A Plateaued Church is NOT Always a Bad Thing

The typical church is plateaued.  Some are declining.  That’s not always a bad thing.

It’s true.

First of all, the typical church will have a 10% attrition rate annually, regardless of its health.  People move out of town, or find a new job out of state.  They get married and move away.  They go off to college.  They change churches.  They grow cold spiritually and drop out.  They die and we do funerals.

So you have to have that many newcomers coming through the front door and sticking to your church over any given twelve month period just to stay even.  And just in case you didn’t know it, growing by ten percent annually is a lot of growth!  So simply staying where you are is actually a reflection of growth.

A second reason plateaued growth is a good thing is because you made the strategic decision to not allow your church’s mission to be hijacked.  Everyone has an agenda, or a hot-button issue they want the church to address.  Only problem is:  you can’t accommodate everyone.  When their opinion doesn’t carry the day, it often results in departure.

This isn’t always bad.  A church often grows as much by “subtraction” as it does by addition.  Allowing people  to  leave and find another church that is more suited to their tastes, frees up space in your church for people who are open to your ministry style or church culture; thus making newcomers a better fit.

The church temporarily loses some ground,  (due to disgruntled departures), but they have also been freed up to pursue strategies and styles more suited to future growth.

That can be worth a short-term hit in attendance.

Third, then there are some churches (because of their location) that are  extremely limited in growth potential.  For instance, if you have a church that averages 50 people in attendance in a town that has 5,000 in population, you are achieving the exact same percentage ratio as a mega-church of 5,000 in a city of 500,000!

Take that, Andy Stanley!  And all the pastors of churches in small towns said, “Amen.”

In fact, some of the finest preaching/teaching you’ll ever hear often comes from pastors of smaller churches.  Their names will never be listed on the conference circuit, but they are this country’s best preachers.  They simply shepherd their flock, giving them the best diet of God’s Word they can offer.

Finally, though there are many other reasons for a plateaued growth, you just may be in a season of natural consolidation.  Having been in the ministry for all my adult life, I can tell you there is a natural ebb and flow to church life.  The pattern is to have a season of growth followed by a season of consolidation.

This is actually very healthy for a church.  It allows you to assimilate your recent growth, to focus on making disciples, and to rethink structure.  It lets you catch your breath and map out the next season of faithful ministry.

In fact, plateaued churches are often the most solid churches you can find anywhere!  They may not be setting the woods on fire, but they are virtually indestructible.  They simply labor faithfully, quietly, and consistently, making steady kingdom impact year after year.

Btw, don’t worry about the next season.  Just be faithful and let God do what He does.

So take heart.  A plateaued church is often the sign of a strong, solid, healthy, disciple-making machine. 

Don’t Mistake “Liking Church” for Being a Believer

When I preach/teach at PCC, I do so in a manner to make it understandable (to anyone regardless of age or spiritual background).  I'm not responsible  to make God's Word relevant. My job as an expositor is to show people how relevant it already is.  I am not permitted to dull its edge because some might find its message as sharp as a razor.  And because the Bible is literally God-breathed, I can count on it to speak for itself.  There is no guarantee that people will like or agree with the sermon since I strive to teach whatever the text is saying regardless of its potential receptivity.  But, we do call it a “win” if people understand and receive what is being proclaimed.  And I'm glad to say that hundreds of people each week find this to be a positive experience at PCC.

Having stated that, our goal is not to find people who – don’t like church –  and get them to like church.  Our goal is to preach Word and make disciples.  Besides, most disciples will like church automatically because church is where they worship God, fellowship with saints, and learn the Word. 

If, on they other hand, our goal is to find people who don’t like church and get them to like church, we have to do something different.  We have to remove the things the don’t like and replace it with things they do like.

For now, it appears there are a handful of themes that will do the job.  Many people who are cold to church are nonetheless warm to self-improvement regarding marriage, family, communication skills, relationship conflict, sex, money, and occupation.  As a result, such themes can be marketed year after year because they are inoffensively therapeutic.

My concern is the attitude which is assumed by all parties:  If people come to church it means they love Jesus.

That’s simply not true. 

For example, many of the themes churches are using to get people to “like church” are NOT anchored directly in the core message of God’s Word.

