Category Archives: Quotes
Gathering Strategy: “Draw them with love” #churchplanting #spurgeon
“Compassion magnetizes a man… A big heart is one of the main essentials to great usefulness… You may collect people for a time by some extraneous means, but unless they perceive that you love them, and that your heart goes out with desires for their good, they will soon weary of you.”
From a sermon by Charles Spurgeon entitled “Compassion On The Ignorant.” Check out the entire clip HERE.
“The size of a church does not determine its health, but…”
Small churches don’t get a lot of airtime, even though they are the rule & not the exception across the globe (90% of churches have less than 100 adults in attendance on any given weekend), so I enjoyed Outreach Magazine‘s annual trek into Small Church America in their July/August 2014 issue. Check out a few of my big takeaways that may surprise or encourage you. And make you think.
- “The size of a church does not determine its health, but a church’s health can determine its size.” – Ed Stetzer, Lifeway Research, EdStetzer.com.
- “A small church measures success by how faithful they have been with what God has given them.” Dave Jacobs, SmallChurchPastor.com.
- “The average church attracts fewer than 90 adults on a typical weekend. 60% of protestant churches have 100 or adults on a typical weekend. Just 2% of churches attract more than 1,000 adults on a typical weekend.” – Barna
- “We need to be content with who we are, but never content with staying where we are.” Karl Vaters in the Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and the Small Thinking that Divides Us (New Small Church, 2012).
- “Bloom where you’re planted. Instead of trying to be what you are not, know what you do well and do it well.” – Jim Thomas, SmallChurch.com.
- “What drives us? Spotlight and recognition? Influence over 1,000’s? Power that comes with a title? Or would we be content with a downward movement of faithful servanthood, even if it meant obscurity?” – JR Briggs in Fail: Finding Hope & Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure, IVP, 2014.
- “Churches of 200 or less are four times more likely to plant a daughter church than churches of 1,000 or more. The smaller the size of the church the more fertile they are in planting churches.” – Lifeway
- “The number of evangelicals has not boomed. We have just become more centralized in fewer, larger churches that produce better Sunday performances.” – John S. Dickerson in The Great Evangelical Recession, Baker Books, 2013.
- “Since the Day of Pentecost, innovative small churches have been the way the majority of Christians have done church.” – Karl Vater, NewSmallChurch.com.
- “local engagement – the engagement with our local neighborhoods, villages, towns is harder and harder the bigger and bigger you get.” – David Fitch
- “The growth rate of churches decreased with increasing size…” – Christian Schwartz in Natural Church Development.
Biggest takeaway – “No matter the size, age or denomination of our churches, there’s one question we should all be asking… Where do we grow from here?” Bobby Gruenwald.
I personally believe that small church or big church should not be our motive or goal or badge of honor. God’s glory & the soul’s of men should be the goal. Be encouraged where you are & work hard for God’s glory & the souls of men.
Quotable: Lottie Moon
Lottie Moon served as a Missionary to China in the late 1800’s. The Southern Baptist Convention missions offering that was named after her has raised over $2.8 billion since it began. She could have been easily forgotten, because after a long & difficult missionary career, she died on a ship near Japan, without the money to even get herself back home to the states. But she lives on as an example of courage & gospel fervency. Here’s a few great quotes:
- “I do not believe that any trouble comes upon us unless it is needed, and it seems to me that we ought to be just as thankful for sorrow as for joys.”
- “The harvest is very great, the laborers, oh! so few. Why does the Southern Baptist church lag behind in this great work? …a young man should ask himself not if it is his duty to go to the heathen, but if he may dare stay at home. The command is so plain: ‘Go.'”
- “The needs of these people press upon my soul, and I cannot be silent. It is grievous to think of these human souls going down to death without even one opportunity of hearing the name of Jesus.”
- “It fills one with sorrow to see these people so earnest in their worship of false gods… Then to remember the wealth hoarded in Christian coffers! … Should we not press it home upon our consciences that the sole object of our conversion was not the salvation of our own souls, but that we might become co-workers with our Lord and Master in conversion of the world?
- “I have a firm conviction that I am immortal ’til my work is done.”
Found written in the fly leaf of her Bible after her death:
- “O, that I could consecrate myself, soul and body, to his service forever; O, that I could give myself up to him, so as never more to attempt to be my own or to have any will or affection improper for those conformed to him.”
For more info on the life of Lottie Moon, pick up Danny Akin’s short book 10 Who Changed the World.
“Don’t just invite people to a meeting, invite them into your life” – Small Group Training Notes from @RickHowerton
Great day of learning yesterday with Rick Howerton. Rick was gracious to give a day to leaders in the Greater New Orleans area. On the Northshore, we found
that only about 4% of the population attends an evangelical Bible Study of any kind. Small Group leaders are needed to shepherd people to maturity in Christ.
Here’s a few big takeaways from his talks.
- A small group is four to twelve people doing the Christian life deeply together, REALLY. It’s more than just a class. They are more than just friends. They are fellow disciples.
- Churches can choose to run programs or grow people. Small groups is the best way to grow people.
- The goal of church is not to get people to stick, but to make disciples that make disciples.
- The goal of small groups is to make disciples that makes disciples. Not just to help people become good friends, but to move them to maturity in Christ.
- Don’t just invite people to a meeting, invite them into your life.
- On expectations and commitment: If you continually lower the bar, it will accomplish nothing in someones life.
