Would Your Church Make a Good Buddhist Temple

3 miles down the street from the church that I serve in sits a shell of a building.  For as many years as I can remember, this building was known as a gathering place for Baptists to worship in during the weekend, and as a christian school for children to learn in during the week.  This is no longer the case.  In fact, if you drive by that building today, you will no longer see words such as:  church, baptist, Jesus, or Christ anywhere on the building.  What you will read in big bold letters is:  BUDDHIST TEMPLE.  That's right.  Let it soak in for a minute.  What I typed is not a typo, but 100% fact.  A once thriving church with a Christian school now serves as a meeting place for Buddhist's in southwest Oklahoma City.

Now before you pass judgment and point your finger at them angrily, allow me to pose to you a question:  
"Would your church make a good Buddhist temple?"  Don't shake your head in disbelief and write off the question like it has no validity.  This is a very serious question that you should ask yourself.  Would your church make a good Buddhist temple?  Please believe me when I say that there was no way that the members of that church, nor the teachers of that school, would have ever imagined what was in their future. However, that is the truth in which they are faced with today.

In order to help you process this question, allow me to post a couple of questions that might serve as a litmus test for your church:

1. Is your church in the community meeting people where they are, or do you just expect people to come to you?
2. Do you only meet on Sunday's and Wednesday's and go home after service and feel as if you're doing enough to make an impact in the world?
3. Do you have sacred cows in your church that would cause a war to break out if a motion was made to do something different?
4. Do you often reminiscent about the "good old" days, and long for how things use to be?
5. Are your finances more inward focused than outward focused?
6. Is the word "visitor"a foreign word to you because you see them so rarely?

If you've answered "yes" to any of these questions, your church may be on their way to becoming a Buddhist temple too.  It's already been proven that it can happen.  Perhaps your church is next!

Would the Community Miss Your Church?

I would like to pose a hypothetical question to you.  It is a very tough question to ask, that requires some serious thought.  Ready?  Here it is...

"If your church closed its doors tomorrow, would the community miss you?"

Read that last sentence again.  Did you catch what I am asking.  Do you understand the significance of the question, and, especially, the answer that accompanies the question.  How about I ask it in a different way...

"If your church closed its doors tomorrow, would your community even know?"

 



These two questions are not meant to indict your church, nor are they meant to send you down a "pity-party" road.  They are simply meant to get you thinking about your churches role in the community.  As many of you ponder the question, I am sure that thoughts of relevance, being missional, and intentionality come to the forefront of your mind. 

I have to believe that the overwhelming answer for most churches would have to be "NO, the community wouldn't miss them."  The reason for this conclusion is due to the fact that a lot of churches sit mostly empty throughout the week, including Sunday morning. 

If you are like me, the next question that goes through my mind is, "how did this happen?"  At what point did a church go from being active in the community and relevant, to be nothing more than another building sitting on a street corner? 

If you're having trouble coming up with an answer, allow me to get the ball rolling by asking you three questions.  These questions are not comprehensive, but are meant to begin the process of self-examination.

1. Does your church expect people to show up just because the church doors are open?
2. How involved is your church in community events?  (football games; carnivals; fair; etc.)
3. Does the vast majority of your outreach events involve people coming to your building or you going to the people?

May all of our churches be impacting the community in such a way that there would be a huge void if the church did close its doors.

Playing it Safe

If you were asked to come up with a simple, single sentence description of your ministry to-date, what would it be?  That's a really tough question to answer.  I know that when I began asking myself that question recently an immediate response did not pop into my head.  In fact, it took me several weeks of praying, reading God's word and talking to various people in my life.  After doing much searching, this is the phrase that I came up with:  "Plays it safe."  That is a tough pill to swallow, because I pride myself on being forward thinking and pushing the envelope to the extreme.  However, in all reality, I have always played it safe.  Let me explain what I mean.

Throughout ministry, I've never placed complete and total trust in God.  I've set goals before, but I always placed them within an attainable reach.  I've seen a lot of students get saved, but I've never fervently prayed for a movement of God to sweep across the church and city.  For the most part, most everything that's been accomplished in ministry so far has been far too "Joey-based" than "God-based".  Because of this, I've never truly experienced a super-natural movement of God.  However, why should this surprise me, when I have never sought out a super-natural movement of God?  I play it safe, and if you know me at all, you know that it kills me to admit that.

