Christian Standard | January 2020

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C H R I S T I A N S TA N D A R D

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JANUARY 2020

Letter from the Publisher the rules have changed

This issue of Christian Standard focuses on the business side of church. Leaders make decisions every day about spending, staff, volunteers, fundraising, organizational structure, leader development, staff and volunteer education, debt, facility management, marketing, media, and online presence. Yet, despite all of that, it is rather amazing how little most church leaders know about business, finance, real estate, administration, or management.

do so on a part-time or interim basis. Whatever the case, it’s not likely to move the needle in the direction of the next generation.

Many small, rural congregations might have options to save or even grow the church if they are willing to face reality before their churches shrink to next to nothing. But the independent nature of our churches or inwardly focused boards sometimes keep mergers and acquisitions off the table until there is practically no membership or giving before they are willing to seriously consider such things. As time passes, their buildings can be more of a liability than asset for potential adopting churches.

Many mainly rural and small churches are closing daily because they can no longer manage their own existence. Attendance and giving might be dwindling; the churches may no longer be able to pay for a ministry staff (and certainly not for health care). Those ministers or retired ministers willing to accept a position at such a church often

C H R I S T I A N S TA N D A R D

A local church is critical to preserving access to the gospel in a community, but that kingdom

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JANUARY 2020

concept can be misapplied when an old, worn-out church—desperately trying to preserve its tradition and identity—sees itself as the community’s only viable option. Stubbornness of that sort can consign a local church to its fate. And all the while, statistics show that church planting is not even close to keeping pace with the number of churches closing in America.

people attend church just 1.2 times a month! At The Crossing, weekly attendance at our various physical locations is about 7,500, but the number of unique attendees monthly is about 17,500!

Here’s my point, the rules have changed, and our churches need to figure out how best to present the gospel and shepherd people in their walk with Jesus without encumbering those folks with traditional (i.e., nonbiblical) bureaucracy. If we minister at a large or multisite church, let’s leverage our advantages like never before to grow the kingdom.

If we’re a small church in a small community, let’s figure out how to take what God has given to make the greatest impact in our community and beyond. Jesus said to be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). He said, “The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light” (Luke 16:8).

The choice before us is whether to curse the darkness or light a candle. And yet we know that, in the midst of darkness, candles always shine brighter.

Opportunities abound in our culture today to be the church like never before . . . literally! The primitive church mentioned in Acts met in people’s homes. There were no paid staffs, fancy programming, buildings, health care, or media, and yet the church was on fire with growth. Today, that same house-to-house option remains a possibility.

Literally anyone can facilitate a church experience in their home, and existing churches would be happy to count them and put them under their accountability.

In the movie Remember the Titans, the football team would chant three words when gearing up to play: “Mobile! Agile! Hostile!” The church was designed to be mobile. Let’s find ways to export the gospel and take new territory for the kingdom. Let’s also be agile, by not letting the former things get in the way of doing the new thing. Our perceived identity should not keep us from our true identity. And let’s never stop being hostile to our adversary, the devil.

We should rob from Satan’s house instead of allowing him to continually rob ours!

People who desire a Christian education, even higher education, have many inexpensive (or free) online options that do not require relocation or leaving a full-time job. Training resources abound.

Large churches need to learn how to export their ministry into homes, community centers, prisons, and unreached communities. We need just to understand that the tools for sharing the timeless gospel have changed over time.

Here’s an illustration of that. Magazines like Christian Standard and Outreach have published lists of the largest and/or fastest-growing churches for several years. The numbers are based on weekly attendance averages. I remember when weekly attendance was reported on a wooden board in the front of the church building. (The church also reported Sunday school attendance and hymn numbers on that same board.) Forty years ago, those numbers were pretty static because most people attended literally every week. But today, most

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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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JANUARY 2020

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

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Copyright ©2019 by Christian Standard Media Email: cs@christianstandardmedia.com Website: www.christianstandard.com Printed in USA

LET'S LEVERAGE OUR ADVANTAGES LI KE NEVER BEFORE TO GROW THE KINGDOM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

22 32 38 44 50 56 58 64

Senior Pastor / Senior Fundraiser: A Biblical Approach

—

IN E V ERY IS S UE

By Ken Idleman

2-3 | L E T T ER F ROM T HE P UBL ISHER

What Matters Most

Jerry Harris

By Rick Rusaw

6-7 | L E T T ER F ROM T HE EDI T OR Michael C. Mack

Reach Men . . . Reach Families

By Don Wilson

Training For The Future

By Kim Harris

Growing Volunteers to Grow the Kingdom

By Melissa Wuske

8-9 | e 2:EFFECTIVE ELDERS T he T h r e efold T r u s t G i ve n t o E lde r s Gary L. Johnson

10-12 | ME T R IC S

T he Powe r of I nv it at ion Kent Fillinger

13-15 | HOR IZ ONS

From ‘Ne ve r ’ to A l l-I n: L e t ’s St a r t Ta l k i ng Tr ip L e ad s to M i s sion s C a re e r

Laura McKillip Wood

Book Review: What Made Jesus Mad?

16-17 | P OL ISHED * NEW!

By Caleb Kaltenbach

T he I mp or t a nc e of Wome n , a nd Wome n’s M i n i s t r y, i n t he C hu r ch Megan Rawlings

How to Establish an Ef fective, Objective Church-Ministry Evaluation

18-19 | MINIS T RY L IF E

By Bart Rendel

Stadia’s Generosity Pays off

By Jim Nieman

Yet We Cont inue Clayton Hentzel

22-31 | F E AT UR E

S e n ior P a s t or / S e n ior F u nd r a i s e r : A B i bl ic a l App r o a ch Ken Idleman

79 | IN T ER A C T

Recapturing a ‘Phenomenal’ Vision for Our Churches

Letter from the editor January 2020 seems like an excellent time to think about vision.

strategies work for a season but are soon replaced by others . . . but Christ’s vision for the church is (or should be) never-changing: to be his witnesses in ever-expanding circles from where we live and work and gather to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

We accomplish that vision through our mission, to go and make disciples. . . . That’s pretty simple, church.

The articles in this issue focus on significant church strategies—fundraising, assessing, training, neighboring, church planting, and reaching men, for example—that can help churches fulfill Jesus’ vision and carry out his mission. But I want to make sure we don’t confuse strategies— though they may be biblical and beneficial—with the church’s vision and mission. Strategies must never supplant our mission.

Historians have described the growth of Restoration Movement churches nearly two centuries ago as phenomenal. “Between 1830 and 1860 . . . its membership grew by 900 percent while the population of the country grew only one-third as fast,” reported Joe Ellis in The Church on Target. The remarkable growth continued until the turn of the century, when the movement was 45 times larger than it was seven decades earlier. In 1900, said Ellis, 1,000 churches were planted. Tens of thousands of people were being baptized. “Restoration was an idea whose time had come.”

I did a quick topical search of the bookshelves in my office: The Five-Star Church, The Seven-Daya-Week Church, The Emotionally Healthy Church, Becoming a Healthy Church, Building a Contagious Church, Building a Church of Small Groups, Simple Church, Sticky Church, Slow Church, The Giving Church, The Externally Focused Church, The Unfinished Church, The Disciple-Making Church, Church without Walls, The Church on Purpose, The PurposeDriven Church, and Autopsy of a Deceased Church.

I added to the fray with The Synergy Church and Jerry Harris chimed in with Micropolitan Church.

Note that these things occurred before the wide acceptance of the Sunday school movement, before the small-group movement or the churchgrowth movement of the twentieth century. So what can we learn from the church of the last 70 years of the nineteenth century? For that matter,

We have access to an Amazonian number of books about church strategies. Most of those C H R I S T I A N S TA N D A R D

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JANUARY 2020

what can we learn from the church of the first century, which undoubtedly had even more phenomenal growth?

sessment remains true: “The restoration movement has, to some extent, succumbed to thinking ‘survival’ rather than ‘success’ on Christ’s terms.”

Restoration Movement leaders have generally focused on doctrinal restoration and/or unity.

However, said Ellis, “When [the restorers] turned their full attention to restoration and unity, they developed conceptual clarity, but the movement stalled. But when they launched into vigorous evangelism as the leading edge for these other concerns, the movement generated enormous momentum. It exploded into growth and it made great strides in restoration of doctrine as well as unity.”

It’s no secret that some of our Bible colleges and many of our churches have found themselves in survival mode. Many, of course, have not survived. When we make decisions to survive rather than to succeed in our mission, utter failure is near. Joe Ellis put it bluntly: Restoration Movement churches have “been inclined to take the Master’s trust, bury it in the ground, and guard it.

In a slow motion somersault, it has turned statistically inward.”

How did we lose that evangelistic vision? Ellis said we redefined faithfulness.

“One group redefined faithfulness as unity and refocused its priority there,” he said. This group se ttle d for “mainte nance mode .” Whe n we choose unity as our primary vision, “concern for both restoration and evangelism fade,” said Ellis.

“Others in the movement redefined faithfulness as doctrinal purity. They have refined and refined their understandings of doctrine and have fractured into many additional subgroups in the process.” And when this happens, “both unity and evangelism suffer.”

“Neither unity nor sound doctrine ought to be compromised,” said Ellis, “but these concerns are best served in a context where the Great Commission mandate has priority. . . . To the degree that the movement is not succeeding as it once did, it has shifted its focus from the original, authentic goals. Means and ends have become confused.”

Strategies, tactics, distinctives, and principles have become our vision, and we are left focusing on something other than Jesus’ original mission for his church. We are lost in a vast forest and can’t help but scrutinize various varieties of tree trunks.

We must focus on Christ’s original vision in every facet and at every level of the church. His vision must guide our magazines, Christian Standard and The Lookout, as well as our movement’s colleges and universities, parachurch ministries, each church, and every Christ follower.

As editor, I am committed to do the best I can to focus on our bigger vision and mission while identifying great strategies in line with biblical principles and distinctives. Christian Standard does not exist merely to survive; we want to succeed, and we do that when we help churches carry out the Lord’s mission!

My personal commitment to Jesus’ vision is this: I want to be so busy sharing the gospel with the people God continually puts around me that I don’t have the time or energy to argue with fellow believers. I’m not saying truth is unimportant, of course; but I’d rather be sharing God’s truth and grace with people still far from God and with those new to their faith than debating nonessentials with the guy devotedly guarding his buried treasure.

Let’s keep Jesus’ vision and mission alive in every church and ministry, in 2020 and beyond. @michaelcmack @michaelcmack @michaelcmack

The Church on Target was first published by Standard Publishing in 1978, but I believe Ellis’s asC H R I S T I A N S TA N D A R D

/authormichaelcmack

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JANUARY 2020

e 2 : e ffe c t i v e e ld e r s

The Threefold Trust Given to Elders

BY GARY L. JOHNSON

Long before I went to seminary, I earned a degree in finance and worked as a commercial loan officer. I enjoyed everything about the banking environment, from the people to the processes to the policies.

Many banks use the word trust in their names, such as First National Bank & Trust. It should be no surprise, then, that one of the many services banks provide is the management of trust accounts. Banks typically have a trust department where workers oversee assets entrusted to the bank. A trust department can manage thousands of trust accounts worth hundreds of millions of dollars or more. Trust accounts can be comprised of cash, real estate, stocks, bonds, and other such funds or assets.

Dr. Gary Johnson served 30 years with Indian Creek Christian Church (The Creek) in Indianapolis, retiring last year. He is a cofounder of e2: effective elders, which he now serves as executive director.

The bank and its directors are responsible for safeguarding these trust accounts. The board of directors do not actually manage the trust accounts, but they are ultimately responsible for protecting and overseeing them.

/e2elders @e2elders

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As church elders, we also have a trust under our care. Paul wrote, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). Elders have been entrusted with the church, the bride of Christ, and we must prove faithful in protecting her, even when it comes to money.

Think of the threefold trust we have been given.

Trust 1: Fiscal Oversight Just as bank directors are ultimately responsible for the fiduciary trust of all the institution’s assets, elders are responsible for the protection and oversight of all fiscal operations of the local church. Again, as with bank directors, elders are not charged with the minutia of fiscal oversight. Elders do not balance the checking account, renew the insurance coverage, or prepare the monthly financial statements or annual budget. Instead, elders delegate these responsibilities to church members who have been carefully vetted.

Do you remember Bernie Madoff, the billionaire who “made off” with about $60 billion investors had entrusted to him? He pleaded guilty to money laundering and various other felonies and is now serving a life sentence in prison. This incredible loss could have been prevented had there been a careful examination of Madoff’s brokerage firm. Similarly, elders must prevent any fiscal wrongdoing in the management of church assets by carefully selecting people to manage day-to-day financial and legal matters.

