Attractional, missional, exponential and many more “al” words

This post is somewhat of a follow up to this post and my experience last week at the Exponential Conference.

There has been this debate/conversation in the church world over a philosophy of doing church.  It typically is cast as an either or.  You can either be an attractional church or missional church.

I have always wondered, “But shouldn’t we be attractive to those not in church?”

And at the same time I have wondered, “Jesus certainly said to GO, so we need to live missionally as well.”

Two things really helped clarify a distinction that we have to be careful about:

In The Tangible Kingdom, Halter and Smay present there alternative church lifestyle as A way and not THE way.

The real meat of the book comes at the end where they describe the kind of life that creates incarnational communities.  They offer a different way because of the central question to the book (in my words):

Does the way we typically do church where so much focus is on the Sunday service prohibit or limit our ability to actually be with and minister to people?

Their answer a lot of the time is yes.

So, their focus has been on getting their faith communities to be with people and use Sunday mornings mainly for the purpose of vision casting and encouragement but not outreach. Outreach is what happens when life touches life in a conversation or an act of service.

Unlike so many books that advocate this, they do not tell everyone that is involved in an attractional form of church to leave do what they do.  Instead, they encourage anyone that resonates with what they say to experiment within their context.

And then a second clarifying thing: This past week at the Exponential Conference, Alan Hirsch said something that really turned a light bulb on for me.  He said that a better word for “attractional” is “extractional,” because that’s the danger of only focusing on Sunday morning.  People are extracted from their mission field to spend more time at a church building.

If I’ve learned anything in planting Suncrest-East it’s that people naturally want to make church about a building or place, and it’s not!  So the tension I wrestle with is this:  How do we gather for the sake of cooperate worship and teaching without making it all about Sunday morning?

And this: “How do I as a pastor, not just work in the church and on the church but live missionally?

 

Erwin McManus at Exponential

My rough notes from the 1st session of Exponential:

When talking about movements we have to ask ourselves, what exactly we are trying to move.

To plant a church you have to consider what space you inhabit.

Acts 17:16f –
Paul takes us through 3 spaces:
1. Paul goes to the synagogue which seems odd.
–It was a familiar place
–We end up creating better spaces for Christians.
–the reason we only reach people just like us is that we really just like people like us.
–we need a movement that is not self directed
–Love covers a multitude of irrelevance.
–The current expression of church is that we create spaces and invite people in.
–They do “10 minute” parties where they invite nonxians to
–“If I can’t answer you questions well enough it’s not because there’s not a god, it’s because I’m stupid.”
–“Jesus is the best in the world at creating community where you can bring your atheistic friends.”

2. Marketplace – where we live
–saying “I’m a pastor is like saying “i’m a cannibal, do you want to have lunch?”
–you have to find a different nuance of language
–you can’t say people aren’t open in the marketplace. They just don’t know who to have a conversation with and trust.
–People are looking for people with “presence.”
–If we don’t learn how to reach the real world we won’t make a real difference.

3. v. 19 – a place you cannot go unless you are invited – Areopagus
–a place you have to earn the right to be invited into
–living in such a way that people ask what makes our lives so different.
–We stop trying to be popular in the world and we go after the Dionysus (those who don’t fit, those on the fringe)…who risk the disdain of the 1st place to reach the 3rd place.

 

Ministry burn out

Confessions of a Campus Pastor series

This post might hurt.

I read this from Wayne Cordeiro and instantly related:

“For over thirty years my drive for excellence propelled me. It wasn’t that I was compulsive; I simply had a deep desire to do my best. I drove hard on all cylinders, not realizing that being an entrepreneur means that everything you initiate, by default you must add to your maintenance list…

…Slowly, the unwelcome symptoms began to surface. Ministry because more arduous. My daily tasks seemed unending, and e-mails began to stack up. People I deeply cared about became problems to be avoided, and deliberating about new vision no longer stirred my soul.

Although I never doubted my calling and gifting, what began as a joy that filled me now became a load that drained me. But I didn’t know where I could trim. People were coming to Christ and lives were being changed. How could all this be wrong?

Decisions — even small ones — seemed to paralyze me. Gradually my creativity began to flag and I found it easier to imitate rather than innovate. I was backing away from the very things that used to challenge and invigorate me.”

There have been seasons of ministry that have been tough, really tough.  There are projects and initiatives I have undertaken that completely drained me and pushed me close to burn out.

I take full responsibility for the effect those times had on me and my family but I recognize now that I did not guard my own time well because I was looking for someone else to say, “Why don’t you take a break.”  But that never really came.  And I understand why now.  For a long time I thought that if I just served with all my heart no matter what the cost to my family or me personally, someone would recognize that and reward me.  It has occurred to me that I was looking to the wrong people for affirmation and recognition.

This is not just a ministry issue.  I was talking to a friend in a completely different line of work and he said he has wrestled with this same thing.  He thought if he gave his all to his work, not worrying about tracking lost vacation days, sacrificing time with family that his employer would recognize that and reward him.  But it never came.

