Christian Standard | August 2019 by Christian Standard Media

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Letter from the Publisher Considering Robert Coleman Some people we cross paths with in life leave an indelible mark. Robert Coleman is such a person for me. A few years ago, I was part of a group of leaders who were preparing the speaking lineup for that year’s Exponential conference. The focus that year was on discipleship and its relationship to church planting. Jim Putman, a preacher whose life and ministry have been devoted to relational discipleship, was chosen as a featured speaker and also selected to help write that year’s accompanying book. He and Bobby Harrington were looking for a third person to help write DiscipleShift. They had discussed a number of

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other writers—Francis Chan, Mike Breen, and David Platt—but all were either writing their own books on discipleship or were not available. Jim asked if others had any ideas about who might help write the book, and I asked if they had considered Robert Coleman. While they were familiar with his incredible book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, they didn’t know him personally, had never met him, and didn’t know if he was still living. As I mentioned in my June letter, I took it upon myself to track down Coleman and left messages and emails. About two weeks later, I was in a staff meeting when an unknown

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number from Lexington, Kentucky, showed up on my phone. I wondered if it might be someone following up about him.

I wanted my leaders to share in what I had experienced with him over the phone. None of us who were in that circle will forget it.

I answered the call and had my first experience speaking to Robert Coleman. I think experience is the best word to describe it. Coleman has an incredibly pleasant voice. He speaks with a calm authority that reflects both assurance and humility. I felt like he cared, even though he didn’t know me or the conference I was asking him to participate in. When he talked about Heaven, I sensed his familiarity with it. When we prayed together, I felt the presence of God.

I want to thank our editor, Mike Mack, for going to Robert Coleman’s home to interview him for Christian Standard. I was moved when I read his main article and I’m sure it will have an effect on you as well.

After the conversation, I called the other leaders to tell them that Coleman had agreed to help with the book and speak at the conference. They were thrilled. Since then, there have been many opportunities for Coleman to share his thoughts on discipleship, and many have been blessed. My favorite part of that year’s Exponential conference involved a favor I asked of Coleman after he spoke. I had brought all the campus pastors from The Crossing locations to the conference that year and I asked Coleman if he would mind praying over us together.

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Robert Coleman is a very tall, stately, wellbuilt man, standing maybe six foot five. He has a full head of thick white hair, piercing eyes, and a smile that lights up a room. His stature reminds me of David’s words in Psalm 1: “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”

Jerry Harris is publisher of Christian Standard Media and senior pastor of The Crossing, a multisite church located in three states across the Midwest. @_jerryharris /jerrydharris

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CHRISTIAN STANDARD —

FOUNDED 1866 BY ISAAC ERRETT Devoted to the restoration of New Testament Christianity, its doctrine, its ordinances, and its fruits.

The Staff Jerry Harris, Publisher Michael C. Mack, Editor Jim Nieman, Managing Editor Shawn McMullen, Contributing Editor Megan Kempf, Designer Abby Wittler, Designer Renee Little, Operations Kim Harris, Marketing and Advertising

Subscription Information To order Christian Standard for yourself, your church, or your group, visit christianstandard.com or contact Customer Service. Bulk pricing is available.

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Volume CLIV. Number 8. Christian Standard (ISSN 0009-5656) is published monthly by Christian Standard Media at 16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202, Parker, CO 80134. Periodicals postage paid at Parker, CO, and additional offices. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Christian Standard Media, 16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202, Parker, CO 80134. Phone: 1-800-543-1353. SUBSCRIBERS: Send address changes to Christian Standard, 16965 Pine Lane, Suite 202, Parker, CO 80134. Send old and new addresses, complete with zip codes, at least six weeks before delivery date.

Christian Standard is published by Christian Standard Media, www.christianstandardmedia.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

I N E V E RY I S S UE 2-3 | L E TTE R F RO M TH E P UB L ISH E R Jerry Harris

6-7 | L E TTE R F RO M TH E E DITO R Michael C. Mack

8-9 | e2 : E F F E C TIVE EL D ER S Educa ti n g E lders Jim Estep

19 19 22 24 26 32

10-13 | IMAG IN E

The Life- Changing Power of Stor ytelling

Mel McGowan

LARGE + MEDIUM C HUR C H E S Metrics | Large and Medium Churches by Kent Fillinger Fast Facts | Large and Medium Churches 2018 Large Churches 2018 Medium Churches Spotlight Churches

54 60 64

G et Movi n g Stephen Brownlow

16-18 | HO RIZO N S

Transformation Through Education Laura McKillip Wood

FEATUR E A Christian Standard Interview Robert Coleman: Spending Time with the Teacher by Michael C. Mack

14-15 | MIN ISTRY LI F E

19-29 | ME TRIC S

La rge a n d Medi u m C hurch es Kent Fillinger

42-51 | F E ATURE

T H E STATE OF EDUC ATION 10 Creative Ideas by David Fincher The State of Campus Ministry: An Interview with David Embree by TR Robertson Education >> How It Relates to Discipleship, Experience, and Culture by John Whittaker, Wes Sebree, and Doug Lucas

A C h r i st i a n St a n d ard Int e r vi ew Rob er t C olema n : Sp en di n g Ti m e wit h th e Tea ch er Michael C. Mack

80 | B IB L ITIC AL LY COR R ECT Up Aga i n s t th e Wal l After Class Podcast

Clarifying—and Simplifying— Our Disciple-Making Efforts

Letter from the editor

I read Robert Coleman’s book The Master Plan of Evangelism as a seminary student in 1989, when it was in only its 45th printing, with more than 925,000 copies sold. It has now sold more than 3.5 million copies and been translated into 105 languages. I’ve read the book many times over the years. It’s hard to find a page that doesn’t contain highlighting, underlining, asterisks, exclamation points, and notes in the margins. I’ve read his follow-up, The Master Plan of Discipleship, based on the book of Acts, many times as well. These books formed my views on making disciples, the church, and ministry. I’ve used them in my own ministries and taught many of the biblical principles. It was an honor for me, along with my son Dru (who took photographs for the story), to

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spend a couple hours with Coleman in his home in Wilmore, Kentucky. I was there to interview him for this month’s feature article, but we also spent time together just talking about life and family. He gave us a tour of his office in the loft of his small home, where he showed us his Bibles, pictures he has painted, and a special letter from Billy Graham that hangs on the wall. He even obliged me by signing my copies of his books. An interesting part of our conversation was Coleman’s description of how he wrote The Master Plan of Evangelism. When he started teaching at Asbury University in 1955, they didn’t have a class on evangelism, and he had no training on the subject. “I hadn’t read any book on evangelism,” he said. “Hadn’t done any school or taken a

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seminar or training course on it. But I did know there is one book you can trust, and I was interested in just teaching the evangelism of Jesus using Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as our textbook. I knew that Jesus was the answer and he was the way I wanted to follow. That was the invitation when I came to Christ: ‘Follow me.’ I knew I couldn’t go wrong if I followed Jesus.” In the first class on evangelism, he and the students used no textbook other than a parallel Gospel (with all four Gospel accounts together). They would ask two questions as they read through the Gospels: What did Jesus do, and how does that relate to your life? As Coleman prepared and as he taught that first class, he saw Jesus’ clear priority on making disciples. “He preached to the crowds, he healed the sick, he worked miracles . . . but day by day he was making some disciples! And he molded those men into a group that would turn the world upside-down!” Coleman says as he read and reread the Gospel accounts and saw what Jesus did, he wrote notes about what he was discovering. “Those notes were the beginning of The Master Plan of Evangelism. And then I would teach them, and the students would ask questions. The students were helping me write the book! They would ask questions and they were giving me the answers to the questions people ask. [By about] my third year I had what you would call a text that I typed up and we mimeographed.”

We are featuring Robert Coleman this month as we discuss two tightly related topics: education and discipleship. As you’ll see in the feature article starting on page 42, Coleman has spent the last 60-plus years in theological graduate education. He taught—it’s actually more accurate to say he discipled—his students in many of the same ways as the Master, Jesus: building relationships, spending time with one another, asking questions, and inviting his students to ask questions. I think you’ll see many of Coleman’s comments fleshed out in our articles this month about our Bible colleges and about Christian education as it relates to discipleship, experience, and culture. The question we hope you ask after reading Coleman’s article and then the others in this issue is this: Jesus commanded us to make disciples . . . but how? My personal hope is that this month’s issue will help church leaders clarify, and perhaps simplify, their disciple-making efforts. “The apostolic church, not the prevailing mediocrity of our religious community, sets the norm,” said Coleman in The Master Plan of Discipleship. “Where we perceive our shortcomings, in all honesty, we should seek to bring our lives [and our churches, I may add] into conformity with the New Testament standard.” We can all get on board with that!

At one time, Coleman had 7,500 copies of the self-published book stacked in his garage. His wife, Marietta, told him those were all the copies they’d ever need. They’d never need to print more. Coleman chuckled at the obvious irony.

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@michaelcmack @michaelcmack @michaelcmack /authormichaelcmack

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e 2 : e ffe c t i v e

e ld e r s

Educating Elders BY JIM ESTEP

Most elders didn’t go to Bible college or seminary. I know of no degree in “eldering.” Congregations must provide for the education of elders. Scripture teaches that “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17, English Standard Version). The church is not an organization that “produces” elders. Instead, the church is an organism, a living body—the body of Christ—and elders are “grown” in the soil of church relationships. What kind of relationships can educate, prepare, and equip someone for service?

Jim Estep serves as vice president of academics with Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Missouri, and as resource director with e2: effective elders. /e2elders @e2elders

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Study An elder needs more than head knowledge, but becoming an effective elder begins with studying together as an elder team. Studying this way unites the team to learn and process the same content, while forming and aligning their approach as elders. It is a means of orienting new elders to their role and task within the congregation. The e2 ministry exists to equip elders to lead. The Elder’s Toolbox, designed to help educate elders, contains all the equipment required to build up the elder team, including a 16-session curriculum that leads teams through e2’s books, videos, and digital materials. The toolbox provides reflective questions and practical assignments to aid in the application of the materials by elder teams. It is a comprehensive way of equipping, resourcing, and educating elder teams.

with oil, and perform a myriad of other tasks. Educating the elder team includes coaching. The coach knows the essential skills of the game and passes them along to the players—potential leaders and other individuals in the congregation—who follow his example and guidance. Coaching involves skill development—learning how to do something through demonstration and assessment, until the skill has been mastered. Ask potential elders and current elders to join a more experienced and skilled elder who can demonstrate what to do and how to do it. The best way to learn how to make a hospital call, for example, is to make the call. The person who is learning should go on a call with an experienced elder; after instruction and feedback, trial and (sometimes) error, the trainee eventually will become capable of making calls alone.

Crucial question: What is your elder team studying?

Crucial question: Who are you coaching and training to do the work of an elder?

Mentor

Provide Feedback

We all can readily identify a mentor—a parent, teacher, boss, professor, or superior—who has poured into us. Elder teams should have intentional mentoring relationships, especially with potential elders. In fact, intentional mentoring of potential future elders is a good first step in recruiting new leaders for the congregation. Mentoring involves life-on-life sharing at a very personal level. It is an intentional friendship involving a more mature and experienced believer pouring into the life of a potential leader on such matters as marriage, family, spiritual life, and faith. These sharing periods of devotion, prayer, fasting, confession, and counsel strengthen a mentoring relationship and help build the character of both the elder and the potential leader.

Constructive feedback is another avenue of educating elders. Remember the marked-up research papers teachers would hand back to you in high school or college? The red markings provided not just a letter grade, but also instructive feedback. The teacher pointed out typos, as well as form and style errors, and they corrected content and faulty reasoning. In matters of faith and practice, doctrine and ministry, elders need to provide timely, constructive, and instructive feedback to potential leaders as well as to fellow elders to improve our service to the congregation. We should know our strengths and weaknesses; we can leverage the former and work on the latter.

Crucial question: Who are you mentoring? Whose faith and life are you pouring into?

Coach Elders must acquire skills and competencies to effectively serve in the church. The Bible shows that elders teach so as to promote and preserve sound doctrine, pray for the congregation, anoint the sick C H RIS TIA N STAN DA R D

Crucial question: Do elders at your church have opportunities to evaluate one another and raise critical questions? Relationship is key to educating elders. A solid and effective church leadership culture relies on elders who study together, and mentor, coach, and provide feedback to one another. Elder teams that cultivate team competence will have a growing faith and ever-improving—and God-honoring—service.  - 9 -

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Im ag i n e

The Life-Changing Power of Storytelling BY MEL MCGOWAN

Story forms who we are, and story has the ability to transform who we can become. Story is at the core of the human condition. From the earliest cavemen to a contemporary campfire, each generation passes on collective and individual meaning through story. Story defines who we are, why we are, where we come from, and where we could go. Without narratives connecting the dots of our experience, we can exist only as schizophrenic creatures reacting to immediate stimuli.