Elders must thoroughly screen and appoint individuals who are known to be spiritually mature, professionally skilled, and truly trustworthy before entrusting them with any authority in this arena of church management. Elders, after all, “have been given a trust” and it is required that they be faithful, for they are ultimately responsible.

Trust 2: Teaching and Preaching Trust in and among elders stretches beyond the church’s bank account and real estate holdings. Elders must also be able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2), and one vital subject they must address in their lessons is money and the things it can buy. God’s Word contains much wisdom in this regard. More than 2,000 verses address fiscal issues, as do many of Jesus’ parC H R I S T I A N S TA N D A R D

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ables. Yet, too often we avoid discussing the topic of money for fear of a backlash from people in the pew.

Money impacts everyone. Money is required to pay for food, clothing, and shelter. As elders, we should teach and preach on this much-needed issue. Teaching is the explanation of the Word, while preaching is the exhortation of Scripture. Elders can explain verse-by-verse the many principles and practices of personally managing money and the things it can buy. Likewise, elders can—and must—exhort (i.e., preach) about money; after all, Jesus did so—and without apology.

Trust 3: Leading by Example Most importantly, elders must lead by example in managing money and the things it can buy. Every elder has been entrusted by God with personal assets, and “an elder must be above reproach” in this regard (1 Timothy 3:2). We must lead by example.

To that end, are our house and vehicle payments current or past due? Are credit card balances paid off each month or are the cards maxed-out? Have all debts been paid or is there a never-ending cycle of credit?

Are we content with what we have, or do we want more and more? (More, of course, is never enough.)

Do we bring the whole tithe into the storehouse or do we rob God of tithes and offerings?

On the last night of his life, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and said to them, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15).

What example are we setting for people in the church with regard to money and what it can buy? Is it one we would want them to follow?

We do not serve First Christian Church & Trust, but trust is certainly implied. As elders, Jesus has entrusted us in many ways, including fiscal leadership of his church.  Teaching material on this topic is available through e2: effective elders.

Contact gary@e2elders.org for more information.

JANUARY 2020

Me trics

The Power of Invitation

BY KENT FILLINGER

Jesus told the parable of a man who planned a great feast and invited many people to attend (see Luke 14:15-24). When preparations were completed, he sent his servant to tell his invited guests, “Come, for everything is now ready.”

Surprisingly, the people on the guest list made multiple excuses for why they couldn’t attend. This angered the master, who told his servant to invite the poor, crippled, blind, and lame to come. After they arrived, there still was room. So, the master told the servant to invite anyone he could find to come to the banquet.

The A-list folks refused the invitation and made excuses for blowing off the party. But after issuing even more invitations, the master enjoyed a full house for his feast.

It’s a short parable, but we can draw many deep spiritual lessons from it. I will focus on just one.

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

We may invite many people to church activities, but not everyone will accept. If we continue to invite everyone we see, however—regardless of who they are, where they live, or what they look like—eventually our churches will be filled.

/3strandsconsulting 3strandsconsulting.com

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JANUARY 2020

What Is Your Church’s ‘Invitability Quotient’?

In an article at churchleaders.com, pastor Rich Birch wrote, “‘Invitability’ describes how a church is growing its ability to have its people invite friends and family.” Birch asks some great questions for church leaders to consider: • What are you doing to encourage your people to invite others to your church?

• What tools have you given your people to enable them to help create the culture of invitation you are developing?

• Do your people understand that being an “inviter” is an essential part of every Christian’s life?

• How urgently does your church sense the need to reach the community around you?

• What can you do to increase the vision for community impact at your church? (See “5 Questions about Invitability and Its Impact on Your Church,”

by Rich Birch, May 6, 2019, churchleaders.com.)

In the book Fusion, Nelson Searcy suggested three markers to gauge whether your church has a positive “guest flow”:

evangelism does not result in discipleship, it is not the evangelism that Jesus envisioned. If discipleship does not result in more evangelism, then it is not really ‘teaching people to obey.’ The result of discipleship is not ‘teaching them everything’ but ‘teaching them to obey everything.’ It is transformational, not informational.” (From “The Great Commission and 3 Types of Churches,” June 11, 2019, ericgeiger.com.)

If We Ask Them, Will They Come?

In 2018, LifeWay Research found that nearly twothirds of Protestant churchgoers had invited at least one person to visit their church in the past six months. But 29 percent of respondents said they didn’t invite anyone.

A recent Barna report indicated half of practicing Christians (52 percent) are completely comfortable inviting their friends or family to church.

Some churches are unsure whether to prioritize evangelism or discipleship. Pastor and author Eric Geiger shared a helpful answer in a blog post.

The same Barna report (“Beyond an Invitation to Church: Opportunities for Faith-Sharing,” March 26, 2019, www.barna.com) asked non-Christian and lapsed Christian adults in the U.S. how they preferred to explore faith; both groups said their top two ways were “casual, one-on-one conversations” (30 percent) or “casual conversations with a group” of Christians (23 percent). Tracts and someone on the street trying to talk to them were the two least preferred options for both groups.

“The dichotomy that is sometimes set up between discipleship and evangelism is a false dichotomy and not an option Jesus gave us,” Geiger wrote. “If

The frequency of church attendance impacts how often people invite others to join them. Twenty-seven percent of people who attend at least once a week had

• Maintenance mode: 3 first-time guests for every 100 in worship attendance • Growth mode: 5 first-time guests for every 100 • Rapid-growth mode: 7 first-time guests for every 100

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- METRICS -

Why Don’t We Invite People to Church?

Rainer shared 10 reasons why church members don’t invite others to church. I grouped his list of reasons, gleaned from thomrainer.com, into two categories.

Personal Reasons • I just don’t think about it.

• I’m afraid I’ll be rejected.

• Nobody ever challenged me to invite anyone.

• I don’t know how to start the conversation. invited three or more people; that drops to 10 percent for those who attended once or twice a month.

Inviting a person is no guarantee they will come. A 2016 LifeWay Research study found only one-third (35 percent) of unchurched people said they were likely to come to a church worship service if invited (see “Two-Thirds of Churchgoers Have Invited Someone to Church,” by Bob Smietana, July 12, 2018, lifewayresearch.com). But a LifeWay Research study from 2014 found that 67 percent of Americans said a personal invitation from a “family member” would be very or somewhat effective in getting them to visit a church. And 63 percent of Americans said a personal invitation from a “friend or neighbor” would be very or somewhat effective in getting them to visit a church. (See “Strategic Evangelism: The Power of an Invitation,” by Ed Stetzer, July 21, 2014, www. christianitytoday.com.)

In The Unchurched Next Door, Thom Rainer said that nearly 8 in 10 unchurched persons would come to church if we invited them and accompanied them to the worship service.

If someone responds to an invitation to attend church, they are highly likely to tell others about their experience. Auxano.com reports that “guests will talk about their initial experiences 8-15 times with other people.”

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• It’s the Spirit’s job—not mine—to bring people to church.

Church-related Reasons • The music isn’t that good.

• The preaching isn’t strong.

• We’ve got too many church problems right now.

• Our church is already too crowded.

• It’s too far for people to come.

A reason not listed is that many among us don’t know many non-Christians. If few people at your church know unchurched people, then it’s no mystery why your church isn’t growing.

In “5 Questions about Invitability,” Rich Birch suggested these questions for personal reflection: • When was the last time you invited someone to your church?

• If it was recently, what happened when you asked? What happened when your friend came to church?

• What part of that experience went well?

• What part of that experience was negative?

• If you haven’t recently invited someone, why not?

What is holding you back?

If your church is planning a special event in the near future, that would be a good, easy, natural opportunity for inviting someone.  JANUARY 2020

Horizons

From ‘Never’ to All-In: Let’s Start Talking Trip Leads to Missions Career

BY LAURA MCKILLIP WOOD

Melvina’s hands shook as she dialed 911.

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 and her husband, Andrew, have three teenagers.

“I found my dad on the floor! I can’t wake him up!”

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself as the operator instructed her to begin CPR. Within a few minutes, paramedics arrived, but it was too late. The heart attack was fatal. They pronounced Melvina’s father dead at the scene.

/laura.wood2

In many ways, this event marked the end of Melvina Brown’s childhood: “I was 17, but his death turned me into a 30-year-old.” She made decisions about the funeral and bought a casket. She began navigating life without a father.

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@woodlaura30 @woodlaura30 lauramckillipwood.com lauramckillipwood@gmail.com

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College Life Before leaving for college, Melvina asked her grandmother for advice.

“I want you to find a church,” she replied.

So, when Melvina arrived at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, she looked for churches and Christian campus activities. She found a Christian student center sponsored by a church of Christ in town. It quickly became an important part of her life, and she became an integral part of the group.

“I knew I had two choices: run toward God or get angry and run away,” she says. “I clung to him with everything, and he carried me.”

Melvina never met her mother, who had given up parenting rights at birth. Melvina eventually moved in with her grandmother, who had loved and cared about her throughout her childhood.

Unfortunately, Melvina and her grandfather were not close, and he informed her she had to move out when she turned 18.

Melvina planned to attend college that fall but needed a place to live between her birthday and the start of school. She had been working in a veterinarian’s office after school. When the vet, Dr. Parker, heard of Melvina’s pending homelessness, she offered to let Melvina move in with her. She even offered to pay for Melvina’s books, a computer, and whatever her full-ride college scholarship did not cover.

“This was another time God stepped in and sent a mother figure to rescue me,” she says. Melvina saw God caring for her during every crisis her young life presented.

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During Melvina’s sophomore year, a friend told her about a mission trip she was leading the next summer.

“You’d be good at it. You should go,” the girl urged her.

Melvina went to the orientation meeting even though, in her words, “I was never going to sign up for this trip. Like, never.” At the third meeting, the others in the group turned to her and asked if she was “in” or not. She surprised herself by saying yes.

“That trip changed my life,” Melvina explains.

Traveling as part of an organization named Let’s Start Talking, she went to Brazil to teach English.

Through that experience, God revealed her passion for missions, travel, and planting seeds of the gospel with people. Since then, she’s spent summers in Switzerland, Kenya, and China. Each time, she brought other students with her. She sees the importance of such international and intercultural experiences and wants to share them with other college students.

JANUARY 2020

- HORIZONS -

Let’s Start Talking Let’s Start Talking was founded in 1980 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas. For the past 40 years LST has been sending groups to non-English-speaking areas around the world. The group pairs a Christian native speaker of English with a local, non-English speaker. These partners use LST curriculum to read and discuss a passage from the Bible. This gives the reader, who wants help with his or her English skills, practice speaking with a native speaker, and it gives the American Christian the chance to talk about spiritual and biblical ideas.

Such programs are important in the life and ministry of the churches that use them because of the increasing diversity of American communities. LST offers free training to churches that wish to use their workbooks, making it possible for virtually any English speaker to participate in Friendspeak. Great teaching skills and lesson planning are not needed.

As Melvina says, “The Word is the teacher.”

A Bright Future

“We are a seed-planting ministry,” Melvina says.

Immediately after graduation, Melvina worked in jobs she did not enjoy. Then she jumped at the chance to interview for a position at LST. Upon being offered the job, she moved to Fort Worth, where she now recruits college students for LST summer trips. She loves that she can reach out to students who are just beginning to develop their independent worldviews and that she can accompany some of them each summer. She travels all over the Midwest and Southern part of the United States telling college students about what God is doing in other parts of the world . . . and she encourages students to be a part of it.

LST works with local churches in these communities; it provides opportunities for people in the churches to meet and start relationships with people who might not otherwise attend a church event. Sometimes the relationships continue to grow even after the short-term team leaves, and people begin attending church. Several churches in Japan and Argentina report that half of their congregation originally became interested in spiritual things because of their contact with LST.

Friendspeak

“My story’s not ending. It’s only getting better!” she exclaims. “I praise God for his strategy. He saw my heart and my love for missions and college students.

He uses me to invite people, to train, to mentor . . . and it’s all him. I get to travel the world just by saying, ‘I’ll go again.’ I guess he’s dreaming with me!”

In addition to working with local churches in other countries, LST estimates that 300 to 500 American churches are using their materials and methods in their own communities. Friendspeak is the name for this branch of their work. The churches reach out to international students and immigrants by offering English tutoring; this serves to familiarize people with the gospel and helps them build relationships with people from the churches.

