Category Archives: Miscellaneous

In a recent e-mail newsletter I encouraged readers to think through what unsaved, unchurched people would perceive if they were to visit their church. What would they see? What would they experience.

I received a response from someone who took this challenge to heart, concluding “I have discovered something is missing in my church in every aspect of the questions you asked …” I am sure that if most churches would be honest, they would discover that there is always more room to learn and grow in all of these areas.

Then came a plea for help to become that kind of church. While there is no quick fix solution, I was able to make some suggestions. Perhaps my response will benefit more people.

Questions for Assessment:

You’ll find questions similar to what I asked in that newsletter in this post: Questions About Your Church

A good exercise for your group would be to come up with your own list of six to ten questions based on God’s design, purpose, and mission for the Church. But, you may use the questions in the above link if you wish

A Process for Change:

Work through each of the questions one at a time and do the following:

1. Pray about each question in regard to your church, confessing to the Lord where you might be falling short and asking Him to work in your church to increase His desires for you in these ways. Remember passages like Proverbs 3:5-6, John 15:1-5, and 2 Pet. 1:3-9. Use Psalm 139:23-24 as a guide for each of the questions, praying that He will show you what you might be doing wrong or perhaps what you are not doing that you should be doing. Ask Him to show you what steps to take to make the necessary changes.

2. Write down a step you can take now, for each of the questions, to start heading in that direction. Perhaps the step will lead to changes in the way you think about God or His design and purposes for the church which might require a study from His Word on certain areas. Perhaps it will be the way you relate to God or one another. Maybe you will need to put certain systems in place to ensure you are following His ways. The steps your church needs to take might be different from where another church must begin. Keep praying about the steps you should take. Perhaps God will use some of the articles linked to in the above questions to guide you in steps you might need to take.

3. After you start to implement a step, go through this process again, asking God to show you the next step. Very likely you will not find a one step solution for these questions.

Why Prayerful Assessment is Needed for Steps to Change:

We need to ask questions that relate to who we are as a church, not just what we do. We can push our way through behavioral change making ourselves do what we should do but change on the inside, at the core of our being, is quite different. God isn’t looking for a people who merely conform outwardly but who are transformed inwardly. Romans 12:2 says you need to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

While God certainly is capable of instantaneous transformation, He often takes us through a process, incrementally, step by step (2 Pet. 1:5-7; James 1:2-5). We need to yield to Him each step of the way.

Pray continually. (1 Thess. 5:17).

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Col. 4:2)

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Rom. 12:12)

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Eph. 6:18)

For Help with Praying, Go To: Prayer Resources

Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.  (Prov. 4:23)

We might say it’s about the heart but our practices so often emphasize behavior modification or external conformity.

In teaching we see it in applications that only focus on behavior, through the use of a reward system, in using discipline as more of punishment or crowd control than helping students become who God intends them to be, etc.

If counseling we see it through encouraging all the right steps a person should take rather than examining attitudes and motivations, in failure to incorporate prayer into the session, etc.

In leading we see it through integrity breaks wherein we let the end justify the means, when we expect people to adapt to change without preparing them for it, etc.

When discipling we see it through focusing on what Christians are supposed to do (i.e., Christian disciplines) more than godly character, in accountability that fails to discuss what’s going on inside, etc.

What’s inside eventually comes out so why not deal more with the heart?

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  (Matt. 12:34)

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  (Matt. 15:19)

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.  (Lk. 6:45)

Here are some possible reasons we don’t make it more about the heart:

Character (inner being) is difficult to gauge.  Appearance is much easier to use as a standard.

— Yet, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  (1 Sam. 16:7)  “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.”  (Prov. 27:19)

Motivations are difficult to decipher.  Actions are much easier to define.

— Yet, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.”  (Prov. 21:2)
“He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.” (1 Cor. 4:5)

Results are difficult to measure when heart transformation is the goal.  Behavior is much easier to quantify.

