Bring me your broken, worn out, sucky church planters yearning to…

I love how any combination of “church failure” “church plant failure” “church sucks” or the like bring people to my blog. By far the most popular thing I have written for internet perusal is Church Planting Sucks. I know writing about it will make it even even more common, but whatever. It’s about time someone started writing for those who feel like they’re failing.

Anyway, if that’s how you got here, and you are crappy church planter who is wondering if you’ll be working at Taco Bell in six months, or you think church sucks and are frustrated that nothing is happening to change it, I have a word from the LORD for you.

I don’t say that lightly so take me with all the weight that the all caps implies.

Thus says the LORD:”Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” - Jeremiah 9:23 - 24

God isn’t asking you how big your church is, or what your format is, or how your giving is going, he’s asking you how well you know him. Get your priorities straight church planter. Get to know God and who he is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The same goes for you jaded church friend. You are perfectly right in your frustration with the church and her foibles, but are you getting to know God better? Is your frustration leading you to a place that frees you and builds the Body?

God has got some joy for you when you invest the time in knowing him. He promises that.

fathers

I haven’t posted much lately, mostly because I haven’t got anything to say and the book project is taking up a lot of my mental energy. I just haven’t had anything interesting to say.

I was re-reading Robertson Davies‘ Deptford Trilogy to immerse myself in great writing. I probably read it once every couple of years. There was a part of the Manticore that inspired me. Dunstan Ramsay is speaking with David Staunton about Staunton’s father Boy and Ramsey says something to the effect that every man has many fathers in his life, and what may be more important than his biological fathers are the ones he chooses for himself.

So the next couple of entries are going to be about fathers, specifically the fathers I’ve been blessed to have.

if I say it out loud it will be real, right?

So I’m working on a book. It sounds silly even as I say it but I am and I want to finish it so I’m going to pressure myself by announcing it publicly. Feel free to ask me how it’s coming so I will feel stupid if my answer is that I haven’t touched in six months.

Please bear in mind I said that I’m writing a book, not publishing a book or selling a book. These are very different things. Of course it would be nice to publish and I may do it myself, but the main goal hear is to actually write the thing. We worry about other stuff later.

The book is going to be about the church, because thats where my head is at these days. I want to people to fall in love with the Church again, with all her flaws and stupidities and meanness, I want to help people see her as the Bride. I want to see her as the Bride.

We’ll see what we can do.

The best laid plans… #1

So we’re in a re planning thing for Bridgepointe. There are some church planters or aspiring or recovering church planters who end up here, so I’ll put the plan up in small parts for your perusal and ridicule. Enjoy.

What

What is a church?
We believe that the local church is a group of people called by and committed to Jesus and his work who preach and teach God’s word, who participate in the sacraments (or ordinances) of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, who hold each other accountable to live lives consistent with the good news, and who share resources to accomplish God’s purposes. The local church is tied to the global and timeless Church that is Christ’s body here on earth.2. Jesus called and empowered the Church to be his witnesses here, taking his message to all the world and teaching people to follow him Bridgepointe Church is a group of people who passionately believe that we have good news to share with Edmonton and the world. This good news is that Jesus and his Kingdom reign is here, and he loves us, and that we can be saved in every way we need to be saved.
What kind of church?
We often hear the question “Does Edmonton need another church? Does North Central need another church?” and the answer depends on what you mean by church. If you mean a nice, polite gathering of people who say pretty Jesus words and are unable to risk and dream because they are stuck in survival mode, the answer is no. If you mean a small group of Christians who are angry with the church as they have experienced it and define themselves by everything they’re not the answer is no. If you mean a group of people, gathered into community by God and a common vision of what he’s doing in this city, a group of people that is large enough to make a difference and small enough that their main task isn’t managing their size, then the answer is yes, we need more of those. We need many, many more of those.
In response to this need and what we believe is God’s call, our goal is to have 200 people regularly committed to Bridgepointe by fall 2011. This goal isn’t made for the sake of numbers alone, but at this size we can concern ourselves with something other than our own survival, and can commission people to plant more churches. Our goal is to be a church of missionaries, training and inspiring missionaries to change Edmonton and the world.