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Melvina’s passion and LST’s commitment to planting seeds make a perfect combination that is yielding a harvest in the United States and around the world.  - 15 -

JANUARY 2020

Polis hed

The Importance of Women, and Women’s Ministry, in the Church

BY MEGAN RAWLINGS

As a young girl, I always wanted to be just like my mom. Whether it was cutting jeans into shorts, teasing my bangs, or thanking veterans in the grocery store, if she did it, so did I. One time, I saw Mom get eye level with a homeless man, hand him a sandwich, and say, “Jesus loves you.” That moment—the small act of telling a nameless person about the love of God—cemented the woman I wanted to be.

At the age of 3, “Jesus loves you” was my mantra. I wasn’t a prodigy of the Primary Department. I said it because I wanted to be like my mom.

When a father converts to Christianity, his household will follow suit 9 out of 10 times. But research also reveals the undeniable impact of mothers.

Megan Rawlings is the founder and CEO of The Bold Movement.

She is an Enneagram 3, pastor’s wife, and lover of the Scriptures.

According to Barna, nearly 90 percent of teens say they go to their mothers with questions about the Christian faith, 88 percent quiz their moms about the Bible, and 98 percent say their moms are the ones who encourage them to go to church. It is not surprising, then, that the American church is predominantly made up of women.

/tbmministry @tbm_ministry @tbm_ministry @theboldmovement theboldmovement.com

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JANUARY 2020

“On any given Sunday,” says Pew Research, “there are 13,000,000 more adult women than men in America’s churches.” That means nearly 75 percent of church is made up of women.

So, hooray for Christian women! But there’s an unsettling aspect to all this.

The vast majority of women, like many Christians today, are biblically illiterate. Women need to spend more time studying the Bible. A sermon or two a week will not equip women for the challenge at hand.

While many churches supplement their education ministry with Bible studies specifically for women, these gatherings tend not to dive deeply into Bible teaching, but gravitate toward being engaging devotionals that serve up practical advice.

What can we do when 7 in 10 teenagers are leaving the church after graduation? If we are not able to understand, defend, and explain Scripture for those coming to us with questions, we cannot expect the church to grow or for young people to remain in the faith. We need to have answers for their questions so they will be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks them to give the reason for the hope they have (1 Peter 3:15).

This puzzling dilemma reminded me of something else my mama taught me: Don’t bring up a problem unless you are ready to offer a solution. So, here are three ways the church can help women develop in their biblical literacy.

1. Encourage Women to Study the Bible Daily Beyond merely reading the Bible, women must actually study it until they are comfortable explaining it.

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written?” and “Why was it written?” Knowing these things will lead to more accurate, effective learning.

Women should be taught to ask the three “whats”: (1) What does this passage say about God? (2) What does this passage say about people? (3) What does this passage ask of me?

Churches should encourage everyone to invest in a respected study Bible. The footnotes often provide great insights.

2. Encourage Women to Read Good Commentaries and Books on Apologetics This idea is seldom popular with women. When I suggest reading commentaries and logical arguments in defense of the faith, I’m often told, “That’s not my thing.” I understand that. Nonetheless, research shows the more you study something, the more passionate you become about that topic. Getting started is difficult, but with enough encouragement, a number of women may make a habit of it and churches and families will be stronger for it.

3. Encourage Women to Find Accountability Partners or Groups These groups will consist of women who pray with, study with, and encourage each other. I have been blessed over the years to have faithful Christians around me who have recommended resources and helped me to study. Finding such a partner or group can be tough and will take patience, but pray, and when God sees fit, he will send them to you. Until then, lean into God more than usual.

I know this sounds like a lot of time and work (because it is!), but if you truly believe in the gospel and have decided to make God the King of your heart, these steps are essential.

Women, we must study hard to fulfill our roles in the kingdom. The fate of our families and the church may depend on it.  JANUARY 2020

Ministry L i fe

Yet We Continue

BY CLAYTON HENTZEL

Ministry is tough; that’s why it’s not for everyone.

We minister to people who lie, overpromise, and underdeliver. It seems every time we leave the 99 to go after the one, the one says thanks, but doesn’t serve or give, and the 99 complain we didn’t visit their uncle in the hospital, even though no one told us he was there.

Clayton Hentzel serves as executive pastor with The Crossing, a multisite church located in three states across the Midwest. /Clayton.Hentzel @claytonhentzel @claytonhentzel

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JANUARY 2020

Ministry can be especially tough in our post-Christian culture. Society is changing. Extracurricular activities are increasing while frequency of attendance is declining. Political chaos abounds. Abortion has become mainstream and people march in favor of it. The biblical view of sexuality is considered outdated, out of touch, homophobic, and hate speech. Gender identity has moved past Genesis and chromosomes; it has become a matter of the mind. Racial divides are widening. Inclusion and tolerance have supplanted truth. Feelings have replaced facts. Yet we continue to minister anyway.

Ministry can be tough in the midst of difficult lives.

We face personal hardships, strained marriages, financial burdens, and parenting battles. We suffer miscarriages, health scares, and medical challenges. We walk through the valley of death with parents, grandparents, and in-laws. Yet we continue to minister anyway.

All types of professional ministry can be tough.

Early childhood ministers deal with dirty diapers, disgruntled parents, and inconsolable babies. Children’s ministers deal with distracted kids; underparented, underloved boys and girls; and foster kids with heart-wrenching backstories. Volunteers are late, cancel, or are no-shows, yet complain when removed from the rotation. Student ministers work with teenagers who are navigating their parents’ painful divorces and also dealing with physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. They are raising themselves while experimenting with drugs, sex, and pornography. College ministers serve students who are underemployed, overentitled, and relationally draining. Yet we continue to minister anyway.

Those in recovery ministries navigate court dates, family separation, and relapses. Those serving in benevolence deal with growing needs and shrinking funds. The people we can’t help have no grace, and many of the people we do help have no thanks.

Those in connections and discipleship ministries must cope with a consumeristic mentality, lack of C H R I S T I A N S TA N D A R D

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leadership in the home, and people who are high on opinion and low on involvement. Those in tech and worship face a lack of volunteers and lower levels of talent while still trying to achieve excellence. Senior leaders face HR issues, incident reports, budget overages, staff challenges, system changes, and devastating isolation. Yet we continue to minister anyway.

Ministry is tough, but God is good. In the midst of our pain, hardship, trials, and shortcomings, God provides. He continues to fill jars of clay with heavenly treasure. The gospel is still carried forth by beautiful feet.

Ministry is tough, but it was tough long before you and I stepped into ministry. It was tough for Moses and Joshua. It was tougher still for Jeremiah and Daniel. Few of us have endured the hardships of Job. Few of us would trade sandals with Peter or Paul.

We were warned we were being sent out like sheep among wolves, yet we answered the call anyway.

We are part of an unbroken chain of people who fell so in love with Jesus that we decided to give our years answering the call to feed his sheep. We have slaughtered the oxen and burned the plow.

There is indeed a crown of righteousness in store for us on that great and glorious day. So while ministry may be tough, and we may be tempted to quit, remember that Christ in us is the hope of glory, and we won’t become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest . . . if we do not give up.

Ministry is tough; that’s why it is not for everyone.

And yet you and I are still in it, pushing forward, pursuing God. 

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.

JANUARY 2020

Is 2020 the year you get serious about studying your Bible?

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SENIOR PASTOR

SENIOR FUNDRAISER

A B I B L I CAL AP P ROACH

BY KE N I D L E MAN

IN 1977, I

was a 29-year-old, green-as-grass Christian leader when I was body-slammed with a vocational reality: I had been called by the trustees of Ozark Bible College to be, among other things, a “fundraiser.”

I was vaguely aware of that item on my list of job responsibilities as executive vice president/president-elect, but I did not understand its impact on my future leadership priorities. I learned the importance of that responsibility early on because one of my first assignments was working to eliminate a $300,000 cash-flow deficit.

That doesn’t sound like much money now, but the equivalent in today’s currency is almost $1.3 million. (Imagine needing to find an extra $107,917.95 for 12 consecutive months!) Additionally, the college needed about $2 million per year to operate—a sum needed for educating and training hundreds of Christian leaders and laborers for the mission fields, churches, and ministries of our Restoration Movement, but still not enough to buy the first brick for new campus construction!

Thirty years later, I “retired” from Christian higher education to become senior pastor of Crossroads Christian Church in Newburgh, Indiana. The church, at that time, was falling short of their $79,000 weekly budget and was $4 million in debt.

Once again, I took on the leadership responsibility of increasing income and retiring debt, or, in the vernacular of today . . . fundraising.

All this to say, the responsibility of any senior leader, whether serving a Christian college, church, or ministry, is not just conceiving and casting vision, but also resourcing that vision.

But I want to try to both soften and qualify this fundraiser designation (as very few senior pastors like the term). Here’s the first thing to know: A pastor seeking to raise funds need not be a manipulative salesperson on one extreme or a groveling beggar on the other. You can actually be true to your spiritual calling as a pastor-teacher and at the same time see your ministry vision adequately underwritten financially.

See if this biblical approach is more palatable.

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IF SENIOR LEADERS ARE PERCEIVED TO BE 'ALL IN,' THERE IS A TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT IN THE LIFE OF THE ORGANIZATION OR CHURCH.

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JANUARY 2020

R E A L I Z E TH AT PARTN E RS F U N D E D TH E M I N I STRY O F J ESU S AN D H I S AP OSTL ES

When Jesus began to preach and teach about the kingdom of God full-time, his mission had to be underwritten financially. Housing, meals, and travel had to be provided. And there is no evidence Jesus and his disciples were employed otherwise.

While it is largely an argument from silence, we are left to assume that people like Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha, and a number of others—who were undoubtedly grateful for Jesus’ healing and teaching ministry—likely stepped up to support his ministry. Matthew or Zacchaeus might also have invested their considerable wealth in the mission.

The apostles, including Paul, would later depend on the partnership of churches in Jerusalem, Antioch, Philippi, and Corinth. Scripture specifically mentions Barnabas, Lydia, Priscilla, and Aquila as contributors. There is irrefutable evidence that “those who are taught in the Word must share all good things with those who teach them” (Galatians 6:6; all Scripture quotations are paraphrases by the author).

Scripture mandates that those who devote full-time attention to the health and growth of the church should be “worthy of their hire [fairly compensated]” (1 Timothy 5:18). So, let’s begin by getting comfortable with the easy way the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles represent “fundraising” as a normal requirement for accomplishing the Great Commission. There is no reason for paranoia about fundraising; it is a natural component of effective lifelong ministry.

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JANUARY 2020

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ANY SENIOR LEADER IS NOT JUST CONCEIVING AND CASTING VISION,

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JANUARY 2020

BUT ALSO RESOURCING THAT VISION.

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JANUARY 2020

E M B R AC E G E N E ROS I T Y AS A MAT TE R O F P E RSO NAL CO M M ITM E NT

You cannot lead your church to places you have never been. Paul’s command, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1), sought to teach a vital leadership principle. We cannot effectively preach or convincingly lead people unless we have obeyed up to the level of our own understanding.

God-honoring stewardship includes the practice of tithing as a matter of obedience and giving offerings as a matter of generosity. Tithing is a good place to start but a poor place to stop when it comes to giving. The moral authority to lead people to faithful tithing and exemplary generosity will providentially flow from our own practices. In the life of your church, you will “reproduce after your kind.”

Through the years, I have observed that generous churches are invariably led by senior pastors known for their generosity. Christians naturally follow and defer to leaders they perceive to be sacrificial. When I started in ministry, I resolved never to set my salary, require a fee for service, or ask for a raise. I promised the Lord that if I were ever fired, I would go quietly into the night rather than divide his people over my character, personality, or leadership style. I am convicted these values have something to do with effectively leading a Christian community to financial health and fiscal wholeness. This perhaps is why all Christian fundraising professionals require the senior pastor and elders to lead the way in taking on a significant fundraising challenge.

If senior leaders are perceived to be “all in,” there is a trickle-down effect in the life of the organization or church. Others will commit to being all in! Take this “friendraising” approach rather than a “fundraising” approach.

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JANUARY 2020

D O N ' T TRY TO TU RN ARO U N D A F I NAN CIAL CHAL L E N G E OV E R N I G HT Avoid the quick-fix approach to resourcing vision. If possible, allow time for patient teaching of the biblical principles of stewardship. Let the Holy Spirit convince and convict God’s people of the clear and relevant teaching of Scripture, rather than conjuring up a short-term fundraising program idea of some kind.

