pregnancy center in your area.

3. Educate yourself.

• Read Answering the Call, John Ensor’s invaluable resource that clearly lays out a blueprint for the life-affirming Christian response to the abortion issue.

• Familiarize yourself and read pro-life websites such as National Right to Life (www.nrlc.org). A list of state affiliates is available at this site.

4. Get involved in politics/activism.

Getting involved in pro-life politics/activism can be a “sticky wicket” for some Christians. The Equal Rights Institute (http:// equalrightsinstitute.com) addresses this issue well and helps Christians think through how to graciously love others while still defending the rights of the unborn.

5. Provide post-abortion help and healing to your church body.

Thirty percent of women in U.S. Evangelical churches have had abortions, according to multiple research studies. So it is naïve to assume that no one in your congregation has had an abortion. The effects of abortion on women can last a lifetime. We must provide resources to minister to them:

• Healing Hearts Ministries International provides support and promotes healing for individuals who have experienced an abortion. For more information, go to www.healinghearts.org.

• Attend a Rachel’s Vineyard weekend for healing after abortion; these are offered throughout the year in locations across the United States and Canada, and around the world (www. rachelsvineyard.org).

Paul Sohn’s Top 10 Books that Will Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Blogger, leadership coach, and speaker Paul Sohn recommends these 10 books to help you keep your resolutions:

1. First Things First, by Stephen R. Covey

2. Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently, by Caroline L. Arnold

3. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen

4. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg

5. The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It, by Kelly McGonigal

6. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande

7. 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, by Peter Bregman

8. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind, by Jocelyn K. Glei

9. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, by John J. Medina

10. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, by Brian Tracy

—Paul Sohn blogs and provides leadership resources at www.PaulSohn.org

#Ministry Tweets

“Christ deserves the best of our commitment and service, not leftover scraps of our lives. #committedtoChrist”

—@OCBFChurch

“Do not fall in love with the ministry of Jesus and fall out of love with the Jesus of the ministry. @Rgallaty #SEchapel”

—@GusHernandezJr

Other January Ministry Ideas

New Year’s Eve—January 1: Contact a New Year’s Eve party venue and arrange to offer free rides home. The venue can call or text you when someone needs a ride. (Be sure to take someone with you. Do not go alone.)

January 16—Martin Luther King Day: Plan a day of service in the community to help meet pressing needs. For more information, go to www.nationalservice.gov/ mlkday.

Outreach Magazine, www. outreachmagazine.com

Have a ministry tweet to share? Please tag @MichaelCMack, #BestPractices. We may print it in a future issue.

“Being a missional church is not about doing things ‘for’ others to fix the world. It’s about being ‘with’ God and others.”

—@mscottboren

“The only opportunity you will ever have to live by faith is in the circumstances you are provided this very day.”

—Eugene Peterson, @ PetersonDaily

The Social Side of Best Practices

Discover more best ministry practices” and share your own on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ChristianStandardMagazine.

“Plan time to reflect, to dream and to think. A leader who is too busy to think is too busy to lead. #leadership”

—@craiggroeschel

“You don’t die when your heart STOPS BEATING. You die when your heart stops SKIPPING A BEAT in pursuit of God-sized dreams. #ChaseTheLion”

—@MarkBatterson

Principled Pluralism

BY JIM TUNE

When we all assumed Christianity held a special place in our society, the solution to differing views was simpler: work harder at bringing the Christian faith into the public square. We all assumed the Christian worldview was right, and that it should shape every part of culture.

Things have changed. As acceptance of Christianity has diminished, we find ourselves living in a pluralistic culture. As I’ve said before, we’re no longer the home team. It’s now assumed the Christian worldview has nothing to offer culture.

People value tolerance. Tolerance sounds good. The Oxford English Dictionary defines tolerance as “to respect (others’ beliefs, practices, etc.) without necessarily agreeing or sympathizing.” The problem? Tolerance has become intolerant. Tolerance no longer means that we respect other views; it has come to mean that we must agree with their views or be labeled a bigot or worse.

Tolerance has not only become intolerant, but it’s weak to begin with. Who

Next month in

among us likes to be tolerated?

This is where we find ourselves living right now. Christianity is no longer dominant. To hold views that contradict popular wisdom is seen as intolerant. So what do we do now?

The answer isn’t to retreat, or to try to re-create a society in which Christians can impose their views on others.

The answer is principled pluralism, which recognizes the right of people to hold divergent views whether or not they align with the mainstream view. The government protects the right of its citizens, but stops short of requiring that people believe any dogma. We maintain our right to persuade others of our beliefs, while we defend the right of others to hold and spread their beliefs.

This means we give up trying to “take back” our countries or institutions. It means we defend the rights of atheists and other religious groups to hold their beliefs. It means we respect the rights of those who disagree with us. Most of all, it means we learn to make a case for a Christian worldview in a world that thinks we

Let’s not settle for retreating to the past or accepting our culture’s view of tolerance.

have nothing to offer.

The good news is that Christianity thrives when it’s sidelined. In an increasingly polarized world, we have an opportunity to demonstrate the truth and beauty of the gospel in new ways.

We’ll probably have to learn to do this in a society that is increasingly intolerant of any view that doesn’t line up with its own. We’ll need to learn how to defend the rights of people to disagree with the dominant cultural view, even when their views contradict our own.

This is an exciting time to be a Christian. Let’s not settle for retreating to the past or accepting our culture’s view of tolerance. Let’s make the case for principled pluralism, and then let’s live and speak in a way that demonstrates the truth and beauty of the gospel.

Can I Be a Christian and Be Good?

To many the question seems ludicrous; obviously we believe Christianity is the source of any goodness we see in the world. But in our February issue, read the words of a disaffected nonbeliever who recoils from Christianity because of the prejudice, injustice, and even hatred he sees among many who claim the name of Christ.

As you wrestle with your reactions to a person whose faith has been damaged by the faithful, you’ll

also want to read Dick Alexander’s response to him. With compassion for the critic, Alexander provides a model for every Christian encountering friends and family members who struggle to believe.

Be the first to read these and many more significant articles in our February issue, ready for your smartphone and tablet via our free app by mid-January.