Mel McGowan is cofounder and chief creative principal of PlainJoe Studios. He is a leading master planner and designer of churches in America. /visioneer @visioneer

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‘Stories in Ever-Increasing Palettes’ One of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century was a relatively uneducated, impoverished, struggling artist named Walt Disney. Born in 1901, he learned to move beyond his limitations as an artist telling stories in two dimensions. By the time of his death in 1966, he had mastered the art of telling stories in three-dimensional space and was creating a world—Walt Disney World—twice the size of the original city of Manhattan. What was his “special sauce”? In indigenous Australian culture, narrative “songlines” are not just rhymes to entertain children or creation myths for spiritual formation. They are used as pre-“Google Maps” navigation systems across vast distances. One’s life or death could be determined by remembering the words that describe the lay of the land and the origin and location of landmarks and waterholes across the unforgiving Australian outback. Jesus was a storyteller—just consider his many parables. The Bible, which is the story of Jesus, tells an epic three-part metanarrative of creation, brokenness, and redemption. Jesus used more than just words to tell the sacred story that we call the gospel or “good news.” He used all of creation, adding his own spit to the dirt for just the right texture. There was a time when the church, Jesus’ body on earth, led the world in sacred storytelling. The church used then state-of-the-art technologies such as stained-glass windows and the printing press to tell the transformational story of the gospel. That is no longer the case. C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

During my decade working at Disney, I learned from some who counted themselves among the “sorcerer’s apprentices” who had learned “at the feet” of the master storyteller himself. They taught me that among the many ways Walt Disney was remarkable was his unique brand of humility. Unlike the other great storytellers of his century, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham, Disney did not have the gift of traditional oral storytelling. In fact, he struggled to overcome his Midwestern drawl when reading scripts on camera. From the earliest days of the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, he always sought out better artists, animators, architects, and artisans than himself to help him convey stories in ever-increasing palettes to many more than he could ever reach in one room. In fact, he not only overcame his personal limitations as an artist and verbal communicator, he developed entirely new narrative art forms in animation and the original “virtual reality” of three-dimensional narrative space with the assistance of architects and engineers he dubbed “imagineers.” - 11 -

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‘Spatial Storytelling’ At PlainJoe Studios, where I now work, we call it Spatial Storytelling. It goes beyond artists to include dozens of disciplines from branding to building. When done correctly, it immerses and engages all five senses, triggering visceral or emotional responses that are the hallmarks of the top destinations on the planet. It goes beyond architects and their dictum that “form follows function” to remind us that throughout history, spaces have told stories and that form can (and should) follow fiction or narrative. When thousands of design decisions march to the beat of the same “Big Idea,” one plus one can, in fact, equal three. When mind, body, and spirit are engaged, transformation happens. Nobody loves stories more than kids. Children’s environments are the perfect place to share God’s story. When we create spaces that are irresistible for children, the kids beg their parents to come back. Most churches agree that families are extremely valuable to their mission. So, your biggest budget allocation outside of your main worship center should keep families in mind. Once known as a mining town, Los Gatos, California, is home to Venture Christian Church. PlainJoe Studios took the city’s mining history and incorporated it into the designs of the kids’ environments, allowing the story setting to be a playful place for kids to learn about Jesus.

At PlainJoe Studios, we’ve been fortunate to work with some great churches to build fun, interactive environments for kids that share both God’s story and the story of the church. I think we enjoy these projects the most because we get to think and act like kids again. Check out the designs in these photos. Learn more about Spatial Storytelling by downloading a free copy of Sacred Storytellers: Design Intervention 2.0 by Mel McGowan at sacredstorytellers.com. 

Vibrant colors are a necessity for kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; environments, and Kidside at Eastside Christian Church in Anaheim, California, is no different. Here kids learn to pursue God, connect in community, and unleash compassion.

Vibrant Christian Church is located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The township got its name from the settlement of mechanics who fixed covered wagons, but the real growth came from the Cumberland Valley Railroad. So, naturally, our designs for the church lent themselves to a train theme for teaching kids about the Bible in fun, creative ways.

At Saddleback Church, kids learn their sense of place in the story and look forward to the adventures on the path ahead, no matter their age. Rick Warren and his team are pursuing a radical redesign of their expansive childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ministry facility to create an exciting journey like no other.

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ministry l i fe

Get Moving BY STEPHEN BROWNLOW

Stephen Brownlow serves as a full-time resident at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona, where he has held roles in pastoral care, kids, and safety & security. He has a wife, Brittany, and a 3-year-old son, Jordan.

I was new to the desert and didn’t know what to expect, other than what I’d always heard: “It’s a dry heat.” I parked my car at the base of the mountain and looked over my supplies: backpack (check); copious amounts of water (check); sunscreen (check). I opened the car door and stepped onto the scorching-hot pavement. I thought the soles of my boots might melt before I reached the trail.

/stephen.brownlow.10 @the_blue_swell @TheBlueSwell theblueswell.net /stephen-brownlow-98373b77

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The climb was hot—very hot. I paused in the shade of a saguaro cactus, an unexpected but welcome relief. I drank water though I wasn’t thirsty. Later, I came to a fork and I didn’t know which trail to take. The left trail appeared to lead back down the mountain. The right trail seemed it might lead to the top. I had to decide. I wanted to reach the mountaintop, so I turned right. It eventually became clear I had made the right decision. When I reached the summit, I could see for miles in every direction. I noticed I could even see the fork in the trail where I decided to turn right. The beautiful views were rewarding, but they were not the reason I came. I found a rock in the shade, sat down, and lowered my head in prayer. “God, what does the future hold for me and my family? Help me to know your will.” I waited for an answer or a revelation, but there was only silence . . . and a hot breeze that wisped across my sweaty skin. Twenty minutes later, I heard the crunching of gravel as another hiker approached. An old woman in tennis shoes appeared; she walked briskly and carried only one bottle of water. She gave me a brief look that clearly said, “Why are you sitting up here?” Quickly, she was off to hike the rest of the trail, and I knew she would reach her destination. Feeling self-conscious, I shouldered my backpack full of extra water and prepared to trudge back down the mountain. C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

Before setting off, I paused for one last look, focusing on the trail that veered left, which I could now see clearly. I followed it with my eyes and discovered—to my surprise—it led to the top of another nearby mountain. Both trails led to a mountaintop! I suddenly realized there was only one thing that would’ve kept me from reaching a mountaintop that day: indecision. If I hadn’t chosen a path, I would have still been stuck at the fork. Each trail was different, but both reached a summit. I had my answer; it was time to get out of the shade of indecision and start moving on the trail of fruitfulness. 

Submit your own 500- to 700-word essay telling of an experience through which you learned a vital ministry principle by emailing it to cs@christianstandardmedia.com with “MinistryLife” in the subject line. See more information at www.christianstandard.com/contact-us/submit-articles.

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ho riz on s

Transformation through Education BY LAURA MCKILLIP WOOD After writing our “Horizons” column for two years, Emily Drayne has decided to step away from this role due to time constraints and other responsibilities. We thank her for her good work. We welcome our new “Horizons” writer, former missionary Laura McKillip Wood. Laura’s name may be familiar to readers as she contributes regularly to The Lookout.

Laura McKillip Wood, former missionary to Ukraine, now serves as the registrar at Nebraska Christian College in Papillion, Nebraska, and works as an on-call chaplain at a nearby hospital. She is mother to three teenagers and wife to Dr. Andrew Wood, professor of intercultural ministry at NCC.

He closes his Bible and stretches his arms, rubs his neck, and yawns. He hears the night sounds outside his window and tucks his sermon, scribbled on a scrap of paper, into his Bible. Ambling to bed, this Ugandan man—we’ll call him Charles—settles beside his sleeping wife, attempting not to wake her.

/laura.wood2 @woodlaura30 @woodlaura30 lauramckillipwood.com lauramckillipwood@gmail.com

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The Big City Charles lay in bed, still remembering . . . about his decision to go to Mbale to seek an education. On roads leading into the city, chickens darted in front of cars; sometimes a vehicle stopped for a herd of long-horned cattle crossing the road, followed by the herder. People selling charcoal sat along the roadside, waiting for trucks to come and load their supply. Fruit and vegetable markets along the way sold things a traveler might want; Charles occasionally bought a piece of fresh fruit, a bottle of water, or an ear of crunchy, black, roasted corn. On those first few visits, the city seemed foreign to him, but also exciting. He walked its streets, dodging cars and motorbikes. Some motorbikes held whole families as they cut between cars and sped between lanes of traffic.

As sleep overtakes him, Charles thinks about his father and his grandfather and the other men in his family. He remembers working long hours with his siblings on the family farm every day, harvesting as much as they could on their two-acre plot. They somehow managed to produce enough to feed themselves, just like the other 50 families in their village. He could have taken over the farm when his father got too old to work. However, in the village, where witchcraft still held people in its dark grip and families gave their daughters in marriage at the age of 12 or 13, Charles met Jesus at a small church. He could not shake the conviction that God’s plan for him included something different from marrying young and farming his entire life. He began pastoring a church, and, before long, he was leading five small churches in villages around the city of Mbale, Uganda. He had passion for serving God, but every day he felt limited by his lack of formal training in the Bible and ministry. He needed more. C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

Charles had a passion for people, a love for Jesus, and a need to learn more about the Bible, but he wanted a place where he could receive a solid education. This proved difficult to find. For a long time, there were only two university options: one was Islamic, and Christians often studied there. The alternative, a state university, made big promises but did not adequately prepare students for careers—for example, students earned degrees in computer science, though they never actually touched a computer but used a cardboard keyboard to “practice.” Charles did not want expensive preparation that ended with little actual ability; he wanted to study the Bible deeply so he could lead his churches better.

A Christ-Centered University Charles’s search finally led him to LivingStone International University (LIU) in Mbale. As a Christian university, LIU offers degrees in Bible and ministry. Its state accreditation also allows students to study business, teaching, or other subjects. According to Roger Fletcher, regional director, LIU hopes to “transform Africa through quality, Christ-centered, higher education.” The school seeks to do this by “creating ethical, empowered, employable Christians in every sector of society.” - 17 -

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- HORIZONS -

Unique Partnership LIU began when missionaries Mike Schrage, Danny Harrod, Kirk Hayes, and Shawn Tyler, who were working in other parts of East Africa, saw the need for change in Uganda. These Christian workers, two from the independent Christian church and two from the noninstrumental church of Christ, learned early on that the differences dividing American Christians mean little abroad. The two church streams divided long ago over doctrinal and cultural differences; however, building upon their shared Restoration Movement heritage, these cross-cultural workers formed a tight partnership that benefited both Americans and the African churches. Knowing of the rampant corruption in Uganda, the men decided the best way to fight it was to transform the culture from within. Education provides opportunity for transformation, and Christian education promises even deeper change. Ugandaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population is young, due to the AIDS epidemic; nearly 7 of every 10 people in the country are under the age of 24. This large and potentially influential generation stands to change Ugandan culture in the coming decades. After several years of planning and preparation, LIU opened its 47-acre campus to its first class in 2012. Today the institution serves 300 students, some of whom prepare for full-time ministry. Whatever their majors, believers in all parts of society will serve as ministers in their fields. LIU values placing Africans in leadership positions within the university. Almost the entire faculty is African, a fact that LivingStone believes is important. Seeing people like themselves take the lead inspires students in leadership. C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

Partners in the Gospel Because of partnerships with supporters, Charles was able to attend LIU for about $1,500 a year. The partners kept the cost down so that even a boy from the village could study the Bible. Charlesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conservative Baptist background caused him to look at non-Baptist sources with suspicion. However, in one of his classes, he read the writings of Martin Luther and saw the importance of learning from theologians from other Christian traditions. He worked with, ate with, and fellowshipped with members of other church backgrounds. Charles began to value the dialogue and community formed among Christians, regardless of denominational affiliations.

Education in Action Today Charles works for an organization that teaches farmers to grow and sell coffee for fair wages. In addition to the five churches he pastors, he has helped plant several new churches, and he has sent three more students, including his wife, to LIU. He wakes in the morning thanking God for Christians committed to quality education and ministry training, and he remembers the importance of focusing on the big picture: that of working together to strengthen the body of Christ. ď § - 18 -

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M et r i c s Special Church Report part 2

Large and Medium Churches BY KENT FILLINGER

c om i ng i n oc tobe r:

Part 3 : Small a n d very small c hurch e s

Kent E. Fillinger serves as president of 3:STRANDS Consulting, Indianapolis, Indiana, and regional vice president (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan) with Christian Financial Resources.