I found scores of online fundraising schemes for churches . . . everything from selling T-shirts to selling tickets to a Christian speed-dating event (very popular with some megachurches these days, as I understand). My favorite was the “Kidnap the Pastor” fundraiser. Stage a kidnapping just before the pastor goes on vacation to heighten the drama. Then let the people know, “If you give us money, you get him back!” (Or, I suppose it could be, “If you don’t give us the money, you get him back!”)

Also avoid the “cry wolf!” approach to resourcing vision. It is always wise to share bad news, if it is true. When a bill is due or a mortgage deadline is approaching or you want to add a much-needed staff member and you don’t have the wiggle room in the budget, make the need known. But keep in mind, this links up people’s giving motive with the pragmatic or the tangible. The stewardship principle of giving to the Lord as a matter of personal discipleship can easily become lost. God’s people should understand that practicing biblical stewardship is giving as an expression of love for the Lord; it’s an act of worship that puts the giver in a place to experience God’s blessing in every realm of life, starting with their own heart.

It’s far better to teach stewardship systematically, strategically, and regularly than to wait on a crisis and appeal for a bailout. Over time you will learn that it is not the “one and done” contributors but the committed tithers and faithful givers who can be counted on over the long haul.

Many pastors want to change the giving culture of their church as if they were turning a speedboat; they don’t understand that changing the funding vision of a church is more like turning a cruise ship. So take a deliberate onward, upward, and forward approach. I suggest tracking progress from year to year, but it should be evaluated only after the implementation/completion of a five-year teaching plan that includes preaching from the front (one sermon series a year) and year-round instruction of a curriculum like the ABC’s of Financial Freedom (by Barry Cameron) or Financial Peace University (by Dave Ramsey).

IT'S FAR BETTER TO TEACH STEWARDSHIP SYSTEMATICALLY, STRATEGICALLY, AND REGULARLY THAN TO WAIT ON A CRISIS AND APPEAL FOR A BAILOUT.

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JANUARY 2020

KE E P TH I S I N M I N D : G O D' S P RI MARY CO M P ETITI O N FO R TH E H U MAN SO U L I S M O N EY

Money is in competition with God—it was true in the first century and it is still true today. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon [money]” (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13). Since the 1960s, thinking people have been turned off by the likes of Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and Paula White. Current television programs like Greenleaf and The Righteous Gemstones exploit the avarice and insincerity of health and wealth gospel preachers and entertainers. God’s Word and the proper Christian attitude toward money are regularly distorted in the media these days. It’s impossible to calculate the damage this combination of a few false teachers and Hollywood programming have done; they have poisoned the minds and galvanized the anti-Christian prejudice of many, keeping them from receiving the truth about God-honoring priorities.

For this reason, you will likely be rejected by some people when you expose and apply the Word of God to the subject of their resources, or when you challenge them to sacrifice.

In addition, among the biggest hurdles senior pastors face today are the incessant emotional financial appeals directed at our people from every sector of American life—politicians, charities to cure cancer and end global warming, etc. Come Sunday, they might have little money left to support reaching the lost and building up the body of Christ. Admittedly, some of these causes are worthy, but none is as important as seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness; it is the one priority that trumps all others. And that is, after all, what Jesus came to do and what we are committed to doing in his temporary absence from the earth . . . to seek and save the lost.

So, get comfortable with the challenge of resourcing the vision of your church. Lead by example in generosity. Take the biblical teaching approach to enlarge the giving heart of your people. And address the challenge with the confidence that the Lord is on your side in this spiritual war for the resources to build his kingdom.  Ken Idleman serves as vice president of leadership development for The Solomon Foundation.

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JANUARY 2020

WHAT MATTERS MOST

GETTING BETTER AT THE TWO THINGS JESUS SAID ARE MOST IMPORTANT

BY RICK RUSAW

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BY RICK RUSAW

W M M GE TH I have lived in Boulder County, Colorado, for nearly 29 years and currently work from an office on Pearl Street in the city of Boulder. Some describe Boulder as 20 square miles surrounded by reality. At times, I would agree. I don’t know of any better location for ministry than a place that embraces spirituality but rejects Christianity.

Boulder often is listed as the least religious place in America. That would be true, unless you consider naval gazing, pot smoking, hiking, biking, and running to be nonreligious activities.

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Boulder is also ranked as one of the healthiest and most fit places in America. As a result of the area’s health consciousness, some of the best farm-to-table (organic) restaurants in the country are located in Colorado. If you have done any sort of ministry for at least 10 days, then you have heard, seen a tweet, read a blog, or attended a conference that tells you the church needs to be more organic. We are told we need to quit structuring things and just let things happen. The list of all the things wrong in the church is long. Organic is one of the rally cries for change.

People often mistakenly think organic farming is easy. You don’t have to do anything but scatter seeds, right? No weeding, no hoeing, no pesticides to spray—just let it go and grow. I’ve heard some church leaders talk about that type of “organic.”

It’s where you quit organizing, don’t do anything, and just let the church take its course.

I think we assume that “just being” is preferable to working. “Let’s just hang out at Starbucks and be organic.” But try farming that way in real life; your farm will end up overgrown and falling apart.

Truth is, when I am enjoying a great organic meal in Boulder, I am eating the fruit of hard work and much sacrifice. The truly successful organic farmers in our area must work hard. Nothing on the farm just happens! Without effort or intentionality, a farm is overrun.

If my friends who insist the church needs to be more organic mean we should refrain from all pesticides, be healthier, and be more like Jesus, then I completely agree. Usually what we mean, however, is we don’t like what we have, we aren’t sure what to do next, and let’s do something different.

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//////////// We have resorted to a lot of things to grow our congregations. As a pastor, I want our church to grow. Jesus said the church should grow. I am measured by growth, and I measure myself by growth, as well. We all are measured by others and by ourselves and by Outreach magazine. In our efforts to grow, it’s possible we have used some pesticides and used some shortcuts as we added to our numbers. As some have said, there’s a big difference between the church getting fat and the church growing.

MEASURING WHAT MATTERS MOST

Don’t get me wrong, I think numbers are important; they are certainly one useful way of measuring. For many (me included), we often stop with butts, bucks, and baptisms.

What if we were to measure the number of changed lives and the cumulative effect of those changed lives over time? What if we didn’t just measure weekend attendance but also the resulting change in our communities? What if we counted not only how we gathered but how we scattered? What if scattering actually meant we’re getting better at the two things Jesus said mattered most—loving God and loving our neighbor?

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Jesus’ said everything his Father had said up to this point (Prophets) and every command God had ever given (Law) hung on these two things—love God and love your neighbor. In other words, if you want the door of your life to swing more freely, get better at these two things.

But I discovered that getting better at the two things Jesus said mattered most gave rise to more angst, more failure, and more challenges than anything I had wrestled with before, both personally and in the church. It changed the way we measured change; instead of big stories that involved hundreds or thousands, we had hundreds of little stories.

01 /// 02 /// 03 /// 04 /// ///

BECOMING A BETTER NEIGHBOR

Focusing on what we call “neighboring” didn’t necessarily equate to more attendance or giving or decisions right away.

Neighboring was more a mind-set than a measurable program where results could be tracked. Hardest of all, it was personal to me as a leader. By that, I mean I couldn’t lead where I hadn’t been. It was organic, and intentional organic was much harder.

I thought I was a good neighbor—our dog didn’t mess in our neighbors’ yards, we kept our grass cut, and we were polite and kind. But just as nearly 20 years earlier we had asked, “If our church disappeared, would anyone care?” now we were asking, “If you moved out of your neighborhood, would anyone care?” The hard answer for me was, “probably not.”

So, to give some handholds for us and for the church, we began four simple practices to becoming a better neighbor:

01 02 STAY

PRAY

Get connected in your neighborhood, learn your neighbors’ names (I was shocked I didn’t really know their names), learn something about them (where they work and where they are from; their hopes or hurts or dreams). I discovered I was driving out of my neighborhood early in the day and getting home late, and hitting the garage door opener before I stepped out of my car. Now I have a simple rule: If someone is outside, I don’t go inside; I engage with my neighbors, even if just for a few minutes.

Praying for my neighbors is now a regular part of my life, and no longer is it simply praying for the people in the blue house with the loud dog. My prayers have grown more specific, more intentional, and my neighbors now often ask me to pray for things.

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PLAY

Host a cookout, have the neighbors over for a meal, find a way to hang out. Move your backyard to your front yard. The most underutilized spiritual space may not be church buildings, but, instead, the kitchens and family rooms in our homes.

Jesus stated three times why the Son of Man came; these are purpose statements: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’” (Luke 7:34).

When you read the Gospel of Luke, focus on how often Jesus was at a meal, going to a meal, or coming from a meal. In some ways I think the Pharisees wanted him dead because of his table manners!

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03

04

SAY

Through intentional neighboring, I have learned our conversations eventually turn to life stuff and spiritual matters, and I have gotten to share my story of grace. All of that has come out of the power of relationship and connection and friendship.

These four practices aren’t complicated, but they are kind of difficult.

The opportunity to have a far greater impact on our community is substantive; it puts the mission of the church back into the hands of the church, and that isn’t so easy. Personally, it was organic for me—intentionally organic—and it was worth praying every day, “God how can I get better at the two things you said mattered most?”  Rick Rusaw serves as chief executive officer of Spire.

Network. He and his wife, Diane, served at LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado, for more than 28 years. He is the co-author of several books, including The Neighboring Church: Getting Better at What Jesus Says Matters Most.

REACH MEN . . .

REACH FAMILIES

by Don Wilson

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Churches in America are concerned about the loss of future generations.

Some say our youth programs do not adequately prepare students to defend their faith as they encounter secular professors in universities. Others say young people cannot relate to the church’s outdated methods. And beyond that, organized sports are competing for our children’s attention on Sundays and throughout the week.

While these and other issues are concerning, I believe there is a more significant and fundamental problem that is often overlooked. I’m referring to the influence fathers and men can have on the decisions their children make about a lifelong commitment to follow Jesus.

Research has shown that when a father attends church regularly, the children have the greatest likelihood of faithfully attending church services as adults. In short, the study clearly indicated that the father’s regular attendance, rather than the mother’s, most determines the future church attendance or absence of the children.

When I served as lead pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Phoenix, Arizona, we decided to prioritize reaching men. I was not aware of the just-cited statistics

when we made that decision. I was in favor of making this change because I realized how much my father and other godly men in my life had impacted my faith.

My parents were faithful servant leaders in our small, rural Kansas church. My mother played the piano every Sunday.

My father was an elder, a Sunday school teacher, sang at funerals, mowed the church lawn, and did whatever needed to be done. I don’t think my parents missed church five times in 50 years. They led by example. My dad was my hero. My fondest memory was seeing him read his Bible each night before he went to bed. All of this impacted my faith.

When our church prioritized reaching men, it started to grow tremendously. Not only that, our youth and children’s ministry began to grow, and many young people decided to enter ministry.

Few churches model such men’s values as risk and reward, sacrifice, action, and adventure. Without a masculine spirit and presence in the church, it tends to adopt the feminine characteristic of nurturing.

While nurturing itself is good, a nurturing church is not attractive to men because men don’t see it as a place where they will be challenged to lead.

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H ow Ca n C h u rc h e s Rea c h M o re M e n?

What can we do to reach men more effectively? Here are seven specific things we’ve learned along the way: 1. Churches must adopt a discipleship model instead of a teaching or academic model. The main focus must be on modeling and accountability, rather than education. Men change more through experiences than by what they are told. Men follow men, not programs. Send men on short-term mission projects where they build something or share experiences.

There is a big difference between a men’s ministry and men in ministry.

Men love to lead and serve together. Men should be leading small groups, serving in safety and security teams, helping to park cars, and being part of first-impression ministries. They need to be leaders and role models for our next-generation students. A goal in our church was to have a man in every children’s classroom to serve as a role model, since many young children were from homes with absentee fathers.

2. Make sure the interior design of your church appeals to men and not just to women. When we opened our new worship center, I observed there were few

things to which men could visually relate.

So, for one month, I had three HarleyDavidson motorcycles placed in the lobby to see what would happen. It didn’t take long for those bikes to become the “afterchurch” gathering place for men.

3. Take a close look at your weekend worship experience. What type of man does your pastor reach? This leadership principle applies: You attract who you are, not what you want. Does the pastor’s message appeal to what you know, what you feel, or what you do? Most men are attracted to a pastor who challenges them to do something. When you have testimonies from your members, how many of them feature men who are leading? Does your worship music focus more on feelings or action? Evaluate all of these things.

4. Understand that women want a relationship, men want an adventure. I read Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow several years ago, and it made me rethink my preaching vocabulary.