- On Multiplying Groups: Start each group with the vision and expectation that it will multiply. Have an apprentice leader from the beginning that is there to multiply the group. The group that doesn’t multiply in 24 months, never will.
- When groups don’t want to multiply: Teach them that the mission of God is more important than the desires of individuals. Ask, “What if the first group of 12 would have chosen to just stay together?”
- On reproducing leaders: People don’t do what they’ve been told to do, they do what they see someone they trust doing.
- On keys to small group leadership: Stay connected with God, Confess all known sin, Be filled with the Holy Spirit on a Daily Basis, Prioritize your daily devotional life, Depend on God more than techniques.
- The best person to cast vision for small groups is the Sr. Pastor. The Sr. Pastor should be leading or attending a group.
Looking forward to learning more from Rick in the future. He blogs daily HERE. Great daily dose of solid Small Group thinking. Also, his latest book is A Different Kind of Tribe, published through NavPress.
God Is With Us
The Incarnation is the noblest idea of any world religion. God did not watch human despair from the safety of heaven. He clothed Himself in humanity. He ceased watching the human war and became a soldier.
Calvin Miller, in The Christ of Christmas
“All disciples of Jesus are called to be a sent people”
Reflections on our recent Basic Training for #ChurchPlanters:
Wrapped up another Basic Training for Church Planters this weekend at ABC Camp in Eunice. We had about 20 church planting teams, preparing to plant new churches and campus’ across Louisiana. And we actually did this training simultaneously in English and Spanish. Find the Basic Training materials online here. Here are a few highlights:
- Church Planting is all about relationships.
- There is only one kingdom and it belongs to God. And God’s kingdom is extended to the ends of the earth through His church.
- All disciples of Jesus are called to be sent people.
- You can’t plant a church in your head, you have to plant it in the community.
- We don’t plant churches just for the community, we plant them for the whole world.
- Every congregation is a world missions strategy center.
- Contextualization is answering the communities questions about God and the gospel IN their terms. NOT ON their terms.
- Discipleship = Applying the inner meaning of the Gospel to persons at the point of their need.
- Multiplication principles: You reap what you sow. You reap later than you sow. You reap more than you sow.
- Don’t just start services, start making disciples.
- Discipling is a process of learning to obey Jesus.
- Disciples are shaped by serving, not just sitting and singing.
- Don’t use people to get ministry done. Use ministry to get people done.
- Small Groups are the seedbed to develop new leaders.
- In church history, a significant amount of missionary activity and advance was carried out by unrecognized teams of church planters. i.e – the Moravians
- The Moravians saw witnessing as the common concern from all members of the faith community and sent small groups of ordinary believers to plant churches and testify for Christ in new areas.
- “Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing – its disciples. Your church is only as good as her disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs, or property are; if your disciples are passive, needy, consumeristic, and not radically obedient…” Neil Cole
Faith or Feelings?
by Martin Luther
Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God—
Naught else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose word cannot be broken.
I’ll trust in God’s unchanging word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
His word shall stand forever!
Heard this earlier this week & it stuck with me. What’s the basis of your belief & your life? Faith or Feelings?
May Wrap Up
Top Post and Favs for May ’12:
- Sweet Baby Kate – Welcoming a new baby girl to our family was the tops & fav for our family of course. Here’s an announcement Vid.
- “Isn’t that in a bad part of town?” – Why the phrase “the bad part of town” needs to be removed from our vocab.
- Current Church Planting Bibliography – Updated my tops list in Church planting Lit.
- This Momentary Marriage – Moving video by Desiring God about commitment in marriage
- How to Plant a Church Without Losing Your Marriage – Great list from Brian Bloye’s book It’s Personal.
From my Twitter Favs:
- Dave Ramsey @DaveRamsey If you will live like no one else…Later you can live like no one else. Definition of maturity: ability to delay pleasure
- Rick Howerton @rickhowerton There’s no such thing as a lazy leader. #oxyMORON
- Rick Warren @RickWarren The fewer things we want, the wealthier we are.
- CMAResources.org @CMAResources Don’t defend the way you do church with scripture. Define the way you do church with scripture. — @brandonhatmaker
- Ed Stetzer @edstetzer The community surrounding a church should benefit from the its presence. — http://bit.ly/KagY9i
- Floyd McClung @FloydMcClung To activate faith of potential disciples Jesus always asked a step of faith from them. Little obediences sow DNA for big obediences.
- Bryan Loritts @bcloritts Cohabitation (shackin up) is on the rise largely b/c our boys aren’t becoming men. Boys play house, men make homes.
Articles I Tagged:
Real Men in Church
You cannot defeat men like this. Tell them to keep quiet, and they disobey you. Throw them into prison, and they convert the jailer. Whip them, and they rejoice to be allowed to suffer for Christ. Stone them within an inch of their lives in one city, and they carry on with just the same message in the next. Kill them, and others arise to take their place. Endurance like that simply has to win in the long run. But we do not see enough of it in our western church. There is plenty of obstinacy, to be sure, but usually about the wrong things: church property, ministers who aren’t liked, or style of services.
Michael Green on the endurance of the early church in his great book called 30 Years that Changed the World.
Good tip for us parents: You Can’t Bad-Attitude Someone into a Good Attitude
When is that last time someone confronted you in anger and your immediate response was something like, “Oh thank you, I am so motivated now to do better and try harder.” Correction packaged in a bad attitude is not motivating, stimulating, or helpful.
If it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, we would do well to encourage repentance in others the same way.
from Rick Holland
Lane Corley 