For the record, Dallaire is right

I try to avoid being overtly political, but this isn’t a political issue. I watched the tape of the incident, and in the context he was placed in by the questioner Dallaire was right. Jason Kenny backed him into a corner with a ridiculous statement and Romeo Dallaire didn’t back down. If anyone should apologize it’s Jason Kenny.

Dallaire is right. We can’t pick and choose what international treaties we’re going to follow, specially when dealing with child soldiers. If you break the law you break the law.

Yes I signed it, and I’d do it again

I signed the Evangelical Manifesto today. I read it first, in case you’re wondering. And I read the whole thing not just the shortened highlights version.

I didn’t expect to sign it. These kinds of large scale statements tend to have some mileage amongst people like me who have a vested interest and the time to devote to reading a twenty page pdf file. I doubt that most of the people I worked with at Starbucks gave a rip about what an evangelical is, and they’re not going to care tomorrow. They care about how you treat them. Are you a caring person? Are you honest? Are you easy to spend time with? These are the things they care about, not what team I happen to be on.

But as I read it I realized that I agreed with it, and If I agree with a group of people who are asking people to stand with them, and I’m not hurting anyone or dishonouring God, I probably should, and it’s not like it cost me anything.

I do think we need to return to a better way of engaging in public space. This section on the public sphere has Os Guiness’ fingerprints all over it and who wouldn’t jump up to claim this section

“We solemnly pledge that in a world of lies, hype, and spin, where truth is commonly dismissed and words suffer from severe inflation, we make this declaration in words that have been carefully chosen and weighed; words that, under God, we make our bond. People of the Good News, we desire not just to speak the Good News, but to embody and be good news to our world and generation.

Here we stand. Unashamed and assured in our own faith, we reach out to people of all other faiths with love, hope, and humility. With God’s help, we stand ready with you to face the challenges of our time and to work together for a greater human flourishing.

I wish I had written that one. I might have chosen a word other than flourishing. Redemption perhaps?

So what does this manifesto change? Has one heart been changed? Have the hungry been fed, the naked clothed, the sick and imprisoned visited? Have we stepped further into sharing the good news with every people, making disciples and teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands? Are we today better witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and Edmonton and Charlottetown and Nashville and Washington and Sao Paolo? Not really. But I chose today a statement to live up to. I chose to not be identified in reaction to something, or to be motivated by fear or pride. I chose to pledge allegience to a better king and to seek first his kingdom.

Now I just have to do it tomorrow

52 books: time to play catch up

#9: The Blind Side - Michael Lewis

Well told story about a possible top ten NFL pick next year. Also a neat story of Christianity in action

#10 Heroic Leadership - Chris Lowney

I’ll write a longer review on this one later. Thanks Carson

#11 and #12 Conspiracy of Kindness and Community of Kindness - Steve Sjogren

The first is general and the second is specifically about church planting. Both highly recommended

#13 Vintage Jesus - Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

I spoken a bit about Driscoll before and this is a worthwhile read.

#14 Dynamic Diversity - Bruce Milne

Start reading at Chapter 6 and you’ll be fine

#15 John Wesley: A Biography - Stephen Tompkins

Wesley wasn’t a stellar human being. This will get it’s own review later too.

That’ll do for now. More to come

If I’d been Senator Obama’s pastor…

He would have heard a lot more lame jokes,  like this one

“So with Phinehas God begins what we sometimes call the Aaronic Priesthood… Not to be confused with the Ironic Priesthood, that was a mediorce sketch comedy troupe from Winnipeg circa 1993″

See, It might be painful to listen, but no one is going to replay it on CNN.

Now that the hype has died down a bit, I do have two cents to contribute to this conversation. I am a pastor. I get up in front of people every week and I talk to them for around 25 minutes. I often ask questions and have a bit of conversation, but I’m driving the thing. Week in, week out, I talk. I don’t know that it’s the best way to do things, but it’s what we’ve got for now so I do it. Over the course of a lifetime of preaching we say  stupid things. You hope that over a lifetime the non stupid outweighs the stupid and that you’ve gotten out of the way enough to let God speak. I don’t say that to excuse Wright or any of his boggling opinions but I empathize.