I'm currently reading a book by Mark Batterson entitled, "The Circle Maker."  There are many good things that Mark says in his book, however, one phrase stood out above the rest.  On page 78 of his book, Mark says this:  "If you've never had a God-sized dream that scared you half to death, then you haven't really come to life.  If you've never been overwhelmed by the impossibility of your plans, then your God is too small.  If your vision isn't perplexingly impossible, then you need to expand the radiuses of your prayer circles."  As I read that paragraph, I realized that was me.  That describes someone who plays it safe.

Now please understand that I'm not saying that I've wasted all my years of ministry and now I'm throwing a pity party for myself.  That is not the point of this post at all.  However, I do want to have the most effective, vibrant, Kingdom-impacting ministry possible, and I do believe that I have handcuffed myself by not relying and trusting in God to the fullest.  

So let me ask you again, if you were asked to come up with a simple, single sentence description of your ministry to-date, what would it be?  May the Lord use this post to challenge you and to spur you on to press into Christ more and trust in Him fully.  

Siloed Ministries

I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but along the course of church history leaders came up with the concept of separating out ministries into categories.  Pre-school, children, teenagers, young adults, senior adults, music, missions, etc.  The further along we move down the road, more "ministries" are created.  Now please do not misunderstand me.  I am not bashing the need to separate out ministries in the church.  I completely understand that pre-schoolers and teenagers learn differently and need to be focused on separately.  I get the fact that missions is a big part of what a lot of churches do and it is helpful to have someone who is over that area of ministry in order to make things move a little more smoothly.  The point of this post is not to belittle ministries in and of themselves.  No, the point of this post is to address a problem that arises when each of these ministries begin to compete against one another and lose focus of the overarching mission of the church.

Even though I was not there when the original concept was discussed, I am sure that competition was the furthest thing from the leaders discussion when they began down the path that has led us to how our churches are structured today.  I am positive that they saw this as an opportunity to hone in on specific needs and to help be more strategic in their efforts to reach a lost and dying world.  However, somewhere along the way ministries began to build walls between themselves, becoming focused only on their specific area and not interested in the success or failures of the other ministries around them.  I know this is true because I was a minister who functioned this way.  I thought that as long as student ministry was healthy and growing that everything was good.  During the early years of ministry I was so intently focused on student ministry that I was willing to jump over other ministries in order to ensure that the student ministry was moving forward.  I was completely caught in this trap called "silo ministry."  In other words, I had built a wall around the student ministry and wasn't interested in helping others out in the church, nor did I need help from other ministries.  I became so focused on "my" ministry, that I lost focus of the big picture.

I am curious if this might describe you as well.  Please understand me when I say that I did not even realize what I was doing at the time.  I couldn't see how difficult I was making things for other ministries and how self-centered I was.  I was trapped in a vortex and didn't even know it.  The horrible thing is this, I wasn't the only staff member who had this same mentality.  We were all trying to do our own thing, believing we were helping the church move forward when in fact we were stunting growth.  

Why would I share this thought?  Simply put:  siloed ministries hinder church growth greatly.  Open your eyes to the bigger picture and tear down the walls that you have placed around your ministry.  Ask yourself tough questions like:  "How is the ministry that God has placed me in fitting into the overall picture?" and "What might I need to sacrifice for the greater good?"  If a church staff could come together without bringing a personal agenda to the table and begin to work together in order to move forward, just imagine how that could change your church forever.  What are you focused on?  Is it your individual ministry, or the health of the church overall?  Just something to think about.

Procrastination is Killer Everytime

Has the following scenario ever happened to you before?  Monday morning arrives and you head to work with a plate full of things to do.  You sit down at your desk and begin to tackle the gigantic to-do list that lies before you.  You start strong but then get interrupted by a co-worker stopping by to chat for a few minutes.  Suddenly, a few minutes turns into thirty. After the casual conversation subsides you begin to tackle the project that you started earlier.  That lasts for a few moments until your phone goes off informing you of a message that you just received.  Of course you have to check the message just in case it is important.  Before long, you blink and it's lunch.  After taking a prolonged lunch break that you have justified in your mind, you return to work with the full intent to get something done.  Through a series of unplanned interruptions it is time to head home.  As you are driving home you assess your day and realize that you accomplished very little and yet managed to stay busy the entire day.  It's okay though, because you always have tomorrow.  Unfortunately, by the end of the week you still hadn't accomplished as much as you would have liked to.