This is the second installment of a three-part series sharing research findings from our annual church survey. This month, we turn our attention to 88 large churches (average weekly worship attendance of 500 to 999 during 2018) and 86 medium churches (average attendance of 250 to 499). C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

Featu red i n may:

part 1 : megac hurc h e s a n d emerging megac hu r ch e s

/3strandsconsulting 3strandsconsulting.com

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Growth Flip-Flop The medium churches on average grew at almost twice the rate of large churches in 2018 (3.7 percent compared to 1.9 percent, respectively). This was the first-time since 2009 that medium churches we surveyed grew faster than large churches. This flip-flop partially resulted from medium churches having their best growth rate since 2012 (when they grew 4 percent), but primarily occurred because large churches had their slowest growth rate in more than a decade. From 2013 to 2017, large churches grew at an average rate of 4.2 percent; 2018’s rate of growth was not quite half of that. Likewise, for the first time, a larger percentage of medium churches than large churches grew last year. Sixty percent of the medium churches grew, compared with only 52 percent of large churches. In contrast, more than 70 percent of the megachurches (averaging 2,000 or more weekly) and emerging megachurches (1,000 to 1,999 weekly) grew last year. Among those that grew, large churches saw an average 8.3 percent increase, compared with 10 percent growth in medium churches. Among those that declined, large churches saw a 5 percent drop, compared with a 5.8 percent dip among medium churches. There were no discernable causes for these changes in 2018. It will be interesting to see if this is an anomaly or the start of a new trend. C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

‘CEO’ Attendance In the May issue, I noted an apparent shift in “CEO” (Christmas and Easter Only) attendance among megachurches and emerging megachurches. Christmas Eve services have grown to nearly the size of Easter services among churches that average 1,000 or more. That Christian holiday attendance trend hasn’t trickled down to the large and medium churches. Easter attendance at large churches was 1.6 times the size of their average weekly worship attendance, compared with 1.3 times average attendance on Christmas Eve. At medium churches, Easter drew 1.5 times the normal weekend attendance, while Christmas services saw a bump of only 1.1 times average. - 20 -

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- METRICS -

Multisite Movement Not Catching On The multisite movement is not catching on among our large and medium churches. From 2011 to 2018, the percentage of megachurches using a multisite model increased from 44 percent to 67 percent. Likewise, during that same time frame, emerging megachurches saw multisite usage increase from 23 to 31 percent. Among large churches, only 10 percent have used a multisite ministry model, and that percentage has remained flat since 2011. Only 1 percent of medium churches have used a multisite model, and that has remained unchanged for five years. Ninety-five percent of the large and medium churches surveyed said they have no plans to start a multisite model in the next year. It should be noted, large churches using a multisite model in 2018 grew faster and baptized more people than single-site large churches (8.1 percent to 1.3 percent, respectively). The difference in baptism ratios wasn’t as significant: 5.7 baptisms per 100 in average attendance vs. 4.9 baptisms, respectively.

Money Matters Medium churches are more likely to be debt free than large churches (32 percent compared to 21 percent, respectively). For the sake of comparison, only 8 percent of megachurches and 17 percent of emerging megachurches have no debt. Medium churches are more generous than large churches (and megachurches and emerging megachurches) in terms of outreach giving—and it’s been that way for five consecutive years. Medium churches we surveyed gave 15.1 percent of their annual budget to ministry outside their walls in 2018. Among the four largest church groups, megachurches gave the smallest percentage, 12.5 percent. C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

Hopes, Fears, and Priorities The survey asked these churches to share one hope, one fear, and one priority for 2019. Among the many responses, several themes are worth noting. For the “hopes” section, large and medium churches both listed such things as a greater emphasis and effectiveness in discipleship and making disciples, more local community involvement and engagement, facility expansion, debt reduction, new campuses, and spiritual and numerical growth. Several large churches identified developing or implementing a new vision as a hope for this year, and several medium churches listed additional ministry staffing as a hope. In the “fears” section, the answers were more diverse, but responses common to both were giving and financial concerns (i.e., meeting their budgets), losing momentum, and growing complacent in their ministries, resulting in stagnation or an inward focus. Five common themes emerged as “priorities” for large and medium churches: discipleship, evangelism, leadership development, community engagement, and staffing issues/hiring.  - 21 -

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A V E R A G E AT T E N D A N C E

MED IU M C H U RC H ES

L A RG E C H U RC H ES

combined average weekly attendance 91,595 (174 churches)

691

1.9% (down from 2.9% in 2017) 52% of large churches grew (down from 56% in 2017)

358

3.7% (up from 1.3% in 2017) 60% of medium churches grew (up from 49% in 2017)

B A P T I S M R AT I O S

LARGE CHURCHES

number of baptisms per 100 people in average attendance

MEDIUM CHURCHES

G R O W T H R AT E S

HIGHEST B A P T I S M R AT I O S

5.0

14.4 Ekklesia Christian Church, Conway, SC 11.6 New Life Christian Church, Alexandria, MN 10.9 The Crossing Church, Batavia, OH

5.8

34.1 Jessamine Christian Church, Nicholasville, KY 21.9 Verve Church, Las Vegas, NV 13.8 Crossroads Christian Church, Largo, FL

GIVING

LA RG E CH UR CHE S

Average weekly per-person giving (based on general fund only)

Ekklesia Christian Church, Conway, SC Founded 2014

$32.64 (up from $32.05 in 2017)

MED I U M CH U RCH ES

YOUNGEST CHURCH

Lifespring Community Christian Church, Harrison, OH Founded 2016

$32.06 (up from $31.11 in 2017)

F A S T E S T- G R O W I N G

T O TA L B A P T I S M S of churches surveyed

53.8% Ekklesia Christian Church, Conway, SC 31.8% Rise City Church, Lakeside, CA 28.1% Northside Christian Church, Warrensburg, MO

3,039 (average 35 baptisms per church)

50% First Christian Church, Roanoke Rapids, NC 32.4% Chilhowie Christian Church, Chilhowie, VA 30.7% First Christian Church, Griffith, IN

1,826 (average 22 baptisms per church)

S TAT E S W I T H M O S T. . .

OLDEST CHURCH

Indiana — 12 Kentucky — 9 Ohio — 9

Boones Creek Christian Church, Johnson City, TN Founded 1825

Indiana — 18 Kentucky — 8 Ohio — 8

First Christian Church, Monticello, KY Founded 1831

OUTREACH GIVING

B U D G E T E D F O R S TA F F

13.9%

45.6%

15.1%

49.1%

Percentage of total budget spent on ministry “outside the walls”

Percentage of total budget invested on ministry staff

CHURCH

TWENTY EIGHTEEN LARGE CHURCHES CH U R CH E S T H AT AV ER AGED 5 0 0 -9 9 9 I N W EEK LY WO R SH I P AT T EN DA N CE

K E Y:

= includes nursing home worship service(s)

= includes prison worship service(s)

= includes Internet campus

= includes multisite(s) outside of the U.S.

= includes church plant(s) in the U.S. or overseas = indicates a “spotlight” church; see pages 32-41 to read more about this church in 2018

Restore Community Church Chapel Rock Christian Church 3 Northside Christian Church Greenville First Christian Church 1 Venture Christian Church Northridge Christian Church Journey Christian Church 3 Community Christian Church White Oak Christian Church Fairway Christian Church Westbrook Christian Church Boones Creek Christian Church First Christian Church Outlook Christian Church Crossway Christian Church Northside Christian Church Rise City Church LifePointe Christian Church Capital City Christian Church New Life Christian Church Gateway Christian Church First Capital Christian Bettendorf Christian Church Lincoln Christian Church Crosspoint Christian Church The Crossing Church 3 Vail Christian Church Corinth Christian Church Tates Creek Christian Church Victory Christian Church Prescott Christian Church Bright Christian Church Suburban Christian Church Crossroads Christian Church Wentzville Christian Church Connect Christian Church Oakwood Christian Church Valley View Christian Church NorthEast Christian Church Hikes Point Christian Church Diamond Canyon Christian Church Kaimuki Christian Church Bridges Christian Church Franklin Christian Church Momentum Christian Church Belmont Christian Church Clifton Christian Church 1 Mountainview Christian Church Post Road Christian Church Calvary Christian Church First Christian Church Libby Christian Church New Hope Christian Church Restoration Life Christian Church Miamisburg Christian Church The Refinery Christian Church Madison Christian Church The Carpenter’s Christian Church Galilee Christian Church The Crossing New Life Christian Church First Christian Church of Malvern - - chart continues on 28-29 - - pages C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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AT T E N DA N C E

BAPTISMS

991 979 971 959 956 949 933 909 909 904 893 865 852 852 848 848 837 833 825 820 810 802 799 798 790 782 778 762 757 755 752 749 726 724 720 710 708 698 686 667 663 662 655 654 653 652 652 650 640 636 629 625 625 623 622 617 615 611 605 604 602 600

57 29 54 48 33 54 95 49 58 42 38 32 38 23 42 57 23 18 37 38 20 60 21 25 54 85 26 29 24 50 39 59 27 25 55 43 25 20 33 67 22 39 13 29 37 14 48 19 21 27 9 37 44 62 21 36 31 42 48 36 70 30

L O C AT I O N Kansas City Indianapolis Yorktown Greenville Carmel Milledgeville Greeley Nottingham Cincinnati The Villages Bolingbrook Johnson City Norfolk McCordsville Nashua Warrensburg Lakeside Elk Grove Frankfort Bella Vista St. Albans Corydon Bettendorf Lincoln Cape Coral Batavia Vail Loganville Lexington Franklin Prescott Bright Corvallis Shawnee Wentzville Concord Enid Edgewood Lexington Louisville Diamond Bar Honolulu Russell Franklin McDonough Christiansburg Clifton Highlands Ranch Indianapolis Winchester Columbus Libby Marshalltown Lawndale Miamisburg Goodyear Groveport Harrodsburg Jefferson Milton Alexandria Malvern

MO IN VA IL IN GA CO MD OH FL IL TN NE IN NH MO CA CA KY AR WV IN IA IL FL OH AZ GA KY IN AZ IN OR KS MO NC OK NM KY KY CA HI KY TN GA VA CO CO IN KY IN MT IA CA OH AZ OH KY GA DE MN OH

SENIOR MINISTER

WEBSITE

Troy McMahon Casey Scott Larry Jones Tyson Graber Mark Wright Mike Waers Arron Chambers David Robinson Rick Shonkwiler Mark Fessler Mont Mitchell David Clark Tim DeFor Rob McCord

restorecc.org chapelrock.org northsidecc.org greenvillefcc.org venture-cc.org northridge.online journeychristian.org communitycc.net thewocc.com fairwaycc.org westbrookchurch.org boonescreekcc.org firstchristiannorfolk.org outlookchurch.org crosswaycc.org nccburg.com risecitychurch.com lifepointe.org capitalcitychristian.org newlifenwa.com gatewaychurch.net firstcapitalchristian.org bettendorfchristian.com lincolnchristianchurch.org crosspointcape.com cometothecrossing.com vailchristian.com corinthchristian.org tatescreek.org victorycc.life prescottchristian.com brightchurch.org suburbanchurch.com crossroads-christian.com wentzvillecc.org connectchristianchurch.org oakwood.church vv.church ncclex.org hikespointchristian.com diamondcanyon.org kaimukichristian.org bridgeschristianchurch.org franklinchristianchurch.com momentumcc.org belmontchristianchurch.org cliftonchristianchurch.com mountainviewfamily.org prcconline.com calvarychristian.net www.fccoc.org libbychristianchurch.com newhopechristianchurch.net www.restoration-life.com exploremcc.org www.therefinerycc.com www.madisonchristian.org carpenterschristian.church galilee.org thecrossingnow.com your-newlife.com fccmonline.org

Sid Tiller Brandon Grant Chris Delfs Steve Pattison Joe Williams Dave Stauffer Randy Kirk Tim Scott Ron Otto Jeff Swearingen Kenny White Ben Pitney Adam Turner Tommy Simpson Josh Cadwell Jason Price Jeff Stone Mike King Brad Fangman Keith Comp John Cox (Executive Pastor) Eric Keller Brandon Shaffer Monte Wilkinson Jeff Wallace Guy Fox Bryan Sands Tom Lawson David Welsh Bart Stone James â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beaverâ&#x20AC;? Terry Roger Ferguson Ken Hensley Dennis McConnaughhay Mike McCormick Stephen Yeaton Phil Alspaw Kerry Jech Eddie Vargas Mike Tuttle Chad Goucher Paul Barnes Greg Warren Nick Vipperman Mark Magee John Taplin Kenny Thomas C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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FOUNDED 2008 1964 1899 1878 1968 1916 2000 2006 1830 1999 1996 1825 1894 1866 1995 1964 2013 2003 1960 1974 1956 1990 1963 1853 2006 2012 2006 1861 1943 1949 1922 1866 1963 1994 1961 1984 1978 1987 2000 1999 1960 1923 1921 1987 2007 1946 1907 1986 1928 1974 1855 1963 1920 1954 2008 1975 1999 1868 1983 1976 1870

CHURCH

TWENTY EIGHTEEN MEDIUM CHURCHES

CH U R CH E S T H AT AV ER AGED 25 0 - 49 9 I N W EEK LY WO R SH I P AT T EN DA N CE

K E Y:

= includes nursing home worship service(s)

= includes prison worship service(s)

= includes Internet campus

= includes multisite(s) outside of the U.S.