When I ask people, especially men, to make a decision to become Christ followers, I ask them if they would like to begin an adventure with Jesus, rather than asking if they want a relationship with him.

The global church needs to look at things differently if the goal is to reach men. Of all the world’s religions, only Christianity has a consistent shortage of male involvement.

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5. Evaluate your small-group ministry. If a man is embarrassed in some way, rarely will he come back to a group. Ask a man privately ahead of time whether he’d be willing to pray aloud in the group rather than putting him on the spot. My wife and I noticed the women in our group were usually the first to pray, whereas the men rarely prayed. So, we decided to divide the men and women for a prayer time at the end of our discussion. She took the women into the kitchen to pray together, and I kept the men in the living room. To my surprise, every man prayed! Why? Men like to win, and if we can’t win, we often won’t play or participate. Most men believe their prayers are inadequate when compared to prayers by their spouses, and that feels like a loss to them, so they are reluctant to pray in a mixed group.

6. Rethink what happens on Father’s Day. In most churches, women are admired and praised on Mother’s Day, but most men feel discouraged and inadequate when they leave church on Father’s Day. Consider ways to change those impressions.

7. Improve the children’s ministry. Many homes today center around children and what they want to do. That means churches should work hard to offer excellence in ministries to children and students. If children love going to church, parents often will make attending church a priority for their sake.

FEW CH U R CH ES MODEL SUCH MEN’S VA LU E S AS RISK AND R E WA R D, SAC R I F I C E , ACT I O N , A N D ADV E N T U R E .

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A Wo m a n’s Pe rs pect i ve

by Sue Wilson

My husband has always attracted men to church. I believe this is the reason: He is the same person whether he is on a stage, in a restaurant, at a ball game, or at home.

had become a family priority. Men left church each week feeling challenged and encouraged.

Most men who attend church are looking for people similar to them: “real” people.

Not perfect, preachy, and judgmental people, but encouraging, challenging, and authentic people who can describe the difference God makes in their lives. I’ll quote the old saying, “People don’t care how much you know; they want to know how much you care.”

When these changes occurred, people began to understand that God created men to lead. Women are also leaders, of course, and husbands and wives must work handin-hand to lead their families. But if you ask women, most will say they want their husband to lead the family—not in an authoritarian way, but as one who provides overall direction. Wives and families desire a man who leads with strength and love.

When our church began specifically targeting men, some called us “chauvinistic.”

Over time, however, that began to change.

Wives saw their husbands stepping up to become the spiritual leaders in their families. Parents watched their children grow in faith and show excitement that church

Churches would be wise to evaluate all aspects of their ministry to determine what changes can be made to help men become the leaders God created them to be. And if they do, it is highly likely the men in the area will come, bringing their families with them. 

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W h at if C h u rc h e s Do n’ t Rea c h M e n?

For many men, church is a place to worship God, see their friends, help others, and be encouraged to live a moral, upright life. It is not a place where they expect to achieve significance. As church leaders, we need to make church a relevant opportunity for men to feel challenged to up their game.

Here’s an illustration of what churches should not do.

Before becoming president of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt was a Sunday school teacher. One day a boy showed up for class with a black eye and admitted he had been fighting. The boy said he observed his sister being repeatedly pinched by another boy, so he took a swing at the offender. The future president told the boy he was proud of him for standing up for his sister and gave him a dollar. When word got out what Roosevelt had done, he was removed from his job as a teacher.

purpose. Men were created to be protectors and providers, and if churches don’t find ways to keep them, they will eventually lose the children.

It looks like this: no men = no family = no children = no faith = no church.

If your church is serious about reaching and keeping the next generation, leaders need to ask what the church is doing to reach men. 

Don Wilson retired in 2017 as founding and senior pastor of Christ’s Church of the Valley, a multisite church in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. He and Sue founded Accelerate Group, a nonprofit organization created to encourage and support pastors and their wives.

When men lead like men, they sometimes get censored in the church.

So how can we attract more men to our churches? By taking risks and dreaming big. In less than 40 years, men have gone from being confident in their maleness to no longer being sure about their role and

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JANUARY 2020

TRAINING FOR THE FUTURE

BY KIM HARRIS

HOW ONE CHURCH

In 2019, 45 million young adults in the United States held more than $1.5 trillion in student debt, or more than $33,000 per debt holder, Forbes.com reported. Students are graduating with four years of knowledge and many more years of debt. Seminary and Bible college students are no exception.

IS EQUIPPING YOUNG ADULTS FOR MINISTRY WITHOUT THE

In 2011, roughly 25 percent of individuals graduating with a master of divinity left school with more than $40,000 in student debt (according to BusinessInsider.com), but could expect to earn only 65 percent of what other college graduates received, ZipRecruiter.com reported.

FINANCIAL BURDENS OF PURSUING A FOURYEAR DEGREE

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While individuals entering full-time church ministry may not expect to earn as much as their secular counterparts, the high price for formal higher education—a cultural expectation—weighs heavily on future leaders and church workers.

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In the rural Midwest, my church experienced this tension in a unique way. At The Crossing, which has campuses in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, we saw young adults who desired to enter full-time ministry but didn’t have the financial resources to pursue a four-year degree and did not want to accumulate thousands of dollars in student debt. In 2018, we introduced DEVELUP, a leadership development program. DEVELUP is designed to provide the exposure, experience, and education necessary to build a foundation for calling.

As director, I work with ministry staff at all of our locations to provide valuable ministry and leadership training experiences for the participants. The one- to two-year program includes hands-on ministry training, Bible education through our Ministry Development Institute, and twice-monthly leadership seminars. Program participants develop the skills, experiences, Bible knowledge, and training necessary to enter children’s ministry, youth ministry, church leadership and administration, worship ministry, technical and production ministry, and media-arts ministry.

The Crossing’s program is bearing tremendous fruit; we’ve been able to develop future leaders and invest in them before hiring them as full-time ministers.

Many churches can and should provide leadership development and apprenticeship programs for young adults. If churches continue to rely primarily on traditionally educated pastors—individuals with four years of Bible college and possibly two years of seminary— they may face difficulty in identifying qualified leaders who can realistically afford to pastor full-time. By working in partnership with Bible colleges’ and universities’ online education tracks, however, churches can train future pastors and leaders and provide practical ministry experience.

The leadership development and apprenticeship model flips the traditional higher education model upside down. Instead of pursuing a degree full-time at a residential campus for four years and accruing thousands of dollars of debt, students work full-time alongside current pastoral staff while experiencing and being trained in practical skills required of church leaders and workers. At the same time, students can complete Bible and ministry curriculum online for a fraction of the cost of attending a residential campus.

Leadership development and apprenticeship programs benefit churches too. When churches invest in the training and education of future leaders, they create a leadership pipeline that sets a stable course for their congregation’s future.

Developing such programs requires input, thought, and consideration from all facets

1.

of leadership inside the church—elders, staff, leaders, and volunteers.

DEVELUP is not a short-term internship program that gives students only a limited view of full-time ministry. (In some such programs, interns’ responsibilities might be limited to such things as event setup/ teardown, weekly runs to Walmart, and the 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. shift of the junior high lock-in. While these experiences provide insight into some of the day-to-day of church ministry, they do little to prepare future pastors for high-capacity leadership in fulltime church ministry.) While our program is a type of internship, it is much more than that.

Below are seven suggestions for establishing a leadership development and apprenticeship program that prepares the church and leaders for a sustainable future.

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND Growing individuals into effective leaders does not occur simply by being in proximity to those already serving well. Creating a thorough and intentional plan for development is crucial for ensuring the program accomplishes its goals.

Ask for input from elders, staff, and volunteers about what they look for in a pastor or ministry leader.

Determine the kind of leader the church is seeking to create through the program. Among the practical skills necessary are leading a staff meeting, writing a Communion meditation, preparing the building for services, and recruiting and training volunteers. Among the “soft skills” necessary are timely communication, email and social media etiquette, and confidentiality.

Once program goals come into focus, establish timelines for achieving each one.

Identify specific seasonal events, initiatives, and activities that will provide valuable experience and training for participants.

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START EARLY Create a realistic timeline for the entirety of the program. Set the anticipated program start date and then work backward to allow four to six months for applications, interviews, and onboarding. Establish a basic outline of church and community events and staff development opportunities within that timeline.

Candidates for such a program in a local church may range in age, education level, life experience, and physical location. Allowing four to six months for applications provides ample opportunity for individuals to learn about the program, apply, and interview.

Create an application process all candidates must fulfill to be considered for the program. Have candidates provide social media information and personal references, and plan on a phone interview and a formal interview. The candidate pool should shrink rather quickly early on by eliminating individuals who do not complete applications or who consistently engage in unsavory social media behavior or who do not respond to requests for interviews.

3.

CAST A WIDE NET Share program details through a variety of channels—not just during Sunday-morning announcements—to attract a more diverse group of candidates. Many strong candidates will come from established ministry areas in the church, but individuals from other churches or communities that do not have leadership development programs should not be automatically disqualified from participating.

Consider paid advertising on social media targeted to individuals in your area who have expressed interest in full-time ministry. Church email campaigns that are designed to be shared with friends and family will extend the applicant pool beyond geographic barriers.

Ministry is expanding to include small-group directors, tech positions, communication directors, event planners, and many other nontraditional roles, so applicants may have diverse employment and ministry histories. Candidates with backgrounds outside of church ministry can add incredible value to church teams.

With a diverse group of applicants, pay close attention to applicants’ adherence to church doctrinal and/or unity statements to prevent potential problems. Include doctrine and unity statements on the application; make sure applicants are aware of these statements throughout the process. Require applicants to read and agree to the statements. Ask about the theological statements again during interviews. Provide ample opportunities for candidates to ask questions they may have about church stances or beliefs.

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2.

WHEN CHURCHES INVEST IN THE TRAINING AND EDUCATION OF FUTURE LEADERS, THEY CREATE A LEADERSHIP PIPELINE THAT SETS A STABLE COURSE FOR THEIR CONGREGATION’S FUTURE.

4.

LOOK FOR KEY CHARACTERISTICS IN CANDIDATES The ideal candidate for a leadership development program will vary, but here are key characteristics of strong applicants.

• Teachability. Applicants who demonstrate openness to being taught will benefit from the program more than those who believe they already have the experience necessary to be hired as a full-time staff member.

• A Desire to Grow. Candidates who express passion for becoming more of who God created them to be will likely lean into instruction, leadership, and teaching from program supervisors and directors. Individuals who desire to grow will seek out new challenges for themselves while also adding value to a church staff by providing unique insights.

• Spiritual Maturity. The expectations for spiritual maturity in a leadership development and apprenticeship program differ slightly from the expectations of a full-time staff member. Because these individuals will likely have little to no experience in ministry, it is important to recognize their spiritual maturity may not be at the same level as someone interviewing for a full-time pastoral position. Still, successful candidates should be able to clearly articulate their testimony, talk generally about their current walk with Christ, and identify areas where they are growing in their relationship with God. • Strong References. Previous employers, mentors, ministry leaders, and friends can provide valuable insight about program candidates. While an applicant may be top-notch in the interview room, it is equally important that they demonstrate follow-through. The best way to ascertain integrity, work ethic, and potential is by interviewing references for each candidate.

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5.

BUILD A BRIDGE Working with other churches and educational institutions helps build powerful partnerships that will enhance the overall quality of the program. Christian colleges may offer course credit for completion of the leadership development program. Reach out to Christian colleges or seminaries to discuss credit opportunities for participants. Some colleges may also offer seminars, class audits, and professional development courses for program participants.

Building partnerships with other churches can provide valuable opportunities for participants to experience varying ministry approaches and practices. Leaders at sister churches can offer valuable insight and input about what makes a great pastor or leader; they can also help sharpen and clarify program goals, outcomes, and experiences.

6.

COMMUNICATE EXPECTATIONS Be sure to communicate expectations such as office hours, dress code, spending policies, meeting schedules, and the like to program participants.

Tell participants of job responsibility expectations and program goals. Ask them how they will work to achieve those goals.

Participants can also share their expectations of leadership and staff.

All those who supervise participants should be well-versed in program expectations and goals. Supervisors should have clear knowledge of the participant’s performance and the effectiveness of the program as a whole.

7.

ASK FOR EVALUATIONS AND FEEDBACK Plan regular meetings at consistent intervals to evaluate participants; seek formal input from pastoral staff and volunteers who work with them. Give praise and recognition for jobs well done, offer guidance for areas that need improvement, and correct participants for any problem issues. Document these conversations.

