Category Archives: Ministry
The Church Has Left the Building
This weekend marks Bridge Church’s 4th Faith in Action Sunday as a church. The idea is to have as our natural rhythm spending one Sunday per quarter serving the community in intentional ways. Our projects thus far have included kids activities and block parties at a local trailer park, building handicap ramps/porches for elderly and disadvantaged residents, serving at Nursing homes, visiting and bringing care baskets to area ICU waiting rooms, prayer walking, cooking for low income housing residents, trimming trees around a local trailer park, cleaning up yards, etc. Click here for a video of one of our past FIA’s.
This Sunday, we’ll meet at the West St. Tammany YMCA for breakfast at 9am and then break out to put our faith in action.
Recent Conversations
“My son had been asking questions about Christianity, but then he had a verbal altercation with a neighbor who goes to church every Sunday.”
“I was thinking about visiting _______ church, but somebody came into my business acting like a jerk, and they were wearing a T-shirt from there.”
“I’m a security guard and work details for churches. I see how they act toward us when they’re leaving, so I’d never go to church.”
“When I was 14 I went to church, but got called into the pastors office and yelled at for shooting spitballs, so I never went back.” (Now he’s 30 with a criminal and painful past).
Really wanting the church to think through our attitudes and actions outside and toward those on the outside of the church building. I’ve read the fastest growing religious affiliation is the unaffiliated. My desire is to not be a stumbling block for those who need to see the beauty of Christ.
An Observation: Why does multisite work?
“Multisite church is not church planting.” Many seem to be warming up to the idea of multisite ministry, but there are holdouts who continue to object using the above phrase. Wherever you stand, you have to admit that it appears to be working in a lot of places. Many reasons for this, but one in particular that comes to my mind as a strategists in rural/suburban North America: OWNERSHIP. When a church sends out its name and logo, its pastors face on a screen, its significant financial investment, and its vision for people to be saved and influenced for Christ, failure effects everyone, so it’s not an option.
Working in the area of church planting over the last 10 years, what I’ve observed is usually there is only one person that owns it all: THE PLANTER. If it succeeds, he’ll be written about, applauded, and used to promote offerings. If it fails, we’ll forget it ever happened and hope he and his family land on their feet. No skin off our backs.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe the planter must be out in front of everyone else in ownership of a vision, but if significant obstacles are faced and momentum doesn’t come easy, he may find himself alone. As Church leaders, can we really say we own the needs of the lost in our community if failure of a church plant or sister church would be pain free and perfectly acceptable? Can we say that we are fighting a good fight if we shield ourselves from the risk associated with penetrating the kingdom of darkness through church planting and reaching the unchurched?
I’m praying for the courage of the Apostle Paul. Drug out of town, stoned, left for dead, a failure, he GETS UP and goes back to finish the task. Why? OWNERSHIP.
Romans 1:14-16 (ESV) – “I am under obligation … I am eager … I am not ashamed of the gospel.”
Leadership is Lacking when…
Love this list from Dave & Jon Ferguson’s new book Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement. Take the test…
- I wait for someone to tell me what to do rather than taking the initiative myself.
- I spend too much time talking about how things should be different.
- I blame the context, surroundings, or other people for my current situation.
- I am more concerned about being cool or accepted than doing the right thing.
- I seek consensus rather than casting vision for a preferable future.
- I am not taking any significant risks.
- I accept the status quo as the way it’s always been and always will be.
- I start protecting my reputation instead of opening myself up to opposition.
- I procrastinate to avoid making a tough call.
- I talk to others about the problem rather than taking it to the person responsible.
- I don’t feel like my butt is on the line for anything significant.
- I ask for way too many opinions before taking action.
Amen and Ouch!
Making Disciples Can Be Messy
“Preaching to a crowd is safe, but mentoring someone is costly and messy and can hurt your heart” Pete Charpentier
Could this be why our default position of ministry today is planning and paying for big events and hoping that maybe, just maybe people will get in a relationship? One on one discipling can be less than “cost-effective” when it comes to todays score card for ministry success (which is how many? how much? how often?).
My heart is hurting a bit this morning because some I’ve invested in have recently made destructive choices, some are experiencing hardship, some are seeds falling by the road or among thorns. I think I understand in a small way what Paul said to the Galatians who were pursuing a false gospel: “I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” 4:19. This morning, I am also full of joy because others are making progress and growing and tracking with God’s will. I am also humbled to think about those who mentored and discipled me with patience and love and shaped me into what I am today.
I believe one of the greatest questions for leaders is: “Who are you currently mentoring?”
Recently, Pete Charpentier, Pastor at Woodland Park Baptist Church in Hammond, challenged one of our monthly Pastors conferences with the need for one-on-one mentoring in ministry. He gave me permission to share his insights which have stuck with me the past few weeks. Here they are:
Utilizing Social Networking for Ministry
— This was originally presented at a Conference for Ministry Assistants. Download the PDF version here —-
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is big news. It’s a message to be declared, proclaimed, announced, and distributed to as many people as we can as often as we can. God’s work among His people is also news and a story that needs to be told. The tools that churches have relied upon to announce their message and distribute their stories are the pulpit, newsletters, letters and post cards, phone trees, scrolling power point announcements, and email. As a Pastor, my church utilized each of these tools and still I heard regularly from people in my church – “I didn’t know anything about that.” Communication is definitely one of our biggest challenges. Also challenging is the fact that a generation is here that is abandoning paper and phone lines for wireless messaging and social networking. It’s time for the church to take communication to another level and engage the world in the fastest growing means of messaging that we have today and utilize the world of Social Media.