= includes church plant(s) in the U.S. or overseas = indicates a â&#x20AC;&#x153;spotlightâ&#x20AC;? church; see pages 32-41 to read more about this church in 2018

AT T E N DA N C E

Northside Christian Church Olathe Christian Church Plum Creek Christian Church Woodland Heights Christian Church Stillwater Christian Church Northview Christian Church Jessamine Christian Church Eastpointe Christian Church Lakeside Christian Church Markle Church of Christ Central Christian Church Chilhowie Christian Church 3 Ogilville Christian Church Pomona Christian Church First Christian Church Jefferson Street Christian Church First Christian Church Grandview Christian Church Christian Church at Cogan Station Timber Lake Christian Church New Hope Christian Church Central Christian Church First Church of Christ Fox Creek Christian Church LifeSpring Community Christian Church Valley Mills Christian Church 1 Foundry Church Kalkaska Church of Christ Discover Christian Church Elm Street Christian Church First Christian Church of Griffith Towne South Church of Christ Centerville Christian Church First Christian Church Greencastle Christian Church Crosspoint Christian Church Poinciana Christian Church First Christian Church 1 3 Delaware Christian Church Colonial Heights Christian Church Canvas Christian Church 1 3 Impact Christian Church Cicero Christian Church Lincoln Heights Christian Church Taylorville Christian Church New Life Christian Church La Mirada Christian Church 5 Avalon Church of Christ Island Family Christian Church Campbellsville Christian Church Crossroads Christian Church Legacy Christian Church First Christian Church of Lamar Parkview Christian Church Lake Ridge Christian Church First Christian Church Union Christian Church Central Christian Church Odon Christian Church 1 Tonganoxie Christian Church Rich Acres Christian Church Pasco Christian Church 1 2 - - chart continues on 28-29 - - pages C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

A UG UST 2 0 1 9

499 495 489 482 475 465 464 460 460 456 452 450 450 450 440 437 429 427 425 425 422 420 420 418 410 409 408 407 402 400 400 396 393 390 389 388 378 375 368 367 364 353 350 350 346 342 340 335 335 331 325 325 320 319 316 315 315 311 310 309 308 305

BAPTISMS 24 34 19 12 35 158 53 38 13 20 28 32 26 38 30 19 6 24 20 27 24 10 37 40 22 12 27 25 30 49 22 10 21 11 43 19 18 25 4 15 33 18 17 10 9 9 21 37 11 45 10 14 42 20 11 15 14 4 17

L O C AT I O N Broken Arrow Olathe Butler Crawfordsville Stillwater Danville Nicholasville Blacklick Springfield Markle Fort Smith Chilhowie Columbus Pomona Greeneville Lincoln Brazil Johnson City Cogan Station Moberly Roanoke Portales Xenia Lawrenceberg Harrison Indianapolis Lenexa Kalkaska Dublin Olney Griffith Elizabeth City Centerville Greensburg Greencastle Conyers Kissimmee Roanoke Rapids Delaware Kingsport Cumming Woodland Park Cicero Phoenix Taylorville Wildwood La Mirada Virginia Beach Honolulu Campbellsville Largo Lakeland Lamar Findlay Paris Monticello Terre Haute Saint Joseph Odon Tonganoxie Martinsville Pasco

OK KS KY IN PA IN KY OH IL IN AR VA IN MO TN IL IN TN PA MO VA NM OH KY OH IN KS MI OH IL IN NC IN IN IN GA FL NC OH TN GA CO IN AZ IL FL CA VA HI KY FL FL MO OH IL KY IN MO IN KS VA WA

SENIOR MINISTER

WEBSITE

Justin Carpenter Ken Kersten Doug Hartley Tony Thomas Jason Simpkins Nathan Rector Lee Faust Dan Stoffer Jon Morrissette Aaron McClary Tim Beasley Frank Branson Martin Wright Marcus Allen Scott Wakefield Michael V. Mallick Chris Gregg Aaron Wymer Mark Beard Daniel Goehringer/Brian Sevits Seth Bryant Don Thomas Dr. Andrew Spencer Mark Wells Jeff Duerler Bob Beltz Brian Wright Andy Bratton Steve Murphy Casey Kleeman Shawn Cornett Brad Giffin Wes Sewell Danny Wolford John Tischer Curt Zehner Mark Atteberry Bane Angles Sam Rosa David Mullins Stan Percival Scott Park Adam Colter Chris Roussin James C. Jones Matthew Malott Jay Mahan Chris McCarthy Ken Humphries Rodney Booe Harold Kellermier Steve Newland Dru Ashwell Joel Johnson Nate Alexander Joe Tipton Todd Payton James Sones Micah Stephen Ross Frisbie Tim Hunt Chuck Rodgers

northsideonline.com olathecc.org plumcreek.org whcc.us stillwaterchristian.com northviewchristian.org jessaminecc.com eastpointechristian.com lakesidechristian.com marklechurch.org centralfs.org chilhowiechurch.com occtoday.com pomonachristian.com fccgreene.org jeffstreet.org fccbrazil.org grandviewchristian.org cccschurch.com tlcc.church newhoperoanoke.com centralwired.org fccxenia.org foxcreekchristian.com lscommunity.org valleymillscc.org foundrychurchkc.com kccwired.com discovercc.org elmstreetchristianchurch.org gfcc.net tscoc.com centervillechurch.com fccgreensburg.com greencastlecc.org xpt.cc poincianacc.org fccrr.org dccwired.org chcckpt.org canvaschristian.org impactcc.net cicerochristianchurch.org lincolnheights.church taylorvillechristian.com nlchristian.org lamiradachurch.com avalonchurch.com islandfamily.org campbellsvillechristianchurch.com crossroadslargo.org legacychristian.com fcclamar.org parkviewfindlay.org laeridgechurch.org firstchristianmonticello.com unionchristianchurch.org c3stjoe.com occonline.org tongiecc.org www.racconline.com pascochristian.com

C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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FOUNDED 1956 1975 1881 1964 1880 1968 1994 1952 1962 1878 1962 1898 1887 1898 1919 1971 1927 1981 1952 1958 1910 1841 2016 1969 1997 1888 1961 1866 1920 1988 1839 1832 1966 1963 1979 1914 1979 1958 1979 1998 1837 1886 1964 2005 1958 1967 1954 1884 1956 2008 1871 1958 1977 1831 1855 1903 1906 1872 1953 1908

CHURCH

TWENTY EIGHTEEN LARGE CHURCHES (continued)

First Church of Christ Orrville Christian Church Fair Haven Christian Church Highland Church of Christ Tri-Village Christian Church Parkside Christian Church North Liberty Church of Christ First Christian Church First Christian Church of Scottsburg Community Christian Fellowship South Side Christian Church Leesburg Christian Church Twin Oaks Christian Church CrossView Christian Church The Journey Church Wilkinson Church of Christ Jefferson Christian Church Crossroads Christian Church Two Rivers Church Canyon Springs Christian Church Journey Church Ekklesia Christian Church First Christian Church Indian Hills Christian Church LifeBridge Church Norwin Christian Church

CHURCH

TWENTY EIGHTEEN MEDIUM CHURCHES (continued)

K E Y O N P R E V I O U S PAG E

Thrive Christian Church Lakepoint Church Novesta Church of Christ Verve Discovery Church Northeast Christian Church Valley Christian Church Nicholson Christian Church Lilburn Christian Church Amazing Grace Christian Church Vero Christian Church South Fork Christian Church CenterPointe Christian Church Northfield Church of Christ Faith Christian Church Cherokee Hills Christian Church University Christian Church Central Christian Church Mount Tabor Christian Church New Hope Christian Church WestWay Christian Church Agape Christian Church Central Christian Church Forefront NYC

C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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AT T E N DA N C E

BAPTISMS

600 599 597 595 590 570 560 551 549 547 547 533 532 518 517 517 516 510 510 508 507 500 500 500 500 500

9 27 19 17 33 16 20 20 29 25 17 39 47 8 13 30 30 42 20 22 33 72 31 11 12 10

AT T E N DA N C E

BAPTISMS

302 300 300 297 296 295 290 285 282 278 271 270 266 256 255 254 253 252 252 252 251 250 250 250

12 7 37 65 11 14 12 12 15 11 6 18 14 22 10 8 7 15 6 22 2 9 12 2

L O C AT I O N Washington Orrville Franklin Robinson Pataskala Cincinnati North Liberty Morris Scottsburg Siloam Springs Springfield Cynthiana Woodhaven Waynesville Springfield Wilkinson Rural Hall Macon New Bern Middleton Jackson Conway Dodge City Danville Acworth North Huntingdon

NC OH IN IL OH OH IN IL IN AR IL KY MI OH VA IN NC MO NC ID TN SC KS KY GA PA

L O C AT I O N Westfield Muskego Cass City Las Vegas Bristol Grand Junction Lakeville Independence Lilburn Grove City Vero Beach Verona Lexington Fort Dodge New Philadelphia Oklahoma City Muncie Bristol Salem Crawfordsville Scottsbluff La Porte Brownsville Brooklyn

IN WI MI NV TN CO MN KY GA OH FL KY KY IA OH OK IN TN IN IN NE IN TX NY

SENIOR MINISTER

WEBSITE

Johnny Pressley John Mulpas Brian Clark Shane Bopp Paul Snoddy Bart Steever Tim Stewart Scott Zorn Matthew Craig Pat Callahan Brooks Wilson Sammy Harris Randy Wheeler Kevan Duke Chad Simpkins Ryan McCarty Steve Cook Matt Stieger David McCants Nick Duffel Jeremy Brown Matthew Wilson Dusty Cookson Jim Cooper Aaron Gable Terry Erwin

firstchurchofchrist.net orrville.church fairhavencc.org hccrobinson.com tri-village.org parksidechristian.com northliberty.cc fccmorris.org scottsburg.church ccfsiloam.com southsidechristian.com leesburg.cc twinoakschristian.com crossview.cc thejourneynova.org wccin.org jeffersonchurch.org maconcrossroads.com tworiverschurch.com canyonspringschristian.com ourjourney.com ekklesiachristianchurch.com fccdc.com ihccdanville.org mylifebridgechurch.com norwinchristianchurch.com

SENIOR MINISTER

WEBSITE

Graham Richards Brian Hofmeister Brad Speirs Vince Antonucci Matt Korell Seth Thomas David Burkum Larry Travis Tony Dyer Tom Alexander Steve Jones Bob Hightchew Brian Bolton Dale Harlow Brian Flood Charlie Curran Steve Huddleston Mark Overton Tony Mendizabal Darrell Portwood John Mulholland Rod Nielsen

atthrive.com lakepointmuskego.org www.novestachurch.org vivalaverve.org discoverybristol.com northeastchristian.org valleycc.org nicholsonchristian.org lilburnchristianchurch.org myagcc.org verochristian.com southforkchristianchurch.org mycpointe.com northfieldchurch.org fccnp.org cherokeehillschristian.church universitychristianchurch.com cccbristol.com mtcchurch.org newhopefortoday.org westwaychurch.com acclaporte.com cccbrownsville.org forefrontnyc.com

Jonathan Williams

C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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FOUNDED 1945 1902 1953 1959 1961 1929 1906 1966 1874 1973 1944 1826 1940 1843 1974 1889 1880 1974 2009 2002 2010 2014 1847 1961 2011 1965

FOUNDED 2012 1872 2010 2011 1956 1975 1968 1972 1956 1970 1844 2004 1987 1997 1963 1929 1903 1840 1977 1951 1964 2012

AD KORE

! C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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subscribe at lookoutmag.com

C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCHES THE CROSSING

Numbers donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell the whole story. This issue of Christian Standard shines a spotlight on 4 large and meduim churches that did something interesting, significant, or impactful in 2018. Read the stories behind the statistics. You can find Spotlight Churches 1-6 in our May issue, or online at christianstandard.com.

C R O S S R OA D S C H R I S T I A N C H U R C H

TWO RIVERS CHURCH

JESSAMINE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

a strategy to reach a ‘dry and weary land’

THE CROSSING

Milton, DE

2018 Weekly Attendance: 604 Growth in 2018: 51 (6%) 2018 Baptisms: 36 2018 Baptism Ratio: 6 Founded: 1983 Senior Minister: Mark Magee Church Website: thecrossingnow.com

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 07 by justin horey

Every three years, the leadership team at The Crossing in Milton, Delaware, asks itself this question: “If the Lord allows us to minister here for three more years, what does he want us to focus on?” That question is part of a three-day planning retreat in which staff, elders, and key leaders prayerfully consider a strategic plan that will guide the church’s ministry. Senior minister Mark Magee has led The Crossing since June 1993, when he was just 25 years old. There were 40 people in attendance on Magee’s first Sunday—20 of them children. Small numbers like those were not uncommon then (nor are they now) in Delaware. Many churches in the area struggle to grow because, as Magee says, “Delaware is a dry and weary land.” Despite the challenges of ministering in a state that is often resistant to the message of Christ, The Crossing grew slowly and steadily for the first 15 years of Magee’s tenure. By 2008, the church was averaging 300—but then the growth stalled for three years. Unsure of what to do and feeling alarmed that the congregation was no longer growing, Magee and the church’s leaders simply prayed. “This is a praying church,” Magee said. “We don’t do anything without praying about it first.” At the start of 2012, those prayers led The Crossing to adopt a three-year strategic ministry plan for the first time. Since then, the church has renewed its plan every three years. Each new season begins with a retreat during which all of the church leaders—including staff and elders—are given the chance to recommit for another three years of ministry. Each three-year plan includes a specific vision, new graphics, and a concise statement of the strategy—all intended to keep staff, elders, ministry leaders, and attendees focused on the specific work of the ministry for each new season. During those three years, Magee makes sure every one of his sermons highlights at least one element of the strategic plan. The Crossing is now in the midst of its third such plan. The church’s strategy through 2020 is “REACH: Higher in Prayer, Deeper in Relationships, and Wider in Influence.” Not surprisingly, the church is growing again. In 2018, The Crossing averaged 604 in Sunday attendance, making it one of the largest evangelical churches in the state. 