Also allow time for participants to evaluate their experience in the program. Ask questions and try to elicit thoughtful responses.

At these same intervals, seek feedback, suggestions, and constructive criticism from all those involved in the program.

And throughout the program, don’t neglect the spiritual needs of the participants.  Kim Harris serves as DEVELUP director at The Crossing, a multisite church located in three states across the Midwest.

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GROWING VOLUNTEERS TO GROW THE KINGDOM

How These Two Churches Recruit and Equip Servants to Live Out God’s Purposes

BY MELISSA WUSKE

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Crafting an effective volunteer program takes a mix of big-picture vision and nuts-and-bolts programs.

Julie Liem, director of volunteers at Eastside Christian Church in Southern California, and Abby Ecker, next steps pastor at The Journey in Newark, Delaware, shared how their churches recruit and equip volunteers—and how they’ve seen the kingdom advance as a result.

We don’t talk about serving in terms of what the church needs . . .

WE BELIEVE THE LORD’S GOT ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO.

GOD’S DESIGN For many churches, it starts with the critical shift from viewing volunteers as “a necessary inconvenience,” Liem said, to seeing them as “the lifeblood of the church.” Both Liem and Ecker describe equipping volunteers for ministry as a “scriptural mandate.”

“The biggest part of our heartbeat is Ephesians 4, equipping and empowering the saints to do ministry,” Ecker said. “Our church would not exist without volunteers. They’re not an add-on, they’re not a nice-to-have.”

Similarly, “the heartbeat of Eastside,” Liem said, “is the Scripture about how we’re one body and we have different parts of the body, but we have to function together to be a healthy, living organism.”

“Ministry growth and impact is really exponential when you’re using volunteers as opposed to staff,” Liem stressed. “When staff equip and develop volunteers to be able to go out and be the hands and feet of the ministry, that is way more effective and sustainable than the staff carrying that all on their backs with assistance from volunteers, regardless of the size of the church.”

Robust volunteer programs have led to growth at both churches: Eastside has five campuses, and The Journey just launched its second.

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THE RIGHT FOCUS Ecker and Liem focus on helping people use and grow their gifts to impact the kingdom.

“We don’t talk about serving in terms of what the church needs, we talk about serving as your opportunity to step into what God’s uniquely shaped you to do . . . experiencing what that feels like,” Liem said. “We believe the Lord’s got all the right people to do what we need to do.”

Churches miss an opportunity, Ecker said, when “we look at how many people we need on the team to get the job done, rather than how many people we could give an opportunity to serve and live out the purpose that God has given them with other people around.”

“Our passion is for the volunteer’s benefit,” said Liem. “It’s to help them step into this exciting new adventure. Our calling as staff is to help them step into that and to call it out when we see it.”

It’s easier said than done, though.

“The biggest challenge for us as staff” at Eastside, Liem shared, “is not getting lost in the tension between what we need on our volunteer teams and what the Lord is bringing, and losing sight . . . that our role is to be developing and guiding volunteers. We feel the tension if we have a short roster.”

It takes constant discipline to build a strong culture, Ecker said.

“One of our core values is empowerment, and the first part of that definition is ‘we never do ministry alone,’” she said. “So, we don’t ever schedule one person to serve, even if the task only requires one person. It’s not about the task, it’s about serving and relationships.”

Staff and volunteer leaders at The Journey live out the motto, “Always invite someone to do it with you, whether the task is big or small.”

Both churches have found it’s vital that these attitudes be staff-wide, from top to bottom, and reinforced at all campuses.

Liem remembers when, as she was launching her role as a volunteer director, the church brought in an outside group to train the staff.

Senior pastor Gene Appel sat in the front row for the whole day of training. “His presence communicated that this is what we’re about,” Liem said. “At the time I thought it was great leadership, but the longer I’m in this role I’m coming to find it was exceptional leadership.”

THE NUTS AND BOLTS The right vision and focus are critical, but how do those elements come to fruition in a healthy ministry?

Create Entry Points. Both Eastside and The

Journey have four-week courses to help people connect with the church. The courses run every month, so “there’s never waiting,” Ecker said.

Both churches use the courses to help people understand what it means to be part of a local church, learn about the skills and gifts God’s given them, and understand how and why God’s designed them to serve.

During the course, people get an overview of the church’s ministries and see them in action, and individuals are given the opportunity to sign up for a spot that fits their gifts. When the role fits a person, Liem said, “the serving is off the charts.”

The Journey’s monthly course, Growth Track, “is the engine of our church,” Ecker said.

“It’s the single best method we’ve found to help people take next steps,” she said. It helps people “see a vision of what their lives could be like when they start serving. The biggest challenge for us is just getting people to take that step to be part of the team.”

Design Systematic follow-up. Beyond creating

frequent simple ways for people to get involved, Liem said follow-up is key. Many churches have a “traffic-cop role to point people in the right direction,” she said, “but there’s no system after that.” Across every ministry at every campus, Eastside has a uniform system that prescribes when and how people will get follow-up communication and designates who’s responsible for following up.

The goal is to connect people with the ministry leaders as soon as possible.

“Having an excellent follow-up email that comes two to three weeks after the person has signed up is ineffectual,” Liem said. “Poor follow-up builds a terrible reputation for the church in terms of the value of volunteers.”

At Eastside, there’s a centralized document to record follow-up, and part of Liem’s job is to inspect the document each week to make sure follow-up doesn’t slide down anyone’s to-do list.

Invest in Leadership Training. Once people are

engaged in ministry, both churches begin to look for opportunities to help grow them as leaders. “Developing leaders is how we spread the gospel,” Ecker said. For example, all of the leaders who launched The Journey’s second campus have gone through Potential, the church’s ninemonth leadership intensive.

Volunteer leaders at both churches grow in their spirituality and their ability to pass it on to others. The goal is to “identify and develop leaders,” Liem said. “[And] not just leaders who are good at executing the task, but leaders who we’re pouring into to see themselves as spiritual leaders . . . that they’re sort of like a mini-pastor for their team.”

That’s where it all comes to fruition.

At The Journey, Ecker has watched a particular leader grow through the leadership intensive: “It’s clear God has a calling on his life.”

The young business leader had no faith background when he came to the church a few years ago. “He put his faith in Jesus, and his life has

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been transformed,” Ecker said. “He had leadership gifts long before he came to The Journey, and he was using them in the marketplace. Now we’ve seen him continue to take steps, start serving, and lead an international missions group. He’s now helping lead the hospitality area at our second location.”

At Eastside, “One of our biggest rock-star volunteer leaders leads our parking team. That’s one of the unsexiest teams on the planet,” Liem said with a laugh.

In addition to recruiting more people to the team, “he’s got Scripture all around the garage.

He has a community Facebook group. They start and end with prayer when they’re serving in the parking lot. He’s seen the need for more spiritual development, so he’s turned his team into a small group to meet during the week and build on the relationships they’ve built serving with each other.”

While working with dozens of volunteers certainly has its challenges, the benefits abound: People grow, ministries have greater impact, and staff get to watch God work through others. 

Melissa Wuske is a freelance editor and writer. She and her husband, Shawn, and their son, Caleb, live and minister in Cincinnati. /melissa.wuske melissaannewuske.com

DEVELOPING LEADERS IS HOW WE SPREAD THE

Book review Tim Harlow excels in ministry leadership.

He serves a growing church—Parkview Christian in Chicagoland has gone from 150 to 10,000-plus—mentors countless people, and encourages fellow senior ministers. He has served as president of the North American Christian Convention and authored Life on Mission: God’s People Finding God’s Heart for the World. And he’s done all of this—plus earned a doctorate—while loving his family and displaying courage, humility, and a sense of humor.

However, if Harlow were asked what he’s most proud of in his ministry (besides his family), my guess is he’d say, “Leading a church that wouldn’t make Jesus mad!” Let me say that another way. Tim Harlow has a passion for unbelievers and unchurched individuals. And his love for people is most clearly reflected in his latest book, What Made Jesus Mad? Rediscover the Blunt, Sarcastic, Passionate Savior of the Bible.

I’m sure we all could provide many examples of people and circumstances that made Jesus mad, but Harlow has done in-depth research on this topic. In the book’s introduction, he writes, “What was it that made Jesus cringe? Religious phonies, arrogant judges, unjust legalists, and hypocrites.” There’s something inherent in all these people that made Jesus the most angry—they were obstacles, or created obstacles, between people and God.

R e v i e w e d by C al e b K a lte n b ac h

Harlow writes: “Denied access is what made Jesus angry, because our mission is to help people get in, not to keep them out.

Access is the key. God wants his Kingdom to be easy to get into. He paid a high price for this barrier-free access, so let’s get it right” (p. 178).

Harlow highlights this when arguing against unneeded legalistic rules involving alcohol. Jesus made wine and drank it, Harlow writes, but we are quick to explain it away because it’s taboo in our Christian subculture. Some readers may not like that Harlow leverages alcohol as an example of an unneeded litmus test of fellowship, but I believe it is appropriate. Harlow certainly doesn’t imply that people must drink, but he indicates that making alcohol consumption a test of fellowship can lead others to question their access to God.

grace isn’t even truth—it’s a prideful refusal to examine oneself.

The book will challenge readers to look in the mirror and evaluate their own hearts.

“It’s possible to have a head knowledge of God, and even follow the literal rules of God, without ever having a heart transplant,” Harlow writes. “But the essence of the Gospels is heart transformation” (p. 138). Unfortunately, our hearts fight such a transformation, as Harlow underscores in his explanation of the parable of the prodigal son: “The olderbrother mentality is the spirit of resentment that says, ‘What about me?!’” (p. 175).

Harlow develops his main idea on a deeper level when he discusses why John 7:53–8:11 was left out of the earliest manuscripts of the Bible. Apparently, some early church leaders wanted to avoid what they perceived as a potential scandal; that is, Jesus telling a woman caught in an affair, “Neither do I condemn you” (8:11). Harlow explains, “According to Augustine, and a whole lot of Christ followers over the years, this story just made Jesus look too complacent about sin, especially a mortal sin like adultery” (p. 97).

Harlow wants us to understand that Christians cannot extend grace until we check our pride. We make Jesus mad when we ignore grace, when we don’t deal with our pride, and when we make it harder for people to access God. To help us in our personal battles against pride, Harlow suggests we consider the people who have put up obstacles to God in our own lives. “God loves you, and what made Jesus mad was when someone denied your access to that love” (p. 197).

Ironically, the Pharisees who caught the woman in adultery used the Law to block her access to God, and Christians subsequently have done the same by trying to suppress or avoid this narrative. To some degree, we all can see ourselves in this story. Harlow implies that hiding and ignoring this important story not only blocks access to God, it’s a sign of pride.

Leaders and laypeople will find this book very helpful. Church attendees will find it both enriching and relatable. It is an excellent resource for a sermon series, for smallgroup studies, and for leadership teams to read and discuss together.

I highly endorse What Made Jesus Mad? and I hope it becomes a permanent fixture in your library. 

Our pride stands in direct opposition to grace. When I teach at length on grace, some people think they must remind me, “Don’t forget about the truth!” Though two separate ideas, grace relies on truth, and truth is dependent on grace. Truth without

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Caleb Kaltenbach is the director of the Messy Grace Group and author of Messy Grace and the upcoming book, Messy Truth: How to Foster Community without Sacrificing Conviction.

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messygracegroup.org

@calebwilds

/calebwilds

@calebwilds

JANUARY 2020

How To

Establish an Effective, Objective Church-Ministry Evaluation

By Bart Rendel

JANUARY 2020

As I have helped church leaders around the country increase their kingdom impact over the last 15 years, I’ve often heard of meetings that descended into scrums and battles over opinions, with arguments based upon anecdotal evidence, and random comments tossed around based on limited perspectives or past successes.

To help churches stay on course, leaders should align behind a set of gospel-centered standards. Our hope at Intentional Churches is to establish these standards in every church we work with. It’s part of our dream of helping church leaders develop a clear vision and a plan to go and grow and to double their kingdom impact again and again.

So, what can a church do?

First, a team must agree to some foundations on which to build objective evaluation. The Bible describes the fundamentals of what church is all about.

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hurch leaders need a solid, scriptural, and effective system for discussing and evaluating issues and moving forward as a team.

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Foundations for Evaluation

1.

We are in a spiritual battle. Eternity is at stake.

The Bible clearly shows our churches are locked in a spiritual battle for the hearts, souls, and minds of people. Paul says we do not fight “against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12), but that fact is easy to overlook. There are forces at work behind the scenes; there are rulers, authorities, and powers of a dark world, along with all forms of evil in the spiritual realm. We need to understand the nature and stakes of the battle.

