A Word Worth Re-Posting

Great thought from Mac Lake burried inside one of his recent posts.  It's worth re-posting here in order to make sure it isn't lost:

Don’t try to be the best church in your community, become the best church for your community.

If you are a church leader and haven't ever read Mac's blog, you should.

Worship Services

When a church begins to view a worship service more through the lens of how we can impact people then how we can glorify God it misses the point of worship.  

Don't misunderstand me, the desire to impact people is a good thing - and every church should bleed with the desire to reach and impact the world with the message of Jesus Christ. Impacting people is exactly what the gospel calls us to do.  But not at the cost of our worship.   

We dare not reduce worship to one of many tools we use to reach people.  When we do, we cease to truly worship. 

When the goal of our worship is to reach the heart of man, we miss the greater opportunity - the opportunity to reach the heart of God.

If You Can, You Must

The Biblical call to compassion is simple:  If you can, you must. 

"Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, 'Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow' - when you have it with you now."  (Proverbs 3:27-28)

If you have the power to act, you must act.  If you have the means to help, you must help.  If you have the ability to do good, do not withhold it.  And if your neighbor is in need today, do not ask them to return tomorrow.

In the midst of a culture built on convenience the temptation will always be to put off what is inconvenient until it is convenient. But we must remember that what is convenient for us may not be convenient for those in need.  It may be more convenient to give a little closer to pay-day... but not for those in need.  It may be more convenient to wait until the weekend to go out and help someone with whatever project needs work... but not for those in need.  The Biblical call to compassion is not a call of convenience, it is a call to sacrifice and care for one's neighbor even in the midst of inconvenient circumstances.

The Macedonian churches gave generously in the midst of their own inconvenient poverty. (2 Cor. 8)  How much more should we.

If you can, you must.  

Simple vs. Narrow

I jotted something down that was said in a meeting this morning that I think bears repeating here.

"Simple and narrow are two different things."

Too many churches today have taken flack for being narrow when in reality they are only guilty of embracing a simple ministry model.  That's a shame, because there is a big difference.  Many Christians confuse quantity with quality, and as such throw stones at churches that focus on doing a few things really, really well instead of offering the proverbial ministry buffet.  But there is a big difference between being simple and being narrow and we must be careful not confuse the two.  

Being simple isn't the problem.  Being narrow is.  Christ's own ministry model was simple, but I doubt anyone in the church today would consider it narrow.  His model?  Pick a group of 12 misfits to teach and develop over a three year period so that they, in turn, could do the same... and on and on.  Christ did teach and preach beyond that group as well, but his primary area of investment was with the 12.  It was simple, but it was by no means narrow.

If a church is missing key conversations necessary in creating disciples, or if they aren't focused at all on developing and replicating disciples, then yes it's probably narrow and deserves being challenged.  But if a church has chosen to pursue those conversations within the context of 1 or 2 key landing points (such as small groups or a life-on-life model) in order to maximize focus, leadership and effectiveness that's a different story.  That's a simple model, not a narrow one.  Just because they don't put up big budget money for a men's ministry or do a Wednesday night Awana program doesn't mean they don't love Jesus. 

Simple and narrow are two different things.  Be sure you are challenging the latter without painting a bullseye on the former.

Cause or Christ

I don't think you can "Re-Blog" like you can "Re-Tweet" on Twitter, but if I could I would ReTweet this great post by Heather Zempel on whether we are motivated by cause or by Christ.  You need to read it.  

And just in case you missed the buried link I'll give it to you once again...

Read it here.