Justin Horey is a writer, musician, and the founder of Livingstone Marketing. He lives in Southern California.

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f rom mechanic to minister

CROSSROADS CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Largo, FL

2018 Weekly Attendance: 325 2018 Baptisms: 45 2018 Baptism Ratio: 13.8 (3rd highest among medium churches) Founded: 1956 Pastor: Harold Kellermier Church Website: crossroadslargo.org Facebook: /crossroadslargo

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 08 by andy rector

“My wife, Beverly, felt a call from God, which she revealed to me, which made me smile,” said Harold Kellermier, pastor with Crossroads Christian Church in Largo, Florida. “[That] led [me] to a seat in a local Bible college at 44 years old.” Up until then, Kellermier had managed the vehicle-maintenance department for the local school system. In 2010, at 48, he was asked to become part of the staff at Crossroads. “I left the world of mechanics, finished school, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies.” But once again, Kellermier’s wife encouraged him, this time suggesting seminary. “At 54, I graduated with a master’s degree in biblical ministries while working at Crossroads. At 55, I was asked to become the pastor of Crossroads.” Kellermier credits the numerical and spiritual growth at Crossroads to the Lord. “We give Christ the glory for that. We continue to pray for his community and the people near his church. Our goal is to show his glory when he brings his people to his church.” Why have the people of Crossroads grown in their walk with Christ? “The simple answer is we went back to biblical teaching. We use a standard NIV Bible, which is placed on our seats, tell the congregation the page number, read the Scripture, and teach from the Scripture. Our congregation has embraced this.” Serving the Largo community has helped the congregation in its spiritual journey. Crossroads began a community outreach program in January 2018. “We provide clothing, furniture, bedding, dishes, food, and more at no charge,” Kellermier said. The church operates on a “take what you need but remember those in need” principle. Each Wednesday, CCC’s outreach program welcomes 50 to 70 guests. “Our community has come alongside the church, and the support has been overwhelming.” Crossroads Christian has also focused on supporting missionaries. Kellermier gave an example: “We are currently raising funds for a young man from our congregation who will begin an 11-month, 11-country mission trip in January 2020.” Kellermier’s journey from mechanic to minister has been a long one, and he is quick to thank congregation, staff, elders, and family, but all involved credit CCC’s growth to the Lord. “Each of us thank Christ for his mercy and grace.” 

Andy Rector is a writer and graphic designer from Louisville, Kentucky.

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baptism is only the beginning

JESSAMINE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Nicholasville, KY

2018 Weekly Attendance: 464 Growth in 2018: -26 (-5.3%) 2018 Baptisms: 158 2018 Baptism Ratio: 34.1 (highest among medium churches) Founded: 1994 Lead Pastor: Lee Faust Church Website: jessaminecc.com Facebook: /jessaminecc Twitter: @Jessaminechurch

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 09 by kelly carr

Kentucky native Lee Faust stepped into a beautiful ministry this year. He heard that Jessamine Christian Church would need a new lead pastor when Wally Rendel retired, and when he visited JCC, he discovered a body of believers filled with history and maturity who wanted to reach out, disciple new believers, and draw people into deeper relationships. That lined up perfectly with Faust’s passions and experience. He started with the church in March. “My 2019 goal has been to learn the heart of the people and let all ages know I am here to care for them, support them, and challenge them in their faith.” As new families continue to move into the rapidly growing county, Faust is encouraging the church to form meaningful connections with their neighbors—and food is a great avenue! “I told the church we need a big ol’ smoker to roll into a subdivision, raise the lid, and just feed and love on people through block parties,” he said. Another continually growing outreach is JCC’s three-year-old jail ministry, started by church member Barbara Burton. The ministry offers a weekly Bible study for men and one for women, and also provides a twice-weekly class to prepare people for being released from jail, assisting with such things as building resumes, confidence in life skills, etc. When he attended his first jail Bible study, Faust observed Burton greeting everyone with a hug, displaying a level of compassion that contributes to the life change the church is seeing. Said one inmate, “I don’t know the last time someone hugged me and said they loved me.” JCC now averages four to five baptisms each week through their jail ministry, with more than 550 baptisms in three years. It’s a powerful sight to see inmates dressed in orange arrive at the church, have their shackles removed, and stand in a circle of prayer with JCC members before experiencing the watery grave of baptism, Faust said. While significant, Faust knows these baptisms—along with the almost 50 people per year the church baptizes during their main worship services—are just the beginning. “These are spiritual infants,” he said. “We cannot baptize all these people and not give them a spiritual parent.” Lee plans to challenge more JCC men to join in mentoring the men who are released from jail. “Why in the world would we not also have some men in our church share their love for Christ and share their life when these men get out? They need other men to walk side by side and to teach them and help them grow in their faith.” 

Kelly Carr, former editor of The Lookout, enjoys sharing and shaping people’s stories as a writing and editing consultant in Cincinnati, Ohio (EditorOfLife.com).

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uniquely positioned to help the community

TWO RIVERS CHURCH

New Bern, NC

2018 Weekly Attendance: 510 Growth in 2018: 15 (3%) 2018 Baptisms: 20 2018 Baptism Ratio: 3.9 Founded: 2009 Lead Minister: David McCants Church Website: tworiverschurch.com Facebook: /tworiverschurchnewbern Instagram and Twitter: @TwoRiversChurch

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SPOTLIGHT CHURCH 10 by chris moon

As Hurricane Florence tore across North Carolina last September, Two Rivers Church in New Bern was at the center of it all. Thousands of homes in the city were severely flooded. People were coping with major damage to their homes. A massive reconstruction effort was about to launch. And Two Rivers Church was in the right place at the right time—at least that’s the way lead minister David McCants views it. “It’s given us an opportunity to be the church we say we are,” McCants said. “If we say we love God and love each other and love our community, then we better get out there and help.” In 2013, the church, which is now 10 years old, purchased land that was once home to a building supply company. The property included multiple warehouses and outbuildings. The church was unsure how to use those facilities at first, but eventually worked out an agreement with International Disaster Emergency Service to use some of that space for construction of sheds used during disaster-relief efforts. So, when Hurricane Florence struck, the undamaged church was uniquely positioned to help the community. “God has worked through kind of a unique property,” McCants said. After the storm, church volunteers sent out about 60 sheds into New Bern and nearby Jacksonville, N.C. (A shed serves as a dry place to store items that can be salvaged from a home.) But that just scratches the surface of Two Rivers Church’s involvement in the recovery effort. After the storm, while walking through a neighborhood under two feet of water, McCants met a young woman whose home was flooded and had no one to help. Within hours, volunteers from the church were on site. The church “mucked out” hundreds of homes—removing flooring, drywall, and water-soaked possessions to allow people to start rebuilding. The church expanded its efforts by hosting work teams from Sharing Hope Ministries, a Pennsylvania-based disaster-relief organization. For seven months, teams from churches across the country stayed at Two Rivers Church and did construction projects in New Bern. The church fed workers three meals per day. A volunteer contractor at the church led in organizing projects and allocating some of the $400,000 in donations the church received. The church’s message to the community, McCants said, has been one of sharing God’s love, with no ulterior motive “This is who we are and who we’re called to be, and we tried to live that out,” McCants said. “At the end of the day, in spite of our weaknesses, God has been revealed as strong.” 

Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colorado.

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A CHRISTIAN STANDARD INTERVIEW WITH

ROBERT COLEMAN SPENDING TIME WITH THE TEACHER BY MICHAEL C. MACK WITH PHOTOS BY DRU MACK

As he talks about Heaven, he reminds me of a young bride on her wedding day. He is a mixture of excitement, confidence, reverence, and awe. He is wide-eyed with anticipation for the doors to open and the music to begin. This 91-year-old man has studied and taught about Heaven for years, yet he humbly acknowledges his finite understanding. His wife, Marietta; his older sister, Joy; his friend Billy Graham; and many others he has known and served with over the years are already there. I had saved my question about Heaven for lastâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I knew it was a favorite topic.

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A LIFE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

Coleman now lives in Wilmore, Kentucky, near the campus of Asbury University, where he once taught, and he attends Southland Christian Church in Nicholasville. In his early years, he and his family lived on a farm in Cedar Hill, Texas, 20 miles outside of Dallas. He grew up in church but was much more interested in sports than a relationship with Christ, he admits. In high school, he set a record in the 120-yard high hurdles. Five years later, his record was broken, he says with feigned exasperation, by his younger brother, Lyman. Robert Coleman’s accomplishments are many: PhD, author of 21 books, professor at three prestigious theological seminaries, an average of more than 35 speaking engagements per year in the United States and around the world for much of his career, winner of the Distinguished Service Award for Disciple Making at the first gathering of the National Disciple Making Forum, and more. So, I wondered, what has been the most rewarding part of his ministry? “In terms of eternity, it’s the few guys I’ve met with in personal relationships for over 50 years,” he responds, “but in terms of really reaching people, I think it’s been overseas in conferences primarily with pastors.” Billy Graham made Coleman the dean of the Billy Graham International Schools of Evangelism in 1985. “We had these schools all over the world and I had the privilege of teaching. . . . A lot of people don’t realize Billy Graham had two great desires.

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One was to preach the gospel to as many people as he could, and the second was to train pastors to be evangelists. That was a burning commitment of Billy Graham.” One of the main courses taught in these schools was the Master Plan of Evangelism, based on Coleman’s book of the same title. “That’s one reason The Master Plan is so well distributed in so many languages,” says Coleman, “because we always had it there and we often had to get it translated.” The Master Plan of Evangelism has sold more than 3.5 million copies and been translated into 105 languages. (To read more about how Coleman wrote the book, see the Letter from the Editor on page 6.) Why does Coleman think the book has been read and relied upon so much by leaders? He says it became known mainly by word of mouth. And the book is easy to read. “It’s very simple,” says Coleman. “The students [who were taking his evangelism class before he wrote the book] helped me do that. ‘Make it simple, simple, simple,’ they told me. I tell my students, ‘Preach to the children. If the children understand what you’re trying to say, chances are even the PhDs will catch on!’” Coleman points to a set of three pictures of a one-room schoolhouse in his living room. “That’s the model of education for me. In a one-room schoolhouse, you learn together, not just reading, writing, and arithmetic, but social skills, how to relate to your friends.”

