“Be diligent in action. Put all your irons into the fire. Use every faculty for Jesus. Be wide-awake to watch opportunities, and quick to seize upon them.”
~ Charles Spurgeon
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Creating More SENDING Capacity
“The greatness of a church is not in her seating capacity, but in her sending capacity” ~Rick Warren.
I’ve heard this saying over & over again for the past 15 years or so from Pastors and church leaders from all different perspectives of ministry. But I haven’t seen much about how to expand the SENDING capacity of a local church or a real change in strategy to developing SENDING capacity. Both are necessary for a missional movement. How can we understand the difference & add real SENDING capacity to our strategies?
- Seating capacity is about managing the movement of people into relationships. Sending capacity is about managing the movement of people into mission.
- The mission that Jesus gave the church was a SENDING strategy. The Great Commission & the Acts 1:8 Challenge are foundational
- Matthew 28:19 (NLT) – “go and make disciples of all the nations…”
- Acts 1:8 (NLT) – “you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- Seating capacity is easier. Not cheaper, but easier. It’s easier to draw a big crowd than to send a lot of people into missional roles in the world. It takes longer & requires different things from the leaders.
- Seating capacity is INSIDE. Sending capacity is OUTSIDE. Serving inside the church is great, but if the only mission opportunities we give people are inside, we fall short of a true Acts 1:8 SENDING strategy.
- Being SEATED is much more comfortable than being SENT. Going to church is for the majority of people, very safe, sanitary, & can be enjoyable. Being SENT requires sacrifice, risk, & a sometimes delayed reward for effort.
- I can be SEATED in my own strength. Being SENT requires the power of the Spirit.
- Being SEATED tends to make much of the leaders. Being SENT makes much of the mission. We hear a lot about the churches & leaders with the most SEATING capacity.
- SEATING capacity is easier to track and clean up after. It’s more static. SENDING strategies are hard to control and can get messy.
Do you see any difference between SEATING capacity and SENDING capacity? How does your church include SENDING in its strategies? What resources do you know about to aid SENDING capacity and SEATING capacity?
Next week I’ll share some thoughts about developing SENDING capacity.
“In the end it bites like a serpent” http://bible.us/prov23.32.esv
Just walked with a second friend in the course of 8 months through the pain of alchoholism’s bite. Both went from, “I don’t see anything wrong with having a beer or two every now and then!” to “I can handle it, I can quit anytime” to “Pray for me. I’m trying to quit” to losing a job & messing up important relationships, to financial ruin, to a detoxification center and now trying to restart life.
I know you have freedom in Christ. I know the Bible is not against having a beer but against being drunk. I know it’s part of the culture down here. I know, I know, I know… but don’t take the Bible’s warnings lightly. It still has a bite.
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.” http://bible.us/prov23.29-32.esv
“Hey Dad, when’s the next Faith in Action Sunday?”
Four times per year, our church scatters instead of just gathering for worship to do restoration projects across our community. It’s a weekend emphasis for what we want our daily lives to be as missionary servant living out life In Christ, On Mission, 4 Others. This weekend will be the 8th FIA Sunday. It’s an opportunity to add to the story of our lives intentionality, radical generosity, and faith in action.
My 9-year old Jack has been doing FIA Sunday’s & other community service projects for the last 3 years and it’s exciting to see 
how it’s shaping his heart and attitudes about life & church. The Sunday after our FIA weekends, he starts asking, “Hey Dad, when’s the next Faith in Action Sunday? And what’s the projects?”
Last year on FIA Sunday, we were working on the home of a disabled single mom who lives near a church that had just gone through a new building campaign. As we drove by he asked in the innocence of an 8-year old mind, “Dad, why is that church so nice and Ms. _____ doesn’t even have running water?” Now I know that particular church does great things in our community & that every church can’t do everything but we’re working together, but I was proud that my son had begun to note in his heart, “Isn’t it about the needs of the world instead of about me? And my church?” I’m glad that my conversations with Jack about church have delved a little deeper than, “Did you have fun today at church?” and even, “What did you learn in church today?” But we’re learning that with intentional efforts to get our children into “points of contact” with people in need, they can get it & be shaped & changed & even make a difference in the lives of others as we serve together.
Many Christian parents would probably say that they don’t want their kids to grow up as Christian consumers or as self-centered narcissists. But what are we doing intentionally to help them develop an others focus? Telling Bible stories & going to church IS a powerful thing. Do that! But are we living out those stories in our own way with our families? Are we teaching our kids to apply the stories they hear talked about?
Faith in Action weekend is an opportunity for our families to serve together, apply the Word of God, get our hands dirty, & teach our kids what the Christian life is all about with more than words, but actions. This weekend, I’ll have Jack with me as we build a porch and clean up the yard of an elderly widow and share the gospel with her neighborhood through a Block Party. He’ll also be beside me as we go to our local jail and throw a block party for inmate kids and share the gospel there. I’m looking forward to his next questions.
You can join us this weekend to put your Faith in Action. We’ll meet at 9am at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum on Sunday for breakfast a time of devotion & prayer, then scatter to serve. Check out our projects at bridgenorthshore.com/faith-in-action. Everybody can serve!