Why?
So you’re not a computer geek, you don’t enjoy video games, you hate hype and fads. These are some of the reasons given for not engaging in the popular social networking domains. Here are four reasons why you should put all excuses away and just do it:
1) It’s where the people are. In February, Facebook announced that it now has 400 million users and some estimates show that growing by as much as 35,000 a day! There are 3.5 billion pieces of content uploaded to Facebook each week. Facebook now supports 65 languages. Twitter boasts 75 million users and growing. Currently there are 50 million tweets everyday, about 600 tweets per second. These interfaces are growing and people are using them more and more each day. If we’ve got a message that we want to get out to as many people as possible it seems that we’d want to get it where the people are and social media seems to be that place.
2) Message saturation is possible. Recently I asked a group of Church Secretaries and Administrative Assistants if the teenagers in their church are reading the church’s publications. 100% expressed uncertainty. We recognize that a hard copy newsletter does not reach all of our audience. Utilizing social media will allow you to get the exact same information to them in a way that does attract their attention. It is possible to saturate your message throughout the different age-grades and audiences in your church today like never before.
3) It’s Free. The most compelling reason for utilizing the fastest growing communication tools today is the cost. It’s completely free! At every level of social networking, free is an option that gets you out to where millions of people are interacting every second of everyday.
4) You Might Have Fun. Why has Facebook grown so fast? It’s enjoyable. People like having info at their fingertips in real time. They like talking about themselves and connecting with people. They will enjoy connecting with your church and discovering what it’s all about as well. And it’s ok to have fun while we proclaim His message and tell our story.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
With so many different social networking sites popping up, here are three types that can definitely help ministries communicate their message in this new age. I’m sharing personal discoveries and what I’ve learned over the last few years as I’ve waded into these waters, so I’m certain my knowledge is far from exhaustive, but here goes:
Faith-In-Action Needed
“The light that shines the farthest, shines brightest at home” – this is one of my all time favorite missions quotes from J. Oswald Sanders. It reminds me of the inherent hypocrisy of saying how mission minded we are while driving past deep needs of people groups in our community. For our church, regular Faith In Action weekends where we get intentional about ministry to the neediest and sharing the good news has opened my eyes to this truth even more. Without neglecting the needs of the world, we must take time to look around us. Here are a few of our upcoming Faith in Action Projects:
Nestled in the heart of Madisonville, LA, one of the wealthiest areas on the Northshore, is this family that has no running water and open holes in the floor. Next week we’ll spend time cleaning up this property, pressure washing, painting, addressing quality of life issues, and being a blessing to the family however we can.
Near to this address is the household of a disabled/handicap (due to polio) single parent with three kids. That’s right. There are no steps on the porch and the head of household is disabled. We will be taking time to bless this family through cleaning the property, pressure washing the house, etc.
The dishwasher of an elderly, widowed trailer park resident burst and leaked all over the floor. Long-term results are open holes in the floor and water damaged cabinets. We hope to repair, replace, and be a blessing to this household next week.
Tammany Hills Baptist Church has been in decline for years. Our Association of churches has worked with them on a track torevitalization and she is coming to life! Next week we’ll be helping with a door to door campaign to invite 2,000 neighborhood residents to church and let them know that we are praying for them. We’ll also tackle some handyman projects around the church.
“This is all social work stuff. What about sharing the Gospel?” We’ll be touching each household around these homes as we bring change to the physical structures. Through servanthood and being the good news, we can expect opportunity to share the Good news. Excited about the possibilities of shining bright in this world and very bright close to home.
Warning! Do Not Let This Person Join Your Church!
Do whatever you have to do to keep this person away from your church! He will do more to keep your church inward focused and ineffective than almost anything. Because of this person, needs are going unmet in our community today. He has provided excuses, caused conflicts, and often raises unfounded questions and criticisms. He will also keep other people in church from serving God, using their spiritual gifts, from worshiping through giving, and growing in their walk with Christ. He or she may even cost your church more money as you have to hire more staff to fix what this person has done to the hearts and minds of people in the congregation.
Let me give you this persons name: SOMEBODY ELSE.
As a ministry leader, I heard often about the exploits of SOMEBODY ELSE, but it was always false and there efforts always resulted in less ministry being accomplished.
- “I thought SOMEBODY ELSE would do it.”
- “Why didn’t SOMEBODY ELSE think of that.”
- “I can’t, but certainly SOMEBODY ELSE will be able to be there.”
- “We don’t have to go, SOMEBODY ELSE can do my part.”
Pastor, do yourself a favor, at the next Business Meeting lead your people to vote Somebody Else out of the church. And remind the church regularly that SOMEBODY ELSE is gone FOREVER. So, SOMEBODY ELSE = NOBODY = less of what God wants to do through the body of Christ in your community.
Responsiveness
Talking with a single parent with three kids who is disabled and unable to work.
Me – “Anything I can pray for you about? or help out with?”
SP – “Yea, my water heater just went out.”
Me – “Wow! I’ll pray for you. Bye.”
On my way home to relax.
God – “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and well filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” James 2:15-16.
Me – Ouch!
God – “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him. Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” 1 John 3:17-18.
Me – Wait a minute!
God – “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered” Proverbs 21:13.
Now there’s a Water Heater in the back of my truck!
Living life on mission is about PROXIMITY, RESPONSIVENESS, AND GENEROSITY. Responding to needs sometimes means putting feet and funds to our prayers. Responding to the needs of others often means responding to God’s word. He blesses us to be a blessing to others.
Lane Corley 