Pastor’s Thoughts

Filed by Joey at 3:29 pm under Announcements,Church Leadership,Economics,General Rant,Pop Culture,Sermons,Society at Large
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It takes a guy like Moses to tell people who are standing in the middle of a desert with no food stores, no national economy, and not much of a standing army that their proposed invasion of the Promised Land wouldn’t be too hard.

Here. You read it.

Pretty good stuff, no?

Well, some would not agree. In fact, there are a few who would point out that Moses was oversimplifying it. But I disagree. Moses is careful to point out that there would be challenges.

But none would be too hard. “This isn’t beyond you,” he says. “You won’t need a sailor to go get it across an ocean.”

There are dozens of moments in each of our lives in which we have decided that a goal or task is beyond us. And we give up; often before we even make the attempt. G.K. Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found difficult. It has been found difficult and left untried.”

And so, masses decide not to read their Bibles. People stay away from Sunday school because they don’t understand. And the mission fields are ripe, but untended because there are thousands who have decided that they couldn’t possibly accomplish such a task.

Yes, there are some things that a person can’t do. There are some things that one person can do that no other person in the world could accomplish.

But that’s not the point here.

The point is, Moses spoke to the people of God and told them that they could accomplish the tasks that their God had set before them.

So don’t pray the impossible prayer. Don’t seek the impossible task. Look for God’s task, and don’t be intimiddated by the size of it. Don’t back down because of the scope of it. Why?

Because it won’t be too hard. Not with God’s help.

A father and son went camping (tell me when you get this memorized). The son was tasked with clearing the campsite of sticks, brush and stones. He had accomplished this task for the most part, except for a large stone in the center of the site that would not budge. He pushed. He pulled. He pried. He kicked. He yelled.

Nothing. It was too heavy; the task was too hard.

The father asked the son, “Have you tried everything?”

“I did,” came the reply.

“No, son,” he said. “You didn’t use all the tools at your disposal, because you haven’t asked me for help yet.”

Together they moved it.

There is no task to hard. Your Father in Heaven loves you too much to give you a task that is too large to accomplish–particularly if you ask for His help.

So take up your discipleship. Find your challenge. Read your Bible.

It is not too hard.

Filed by Joey at 6:54 pm under Church Leadership,General Rant,Piperton UMC,Pop Culture,Sermons
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This world is my home. I don’t plan to fly away. I’d rather build God’s kingdom here than slip into some fantasy cloudscape with a little cabin in the corner of Gloryland. Honestly, I don’t even know what that last part means. In all of the descriptions of heaven, I’ve never heard of any homesteaders being involved. But hundreds of people in my life have expressed that very notion as their ultimate goal.

For those hunkered down and awaiting the Rapture, the idea is to fly away from this old world at the last moment–to abandon ship before it goes down. There’s not much thought as to regenerating Creation, no thought to working towards the kingdom goals.

Before the late 1800′s, this “abandon ship” mentality was reserved for heretical groups like the Gnostics and Manicheans and the Zoroastrians. The reason you haven’t heard of these groups is that they were stamped out because what they taught was junk theology having little to do with the story arc of Old and New Testament. It was unknown to our founding fathers who were Christians. In fact, it was an unknown doctrine until the middle of the 19th century. But no other doctrine has done more to shape our nation or undermine our churches than the teachings and writings of John Nelson Darby and Dr. C. I. Scofield.

Here’s the gist. The following is a summation of the flawed argument.

The Rapture theology of Darby and Scofield states that those who are ‘saved’ will be spared the final tribulation before the end of the world. So the best course of action is to get right with God so we don’t get left behind (yes, that series of books presents a modernized Scofeldian dreamscape).

Of course, it isn’t that simple. There are subplots involving the reestablishment of Israel as a nation, a multiplicity of Second Comings, and one world governments under the direct control of Satan–but you get the idea.

Scripturally speaking, preparing for the coming of the Kingdom is the task of the Church. This task is to be accomplished by equipping the saints for living in such a kingdom in the here and now. Our goal is to prepare the way, to transform the world. In fact, our nation was colonized by several groups for the expressed purpose of “hastening the return of the Lord,” as it says in 2 Peter 3:12. This theological understanding of “the general spread of the gospel” was seen as the goal of the Church for more than 1800 years. The purpose was not to stamp people for the Rapture, but to cause them to inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven by causing the Kingdom of Heaven to inhabit them.