Welcome to my life story for the first several years of ministry.  I was the king of staying busy but accomplishing very little.  Procrastination was something that I thought I left behind in college, but realized that I took with me into the work force.  The funny thing about procrastination is that it always comes back to bite you in the rear.  You never really put out a product that you are truly happy with because "you didn't have enough time to finish it."  I was half-way doing ministry, and getting upset when things didn't work out how I pictured them in my head. 

If this describes you, may I make three suggestions that helped me attack procrastination head on.  This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a great place to start.

1. Make a weekly agenda.   There are certain things in your job that must be done on a weekly basis.  Make an agenda and write those repetitious events in INK on your calendar.  This does not have to be an exhaustive list, but it does need to include such things as: study time for lessons; staff meetings; church service prep; etc. 
2. Make a daily agenda.  Every morning when you get to work, sit down with your calendar and come up with a detailed list of everything that you must accomplish before that day has ended.  After you complete an item, check it off in order to give yourself the satisfaction of actually completing something.  It's very satisfying to look down at your list at the end of the day and see everything checked off.
3. Be held accountable by others.  Let your supervisor, assistant, or even spouse know what you're wanting to accomplish and allow them to call you on the carpet if you don't follow through.  There is great motivation in knowing that someone is going to ask you what all you got done at the end of the day/week. 

Basketball, Ministry, and Work Ethic

I love basketball.  It is my favorite sport to watch and play.  The fast paced tempo; the game winning shot at the buzzer; and break-away dunks gets my blood pumping.  However, my favorite moment in a basketball game is when the star player takes over and becomes a scoring, rebounding, and play-making machine.  When that moment happens, I just know that no one is going to stop that player.  If you are a basketball fan you know exactly what I'm talking about.  It's Shaquille O'Neal posting up in the paint, or Kevin Durant nailing a shot at the top of the key.  It's Michael Jordan sailing through the air and scoring on a reverse layup as defenders are collapsing down on him.  There is nothing like it in sports. 

Throughout the years as I have watched great player after great player come through the league there is one attribute that links them all together:  Work Ethic.  When teammates are interviewed and asked what separates the "star" player from everyone else it all comes down to work ethic.  They are always the first ones in the gym and the last ones to leave.  They put in extra time at film study and hit the weights hard.  The reason they are the best players is because they practice hard to get that way. 

Lets flip this conversation around and ask a very important question of everyone who's not a sports star:  How's your work ethic?  When you go to work do you give it your all?  Do you walk away from a hard day's work with a feeling of accomplishment because you did all you could possibly do?  I believe that in order to be a great leader in the work place you have to have a strong work ethic.  If you are constantly walking in late and cutting out a little early you are not leading well.  In fact, you are setting a poor example.  Leaders should inspire others to want to work harder and be better, and I believe this starts with a strong work ethic. 

Co-workers, just like teammates, are watching what you do and how you do it.  My prayer for my own life is that my work ethic inspires, just like "star" players inspire their teammates to work harder and get better.  Might I challenge each of you to examine your work ethic and see how strong it is.  If changes need to be made, make them quickly.  Your team is counting on you.

Accountability

Accountability is a necessity!  In fact, accountability is one of the most essential things that everyone must have in their lives.  This is especially true for those in leadership.  There will never be a time in your life when you reach the point where accountability is no longer necessary.  Leaders who think this way will eventually fall flat on their face.  If you don't believe me just take a moment to research every CEO, company president, or politician who's fallen from their lofty status.  At some point during their tenure, accountability grew lax.  This cannot happen in your own life.  Below are a couple of suggestions as to how you can remain accountable in your life as a leader:

1. Keep your spouse in the know.  Your spouse does not need to know every little detail, but make sure they know the big picture and what your day consisted of.
2. Keep a detailed scheduled.  A lot of people find this difficult, but it is very necessary.  Every luncheon, meeting, training time, etc., needs to be in your calendar.  This will allow your assistant to know where you are at all times, and not open the door for accusations that you are wasting your time or not doing anything.
3. Have someone monitor your internet history.  Don't allow a one-time mishap become a life-long struggle.
4. Avoid collecting money.  Have someone else be the designated money collector.
5. Have an accountability group.  You need a group of 2 or 3 close friends that you can meet with at least once a week to open up and be completely honest with.

These five things seem so simple, but if you are not careful, you can slowly squeeze them out of your life and leave yourself open to a painful fall.  Always remember that accountability is too important not to do.

The Local Church is Sinking and Most People Don't Know it.