2.

The mission is the Great Commission. Jesus taught that we are to preach, baptize, and train followers to be on mission with him and to make more and better disciples. This enduring mission is the call of every church. Acts 2 suggests the strategy for the church. We gather, preach, develop relationships, and call for increasing surrender because this strategy reaches and grows people. It’s biblical!

3.

A clear vision—a double vision—is needed. Every church needs a clear call and vision for growth.

Yes, every church . . . the shape, size, or age of the church doesn’t matter. Every church has a purpose, and no church was meant to die. What would it look like to double a church’s kingdom impact in the next five years or less? Dream, write it down, and discuss it as a team.

4.

It’s all about the one. Jesus’ mission was to seek and save the lost, and he gave us the same mission.

He shared three powerful stories in Luke 15 that emphasize focusing on the lost versus the found.

The church is meant to reach the lost and then grow them. The “99” are meant to be on this mission as well (vv. 3-7).

Now that we’ve identified the foundations for evaluation, let’s look at five evaluation methods that are ineffective, along with some suggestions for improvement.

1.

2.

4.

If a church staff attends a conference and the speaker indicates his church’s staff size and budget are significantly larger than most of the churches in attendance, does that mean approaches of the smaller churches are wrong? If a church in town starts a recovery ministry, holds a summer VBS, or launches a food pantry, should other churches in town do the same?

Past Success. We cannot expect to be relevant in the future if we evaluate based on past success. It’s easy to rest in the victories of the past and become complacent. Every church has had a high point and a low point, but we fight a battle in a world that is everchanging and culturally evolving.

Nostalgia can be fun. It’s enjoyable to watch an old movie, pull out a scrapbook or photo album, and review highlights of champion sports teams. But nostalgia is all about dwelling on the past. Tomorrow’s effective strategies may look nothing like those of years gone by . . . or even the ones in vogue today.

3.

agement during these occasions rather than using them as opportunities to compare one church with another.

Personal Preference. As leaders, we cannot evaluate by our own personal opinions and preferences. It can be difficult to refrain from doing this, as church can be a very personal subject; the tendency to judge by our own standards is deeply ingrained. We must remove our preferences from the criterion and do what’s in the best interest of advancing the body of Christ.

Improvement. It’s easy to judge today’s status by considering the progress we have made.

It’s important to stop from time to time and celebrate accomplishments with the team, but that should never be an end goal. Leverage those times of celebration to find new ways of improving while hearts are full and motivations high. How can leaders get better while measuring the success a church has already achieved? Let those times be motivation to keep going!

Comparison. Most of us enjoy going to conferences, and it’s helpful and biblical to connect with other church leaders. But here’s a suggestion: Focus on learning and encour-

Every church is unique, and when comparison is the main focus, a church risks diluting resources from what is important to its ministry. Comparison is a poor and potentially dangerous way to measure success.

5.

Anecdotal Evidence. A church cannot rely on a story or two to frame reality. It’s common to walk the halls of most churches and hear thoughts, opinions, and feelings expressed. These stories may include kernels of ideas worth exploring, but that’s rather unlikely. It’s easy to prove any point through anecdotal evidence. A church leader can always come up with a story that supports his position. A single story isn’t the basis upon which a church should chart its course.

As these poor evaluation methods are abandoned, church leaders can supplant them with new standards and methods. This new approach involves asking objective questions grounded in biblical foundations, while fighting against the tendency to revert to past unhelpful, unbiblical standards.

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Five Poor but Common Evaluation Methods

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A good first step for improvement is to adopt a unified evaluation standard coupled with a rating system. In fact, we are proponents of individual leaders “flash-grading” a specific ministry or outreach of the church (children’s ministry, fall festival, worship service, etc.) prior to discussions and decisionmaking. We have found that doing so prior to detailed discussions creates healthy tension that drives productive conversations.

Here’s how it might work if small-group ministry is the topic for evaluation. Each team member can assign any score they wish (see the color voting system on the next page).

But each person must use the foundations listed at the top of this article as the lens for evaluation and be ready to explain their vote.

Here are key questions at the root of each of the four foundations: •

Is our small-group ministry led with a sense of urgency?

•

Is our small-group ministry activating the Great Commission (by striving to create more and better disciples)?

•

Is our small-group ministry moving us toward doubling our kingdom impact?

•

Is our small-group ministry built for the “one” first . . . or is it built for the “99”?

With those key questions in mind, have each team member grade the small-group ministry according to this rating system (one of several we use in ChurchOS, the growth system [operating system] we have developed, which is rooted in biblical principles, tried-and-true tools, and is applicable in any church):

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A red rating means the program or system is not helping to activate the Great Commission or driving the doubling of its kingdom impact. It is potentially broken or barely functioning to these standards. Attention is needed.

A yellow rating means the program or system is having some impact on Great Commission activation and double kingdom impact, but there is room for improvement. It is not at its top level of effectiveness related to the standards. Further action is needed for it to become optimal.

A green rating means the program or system is in position to activate the Great Commission and drive double kingdom impact. It is effective and healthy. There might be room for improvement, but far less room than something rated as yellow. Continue to ensure this item has the resources and attention it needs.

Introducing ChurchOS a biblically-based leadership system for every church.

Spring 2020

Here are the final, simple questions that will drive an objective discussion: Why did you vote the way you voted? If you voted “yellow,” what do you sense is weak? If you voted “red,” what do you sense is outright wrong and must be fixed? Take lots of notes.

Multiple perspectives can be very helpful.

(Don’t fall into the trap of poor evaluation!)

What rises to the surface from this type of objective discussion? Were there consistent thoughts from the team? Prioritize what needs immediate action and, just as importantly, what can wait for now.

God will honor a church’s courage to objectify these gospel conversations in light of his mission. Be honest with one another. The church’s team will align, and God will move. 

Bart Rendel serves as president and cofounder of Intentional Churches (www.intentionalchurches.com). Formerly, Bart served as an executive leader at Crossroads Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada.

stadia’s generosity pays off

By Jim Nieman

Stadia Church Planting’s decision to give away the majority of its services starting last January had little noticeable effect on its financial bottom line in 2019, but the change helped Stadia to double the number of U.S. churches it helped plant last year.

How is that possible, when Stadia provides, on average, about $74,000 in services to help each new church get off the ground?

It has a lot to do with the goodwill of almost 100 newer churches Stadia already had helped launch continuing to support the organization by “providing a percentage of their general-fund giving back to Stadia for 10 years,” though it was no longer required.

“It was super cool because we reached out to all of them and told them we were doing away with that arrangement . . . that those churches were not required to give us a percentage of their offerings,” said Murphy.

“I think all but two [of the churches] committed to continue giving at the percentage they had already agreed to.”

In 2018, Stadia assisted in planting 34 churches in the United States; that figure jumped to 68 in 2019, said Matt Murphy, strategic services and marketing executive with Stadia.

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Stadia now provides free assistance to church planters that includes planter assessments, prelaunch training, training for fund-raising, network collaboration, coaching, project management, bookkeeping, document preparation, postlaunch support, and more.

The announcement that Stadia Church Planting would give away planting services also created goodwill in general, which led to an initial noticeable bump in support, he said.

“We have a very strong donor base,” Murphy said. “Almost all of the churches we have helped plant in the past end up supporting us.”

Another by-product: “Because we’re free now, [we have] more opportunities for partnership with other organizations involved in church planting,” Murphy said.

increasing opportunities

This “kingdom collaboration,” Stadia’s Justin Moxley wrote in a Send Institute article, also includes “shar[ing] our services with church planting organizations, denominations, and networks at no cost.” By aligning “our expertise with theirs, . . . [it helps] fill

Some might question the wisdom of Stadia’s move, but, Murphy said, “We’re trying to do whatever we can to help churches in whatever way we can.”

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in gaps so that together we can increase the quantity and quality of our efforts. This removes financial restraints and how planting is ‘credited,’ allowing collaboration at an unprecedented level.”

“With growth comes expenses,” he said.

“We’re hoping to identify other potential funding sources in 2020.”

Currently, individuals, churches, and organizations help support Stadia. Additionally, about two-thirds of Stadia’s 70 or so workers raise some or all of their support through personal networks of givers. Stadia also saves overhead through “100 percent virtual staffing”—that is, having employees work from their homes.

The most important thing, Murphy stressed, is that everyone’s moving in the same direction: planting churches, winning souls for Jesus, and growing the kingdom.

quickening the pace of planting

“We refer to ourselves as missionaries,” Murphy said. “We believe that church planting is reaching lost people.”

Prior to this change in approach, Murphy said, Stadia Church Planting’s rate of growth had slowed in terms of its U.S. church plants—it was helping start about 30 to 40 new churches per year. (Stadia also plants 120-plus churches each year outside the U.S.)

So, what isn’t Stadia giving away?

Murphy said the three main sources of income remaining for Stadia are (1) helping existing churches create and execute multisite plans, (2) providing church staffing assessments, and (3) providing bookkeeping services to established churches at below industry-average prices.

In total, about 4,000 churches are started in the U.S. each year—far below the “breakeven” yearly need of about 8,600 new churches necessary to offset such things as church closures, population growth, and changes in demographics, Murphy said, citing data in a report called “The Great Opportunity” from the Pinetop Foundation.

Murphy said Stadia hopes to develop additional revenue streams that assist churches in ways that are necessary, beneficial, and cost-effective.

So, to change nothing meant falling farther behind. But by making the change, Murphy said, Stadia planted significantly more churches in the United States in 2019 and expects to continue growing the number of new church plants in the U.S. over the next several years.

adding to the mission

Such a vision, Murphy acknowledges, ultimately will require additional monies.

In 2010, Stadia partnered with Compassion International and adopted a more global

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Stadia was founded in 2003 when leaders of the Northern California Evangelistic Association came together with leaders of Church Development Fund to create a nationwide church-planting organization.

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vision. At the same time, Stadia zeroed in on the importance of planting churches to reach children. After all, the majority of those who make a decision to follow Jesus do so before age 18.

Stadia Church Planting has faith that its new model will succeed and that it can help plant more new churches with “no strings attached” or any requirement of ongoing investment back into Stadia.

Stadia’s website states, “We exist to make the vision of a world where every child has a church a reality by bringing people and churches together to plant thriving churches that transform the lives of children, now and for eternity.”

“We want to be the organization that shows everyone else that this is possible,” Murphy said. “We hope that we can be vanguards and trendsetters” with regard to giving away services and providing high-end, lowcost services to Christians, churches, and Christian organizations. “We want to help more churches thrive.”

Says Murphy, “We’re all still passionately committed to the original mission and vision, but we have just added to it.”

And even though Stadia is giving away many of its services, it hopes that down the road the new churches it helps launch will support Stadia, though it isn’t required.

To date, over the course of almost 17 years, Stadia and its partners have planted 413 U.S. churches, 480 international churches, and mobilized sponsorship of more than 46,000 children in impoverished communities.

“We hope they will invest in Stadia because they believe in the mission.”

But for right now, after one year under this new paradigm at Stadia, “The biggest thing is it’s working,” Murphy said. “We’re working with more and more church planters and we’re working with more organizations than we would have otherwise.”

demonstrating what’s possible Stadia says 90 percent of its U.S. church plants are still engaged in their vision by their fifth year, compared with a national average of 60 percent by year three. Stadia also says that, at year four, its U.S. church plants average 67 percent more in attendance than the national average.

That growth and cooperation should only lead to “more churches and more Christians . . . and that’s a win!” 

But survival and growth aren’t the only two objectives.

“Our goal is to plant churches that multiply,” Murphy said. So, in theory and in practice, each church plant represents a new movement of church planting.

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Jim Nieman serves as managing editor of Christian Standard.

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The Generosity Ladder How to Cultivate a Generous Culture in Your Church

By Dave Dummitt It’s the New Year. You’re looking ahead with high hopes and big vision for your church. But if you’re like most church leaders, your vision often outpaces your resources.

I get it. As lead pastor of 2|42 Community Church in Michigan, I know what it’s like to see the great possibilities for our church to impact the lives of people in our community but be hindered by a bleak budget forecast. And let’s be honest, talking about money in church can feel awkward. As a pastor, I never want people to think I want only their money.

But I do want to disciple people as followers of Jesus, and generosity is a critical discipleship practice.

Jesus knows our hearts follow our money, which is why he talked about it so often. Almost half of the parables in the Gospels—16 of the 38—deal with how to handle money and possessions. One in 10 verses in the Gospels—288 total—deal directly with the subject of money. The entire Bible includes 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses about money and possessions.