That’s because only ONE person will care about YOU and YOUR family more than YOU and it’s not your boss…it’s God.

Only my Father in Heaven cares about my family more than I do.  Only my Father in Heaven cares about my personal state even more than I do.  And He has given me responsibility to guard my time and give my best to my family AND only look to HIM for that affirmation.

If you are in ministry and looking for a good resource on burn out, I’d suggest Anne Jackson‘s Mad Church Disease.  Just loaned my copy to a friend last night who has experienced some of this.

If you are not in ministry, can I suggest you love your pastor(s) and treat them well.  Yes, there are many stories of nutjobs who screw up their lives and church’s, but there are many, many men and women in the trenches of church ministry serving their heart out for the kingdom.

 

“Remember the poor”

There is a discussion around Suncrest that is reflected in the greater church world about the place for compassion and justice issues as a ministry.  Some of the biggest questions surround the issue of purpose:

• Do we meet needs in order to share the Gospel?
• Do we meet needs just to meet needs?
• If we meet needs without every sharing the Gospel, did we fail?

The questions probably go on and on and I certainly won’t answer them here.  But I was struck today in reading Galatians 2:8-10:

For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.

10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

What caught my attention is the encouragement to remember the poor regardless of the “target” of the ministry.  Paul was taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.  Peter targeted the Jews.  Yet both were to remember the poor.

This is a tough issue for me as I did not grow up being taught that social action ministries had importance in the church.  Yet it is clear from Scripture that they should.

I like how this article shines light on the issue providing a framework in which to view the interplay between social action and proclamation.  While I am not settled on the author’s conclusion, I do like the direction.

“The relationship of word and deed in ministry has varied over time. The results have been varied. Evangelism or social action has presented a truncated gospel. Evangelism as primary and social action as secondary has not measurably affected societal ills. Social action as primary has seen evangelism’s decline in the face of so many pressing needs. But evangelism as ultimate-that is, ministry has not been completed unless evangelism has taken place-provides the balance we seek.”

And to that I ask, isn’t the opposite true?  Is evangelism really done unless we have completed the task of social action where their is need?  If we have proclaimed but not met the need that is present, have we really been faithful to the Gospel?

 

Conference hang-over

I always experience this “hango-over” from attending a conference.  The Sticky Church Conference was a bit different because it was at Suncrest and I had a few other things to do as well.

One thing I try to do is narrow down a list of take-aways.  That way I can at least point to a few specific things in which a conference helped me in.  I am not sure this is my final list, but it is a start:

(In no particular order.)

• The best date night is group. If you can only pay for baby sitting one night, make it go to group. The best mom and dad you can be is to be the best husband and wife. And your kids don’t need a mom and dad who’ve seen the latest movie.
• We don’t need a Christian version of community agencies we can partner with them to help instead of reinvent (Osborne).
• Going multi-site pushes the gas pedal of a church decentralizing.
• (Reminder) Smaller venues in a multi-site church create the “small church” feel that many people are looking for (Scott Chapman).  This reminded me of the Rick Warren-ism, “The only person that likes a big church is the pastor.”
• The stickiest thing you have in your church is close and tight relationships (Osborne).
• Everything Northcoast does is aimed at Christians but it is always done in a way that a seeker can understand (Osborne).
• Visitor retention – assimilation; Long-term retention – discipleship
• We get what we measure and celebrate. Retention seldom makes the list (Osborne).
• At Northcoast they try to velcro people to the Bible and a community

 

Scott Chapman’s session at Sticky Church Conference

Small is the new Big: How multi-site can make you sticky www.chapel.org

They reached a crisis point where their church had grown large 3500 but they were not integrating them.

 – People were not experiencing spiritual transformation; For them a key was seeing a healthy church as having two key things: Reflecting Jesus Connecting to the broader culture

Their 1st discovery: Practical Atheism -the idea that we can believe that God exists and simultaneously behave as if He did not.

-true of those they connected with on the outside AND true for the Christians in their church.

-Did not need two streams of communication anymore, but one specifically targeted toward those who were living this way.

2nd discovery: Excellence and kingdom impact of a large church but the closeness of a small church

-Wanted what a large church provided but loved how a small church felt Could multi-site be used a church health strategy?

Multi-site

-Gives the large church experience

–high-quality ministry experience;

–part of a huge kingdom vision;

-Gives the small church experience

–a spiritual mentor most noticeably found in a small group leader AND campus pastor

–The campus pastor becomes that shepherd that compliments the small group leader’s role

–feel like part of a church family

–attend in their community; a part of a church where people could invite their neighbors

And then I got called out….

 

Larry Osborne session at the Sticky Church conference

The stickiest thing you have in your church is close and tight relationships.