Here are a few other ideas for families on mission together:
- Volunteer at local food banks.
- Find needs in your local neighborhood.
- Make bake goods or crafts for local nursing homes.
- Invite people into your home & talk about life & God.
- Take a Family Mission Trip & find a mission project to do one day wherever you go on vacation.
The Crux: Christ vs. Human Performance
Defined as the essential point requiring a resolution or resolving an outcome. Crux is latin for Cross. Every time we use or hear hear this phrase we’re referencing the essential point of God’s plan for the world that demands a resolution from each of us.
What do you emphasize as the essential point of your spiritual life? When it comes to spirituality there’s a few things I think I’ve made the CRUX instead of the cross:
Human performance. Believing God’s favor and forgiveness can be earned or is merited by human goodness or completing a list of religious deeds. I go to church, put money in the plate, give intellectual assent to the truths of the Bible, help with VBS, AND I don’t cuss, I buy the pastor a Christmas present, don’t watch “R” raided movies unless they’re about God, participate in canned food drives, help with D-Now weekend, give to the building program, participate in Boycotts of stores that support unbiblical agendas. I’ve had similar lists of things that are not bad, but are equal to the best of human GOODNESS. And the religious Pharisees of the New Testament could point to such list. But to rely on and make your list, your performance THE CRUX is to essentially claim that the death of Jesus on the cross was essentially unnecessary or insufficient. That’s what the Pharisees claimed as well.
Here’s the CRUX: If I could do anything to earn my way to God, then Jesus would have never had to die. He died because of our inability to earn or work or perform our way to heaven. The cross stands as a reminder of our inability and the impossibility of getting to God on our own. It speaks to the limitation of human goodness. It’s righteousness that’s required for a relationship with God. And righteousness is made available as a gift from God, because of Christ’s death on the Cross.
“He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Don’t trust anything but Christ and what he accomplished for you at the cross.
Bridge Church is in the midst of a series of sermons on the Cross called The Crux. Gather with us Sunday’s, 10:30am at the West St. Tammany YMCA.
“Be diligent in action. …
“I know what I need to do BUT…”
Most of the changes we need to make are self-evident and within our grasp. The gap between what we want and who we are is revealed by that little three letter word: “BUT.”
- “I know what I need to do BUT…”
- “I know what the Bible says BUT…”
- “I intend on it one day BUT…”
- “I’d love to try ______ BUT…”
It does reveal something deeper. Will power is not enough to conquer our deepest fears, doubts, and misconceptions about ourselves and others. To get off our “buts” we need to see the One who can bring real change for who He is and give our lives over to Him. Nothing closes the gaps in our lives like believing God can do what He says. And He’s delivered on His promises with no BUTS.
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17.
So Grateful to Be a Part of this Church
Looking forward to another year of movement making with these guys.
A few Favs from last week:
Links I liked & learned from:
- The Pastor Driven Church – “The Pastor Driven Church sacrifices bold preaching and personal disciple making forpowerless people pleasing.”
- What is Neighboring – “From the City’s perspective, there’s not a lot of difference between how Christians and non-Christians neighbor” ~ local city-manager.
- 10 Ways to Help Your Church Reach Out through Social Media –
- Are you Creating or Consuming? – “when it comes to creating versus consuming, how much balance do you have in your life?”
- Francis Chan: From Mega-Church Pastor to Multi-Housing Church Planter –
From the Twittersphere:
- DaveRamsey Behind every successful man is a great woman and a surprised mother-in-law.
- NationsBeGlad “The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.” – Billy Graham
- brandonhatmaker “The more you scatter your people for mission, the more meaning your gathering will have.” @hughhalter #leadnet #LNLive
- RealEricGeiger Everyone is a disciple of someone, but not everyone is transformed. Only 1 Leader brings transformation to His disciples.
- CMAResources You don’t graduate from learning until there’s a flatline on the screen next to your bed. #LNlive #leadnet
- drboblogan Don’t start churches to make disciples. Start churches by making disciples. @davedv
- darrinpatrick Instead of leaving the church because it doesn’t offer your pet program, consider staying and starting it. #forthecity
Top 5 Deathbed Regrets, Latest Social Networking Research, and other links I liked and learned from lately
- Top 5 Deathbed Regrets – #2 “I wish I didn’t work so hard (expressed by every male patient)”
- Some Fatherhood research – “In 1960, only 11% of children in the U.S. lived apart from their fathers. By 2010, that share had risen to 27%.”
- Joining God in the Neighborhood – Also looking forward to getting this book
- Godin on Organization vs. Movement “Movements are more likely to cause widespread change, and they require leaders, not managers.”
- Social Networking Stats – “79% of American adults said they used the internet and nearly half of adults (47%), or 59% of internet users, say they use at least one of SNS. This is close to double the 26% of adults (34% of internet users) who used a SNS in 2008.”
- What you win people with, you win people to ~ Bob Logan – “If you reach people with … that’s what they will believe church to be. Whatever people have experienced, that’s what they asume church is.”
- Top 10 Misused English Words
Lane Corley 