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EDUCATION AND DISCIPLE-MAKING

Coleman says that is the essence of discipleship—being with the teacher (Coleman calls this the “with principle”). “Jesus invited his disciples to be with him. Then he would send them out to minister, but first, they were with him.” From the beginning of creation, Coleman says, God created us to be with him, and then he created family so we could be with one another. “Of course, it didn’t work out in the Garden,” he says as he gets more philosophical. “The devil fooled them. He fooled them with the temptation, ‘you shall be wise as gods.’ That is the appeal of wisdom that we have a hard time resisting; we want to be smart.” Understand, Coleman’s own education is impressive. It includes degrees from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas; Asbury University; Princeton Theological Seminary; and a PhD from the University of Iowa. After preaching in several churches in Indiana, New Jersey, and Iowa while completing his own schooling, he moved into teaching in theological graduate education in what he says are three of the top evangelical schools in America: Asbury, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Gordon-Conwell. He has spent most of his ministry career as a professor. “We want to get all the degrees that can be given by education,” he states. “But the great way of learning is to be with your teacher who is on the way of the Lord.” He says he loved being a pastor, and the churches grew because he built relationships. “And that [building relationships] is the secret of evangelism.” That experience has guided him in how he teaches his students. He takes great joy in the relationships he has built with them over many years. Coleman points to two huge obstacles to disciple-making. “The greatest hindrance to the evangelization of America is the leadership today of the church. [And] the real bottleneck is the theological seminaries in America. The majority of them have pretty well departed from the simple gospel.” “I got into theological education because I felt it was the weakest link in our chain.” C H RIS TIAN STA N DAR D

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IMPLEMENTING ‘WITH-PRINCIPLE’ DISCIPLE-MAKING In the Introduction to Master Plan of Evangelism, Coleman wrote, “That we are busy in the church trying to work one program of evangelism after another can not be denied. But are we accomplishing our objective?” If disciple-making is much more than just running a church program, how would he encourage leaders in today’s church? “To implement [a discipleship ministry based on the “with principle”], you need some kind of structure, but you want to keep the program at a minimum. Encourage people to be with someone who can lead them.” He points to places in the world where Christians have faced oppression and persecution, where churches have been closed and pastors sent away or killed—and yet the churches grew. “How’d it happen? They were forced back into little groups in their homes. They were forced back to the New Testament!” While Coleman wrote Master Plan of Evangelism from the four Gospels, his follow-up book, Master Plan of Discipleship, focuses on the book of Acts. For many people, the latter book, while it has not sold as many copies, is more applicable to making disciples in the church today, since it’s based on the Bible book that relates how the early church carried out Jesus’ mandate. “Billy Graham was a gifted proclaimer, but Billy would agree, if you want to

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reach the world, you’ve got to go back to the master plan.” Coleman mentions that he quoted Graham in The Master Plan of Evangelism: In response to the question, “If you were a pastor of a large church in a principle city, what would be your plan of action?” Mr. Graham replied, “I think one of the first things I would do would be to get a small group of eight or ten or twelve men around me that would meet a few hours a week and pay the price! It would cost them something in time and effort. I would share with them everything I have, over a period of years. Then I would actually have twelve ministers . . . who in turn could take eight or ten or twelve more and teach them.” “That’s the master plan,” says Coleman. He sits on the edge of his chair again and now he’s almost yelling: “The Great Commission—that’s the last command Jesus gave. ‘You go and do what I’ve been doing. You go and make disciples! They could understand it because they had been discipled! You can’t preach to people all day and expect them to understand what discipling is. Discipling is a relationship . . . with a teacher who is with you and who will be with you even in the valleys, when you don’t seem to know the way yourself—you’re close enough to the teacher that he can lead you.”

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“

I TELL MY STUDENTS, ‘PREACH TO THE CHILDREN. IF THE CHILDREN UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE TRYING TO SAY, CHANCES ARE EVEN THE PHDS WILL CATCH ON!’

I asked Coleman to share his thoughts on disciple-making movements that are multiplying exponentially around the world, and he says he’s all for them and has been “adopted” into the Exponential movement (founded by Dave Ferguson and Todd Wilson). “This movement of discipling is growing, and it’s not dependent upon big-time preachers, it’s not dependent on educational seminars . . . and it’s not dependent on theological schools either.” He pauses for effect after the last phrase, and then continues, “It’s encouraging, and I suspect it will grow more because we’re in hard times in our culture.” Coleman’s voice now softens and his head bows; I need to lean in to hear him. The topic of our current culture—in the world and the church—visibly saddens him. “I’m optimistic about these movements, but I’m not optimistic about our culture,” he says. “We’re not going in the direction that would bring us into close communion with God . . . if we take the

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path of least resistance, which waters down the gospel.” He looks up at me and his voice again grows strong: “But God is still sovereign! He has not abdicated his rule. We have read the last chapter and we know finally every knee will bow before him.” He pauses a moment and reflects: “But what will it take to get us to that point? I don’t see a desperation yet for that.” While Coleman is not optimistic for the current state of the institutional church—he believes if things don’t change, we will follow the path of the church in Europe—he sees hope in the places where God is moving in simpler, smaller, relational ways. He meets weekly with several different small groups of friends in Wilmore. He talks especially about one group of “sinners” that meets at Bob Evans. Though these men are from a variety of faith backgrounds and no faith backgrounds, they ask him to pray each time they meet.

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THERE IS A DAY COMING WHEN

“

WE’LL CHANGE GARMENTS. WE’LL HAVE WHITE ROBES, SYMBOLIC OF THE CLEANSING BLOOD OF THE LAMB. . . . I LOVE TO THINK ABOUT THE GLORY OF HEAVEN.

A U GU S T 2019

We reach my last question, the one about Coleman’s thoughts on Heaven. By the time I ask it, his voice is tiring and his body sinking more into his green easy chair. But now he straightens up. “Oh my, that’s the thing I talk about now more than anything else,” he begins. He then speaks uninterrupted for 15 minutes on the topic, moving between philosophical reflection, Bible study, interpretation, and fiery preaching. (See more of Coleman’s reflections on Heaven as well as topics such as how he came to Christ and his views on Scripture in our web-only extra at ChristianStandard.com/more-robert-coleman.) “I’ve had a group of seminary kids for the last 55, 60 years,” says Coleman. “Before I turn them loose after about three years, we talk about Heaven. Not that I understand everything in the book of Revelation, but I do like to focus on the words of the songs that are recorded around the throne.” As he talks, he frequently and easily quotes Scripture. Each time, he closes his eyes, but then opens them again to peer into mine. These are not the eyes of an older man, I think to myself. Though his face is well-weathered, his eyes are vibrant and piercing. He says he has taught his boys, the graduate students in his classes, the 14 hymns in Revelation, so they could say them together. “So when we get to Heaven,” he says with a broad smile, “we’ll already know the words; all we’ll need is the music! We’re learning now to get ready for Heaven, to get ready for a wedding. Hallelujah! Oh, yes, that’s what we’ve got to get across. When Heaven is real, this world doesn’t hold the attraction that it used to have!” He takes a moment to look up at a picture hung in a place of prominence on his wall. “My dear wife—she died two years and four months and seventeen days ago.” He mentions that daisies were her favorite flower, and I see a vase of them on his dining room table. “I can see her now coming down the aisle in that little church over in Ohio, holding that bouquet of white daisies.” He pauses several seconds, swallows, takes a deep breath, and continues. “There is a day coming when we’ll change garments. We’ll have white robes, symbolic of the cleansing blood of the Lamb. . . . I love to think about the glory of heaven.” Coleman seems prepared for the wedding music to begin playing at any time. He already knows the words to the songs. 

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HEAVEN

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10 Creative Ideas for How Christian Colleges and Churches Can Collaborate . . . and Make Both Stronger By David Fincher

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Create Key Leadership Relationships

Enrich Sabbatical Learning Experiences

Utilize Fresh Leadership Training

Host Sponsored Regional Events

Build Custom Youth Trips

06 07

Coordinate Resident Missionary Service

Explore Joint Mission Trips

Support International Student Experiences

Employ Worship Musicians and Technicians

Recruit ServiceLearning Teams

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hristian colleges want to work with local churches to enrich the school and its students, as well as the congregation and its members. Such collaboration helps our Christian higher education institutions maintain their core mission of training church leaders.

Some churches give their ministers a sabbatical to increase ministry longevity. A Christian college might enrich the experience by providing guest housing, study space, and speaking opportunities for a week or two during the sabbatical. Providing a minister with opportunities to grow and build new relationships may lead to a variety of benefits.

Most Christian colleges and universities work hard to recruit potential students from the church, provide professional candidates to fill staff openings, and send preachers or teachers when asked. Christian churches need to use these important resources, and Christian colleges need to clearly communicate the services it can offer congregations. Here are 10 ideas for creative collaboration for Christian colleges and churches to consider.

Conversely, professors could use a semester away from the classroom every 6 to 10 years, but it’s difficult for a Christian college to cover the cost of replacement teachers. So, a congregation might sponsor a professor’s sabbatical by donating the cost of adjunct instructors for the semester in exchange for the professor coming to speak, mentor, and learn in the local congregation as “scholar-in-residence.” This experience would benefit the professor, congregation, and college.

Create Key Leadership Relationships

College presidents and senior ministers sometimes see themselves as rivals for limited resources: financial support, pulpit time, and even bulletin board space! But ministry staff should see Christian college leaders as an open door to a vast network of useful resources. And college leaders should see congregational staff as a window to local ministry needs.

Utilize Fresh Leadership Training

Every congregation needs to train staff and volunteers. Ministers can develop their own training material, but that takes time away from other ministry tasks. Traveling to highquality conferences can be expensive. Meanwhile, most of our Christian colleges regularly provide leadership training through their own events and workshops, and these can be more convenient and less expensive than national conferences. The institutions often can arrange for housing on campus. Joining with other regional churches is a great way to compare strategies and outcomes while networking with other professionals.

These relationships won’t be created on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings, but through personal visits over coffee or lunch. A new minister should try to meet the closest Christian college president. Those conversations will help foster another level of relationships: ministry professors with ministry professionals, admissions staff with youth sponsors, and fund-raising representatives with mission committees. Key relationships such as these will facilitate both core collaboration and creative collaboration.

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Enrich Sabbatical Learning Experiences

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Host Sponsored Regional Events

The school can cooperate on an event that would meet at a large church’s campus. The Christian college can help sponsor and invite regional participants, while the host church helps ensure travel and registration costs stay low. Perhaps the host church staff can attend for free in exchange for providing the venue. This model can be expanded into multiple regions a few hours from the school’s campus, with host responsibilities rotated among churches from year to year. Such a plan builds unity between congregations who attend these events and exposes more individuals to the ministry of the Christian college.

Most colleges expose students to ministry opportunities around the world through mission trips. Most churches are limited in the type of mission trip they can offer. But a church leader might work with a college’s missions professor to see if a few church members can join a trip. Church representatives could provide additional oversight to the college students while enjoying the opportunity to visit a mission or missionary they support without planning a separate trip. There are always logistical and philosophical matters to consider with mission trips, but the potential for an enriching experience at a reduced cost might be worth exploring.

Build Custom Youth Trips

Many excellent youth conferences offer students an exciting program and atmosphere far from their hometown. But the downside can be large crowds, high costs, and nonnegotiable dates. However, most of our colleges will host a youth group for one or two days, providing overnight lodging, cafeteria meals, and a learning experience at little cost. Consider a youth trip to visit a Christian college that includes a service project, worship service, and biblical lessons. Instead of several hundred dollars per teenager, congregations and colleges can work together to provide a memorable and affordable experience.

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Explore Joint Mission Trips

Coordinate Resident Missionary Service

Sometimes it is difficult for missionaries to coordinate a season back from the field. Christian colleges like to know when alums who serve as missionaries are returning home for a few months, while congregations also appreciate knowing that missionaries they support are home. Colleges sometimes need a “resident missionary” to live near campus, help with the missions program, and motivate students to become missionaries. That can allow the family to build new relationships, find new supporters, and plan their next steps. Missionary families could benefit from college professors and local congregations coordinating these months of home service.

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Who Will Fill Their Shoes?

Challenges to Higher Education in Independent Christian Churches

By Jeff Green

By Bill Thompson

His size 9½, wingtip leather shoes sit in a glass case in the library named for him. L. Palmer Young, the third president of Kentucky Christian University, was a preacher first. He followed in his dad’s footsteps, preaching for more than 69 years. The shoes serve as a reminder of the need for more preachers. Wally Rendel, who preached Palmer’s funeral, asked, “Who’s going to fill his shoes?” Where will the next generation of preachers come from?

According to the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, there were approximately 900 accredited, religiously affiliated institutions of higher education in the United States as of 2010. Reports indicate many of these church-affiliated schools are financially stressed.

The Situation The church has constantly been challenged to find replacements in vocational ministry, especially in preaching. A forensic expert isn’t needed to diagnose that fewer people are being trained for preaching than 40, 30, 20, or even 10 years ago. Ministers who graduated in the 1970s and ’80s are starting to retire, and we could be facing a shortage of trained ministers to replace them. Many issues help explain how we have found ourselves in this situation. Here are just a few: The high cost of education is prompting ministerial candidates to forgo training at the college level or is pushing them toward other careers. Students often graduate with a mountain of debt, and many of our churches cannot pay a large enough salary to enable them to pay off their school loans.

Unfortunately, many of the colleges and universities affiliated with the independent Christian churches of the Stone-Campbell Movement are financially stressed as well. In fact, in the article “Six Stepped Down” published in Christian Standard in August 2015, five of six former presidents of such schools mentioned finances as their greatest challenge. Another challenge is dealing with the tension between academia and supporting churches as a growing number of churches turn to training their own staff members. Finally, as American Christianity continues to trend away from denominationalism toward a more “generic Christianity,” Christian colleges and universities report experiencing difficulty enrolling students from their own religious heritage. What are the primary market challenges facing the administrators of Bible colleges, liberal arts schools, and universities affiliated with the independent Christian churches? More importantly, how are these schools handling these challenges?

The declining birthrate will affect the pool of ministerial students over the next 10 years and beyond. A September 10, 2018, article in US News & World Report said, “A declining . . .

This article springs from a master’s thesis research project completed three years ago. As part of this study, the chief academic officers (CAOs) from six academic institutions affiliated with independent Christian churches . . .

continue reading this article at ChristianStandard.com/wwfts

continue reading this article at ChristianStandard.com/ctheiicc

Support International Student Experiences

International students struggle to make the most of their time in America. College students from another country are lonely on weekends and holiday breaks because they are away from family. Sometimes such students can’t legally take jobs while here. Churches located near a Christian college (or campus ministry) could volunteer to “adopt” an international student and provide housing, meals, and friendship. This investment in Christian leaders from around the globe will result in kingdom expansion and unity. In the same way, church members who host international exchange students should introduce them to a local Christian college. In many cases, the cost of attending a Christian college will be lower than other private college options, while allowing such a relationship to extend for several more years.