When a ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink, no one needs to tell the passengers.  Everyone knows what has happened and they know that it is not good.  No amount of arguing or disagreeing can change the fact that the ship is in trouble and action must be taken.  In fact, failure to acknowledge the problem will do nothing but lead to a passengers' own demise.  This is especially true if the captain denies that anything is wrong.  Just picture it:  You are a passenger on a luxury cruise line and suddenly you are tossed to the ground due to a sudden impact. You then realize that you're cabin is slowly starting to fill with water.  Suddenly, the captain comes over the PA system and announces that nothing is wrong and for everyone to keep going on as normal.  How foolish would that scenario be if you found yourself in it.  Of course something is wrong.  Otherwise there would not be water filling up your cabin.  To deny that truth does not change the fact that it is true!

With all that being said, I would like to make an announcement to most local churches:  YOUR SHIP IS SINKING!  You might be in denial,and hoping that it is not true, but that does not change the fact that it is happening rapidly all across America.  The worst part about this truth is that most churches do not even realize it.  We have basked in past successes for far too long and in the process are losing an entire generation.  May I suggest that the time has come for church leadership to stop trying to ignore the problem and to come out and let the people know that we are in trouble.  I know that it's not the best news in the world, and I know that no one likes to paint a dismal picture.  However, if we are unwilling to acknowledge that there is a problem, how can it ever be fixed?  My biggest fear is that the American church will continue to sink and that everyone, including the captain, will go down with her.  

There is a silver lining in this gloomy post, and His name is Jesus.  If you look all throughout the Old and New Testament, you will see example upon example of a God who is in the business of bringing renewed life and revival to desperate situations.  A couple of suggestions:

1. Admit that the ship is going down and let everyone else know too.  There's no reason to mask the problem any longer.  Share it with your people.
2. Point everyone back to the cross of Christ.  This may sound cliche, but the answer is found at the foot of the cross and no where else.  You cannot rip the rug out from underneath everyone without giving them hope as well.
3. Pray earnestly.  Somewhere along the way the American church stopped praying corporately   I'm not speaking of praying for every boo boo that everyone has, but earnestly praying for revival.
4. Be prepared to make tough decisions.  I will try and put this as delicately as I possibly can.  WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING IS NOT WORKING.  We have to be willing to change in order to be effective once more.
5. Be willing to put in the time.  As far as I see it, leadership and laity have one of two options.  We can either abandon ship, or we can roll up our sleeves and work together to fix the problem.  Which choice will you make?

Few Leaders Lead

Leaders lead.  Sounds like a simple enough statement.  If one wants to be a leader, then he or she must lead.  Even though this statement is an easy one to grasp mentally, I have discovered that it is an extremely difficult one for people to execute.  There are a large number of people who are in leadership roles that do not know how to lead.  Now please don't misunderstand me.  Hear what I am not saying.  I'm not saying that people don't know how to lock themselves in their office and come up with some sort of direction for their ministry.  I'm not saying that people in these positions are not motivated to do good and desire to see great things happen.  I'm not even saying that success does not occur on some level.  What I am saying is that a large number of people in ministry have been thrust into a leadership role never having been taught how to lead others, and because of this, a lot of ministries are floundering.

I am going to do a dangerous thing and assume that a large number of ministers in leadership positions are praying for their ministries.  I'm also going to assume that biblical truth is being taught and that your own walk with the Lord is growing.  I'm also going to assume that the vast majority of ministers are frustrated that nothing is happening within their ministries.  I do not claim to have all of the answers, however, I do believe that lack of leadership stiffles growth and can even paralyze a ministry.  What if a couple of small tweaks in your leadership style helped to catapult your ministry forward instead of it remaining stagnate.  Allow me to make a couple of small suggestions:

1. Make long term plans.  Leaders should constantly be asking the question, "Where are we heading."  Unfortuntatly, so many leaders are just trying to keep their heads above water that they neglect to cast vision to their organization.  If you do not have a vision for the future, no one else in your ministry will either.
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate.  If you think that you have overcommunicated something, then people are just starting to hear what you are saying.  Overcommunication is always better than under communication.  Find multiple ways to communicate.  E-mails, social media, lunch meetings, videos, etc.  The more you communicate, the better off you'll be.
3. Recruitment never ends.  Just because you have all of your sunday school spots filled does not mean you should stop looking for future workers.  Constantly be in recruitment mode.  If you are in a smaller church where help is hard to find, this is doubly important.  Find someone and begin investing in them NOW.
4. Encourage your team.  Encourage them during the good times and encourage them during the bad.  Write notes, send an e-mail, take them out for lunch.  Find ways to encourage the team that's around you.