The other part, and anyone who’s been a real part of a church knows this, is that a church is more than the sum of it’s pastor. There is the breaking of bread and prayer and holding things in common and giving to people who have need praising God and sharing life with people with glad and sincere hearts, and when all of those things are there sometimes you ignore the teaching. You realize that there is something bigger and more powerful happening here than just what is coming out of the mouth of the guy up front.

I’m a Canadian so I don’t have to decide who I want to be the next U.S. President. It’s sort of like caring what girl your more popular, athletic older brother is going to date. He doesn’t ask your opinion, and if he does, he really doesn’t care. But if a president could sit with a group of people, looking up at a central important figure, and realize that what is happening within us and among us really isn’t about that central important figure, but is about the people down here and the Spirit of God that fills us, well, I think that that person might make a decent central important figure him or her self.

the audience and the church

An idea thats been rolling around in my head for a while came up a couple of times in the last couple of days. Once with my friend the rock star and once with my sister who works at a megachurch.

It’s not that earth shattering an idea, and I think I may have stolen it from someone else, but it is a helpful way of looking at church numbers. Plus with my sister at the megachurch talking about it someone might write a book and I want to be able to take credit.

The basic idea is this: In any gathering that calls itself church, there are at least two groups. The first group is smaller. They are people who are committed not just to your gathering but also to the mission of Jesus in your context. They get that church isn’t just about meeting their needs,but that their needs will be met by participating in what God is doing. They care enough to commit what is most valuable to them, be it money or time. We call this group the church.

There is another group that makes up the larger whole. They come to the church. They participate in what the church does. They may contribute financally. They may even be quite vocal and opinionated on church matters, but ultimately, their role is that of an observer rather than a participant. We call this group the audience.

Now, to be clear, the audience isn’t bad. It may contain people who don’t follow Jesus yet, or wounded people who need time and space to heal. There are many valid reasons why people are part of the audience.

The point of drawing the distinction isn’t to force decisions, but to be helpful data in influencing decisions.

When I was in Medicine Hat the church grew in attendence from around 80 people to around 180 people within a few years. Within that the church numbers grew from roughly 50 in the beginning to probably eighty later. The fruit was that we couldn’t pat ourselves on the back to much because while the church had grown, we really needed to invite the audience to become part of our community.

So for friend the worship pastor, does here gear their services toward the church or the audience? He gears toward the church.

Church and audience. Just a helpful question to ask while planning.

If anyone recognizes who I stole this from let me know.

I’m going to invite you to church

In my completely informal and non scientific study of people I know and work with and have come in contact with who have no church affiliation, poll data reveals the following troubling “fact”:

Most people have never been invited to church.

In retrospect this isn’t that surprising, because I haven’t invited most of these people to church, so why would I assume that someone else had? And I’m a pastor, for pete’s sake.

I can understand why this happens. You don’t want to come across as that pushy church guy, so you don’t ever bring it up. Your church is kind of weird, and the pastor makes really terrible puns, and he sometimes still likes to make everyone hold hands in the service. Also, we emerging folk like to point out that the worship service is not the whole of church, and we should best de-emphasize the worship gathering at every opportunity. Mr. Gallant is going to be there, and he’s still ticked off that you don’t use the King James anymore, and if he finds out that there is someone new there he’s going to want to know where they stand on seven day creation. And if your friend is single then Mrs. Klassen is already going to have them mated to one of the other singles. Altogether, a negative experience that is best avoided.

At least those are the excuses I’ve used. Maybe yours are different.

Anyway, I’ve decided I’m not going to make peoples’ decisions for them anymore. Church is still weird. I often make bad jokes. There are odd people there and people who don’t always have the best social skills, and we do strange stuff. Some of our language is different, but that’s us and that’s church. I figure people like to be invited to stuff. Even if they have no interest in ever actually going, people like to be included. It’s a way that we tell people we care about them. We ask them to participate in stuff we like and are passionate about. We share good news.

So, throwing caution to the wind, here goes…

I love Jesus, and I think that he is good news for the world, and because I love Jesus, I try to love the things Jesus loved, and one of those things is the Church. It’s weird and messed up and often wrong, but that’s who we are. Anyway, you wanna come to a church service with me? It’s going to be different and possibly uncomfortable, but it’s better than anything that’s on T.V. on Sunday mornings.

And we can go to Wendy’s after. Promise.