Then along comes Darby and Scofield.

What many of us living in the South don’t realize is the extent to which this “abandon ship” mentality has taken over our ecclesiology, or understanding of what it means to be the church. As a rule, this notion is a sub-text in many Methodist congregations. But it nonetheless forms us and shapes us away from the truth as the Church knew it for 18 centuries.

Look at it this way: If we are leaving the world, we have no cause to change it, to clean it up. But if company is coming, we have incentive to prepare for the arrival.

Given this historical perspective and the effect this wrongheaded thinking has had, one can begin to see why the Church has withdrawn from the business of building the kingdom.

With the focus placed squarely on Rapture and getting the church out of Dodge, so to speak, subsequent generations are starting to find this new purpose ringing hollow. If the goal is to get into the church in order to “get out,” and no one seems to be getting out for the past 150 years or so, one can begin to see why the young people are withdrawing from the church in droves.

One place where this is not the case is in congregations where kingdom building is still a priority. These congregations are marked by their establishment of a kingdom of praise and worship and a dedication to personal discipleship practices ranging from personal study of the Bible to prayer and fasting. or through the promulgation of the social gospel of ministry to the widows and orphans, the sick and imprisoned, the impoverished and homeless, and the blind, lame, deaf, and mute.

God’s intention, from the first moment of creation, was wholeness and order. The broken nature of humanity meant that God was required to take a  more active hand in maintaining the wholeness of the community of humankind. Through a series of covenants, God has called people to live together in a balanced, peaceful, whole community.

The “abandon ship” mentality is killing the church.

It is time to stop obsessing with the lifeboats. There are sails to rig, courses to chart, and decks to swab.

Join us at Piperton UMC and find out how you can live into the Kingdom that is at hand. It hasn’t been fully realized, and won’t be until Christ comes in final victory. But until then, we have work to do and life more abundant with which to do it.

Filed by Joey at 11:51 am under Church Leadership,General Rant,Methodism,Pop Culture,Society at Large
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We’ve been gathering job descriptions at Piperton UMC lately. Some were concerned that the job descriptions were going to be used for thorough overhauls of the work done at our church.

They aren’t.

Some were afraid that we were trying to figure out who to cut and who to keep.

We aren’t.

The reason I called for job descriptions two months ago was to facilitate accountibility. And I’m much less interested in employee accountibility as I am in seeing to it that the congregation is fairly holding accountible our friends and neighbors who happen to be employees.

For example, I don’t want someone thinking or speaking ill of our secretary if our newsletter hasn’t gone out. Why? Because it isn’t her job to compile a newsletter.

We often have unfair expectations on folks. And that is usually brought about by having no idea what the appropriate expectations are.

Right now, we have a list of goals for our church. I doubt that most people could name more than one.

We have a vision and mission statement for our church. Despite the fact that it is printed weekly on the back of the worship bulletin, I’m 99% certain that less than 50% of our congregation could recount more than 10% of the statement. You can see it here on the website. Just go to the site menu and select MISSION STATEMENT from the ABOUT PIPERTON menu.

So what is the big deal? The big deal is that we have to develop expectations of each other about how we are going to grow together as a congregation. We have to figure out how to grow into deeper commitments to Jesus Christ. And we have to figure out how we are going to share our faith and our commitments with the people around us.

The big deal is that churches that are driven by programs generally fail to grow disciples. Churches that are driven by pastors generally fail to grow disciples, either during that pastor’s tenure, or shortly after that pastor departs.

Bill Hybels recently discovered that the Willow Creek model of programs over people was failing in its aim to provide deeper spirituality and more committed discipleship.

Hybels confesses:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

Bill is discovering that church programs don’t create disciples. Church programs don’t sustain disciples. Most church programs inform and educate disciples. But the only thing that creates a disciple is the personal relationship with Jesus Christ, brought about by grace and the power of God working through the Church. The only things that can sustain a disciple are the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and Christian relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.

So what do we need? We need people who are willing to grapple with the issues. We need church members who don’t read the Scriptures to crack a Bible from time to time. And we need those who are already occasional readers to become committed disciples. 