It is critical that we help people take next steps with God in the area of generosity.

We frequently throw out blanket statements urging people to give, and we can easily assume we have a single audience to address. But in reality, we have as many audiences as we have people.

Every person has a different story, a different background, and is at a different place in their spiritual journey. So, if we are going to pastor generosity, we need to develop a simple pathway with backing strategies to help each person take his or her next step in generosity.

At Gyve, we call this a generosity ladder, which is a simple tool to define broad categories that most people fall into along the generosity continuum. This creates a pathway that helps people grasp the idea that we all have a next step to take as we grow in generosity. The generosity ladder concept allows a church to shift from an “asking for money” posture to a discipleship focus that deals with the heart.

Here are four primary developmental stages of generosity:

Round-Up Givers The first step of any journey is always the hardest. This can be especially true when it comes to giving. Gyve created the round-up giving option as a way to lower the entry point and make participation in generosity accessible to everyone. People can simply elect to round-up their change from everyday purchases like pumping gas, buying lunch, or going to the movies, and Gyve automatically donates the difference to your church. The bar is set very low with regard to the size of the gift, which makes this an easy first step for new givers. And if people take that first step in generosity, it is easier for them to take the second step.

TIP: Once a month during your weekend generosity moment, share one story of how people’s spare change is making a difference in your community. Then invite people to participate by simply opting into Gyve’s round-up giving feature.

Recurring Givers Recurring givers are moving from giving sporadically to giving intentionally and consistently; the giving becomes like other recurring monthly payments, such as a cell phone bill or car payment. Recurring givers are beginning to trust God with their finances by committing to give a certain amount every month.

TIP: Recurring givers are moving toward a tithe but are not there yet. As church leaders, we can get caught up in teaching about the tithe without realizing our words can discourage people from taking their first or next steps in generosity. A person giving 2 percent of their income to church might hear their pastor say that giving less than 10 percent is a sin and think, Well I’m already sinning because I’m not giving 10 percent, I might as well not give anything. As we develop recurring givers, an important communication strategy is to teach the tithe as a guidepost. The tithe is neither the starting point for generosity nor the end goal, but rather a benchmark as we all take our next steps toward understanding that everything belongs to God.

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Relational Givers Relational givers give to the church because they trust what God has said about giving in the Bible; they realize God owns everything and has entrusted people as stewards.

Relational givers prioritize generosity; they have decided that, before anything else, they will give the first 10 percent of their income. Relational givers give in a way that reflects Christ as the first priority.

TIP: To encourage people to move toward relational giving, once a month during your weekend generosity moment share the story of someone who has personally experienced heart transformation and God’s faithfulness as a result of growing in generosity and trusting God with their resources.

Radical Givers Radical givers intentionally allow giving to set the agenda for all other spending. They recognize God is not asking us to give 100 percent; instead, he is asking us to honor him with 100 percent. Radical givers are not radical because of the amount of money they give. Instead, these givers are radical because they no longer ask, “How much should I give?” but instead, “How much should I keep?”

Relational Givers

TIP: Identify the people in your church who have a passion for generosity and develop strategic rhythms to connect with them in order to cast vision and provide opportunities to contribute to radical impact through the ministry of your church.

Radical Givers

The giving ladder is an integral part of developing a winning strategy and cultivating a generous culture to fuel the mission and vision of your church. Establishing a broad pathway enables you to come alongside people where they are and help them take first and next steps in faith and generosity.

At Gyve, we are committed to equipping you with the tools and know-how to develop a generous culture so your church can do more good than ever before. Check out the tools and opportunities to personally connect with your givers wherever they are on their generosity journey by setting up your free demo at gyve.com.

David Dummitt is the lead pastor and planter of 2|42 Community Church in Michigan, one of the largest and fastest-growing churches in the country. He has led 2|42 through several generosity campaigns, totaling more than $33 million. He has served on the board of the Solomon Foundation, the fastest-growing church extension fund in history, and is co-founder of Gyve, an innovative generosity development tool for churches and nonprofits.

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GREAT T H E

I M P A C T

O F

S M A L L

T H I N G S

BY DOUG FULTZ

The Bible talks about how small, hidden things can eventually impact the much larger things of this world. Jesus said a tiny mustard seed, when planted, grows large enough for birds to light in its branches. He said a little bit of yeast, hidden in three measures of dough, can work its way through the entire batch. We see that principle at work in Bible stories and throughout church history. What begins as something little—a small group of people in an upper room—can eventually impact the entire planet.

God is still using little things to impact the world today. I think that is especially true with the African-American churches of Christ. The Solomon Foundation began a relationship with these churches nearly four years ago, and since that time we have witnessed God at work in many of their small congregations. Following are just a couple stories, but there are many more.

JANUARY 2020

( W I TH HEL P F R OM UNEX P ECTED SUP P OR TER S) William Rudolph serves as minister with Hickory Street Church of Christ in Greenville, Alabama. He has been a church of Christ preacher for nearly 50 years. When he was in his early 20s, he attended a gospel meeting led by Marshall Keeble, a legendary minister who baptized more people (47,000) and established more churches (350) than anyone in Restoration Movement history (see “Marshall Keeble and What He Taught Me,” by Jerry Harris, February 2018, p. 28). Rudolph sang just prior to the sermon, and Keeble had tears in his eyes as he got up to preach. After the meeting, Keeble spent time encouraging the young man.

“Following the meeting, Keeble went home, and as was his custom, he took a shower, put on a bathrobe, and sat in his rocking chair on the front porch,” Rudolph said. “His wife would hear the squeaking of the chair through the screen door. When the squeaking stopped, she knew he had fallen asleep, and it was time to send him to bed. That evening, however, when she no longer heard the squeaking, she found that he had passed away.”

Rudolph had the honor of singing the last song before Keeble’s final sermon. He said that left an enduring impression on him.

Rudolph has baptized hundreds of people during his ministry. Three years ago, he went back to his home church, Hickory Street Church of Christ. The church had dwindled to fewer than 30 attendees and its building needed repairs. A city inspector said the church could not hold services unless the floor in the sanctuary was replaced.

That’s when Rudolph called The Solomon Foundation, and we were able to quickly make the funds available for the repairs.

In the meantime, the church began to grow. It doubled, then tripled, and still the growth continued. Rudolph brought in his son to be youth minister; the church began to have a significant impact in a local neighborhood.

The church needed to expand, but its building was landlocked. Rudolph told city officials the church would need to relocate because they couldn’t add on to their current facility. The mayor, chief of police, and a city planner asked to meet Rudolph at the church property.

“William, we don’t want you to relocate,” the mayor said. “You are having such a positive impact on this neighborhood.”

The chief of police said, “William, you are saving me money. I don’t have to send my cruisers into the neighborhood as much as I used to.”

The city offered to close the road that ran alongside the church, giving the congregation access to land it owned on the other side, and allowing the necessary room for the church to expand. The city also offered to route some FEMA money to the church to help pay for a basement, provided the basement could also be used for a storm shelter.

The church accepted.

Today, the church is working toward expansion at that location, and it continues to be a valued partner with The Solomon Foundation. It’s a small, out-of-the-way church making a noticeable impact in their community.

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PREACHING THE GOSPEL IN NEW ORLEANS ( THR OUGH DANGERS AND SUFFER I NG)

Crescent City Church of Christ in New Orleans is a relatively new congregation reaching people most churches don’t reach. Early on, the church was located on Old Gentilly Road in East New Orleans, one of the toughest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the city. In fact, if you stood in the parking lot, said senior minister Cedrick Ivory, you could see “where they dump the bodies!”

Ivory’s brother, Gregory, had the initial vision to start the church. In the years following Hurricane Katrina, he felt led by God to establish a new work in the New Orleans area. The churches of Christ were undergoing serious leadership issues, and the brothers wanted a church where the leadership would lead with faithfulness and integrity and where the members could hear the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of their social background.

Crescent City Church of Christ began in 2011 with only eight members and $300. They worshipped in homes at first, then moved to a hotel, and in 2012 rented their first building; it was located in the middle of two junk yards, across from a graveyard. Services were limited to the daytime (it was too dangerous to meet there at night). If it rained, the road flooded and services would be canceled. Nevertheless, the little church, “down the road from where they dump the bodies,” began to grow. They baptized 11 people that year and membership grew to 45.

Who joins a church like that? “Many of our members are individuals most churches would not prefer,” Cedrick Ivory said. “They are from low-income families [and] have criminal backgrounds, disabilities, or other disadvantages. [But] we were committed to preaching the gospel of Christ to everyone, and God has always been with Crescent City Church and shown us favor.”

By late 2015, the little church had grown to 60 and baptized another 15 people. The parking lot and auditorium were about to run out of space. A new location was needed to allow for growth, especially if members were expected to bring guests. During the next year the church raised $50,000 and had eyes on moving to a safer area.

This is where the story pauses for many churches. Despite momentum, growth, and baptisms, many churches cannot secure financing for a larger facility. Funding is hard to come by today. Since the financial crisis of 2008, banks see churches as high-risk ventures and have been reluctant to loan money to them. How does a church like Crescent City—one filled with people “most churches would not prefer”—secure financing today?

About this time, Cedrick Ivory attended a workshop at the National Churches of Christ Lectureship in Atlanta, where he learned The Solomon Foundation is interested in being a ministry partner (rather than a bank). After conversations, an application, and visits, Crescent City Church’s loan was approved. They moved to a more visible, more accessible location where they had their first service June 3, 2018.

Since that time, the church has continued to baptize new believers, but it has had its share of problems, including Cedrick Ivory being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a serious autoimmune disorder that can cause paralysis. While he battled the illness, the church suffered greatly; morale, attendance, and contributions waned. When Cedrick recovered, The Solomon Foundation provided additional grants so he and his wife could attend our annual pastor’s conference.

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“ IMPACT W H AT B E G I N S A S S O M E T H I N G L I T T L E — A S M A L L G R O U P O F P E O P L E I N A N U P P E R R O O M —C A N E V E N T U A L LY

T H E

E N T I R E

P L A N E T

“I want to thank Doug Crozier and The Solomon Foundation for supporting me and my family while I was ill,” Cedrick Ivory wrote. “Jesus interceding on my behalf and God answering your prayer is why I am still alive today. I also want to thank Doug Crozier and The Solomon Foundation family for the love and support you have given to the church. I thank you for sending my wife and I to the Refresh Pastors Conference. . . . I always learn something new when I attend a Solomon Foundation Conference. . . . We are blessed to be partners with a company that is led by Godly men who stick to their core values.”

On April 7, 2019, Cedrick Ivory was blessed by God to deliver his first sermon in many months.

“I still struggled with shortness of breath and weakness in my legs, but God is good!” he said. “He gave me the strength I needed to endure. The service was great! The church was completely full, and everyone praised God!” Cedrick Ivory continues to recover and the church continues to grow and reach new people with the gospel of Christ.

The Solomon Foundation is grateful to partner with the African-American churches of Christ. We currently have nearly $80 million in loans invested in these churches and are committed to increasing that. Many of these churches are small treasures, but they are increasingly making a larger and larger impact.

TSF

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Interact ‘To the Ends of the Earth’ . . .

Ruth Anne Shattuck Great issue (November 2019); love the emphasis on “mission.”

John Allcott Every missionary has been waiting for this one!

Alan Kirkpatrick I pray more will read the CS!

Small Churches, Small Towns . . .

Aaron & Diane Lincoln, Rugby, England I really enjoyed the October 2019 magazine. The testimonies of our brothers and sisters in the Lord were a great encouragement! Story after story of people like me and my wife. We have served in small churches in small towns. We have ups and downs, yet we are convinced of God’s call on our lives. We try new things. We make changes when ministry isn’t as fruitful. We challenge others to step out in faith. Thank you, one and all, for sharing parts of your journeys with Christian Standard readers. Keep up God’s great work.

David Cole Last [month] it was, “We must focus on urban church growth.” Now this [month] it’s rural churches? Must there always be some kind of crisis that needs to be dealt with?

Janice J. Kelley I have read with much interest and appreciation the latest Christian Standard with emphasis on small churches. Very informative; thank you!

Give us your feedback! @chrstandard

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For space, length, readability, relevance, and civility, comments sent to Interact may remain unpublished or be edited. We do read them all and prayerfully take them to heart. If we publish your comment, we will try to honestly reproduce your thoughts with those considerations in mind. Where we disagree, let’s continue to keep P.H. Welshimer’s words in mind to “disagree without being disagreeable.”

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