Employ Worship Musicians and Technicians

Many churches would like to implement contemporary worship styles but lack the personnel to carry it out. Most of our Christian colleges have students who play instruments and understand the worship technology of a successful service. A congregation can budget a reasonable amount to hire some musicians and technicians for a few months. During that time, these college students can earn some money to help pay for their education while training people in the congregation to improve their own musical or technical skills. Such a transition will allow the church to take the next step in improving their worship service while providing valuable experience to students.

Recruit Service-Learning Teams

The concept of bringing in a team of students to a congregation extends beyond worship needs. Christian college students love road trips, but they need help paying for gas and expenses. Churches can visit their closest Christian college to recruit a group of students to come weekly and serve in areas such as childcare, cleaning, and hospitality. Service-learning teams working with adult leaders in the church provide extra horsepower and youthful ideas a church needs. In addition, these ministers-in-training learn firsthand that the work of the church is done mostly by key volunteers. By providing such basic benefits as fuel cards, lunch meals, or laundry services, a congregation can find many young people who will choose to help serve with them. Working together in a team helps students build strong relationships and mutual support to continue serving together.

Many of the ideas above have worked well for our Christian college. If your church will consider these ideas for creative collaboration, you can probably find a Christian college willing to help you succeed. 

Dr. David Fincher serves as president with Central Christian College of the Bible, where he and his wife both earned bachelor’s degrees. They have three adult children: Adam, Anna, and Alex. David currently leads the Association of Christian Church Colleges and Universities. president@cccb.edu @drdavidfincher /drfincher

the state of campus ministry an interview with David Embree

by TR Robertson

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David Embree has led Christian Campus House at Missouri State University in Springfield for 41 years. I talked to him about the state of campus ministry, past, present, and future.

QUESTION: Why is campus ministry important?

ANSWER: As Charles Malik [former president of the United Nations General Assembly] said back in the ’60s, if you want to impact the world, impact campuses. Eighty-five percent of kids from our churches go to non-church-related schools; [it] is going to be one of the most challenging intellectual and spiritual experiences of their lives. We need to be the church on the campus, which is what campus ministry attempts to be. The future culture of the world will be created by those now at the university. It’s true all over the world. Campus ministry is one of the most strategic mission outposts available, but we’re not doing very much outside the United States. We’ve got some sister ministries in the Philippines; CMF International has a program called Globalscope that’s planted some ministries; we’ve got one in Tegucigalpa [in Honduras]. But this is still a blank slate all over the world.

If someone wants to get into campus ministry, how should they prepare for it? I’d encourage people to get as much Bible training as they can, to get apologetics training, to learn as much as they can about fund-raising, administration, and that sort of thing. And then do an internship or a couple of internships with a campus ministry. There’s nothing that equips you more for campus ministry than campus ministry. In times past, several of our Christian colleges offered occasional classes in campus ministry. I don’t know that there is a campus ministry track offered any more in Restoration Movement schools. There could be, and should be.

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We need to think more clearly, to teach more clearly. We need to stop using words like liberal and conservative and, instead, talk about things like critical thinking in the church.

How are students different today than in 1978?

Academically, the best students we have now are as good as the best we’ve ever had. But there are fewer. And we have people who think that if they show up they should get a good grade. Socially, things have dramatically changed. In the ’70s and ’80s, students liked to get together. If you provided any reason to get together, they’d pretty much do it. But now, getting students to come to a Bible study or other activity is difficult. When we talk about gen Z being digital natives, we’re not just saying they spend a lot of time online. We’re talking about people who perceive their hometown as being online. It’s the place they like to be better than anyplace else. Spiritually, most of the students who checked out Campus House in 1978 had substantial church backgrounds, even if they claimed to be nonbelievers. Rare was the student who didn’t know something about the Bible. These days about a third of the students on any

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given campus self-identify as “none of the above” or “not affiliated.” For many years I contended the university was the most spiritually dangerous place in America, but now the most dangerous place in America is the Internet. We often get students who have been learning disbelief through Tumblr, through Reddit, through any social media. Perhaps they haven’t announced their disbelief to their parents because of the discomfort it would create. When you go off to college, you have the chance to remarket yourself, to reidentify yourself. More and more, students with great spiritual resumes, as far as their experiences go, are coming to campus saying, “I’m not really a believer.” All the great awakenings in American history have happened at times when the “nones” were in ascendency. I have great hopes that this generation will get really excited about Jesus, as have previous generations when other pursuits turned out to have no real glory.

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How can the local church prepare students who are heading off to university?

Our high school kids need to know more about apologetics. They need to know some of the things they’re going to hear at the university. We’ve got to get rid of “science vs. religion” and talk about science in terms of “thinking God’s thoughts after him,” as Johannes Kepler called it. There are many well-intentioned churches who think they can discredit all of evolutionary theory in two onehour programs. Students get to a university and they have PhD professors who talk all semester about those things; [these professors are] well-reasoned and not just crazed anti-God warriors. Our students say, “I was lied to at church my whole life.” I get that a lot. “I’ve had science misrepresented to me.” We need to think more clearly, to teach more clearly. We need to stop using words like liberal and conservative and, instead, talk about things like critical thinking in the church. We should be talking about how to sort through what’s biblical and what’s not. How to “think Christian” is really, really important. We need to talk about sexual identity issues and why adhering to a biblical position on human sexuality is not bigotry and hatred but is simply recognizing God’s standard for things. And we need to talk about how to love people who have made different choices, practically speaking, and not just avoid them . . . and certainly not make jokes, not belittle people who struggle with gender identity and attraction. We need to talk about heterosexuality and the hookup culture and about why it’s not just old generation vs. young generation, but it’s about what God’s Word says. We need to talk more realistically about marijuana and alcohol, and about making choices when there is a whole lot of pressure on you. We would love to do some training in local churches to prepare young people for college. We could talk about how to prepare spiritually for the intense challenges you’re going to face. We invite youth ministers to bring their youth groups to campus, to hang out on campus. We’d love to have them join us so they can see what college students worshipping and learning the Bible looks like. We took a survey of students in our ministry; we asked, “What do you wish you knew about college before you came?”

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Number one answer: “I wish I’d known that something like CCH existed. I was just fortunate that I came across the campus ministry.” Almost none of them had been told by their own churches or by the significant Christian adults in their lives how to get connected with spiritual resources on campus. When people are shopping for college, the spiritual support network they’ll have at a given school ought to be one of the most important considerations. But it seldom is.

What should people in the churches know about campus ministries?

We could not exist without local churches. We are so grateful for the churches and the individuals who support us—all those people who don’t take their family out for pizza this week and send us some money instead. We often are called parachurch ministries. I don’t like that. I don’t want to be parachurch, I want to be part-ofchurch. I want the churches in our neighborhood, and even those beyond, to see us as their people on campus And I don’t want it to just go one way. I want to send them leaders. We give our graduates the names of churches and preachers where they’re going [to start careers]. Our success is not based on how many people show up for an activity, but what our kids are doing 5, 10, 20 years after graduation. We have alums serving on five continents as full-time workers, and I’m excited about that. But we have students all over the United States who are serving Jesus actively in classrooms and courtrooms and emergency rooms. We have people representing Jesus as salt and light in all areas of culture. I’m just as proud of our students who are Sunday school teachers and youth group sponsors and are on church boards and mission boards. One of our alums said, “I came to the university to get a degree, so I’d know my way around the classroom and know how to be a teacher. But what I didn’t expect [was this]: I figured out my way around the church and I figured out how to serve there. I figured out how effective I can be. This is the most important thing I learned in college.” We want to produce as many people like that as we can. 

TR Robertson is a freelance writer living in Columbia, Missouri.

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"go and make disciples studentsof all nations, baptizing immersingthem themininto thedeep nametheological of the Father learning and of teaching the Son them and more of theand Holy more Spirit, and facts teaching from the them Bible to obey to increase everything Itheir have head commanded knowledge. you. And surely I am will with be impressed you always, with how much you know to the very end of the age."

This obvious twisting of Matthew 28:19, 20 is done to make a point. While education and discipleship are tightly connected—a disciple is a student, after all—education itself is not our mission. Making disciples includes an element of education, but it must go beyond simply building knowledge. So, how does Christian education relate—and interrelate—with discipleship, with experience, and with culture? We asked three disciple-making teachers to weigh in on these questions. We hope these articles help you think more deeply about the mission of the church . . . and do something about it!

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discipleship learning Christ: Education that transforms education I was sitting in a coffee shop with a young man I had baptized several months earlier. “I’m education lost during the sermon,” he admitted. “I don’t education know whether the passage comes before Jeeducation sus or after. And it feels like the preacher just opens his Bible to wherever.” education education Fact: Basic Bible or Christian understanding can’t be assumed anymore.

by John Whittaker

Fact 2: Folks have access to infinite amounts of nice-sounding memes and inspirational junk food on social media, and because they have such a limited and shallow understanding of the Christian faith, it all gets mixed together into a sort of spiritual mash-up. It’s no wonder studies have shown that many practicing, “Bible-believing” Christians don’t have a biblical worldview. So, here’s what’s always been true, but which is more apparent and urgent right now: You can’t make disciples without education. That should be obvious. In fact, the basic meaning of the word disciple is “student.” But teaching has fallen on hard times in the church. Fewer and fewer churches have any intentional plan of instruction, and fewer people attend what’s offered. In a cultural climate where people no longer grow up knowing the Bible, and where churches for at least a generation haven’t done a great job of teaching the Bible, teaching must be reemphasized as vital for disciple-making. It’s certainly not the only component of disciplemaking, but it’s an essential one.

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education education education education education education education education education education education

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Aiming for Transformation In Ephesians 4:20, the apostle Paul portrayed discipleship as learning Christ (the word translated “learn” in the New American Standard Bible is the verb form of disciple). He said this because truth is in Jesus. In coming to Jesus, disciples have transferred from an outside-of-God culture that has led them into futile thinking and darkened their understanding. And as a friend of mine says, what occupies your mind controls your life. Therefore, some teaching is needed to straighten out their thinking. They must learn Christ.

how to practice it. It’s thus highly relational. We must connect people together in a “oneanother culture” where specific, life-on-life teaching can happen.

If theological instruction, whether in Christian colleges or the church,

The kind of teaching that’s needed, however, must not have information as its goal. Information will be part of it, to be sure, but it will be the means to a greater goal.

doesn't form people

Ephesians 4 teaches how learning Christ’s truth leads to living Christ’s way—to putting on the new self (v. 24), which means ceasing to lie and instead speaking the truth (v. 25), replacing stealing with work and generosity (v. 28), and setting aside malice in favor of forgiveness (vv. 31, 32), among other things.

we're doing it wrong. we're doing it wrong. we're doing it wrong.

In disciple-making, the educational goal is transformation over information. Learning Christ has both mental and behavioral aspects. Leave out either one and it’s being done wrong. If our preaching is full of life advice but fails to form people’s minds in the truth of Christ, we’re doing it wrong. If theological instruction, whether in Christian colleges or the church, doesn’t form people who are living and loving like Christ, we’re doing it wrong. Jesus’ final instructions make this obvious to us. Make disciples, he said, baptizing them and “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28:19, 20). Not teaching them to know but teaching them to obey. That kind of teaching sets the truth into the context of everyday life and coaches people

who are living and loving like Christ,

Putting Resources Where People Live That’s the kind of teaching that transforms people’s character. And we’ve got to find helpful and wise ways to make it happen. Just offering an adult Sunday school class and then bemoaning flagging attendance isn’t going to cut it (and neither is offering the class and then guilting people into attending). Small groups can help, but most are better at creating a relational environment (another key component of disciple-making) than forming a biblical foundation. And preaching, while crucial, is not sufficient by itself to help people understand the story of Scripture, acquire a biblical worldview, and learn how to walk as Jesus walked. Furthermore, we all know attendance is declining at church events, and that’s not always because people don’t want to grow or are un-

So, if we’re going to help disciples learn Christ, we must use some ingenuity. How can we resource a disciple who’s just a little further down the path so that he or she can teach a less-mature disciple? How can we give families access to resources they can use to help their kids develop a Christian worldview? (That’s important, because we all know that a couple hours of children’s church each month isn’t getting it done.) How can we help small groups and small-group leaders acquire framework for understanding the Bible so they can grow together in the knowledge of God? I believe we need to decentralize the teaching ministry of the church so people don’t have to come to another church event to learn Christ. I believe Christian education needs to happen where people already spend their time. I think just about any church can benefit from taking advantage of digital media that puts teaching and training resources in people’s hands (the

Imagine, for example, a new believer learning the faith through short videos and discussing it with a more mature believer over breakfast before work. Or a family acquiring a Christian worldview through something like a “video catechism” in their own home. Or a growing believer listening to spiritual growth training while commuting to work. If we want to get serious about making disciples, we must put serious thought and energy into how we help people learn the way of Jesus. We must help the truth of Christ occupy the disciple’s mind in such a way that the character of Christ can be fleshed out in his or her life. Then we will display to the world an alternative way of being human and doing life . . . and we’ll actually be a city set on hill, bringing glory to God. 