— Yet, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.” (Deut. 6:5-6)  “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”  (Rom. 10:10)  “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps. 66:18)

Making it more about the heart:

1)  Prayer similar to Psalm 139:23-24 needs to be a regular part of our time with the Lord privately and corporately. — “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

2)  Begin this emphasis when people are children.  When the Christian life is all about external conformity through the years, it is hard for people to all of the sudden switch to a focus on the heart.  — Worksheet for Children’s Teachers:  Heart Transformation or Behavior Modification?

3)  Teach, counsel, lead, and serve like you really believe it is about the heart.  Examine your practices to determine the underlying message people are receiving.  Remember that your words alone are only a part of the communication process.  Are you modeling an approach to life in Christ that acknowledges the importance of the heart?

Whether we teach, lead, or serve in any other capacity, what we do should be lining up with God’s purposes.

Are you a teacher?   — Teach on purpose.
Are you a children’s worker?  — Discipline on purpose.
Are you a ministry leader?  — Lead on purpose.

The whole of our lives, not just our ministry, should line up with God’s purposes. Living life with purpose makes a difference.

Helping People Live Life with Purpose by Lining Up with God’s Purposes

Imagine if all the people that come to your church would live their individual daily lives more on purpose. Can you begin to fathom the impact that everybody aligning their lives with God’s purposes would have on your church’s life and on the lost world around us?

Suggestions:

1. Teach on Living Life with Purpose but know that a curriculum alone will not be sufficient to change people’s lives.

2. The Spirit of God must take the truth of God and work His purposes in our hearts. So, yield to the Spirit.

3. Prayer must envelop your church’s life.  “Be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18). So, pray.

4. Leaders and teachers must provide good models of what it is to live life on purpose. So, be an example.

5. We must intentionally nurture our personal walk with the Lord so love for God spills over into us purposefully loving others. So, spend quality time with God.

Living life with purpose, God’s purposes, has to begin somewhere.  May it begin with you and me!

I have long looked at Ephesians 4:16 as God’s blueprint for church growth and ministry. As I wrote before, I believe this One Verse Says It All.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Notice that growth happens “as each part does its work.”  The part we have is tied into our spiritual gifts as seen in the context of Ephesians 4:16.

The Potential for Growing According to God’s Plan

In looking at the phrase “as each part does its work” elsewhere I wrote,

The word “as” denotes the measuring rod to which we will see this kind of growth and edification in the Body. Growth will be in proportion to “as each part does its work.

The Problem in Getting Everybody to Do Their Part

In today’s world, people are so busy.  They are often stressed out.  Getting busy, stressed out people involved, doing their part, can be a challenge so we must ask if God’s blueprint is still relevant.

In today’s world, people are increasingly becoming disillusioned with the church.  Really, it seems to be the institutionalized church with which people have a problem but disillusioned people tend to have difficulty distinguishing between the organized church and the organism that is the church.  How do you get disillusioned people involved, doing their part?  Is God’s blueprint still relevant?

What’s Needed to Reach Our Potential for Church Growth by Following God’s Blueprint

Perspective

What today’s people do or believe is not what makes truth relevant.  The Word of God is as life-oriented and powerful today as it was years ago.    Certainly an omniscient God knew what the people would be like today when is laid out His blueprint for church growth and ministry.

Passion

I believe it is going to take a renewed passion in pastors and ministry leaders to take God’s Word about this so seriously that they are willing to stay the course regardless of the obstacles and setbacks that grow out of the problem.  If pastors and ministry leaders feel God’s blueprint is no longer relevant, they will have little motivation to put their all into meeting people where they are.  If you don’t meet people where they are, you are going to have a difficult time taking them to where they should be.

Persistence

Teaching about God’s design, using a curriculum like Everybody Has a Part, is only a starting point.  This emphasis needs to become part your church’s culture and that takes persistence.

Getting everybody on board takes time.  Sometimes you must first disciple people, one person at a time.  Going through this process takes persistence.

Plan

People are at different places in this process so we need to take an individualized approach to meeting people’s needs and spurring them on to doing their parts.  — And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  (1 Thess. 5:14)