Terminology Or Transformation? March 17, 2009

People ask me all of the time, “What kind of church is NewSpring?”  (Actually..some don’t ask…they assume to know…they always make us smile!)

Got to be honest…that question BOTHERS me because, well, here in America we like to be able to define things…to label them…to stick them in a category.

But tagging and labeling the church is impossible when it ceases to be obsessed with terminology and begins to desire transformation.  A move of God can’t be explained…or defined…or categorized.

So what are we?  Dang…I think we are all of the following…

TRADITIONAL – We hold to the traditions of Scripture, we believe the Bible IS the Word of God, that Jesus was born of a virgin, He lived a sinless life, that He took our place on the cross and died for our sins to make us right with God, we believe in His resurrection, we believe in a literal heaven and hell…we believe God is Sovereign and reigns!!!

SEEKER FRIENDLY – It amuses (and saddens) me when people use this as a term to attack the church–what in the heck are we supposed to be–seeker hostile?  (Many churches are!!!)  We believe people seek God because He draws them to Himself…and when they walk into our church we do try hard to make sure the environment is FRIENDLY!  We want people to want to come back…and so we do all that we can, knowing that we will fall short if not for the mercy of God’s grace using our efforts for HIS glory!

EMERGING – (notice the ING!)  We believe the churches best days are ahead of her, NOT behind her.  We believe that the local church is the greatest possibility for change that exists in the world today.  We believe that Acts 2 was ONLY THE BEGINNING of all that God wants to do.  And we refuse to worship the past or get caught up in the present…we are HUNGRY for the future and desperate to see the name of JESUS CHRIST take preiminence in HIS CHURCH and the world once again!

MISSIONAL – It blows me away when a church leader defines their church as “missional.”  I always want to say, “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FREAKIN MISSIONAL!!!  BUT…remember, the mission is not to organize the group to do nice things for people APART from the Gospel (so they can feel good about themselves!)  BUT…rather to fulfill the GREAT COMMISSION by taking the Gospel to the world…beginning in the community in which you are planted.  (A church misses the point when it will travel across the ocean to reach people…but won’t go across the street.)  We understand that we are called to be a catalyst for change in the communities in which Jesus planted us!
By the way…IF a church is missional it doesn’t need to say that it is…everyone knows!

ATTRACTIONAL – Call us guilty…but we actually think it is a good thing that more and more people want to come back to church.  When a restaurant attracts more business people call it successful…when a church does there are actually idiots out there that call it compromise.  WOW…could it be we value food more than church?  As I said earlier…we do want people to come back…we think the environment should be clean, the kids area should be safe, the music should be done well and expectations should be exceeded–every week!

BTW…exceeding someone’s expectations in church would ISN’T that difficult.  The church set the bar so low for so long (and then kept crawling under it) that when people see a church that seems to care about what they do…they are amazed!
PURPOSE DRIVEN – We have a purpose…we want hell to be less crowded because we exist as a church.  We want to see marriages restored.  We want to see teenagers and children embrace God’s plan for their lives.  We want to see addicts set free.  We want to see the excluded included.  We want to see people escape the pain of their past.  We want…well…I could go on and on.  We have a purpose…and it’s not to be a country club with a steeple on top that gives our community the middle finger and tells them to go to hell because reaching them would make us uncomfortable!

Folks, I hope you see how silly terminology really is.  We are all of these things…and yet we are none of them at the same time. Why don’t we just call ourselves what JESUS called us…THE CHURCH!  We are HIS church…we are called to take HIS name to a world that NEEDS HIM.

We need to focus on BECOMING a movement instead of trying to label ourselves as one.  Terminology will change…the Gospel will not…and “church” has worked pretty darn good for around 2,000 years.  STOP trying to “improve” what God established as essential!

There…rant over…that felt good.  I can’t afford therapy…thus one of the reasons I blog!  :-)

Four Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me… March 16, 2009

Often times pastors/church planters ask me, “What do you wish someone would have told you before you began?”  Here are four that I can think of…

#1 – Dream Big…and NEVER apologize for doing so.  

Seriously…get alone, ask Jesus to set you on fire, to allow you to see His church as He sees it…to see her beauty and POTENTIAL in your community.  And…don’t EVER limit what you believe God can do!!!  EVER!!!

#2 – Stop Thinking Your Are Normal.  

You’re not…if you were God would have left you alone!  Quit trying to be who people want you to be (especially when they say, “my old pastor used to…”)  Be who God called you to be.  You have GOT to be you!!!
#3 – Stop Trying To “Cut It Off.”  

You can’t!  I am sick and tired of hearing church leaders (who usually do not pastor) say, “You have to find a way to stop thinking about the church.”  IF YOU CAN GET THE CHURCH OUT OF YOUR MIND THEN GOD PROBABLY DIDN’T PUT IT THERE!  You can control it…but you will never stop thinking about it.  (The Apostle Paul didn’t!)

#4 – Acts Chapter Two Was Intended To Be The Starting Block…NOT THE FINISH LINE!

This is something that has hit me lately…Acts 2:41 was where God began…and His desire was for the church to grow from there.  But today we sit around and talk about how to get back there.  I think God wants to do more!  I think Acts 2 was God saying to us, “I can do this…and SO MUCH MORE…if you will be the church!”

Seven HUGE Myths In Church Planting – Part Two March 12, 2009

#5 – Launching new ministries is a sign of success

This myth KILLS momentum.  Churches naturally think that doing “more” is a sign of success…I say it is a sign of stupidity!

People always expect a growing church to do “more,” and because of that ministry across the board usually winds up getting watered down.

#6 – Numerical growth means we are doing everything right

If you believe this myth…then you will also be tempted to believe that you are doing everything wrong when you are not growing…thus making the church all about what you do and not about what God does.

I do believe God blesses with numerical growth; however, I believe He will bless WHEN the church (and the leadership) is ready…and not before.

AND…numerical growth from the church split in your town doesn’t mean you are doing everything right…it just means that the life sucking leeches (in most cases) have latched on to you…and they will leave you as soon as you don’t give them what they want!

#7 – Defending what we do should be one of our top priorities

I WISH someone would have told me to NOT WASTE TIME defending what we did here at NewSpring.

Dang it!  I wasted so much energy and had way to many “freak outs” about what bloggers and naysayers were saying.

One of the things I used to believe is that I could win critics over…that if I could just talk to them…if they could just see my heart then they would change their opinion.
SO…instead of focusing on what God wanted to do for our church I spent time defending what He was doing…until He finally taught me that HE doesn’t need me to defend Him…but rather to OBEY Him!

Church planter–do what God called you to do…if people are speaking out against you…it probably means God has spoken into you and you are being obedient.

Don’t waste the time God has given you on those who don’t like you…ever!  If what you are doing is of God then critics can’t stop it!