Can programs do this? No. But processes can.

I’ll be writing more here about the process of discipleship, and the process of deepening your discipleship.

Its part of my job description.

Filed by Joey at 4:16 pm under Church Leadership,Methodism,Pop Culture,Society at Large
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Lots of theories exist on this topic. Here’s one that caught my attention because it referred to men and our ministry to them:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0103/p01s01-ussc.html

You’ll want to read the article before you continue reading this post.

The part that interests me is the “60% male” theory. Why would they say that 60% male population in the sanctuary make a difference as to whether you grow or not? Okay, I’m out on a limb here because the article raises the issue then says NOTHING about it in the text I have.

To make a general statement, there are some differences between males and females with regard to the things that they value. Note that there are several exceptions to this, but this supposition/stereotype seems to be driving the statement.

Men tend to be goal oriented. Women tend to be oriented towards security.

Security implies a lack of change. Goals are about movement. Hmmmm…

Does this mean women perhaps can’t change as easily or maybe don’t want to as readily? Does this mean that men are less likely to be stubborn in wanting things to stay the same?

I don’t know. I have some ideas, but no real statistical data on that particular stereotype. So I’ll refrain from commenting further. But I do know that men who attend church make a bigger difference in the lives of their children.

Check out this data from a 1994 survey of Swiss religious practice :

* If both father and mother attended church regularly then 33 per cent of their children became regular churchgoers, a further 41 per cent irregular attenders and about a quarter not practicing at all.

* If the mother was a regular church attender but the father irregular then only 3 per cent of their children became regular church attenders, 59 per cent irregular attenders and 38 per cent non-attenders.

* If the father was non-practicing and the mother regular only 2 per cent of children were regular and 37 per cent irregular church attenders. 61 per cent did not attend church at all.

* Surprisingly, if the father is a regular church attender the children’s religious practice varied in an inverse relationship to their mothers’ practice. If the mother was regular 33 per cent of children were regular. If she was an irregular attender then 38 per cent of children were regular. If the mother was non-practising then 44 per cent of children became regular attenders.

* Even when the father is an irregular attender and the mother non- practising 25 per cent of the children were regular attenders and 23 per cent irregular attenders.

In summary, if a father does not go to church, no matter how regular the mother is in her religious practice, only one child in 50 becomes a regular church attender. But if a father attends regularly then regardless of the practice of the mother at least one child in three will become a regular church attender.

How does this compare to your experience?

I think, for me, there is a real mandate to change the way I lead the ministry to reach men and help them build their discipleship. It may require some real changes for all of us. Or it may not.

Publisher’s Weekly reviewed a book entitled “WHY MEN HATE GOING TO CHURCH” by David Murrow. Here’s their synopsis, found at Amazon.com.

Murrow, a television writer and producer, asks and effectively answers the question: “What is it about modern Christianity that is driving men away?” Just 35% of American men say they attend church weekly, he reports, and women make up more than 60% of the typical congregation on a given Sunday. Murrow contends that the church caters to women, children and the elderly by creating a safe, predictable environment. This alienates anyone fond of risk taking, including young men and women, but men are affected most. In order to reach men, Murrow suggests, churches must “adjust the thermostat” to embrace the masculine spirit: let men lead; give them tasks; encourage pastors to show strength and teach men through object lessons, letting them discover truth for themselves. Two of the best outreach methods: start rigorous mentoring programs and help men make friends with other men. Murrow bases his conclusions on what he claims are legitimate biological and cultural gender differences. He is aware that these observations might offend, and his thesis will find few takers among those who believe that the church needs less, not more, male influence. But Murrow’s work is quite likely to get an enthusiastic reception from many Christian men. It contains sharp observations that will provoke much discussion—and, perhaps, some change.
[Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.]

I’ve spoken to Dan Schaeffer about Murrow’s ideas. Dan is the author of Spiritual Fathers and the leader of the Building Brothers movement.  I’m posting this from Lakeshore where I’m learning some of Dan’s ideas and principles. You can find out more about Building Brothers at http://www.buildingbrothers.org.

Dan is encouraging a deeper change than just the thermostat. The environmental changes in a congregational setting must be accompanied–and perhaps preceded–by intrinsic changes to the way ministry is perceived and pursued in the local context.