I believe Christian education needs to happen where people already spend their time.

John Whittaker has been a pastor in two churches and taught New Testament, theology, and preaching at Boise Bible College for 19 years. Currently he’s equipping people to follow Jesus by creating podcasts, YouTube Bible studies, and online courses to help people learn and live the Bible. johnwhittaker.net

@johnwhittaker1969

/JohnWhittaker

@john.whittaker1969

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current focus of my ministry). Pro Church Tools (https://prochurchtools.com) found that 72 percent of people prefer to learn by using video instead of text. Audio resources, mainly in the form of podcasts, are quickly gaining popularity. A study earlier this year found that 90 million people in the U.S. listened to a podcast in the last month. And what about the younger generation, many of whom didn’t grow up going to church and therefore don’t have a basic grasp of the Christian faith? The Pew Research Center found that 94 percent of people 18 to 24 years old use YouTube regularly. And just about everyone spends hours each week (each day?) scrolling through social media. All of these mediums can become vehicles for resourcing Christians to disciple the people in their lives and helping people learn Christ.

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committed. Sometimes it is because of work. Sometimes it’s because of other life commitments. Sometimes it’s because a special-needs child makes it hard to get there. Sometimes it’s because church events are poorly done and are boring.

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Experience Practicing the Implications of Truth: How We Become Doers of the Word and Not Hearers Only by Wes Sebree

Not even an extremely gifted communicator can rival experience as a teacher.

Why the Church Hasn't Embraced Experiential Learning

My good friend Mike would add, “Truth is discovered, not downloaded.” In other words, truth must be experienced to take root.

The academy has begun to embrace experiential learning, but the church has remained hesitant. Ishwar Puri, dean of engineering at McMaster University, wrote on The Conversation website (www.theconversation.com),

If these statements are accurate—and they are—we need to consider whether we want to proclaim the truth or whether we want to equip people to live faithfully. The first can be accomplished without doing the second. Additionally, equating information transfer with spiritual growth robs Christ’s body of experiencing God’s truth and love in tangible ways. This results in a subtle brand of gnosticism where knowledge is preeminent, and it negates both the Holy Spirit and practical faith.

In class, this method of learning means replacing chalk-and-talk pedagogy of the past with inquiry, problem-based and project-based learning, sometimes using the tools of what we call a maker space— an open, studio-like creative workshop. These methods recognize that lectures on complex, abstract subjects are difficult to comprehend, and that hands-on, mindson learning by experience not only makes it easier to absorb complex material, it also makes it easier to remember.

First, knowledge provides power to the one wielding it. People listen to and obey the one who has control over information. Truthbearers are admired by the truth-seekers, particularly in a celebrity-oriented culture. Sadly, it looks more like codependency than servant leadership. Second, we are looking for the magic pill. There are spiritual issues that need to be addressed in our lives, so we search for knowledge that will transform us in a supernatural way without the pain and effort intrinsic to genuine growth. Many years ago, while I was speaking to a class of seminarians about our church’s discipleship principles and practices, a few students balked at what they perceived as a soft focus on intellectual pursuit of biblical truth. They were convinced that knowledge of the deep truths of Scripture was the path to spiritual growth. After a barrage of questions about the importance of deep understanding of the biblical text, I said, “Current research tells us that 70 percent of Christian men are actively using pornography. That means 7 in 10 of you have looked at pornography this week. What biblical truth that you have yet to learn will change that behavior?” The point is, they could already articulate why pornography was damaging, unhealthy, and sinful. They hadn’t found the magic pill to resist its allure because such a thing does not exist. The students did not need deeper or more magical truth, they needed environments in which to practice the implications of truth. Third, few among us like to fail. A trial-anderror approach is not normal in the church. Is that an indication we do not trust in the love and grace of our Father? Failure is a vital

the transformation the transformation The transformation that happens within the group will, in fact, enhance worship participation, impact outreach, and more effectively fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus' Lab Environment-and Ours Jesus created a virtual mobile lab that allowed disciples to observe, test, and practice the principles he shared with them. Further, Jesus lived inside the lab as an example of how knowledge is turned into observable behaviors. James, Jesus’ brother, later wrote, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do” (James 1:22-25, emphasis mine).

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key to learning, after all. If we avoid putting God’s truth into action, we avoid risk and failure. We fantasize about the day when we will know enough to perfectly obey, all the while postponing obedience. When God calls us to something new, we rarely get it right the first time. It takes repetition to learn, and we must trust in God’s grace when we fail.

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Why does the church hesitate to embrace experiential learning?

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Jesus advised that there needs to be a space where experience engages God’s truth.

we will return week after week to store away great truths in a dusty file cabinet deep in our intellectual vault. If we do not practice it, we The finest orator’s words are empty if there do not believe it. Our churches must have a are no observable practices of the principles practice field where disciples of Jesus learn to he or she eloquently proclaims. This means follow him. leaders must lead from the front by engaging truth in tangible and practical steps of obedi- Making Groups into Places to ence. How many church staff members prac- Apply, Practice, and Learn tice biblical generosity with their finances? Many churches have established environHow many practice servanthood when they ments but do not use them for application, are not being paid to do so? How many church practice, and learning. Consider that a small staff members, elders, or leaders live in au- group (or whatever term you use) has the highthentic spiritual community? est potential for faith development of anything

We fantasize about the day when we will know enough to perfectly obey, all the while postponing obedience. It boils down to this: Do we want people to follow Jesus? Following Jesus is learned behavior based in the timeless truths of our Father’s love and action. We should create a “lab environment” so believers engage the truth, practice it, and even experience failure. What if this environment were a family-like space where people experience the practical application of truth through expressions of grace, forgiveness, faithfulness, and love? What if we equipped those whom we lead to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers? On Sunday we hear of God’s love and are encouraged to go and love others. Where will we try it and test it? Where will we fail at loving another and be shown grace and be given the challenge to try again? Without practice,

the church does. The fact that the early church gathered in homes as extended families is an indicator of how people best learn to follow Jesus. We must stop treating groups as another place to pour truth into caged spiritual geese as they are prepared to become foie gras.

Groups should be a strategic partner with preaching, worship, and outreach. A healthy group that functions like an extended family will apply God’s Word and be the practical and critical learning environment that many churches are missing. The transformation that happens within the group will, in fact, enhance worship participation, impact outreach, and more effectively fulfill the Great Commission. We must facilitate learning spaces to fulfill the mission of equipping “his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature” (Ephesians 4:12, 13a). As followers of Jesus, we must set aside our egos and be the first ones in those spaces so we can model for others how to more fully understand our Father’s will through action and practice.  Wes Sebree serves as lead discipleship pastor at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a graduate of Cincinnati Bible Seminary and has served as a church planter, business consultant, teaching pastor, and college instructor over the past 20 years.

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culture Delivering Education 'Just in Time' Cross-culturally What We Can Learn from Movements Around the World by Doug Lucas

In the last couple of decades, researchers have identified more than 700 examples of rampant church growth. New believers have been coming to Christ in such numbers that they are using the term movement to describe the phenomenon. An outside research team recently identified a movement of 2 million believers. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing short of miraculous. Here is a summary of what typically happens in these movements.

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Telling + Training = Multiplication

Training New Believers to Discover Biblical Truth

These movements usually start with a strong personality with relentless determination who seeks an answer to the question, “What’s it going to take to reach these people [this tribe, caste, kindred, city, or nation]?” He or she begins with extraordinary prayer and abundant gospel sowing. This multiplier sees his or her future as a behind-the-scenes trainer rather than as a pastor or up-front missionary. Their applicable Scripture might be, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Along the way, the movement starter also trains new believers to read the Bible like crazy—for example, five chapters per day. Education happens much more through “self-feeding” than listening to sermons. In addition, the movement starter helps these new Jesus followers to form groups that study the Bible together using a unique approach (often called “discovery Bible study”) that involves asking a template of questions and discovering biblical truths in the pages of Scripture. The Bible— rather than sermons or tracts—is lifted up as the highest authority.

This movement starter scans the horizon constantly for spiritual seekers who have a circle of influence and are willing to share and obey the gospel. These spiritual seekers are sometimes referred to as “persons of peace,” a throwback to Jesus’ instructions in Luke 10:112. The emphasis at first is on lots of telling. The moment new believers begin to rise up, the emphasis switches to training these new advocates to reproduce. The focus is on multiplication through repeating chains of gospel sharing.

It’s not uncommon for new believers in these movements to read 30 Bible chapters per week, share their faith with others, and launch a couple groups of new prospective disciples, all within the first few weeks of encountering Jesus. Then it becomes a matter of training these new believers how to train others. Once the movement hits “critical mass,” a corresponding inertia sets in. The church grows through an unending supply of God’s Spirit, giving strength and mighty power to fuel ongoing generations of growth.

Redefining Our ChristianEducation Systems

Education happens much more through 'self-feeding' than listening to sermons.

This entire scenario is very different from church as we know it in North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand. For some unknown reason, in these lands where the church has flourished for so long, we developed church education models based mainly on knowledge. To know God was to learn about him. Faithfulness came to be defined by our presence in the pew. The bedrock of Christian education became listening to the sermon and remembering it. If we were particularly holy and perhaps striving to become professional leaders in Christianity, we went to college where we exchanged our pews for classroom

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movement of 2 million in Asia told me he discovered a consistency for uniform belief as much as he confirmed uniform practice.

I loved my home church, and I credit my Bible college experience with helping me remain loyal to Christ through some very difficult questions of faith. But, when I’m thinking objectively, I have to admit—our education system in these lands (North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand) seem designed more for maintenance than explosive growth.

Maybe we always thought that “right knowledge will yield right behavior.” In movements, it appears that “right behavior somehow yields right knowledge.” Strachan indicated that “constant propagation” brings about consistent faithfulness. So, movements turn Christian education upside down, or right-side up, depending on your perspective. (For more on this, see the Epilogue of my book, More Disciples.)

Movements turn Christian education or upside down, or right-side up, depending on your perspective.

In this model—lots of Bible input combined with lots of retelling, that is, obeying—it seems that “just-in-time education” is working fairly well. God alone knows what will happen to these movements once they reach maturity. But for now, with nearly 7,000 people groups still remaining unreached, maybe we can afford to focus on explosive growth for a while, as long as we maintain an emphasis on lots of Bible input—through reading, discovery, and then retelling it—along the way.

So, what does education look like among movements, and how will it change our definition of “Christian education” for tomorrow? That is still being studied. But we know one thing for sure: Movements move! One practitioner wrote, “The success of any movement lies in that movement’s ability to mobilize its entire membership in the constant propagation of its beliefs” (see “The Legacy of R. Kenneth Strachan” in the January 1979 issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research). In these movements, remember, believers are compelled to action within days, and sometimes hours, of conversion.

Where will Christian education go in tomorrow’s version of disciple-making movements? I hope to write that article here in a couple of decades. I hope the executive summary will be this: Right behavior brought about right knowledge and more explosive church growth worldwide. 

This might seem unsafe and perhaps even an invitation for heresy, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in these movements. A researcher who traced church reproduction and multiplication across multiple generations in that

Doug Lucas is founder and president of Team Expansion, which seeks to multiply disciples and churches among the unreached. Learn more at www.TeamExpansion.org. Lucas’s new book, More Disciples, discusses disciple-making movements. The book’s profits will go directly to train more workers in how to launch new movements.

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chairs. So, we left our cultures (and perhaps even the region we hoped to serve) and listened to innumerable lectures.

Just over four years ago an African-American noninstrumental church of Christ in the deep South contacted our team at The Solomon Foundation about financing construction of their proposed new facility. I began to investigate this group of churches and, since then, a ministry partnership has developed that has more potential than I ever imagined. More important, however, have been the personal relationships we are building! When I completed my due diligence, I saw a great business opportunity for The Solomon Foundation that would include the usual things: originate and fund loans, acquire existing buildings, and build new facilities to expand the kingdom. However, within a very short time, our teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emphasis became a far greater ministry partnership. We found hundreds of churches that never had options with regard to financing their facilities.

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Even the largest churches in this group had been abandoned by banks and shunned by other financial institutions. Since The Solomon Foundation focuses on both finances and ministry, serving a group of churches that until then had been largely unknown to us was an easy transition for our team. For me personally, it became a new frontier. It was blazing new territory, and we took on the challenge by allocating a specific portion of our total assets into the new â&#x20AC;&#x153;lending sector.â&#x20AC;? Meeting new pastors and leaders in need of a financial partner is in our DNA, and when they learned it also would be a ministry partnership, many felt it was too good to be true. Here is what I have learned through my experience with the African-American noninstrumental churches of Christ and their leaders:

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