Holding on to people is about fulfilling the 2nd half of the great commission.
-teaching them to obey all things I have taught them

They don’t do marketing.  all word of mouth.

4 new priorities:
1. A healthy leadership team

• in an effort to reach out to new people he ignored his existing leaders

2. Shepherd the flock I already had

• no one likes to be used.  It feels that way if you only care for outsiders.

3. Believer targeted and seeker sensitive

• user friendly
• seeker expectant
• everything they do is aimed at Christians but it is always done in a way that a seeker can understand
• practical:

• remove in house jargon
• don’t assume they will understand

• seeker expectant:

• way they do messages
• approaching the church
• talk about how you expect visitors

4. Foster long-term, Christ-centered relationships

Lessons I’ve learned:
1. stickiness starts with church health;
2. Stickiness has two important aspects

• Visitor retention – assimilation
• Long-term retention – discipleship
• In a word of mouth church everyone is coming on the arm of someone else and they are being assimilated naturally.  but by marketing, they don’t have a connection.
• those who come for the event come back expecting it again.
• weak ties – fun or task specific which has the result of being high intensive with an end point
• strong ties – frequent, long term and vulnerable
• people are like legos – once all the connectors are connected, you will be friendly but won’t connect; a church full of people like this feels friendly at first but you could hit a wall;
• answer is new groups for new people

3.  A fancy front door can hide a leaky back door.

• After 10 years  of a front door church you have more that used to go there than do go there.

4. Most of our programming is designed for casual and short-term relationships.

5. We get what we measure and celebrate. Retention seldom makes the list.

• retention is one of the best measurements for health

6. It’s increasingly difficult to reach and keep people with a one-size-fits-all approach to ministry.
7. Spiritual growth is seldom linear.

• velcroing to the Bible and community
• You then have what you need in a need to know or need to grow moment;

8. New relationships need easy on and off ramps

• if you don’t have an easy off ramp, they will try it and weasel out and not try it again

 

A successful church

I recently read in a church’s newsletter the statement that God wanted them to be a successful church.  I seriously doubt anyone at first glance would take issue with that statement, but the more I pondered it, the more I disliked the statement.  Before this begins sounding judgmental you should know that I would have prayed that very statement at one point in my life.  But something over the last several years has changed in my thinking.

I’m not sure what WE mean by successful is really what God means by successful.  In the church world, what is typically meant by successful is butts in the seats and money in the offering.  These are two easily quantifiable metrics.  The assumption is made that if you grow in numbers then you are being successful.  That is certainly not always the case.  You could just have the best show in town on Sunday morning.

Now I think numbers are important.  The book of Acts record more than once how many people assembled or how many people were saved.  So numbers are important, they are just not everything.  They never tell the whole story.

I remember a comment made during a “revival” at a church I served.  A revival is an old church term to describe having church services for 3 or more nights in a row to reach out to those who are not saved.  “Revival” became the fashionable name for this outreach event even though “revival” was originally a description of the Holy Spirit’s movement and not the name of an event.  Anyway, one of the leaders in looking at the attendance that day said, “If we are not careful, we are going to be a big church.”

He ws bragging about the attendance that day and missed the point.  In attendance was a lot of people from the church and a lot of people form other churches but NO ONE new and NO ONE who was not already a Christian.  He would have said that “revival” was a success when in reality it was a horrible failure for its purpose.

So does God want us to be a successful church?  Well of course He wants us to succeed at HIS mission.  But HIS mission is not getting people into a building.  His mission is making disciples, however that needs to happen.  And sometimes we can gauge our success with numbers, but they never tell the whole story.

Monday morning rant is now officially over.

 

Helping God across the road like a little old lady

“Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady.” – U2 in “Stand up Comedy”

I love that line in the song because that is what we try to do with God way, way too much.  We think God needs our help.  We are SO sure of something that we over rationalize our reasons, in effect trying to help God out.

Sometimes we act like we even know God’s business more than He does.

We want to do a good work for God instead of joining God where He is working.  We can forget that God is always at work.

“My Father is still working, and I also am working.” – John 5:17

Our job is not to make something happen, but to look for where God is already working.  I like what Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost have said:

“Those who are taken captive by Jesus see mission not merely as a practice preferred by God but as an aspect of his very character. He is mission (ReJesus).”

A classic way of talking about the missio Dei is to say the “mission of God” but it is also just as correct to say the “God of mission.”  Central to who God is, is mission.

God does not NEED our help.  But He does ask us to join Him where He is working to accomplish His mission.

 

Sticky Church Conference

“The greatest challenge facing most churches today isn’t getting people through the front door-it’s keeping them from leaving through the back door,” says Larry Osborne in his book Sticky Church.

The Sticky Church conference is all about becoming the church no one wants to leave.  Suncrest is honored to be able to host the conference on March 31st.

Register today by going to www.stickychurch.com.  We are able to offer a super low rate to all Suncrest attenders.  Just email me to grab this special deal and find out more.