What the heck does that mean? It means that we have to challenge men to answer some hard questions and deal with the reality of the answers. It means that we have to remember that we do not follow a Tame Jesus. We must recognize that there is more to the ministry of reconciliation than just getting ourselves reconciled to God. We must change the way we reach out to one another and effect real change in the way we live our lives.

I’m going to be pressing our men to think differently about how we minister to each other and to other men. Fortunately, I have a lot of help. Jerry Brownlee and Bob Doyle are here with me to make sure that I’m taking good notes and learning this material “right side up.” I’m thankful for their enthusiasm and willingness to take time out of their schedules to learn more about ministry to men.

More on this very soon.

Filed by Joey at 6:01 pm under Church Leadership,Methodism,Pop Culture,Society at Large,Uncategorized
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Yesterday, I preached a sermon that asked and partially answered a question of faith. “What are you looking for?”

Part of the answer acknowledged the searching questions that occupy our own hearts and affirmed the validity of that search. There’s nothing wrong with seeking out authentic wholeness. St. Augustine’s God-Shaped Hole comes in a variety of flavors, so different people are looking for different things. I happen to believe that all of those answers are found in relationship to God.

 But the thrust of the sermon was aimed at the many men and women at Piperton UMC who have already found the initial answers to their initial questions. Most of them have discovered that there are still holes in their lives–smaller than the originals, to be sure. But holes nonetheless.

I tried to point out that those holes are God-Shaped, too. And only God can fill them. But the process is a little different for this stage of discipleship. Once you’ve found Christ by finding the Body of Christ (the Church), the time has come to seek out Christ in the world.

So the question, “What are you looking for?” has two general answers. Both of them are “Jesus Christ.” One is the Body of Christ, and the other is the Christ of Matthew 25. “I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was naked and you clothed me; sick and imprisoned and you visited me.” When we do these things to the least likely persons in this world, we are reaching out to find Christ again.

Now, this isn’t earth shattering. Pastors have been preaching this for years–decades and centuries, even.

What was moving for me was the fact that that acolytes didn’t make it back out for the end of the service. Now, if you know me at all, you know that the symbols of the Church MUST become real for the folks I’m serving. So when the light of Christ couldn’t be symbolically carried out into the world, I asked a very simple question.

“Who will take the light of Christ into the world? Who will go out from the Body of Christ to find Christ in the world?”

Of course, the question was taken rhetorically, but I quickly corrected that situation. “Seriously, folks. Who will step forward and carry the light out?” After some punching and urging in several of the pews, an enthusiastic woman in our congregation came forward to settle the issue.

“Not so fast,” I said. “We don’t send just one out to take the Light into the world. Who will go with her?”

Before much more time had passed, half of the congregation (including every member of the choir present yesterday) was gathered in the very small altar space behind my brave volunteer.

We processed out, ate our monthly potluck meal together, then had one of the most productive Church Council meetings I’ve ever seen in my life.

I got the answer to my question. Come get yours.

Filed by Joey at 11:57 pm under Church Leadership,Methodism,Piperton UMC
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The Christian Post has a great article by Nelson Searcy of The Journey Church (New York City, NY) on how to deal with five common church growth barriers. Here is a list of the five barriers with a quick summary of Searcy’s thoughts on each. My comments are added in bold italics…

Space
When a room reaches 70% of its seating capacity, it’s full. Most churches face growth barriers when attendance reaches 65, 125, 250, 500, and 1,000. It is better to grow to 300 or 400 before starting a second service. We’re at 70% on good Sundays, and over it on great Sundays. We’re over the 65 mark, and we’re still growing. We’ll talk more about that second service…

Self-Development
If the church leaders have stopped maturing spiritually and progressing personally, the congregation is not far behind. Warning signs include stale sermons, the congregation’s passion waning, and the halt of staff and church growth. If the sermons are stale, someone needs to speak up. Passion is a tricky thing. Our growth continues, even if we aren’t adding staff positions constantly.

Sharing
Churches stop growing when they become inwardly (instead of outwardly) focused. Healthy churches should have a 5:100 ratio of first-time guests. We are skirting the danger zone of being inwardly focused. That’s something we’ll be working on for the foreseeable future. Our visitor ratio is above average.

Weekly Worship Service
To keep your service strong, always try to look like a church twice your size. Just one question: If the church that is twice our size is acting like a church twice ITS size, does that mean I should try to act like a pastor of a church that is FOUR times our size?

Staff
Hiring staff is a faith issue. So is the rest of the job. The point remains, however, that we should hire staff BEFORE there is a need, and that has to be done on faith.

For more on each area, read the full article from The Christian Post.

Filed by Joey at 5:34 pm under Church Leadership,Piperton UMC
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Piperton UMC is my new church home. I was appointed here in June. The past few months have been the usual exercises in unpacking boxes, replacing lost or broken items from the move, and getting to know my new church family.

One of the reasons I was sent here is because of the demographic explosion that Piperton, TN is facing. We have a ripe opportunity to reach a large segment of the population of Fayette county over the next few years as the western edge of the county experiences growth of over 50% in the next two years.

Rather than just diving in, I’ve taken a few months to press and prod the folks at Piperton UMC. I have found that they are not the usual mix of church folks. Many small churches have an overwhelming majority of people who don’t want anything to change. The vast majority of folks at Piperton are ready to find new ways to do the old things.

The key for success, in my opinion, is to nail down those old things in terms that are clear and unmistakeable. In traditional terms, most small churches want “revival” and long for the days when people would rush the altar at the end of a service. Truth be told, most would admit that the crowded chancel rail was never all that crowded.

In more contemporary terms, we will be aiming for authentic evangelism. Put simply, we’re going to be making friends with folks, then introducing our new friends to the “friend we have in Jesus.” Since a physical introduction to the historical Jesus is impractical, we’ll be doing that by studying his teachings and sharing stories of his impact on our lives.

That’s not so new, is it?

Foundational to our efforts are the strategies that have been outlined in several other churches, including the early Christians in the Acts account.

• Meaningful Worship
• Authentic Evangelism
• Challenging Service
• Accountable Discipleship
• Christian Fellowship

Part of what I’ll be journaling about will be our successes and failures in these areas. If we do these well, I’m convinced that we’ll meet need, make disciples, and increase the Kingdom. If we fail to implement these strategies, then there won’t be much to write about.

Filed by Joey at 11:37 am under Church Leadership,Piperton UMC
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Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been devastated by this tragic and senseless violence. Shannon Erwin has a cousin at Virginia Tech. His name is Nathan, and he is safe. We offer prayers of thanksgiving for his safety, and for the fact that so many were spared. But we mourn with those whose loved ones were not as fortunate.

We ask all the usual questions, and we get all the usual answers. How can something like this happen? Why was this one spared when so many others were not? How can God let this happen?

Its the last question that troubles me the most. I’m not upset that God allows this to happen. I’m upset that we who have been called to change the world — the Church — have been so lax in our work to bring peace and justice to our world. What has God done to stop these things? He’s called us to ministry and sent us to change the world.

We have much work left to do.

Filed by Joey at 4:33 pm under Church Leadership,General Rant,Society at Large
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Bishop Charlene Kammerer (shown above) is finally satisfied with the situation at South Hill UMC.

In recent UMC news, a man who was previously turned away at South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church because of unrepented sin was received by transfer of membership from a local Baptist church.

The Rev. Edward H. Johnson had refused to receive the man into membership in 2005, saying the man would neither repent nor seek to live a lifestyle that does not include homosexuality.

When Johnson’s decision was made known, his colleagues in the Virginia Annual Conference placed him on involuntary leave of absence. Four months later, that decision was overturned by a vote of the Judicial Council, our denomination’s highest judicial body.

The article explained that the new pastor, Rev. Barry Burkholder, counseled the individual after Johnson was appointed elsewhere. Based on that counseling, Burkholder said, “…having spoken with this individual and him having professed Christ as his savior, his belief that Jesus Christ died for his sins tells me that he is ready to receive the vows of membership.” Some may take issue that this equates with repentance (which is a requirement for membership), and therefore question Burkholder’s decision.

In 2005, Rev. Johnson indicated as part of his reasoning that the man would neither repent nor seek to live a lifestyle that does not include homosexuality. In the article I read, there was no indication that he would. (more…)

Filed by Joey at 10:29 pm under Church Leadership,General Rant,Methodism,Pop Culture,Society at Large
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