The Top 7 Themes to attract people who don’t like church are:

• Marriage
• Parenting
• Communication
• Conflict Resolution
• Sex
• Money
• Occupation

Yet, the content of those seven themes is usually not rooted in what Jesus actually said about them.  More often than not, it’s a 35 minute talk of soft psychology (where the work of a specialist, therapist, or author is used) with a few scriptures sprinkled in.  Or the listeners might be given a homework assignment for self improvement (create a date night, have sex twice a week, try giving 1% and see what happens, etc), with a few more scriptures thrown in.

It’s just enough of the Good Book to make it feel like church, but not so much that people are confronted by the Bad News that gives them a need for the Good News.

From this sort of nonsense, one could, in all sincerity, “like church” because it’s not really church, leading people to believe that they love Jesus, when in fact, they don’t!

But when confronted with the core of Jesus’ gospel, such people would gag worse than a thirsty man in a desert trying to swallow a horse pill with a case of Arizona dry-mouth:

“23 If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:23-26

This is Jesus’ unequivocal message in less than 100 words.  And I might add, this is the only message that saves.

It’s easy to love church when it’s merely a religious version of the Jay Leno show.   But it’s a different thing to love Jesus (as He truly is) and the Church He died for.

To  be a follower of Jesus means you love the things He loves, hate the things He hates, and delight in the full council of His Word.

The Best Way to Have a Family Friendly Church is to Stop Having a Biblically Comitted One

The Bible is not G-rated.  Think about it.  Even the “kids stories” of Adam & Eve, Noah & The Flood, David & Goliath, or Jesus & the apostles get into some R-rated material if they are accurately and fully told; including things like nakedness, jealously, killing, drowning, and beheading.  If you want your children to learn the 10 Commandments, then you’re going to have to talk about swearing, murder, and sex.

Then there's Sodom & Gomorrah, Lot and his two daughters in the cave, King Solomon who had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and that guy in the New Testament who was committing incest while actively attending church. 

And let's not forget, the Bible contains some of the most graphic stories of violence of any book in the wold.   Did you know there’s a story of a young woman being murdered, cut into pieces, and her body parts sent to different regions throughout the nation resulting in a bloody civil war?

If truth be told, the entire narrative of the Bible is dealing with sin, rebellion, wickedness, and how God solves those issues through Jesus Christ, the Cross, and His Word.

From all of this, the only way to be family friendly in a Sunday service is to EDIT and SANITIZE much of what the Bible actually says in order to make more acceptable for a G-Rated expectation.  Or skip it altogether.

And to do that would do violence to what God has revealed.

Not to mention creating flannel graph church members of genteel refinement who are more versed in bumper sticker Christian slogans than actual Biblical knowledge.  

Our job is to proclaim the full council of God.  We are not free to be editors, but proclaimers.  We don’t  possess the authority to write or erase the Word; we merely proclaim it as it is.

Major portions of the Bible make us squirm because the content is offensive.  But sin is what makes the Truth, (even the ugly truth), necessary.

And the Truth is what makes us free.

Neckties and Drum Sets: Things We Should Get Over

If we don’t know what the basic principles and doctrines of Christianity are, (those things that constitute faithfulness to God), we will argue over silly things, unworthy issues, and secondary matters.

The playbook of church religion says I should be a defender of the status quo, reacting against modern innovations and speaking with reverence of the glorious days of the past.

I’ll not be doing any of that.

The status quo is nowhere I want to camp out.  The past is nowhere I want to live.  The past is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Modern innovations and ministry methods are what we make of them, good or bad.  And the glorious days of yesteryear were anything but glorious.  They were amazingly like today and a lot like tomorrow.

Personally, I like laptops, cell phones, and the internet.  I enjoy blogging.  I like having 60 channels on television (since there’s rarely anything worth watching on 50 of them).

I enjoy air-conditioned church buildings.  I like padded pews (better yet, padded chairs) much more than those old fashioned benches made from wooden slats that would pinch your backside every time someone on the other end moved.

I am thankful for the technology in today’s sound systems that can make the singing and music in any church building sound as good (or better) than a congregational choir singing in a cathedral built in Europe 800 years ago. 

I enjoy preaching and teaching without a suit or a necktie.  I like wearing my shirt with the tail hanging out, not tucked in.  It's more comfortable.  Simple as that.  

I love it that our church is not racially segregated (like churches were in the past, you know, in the good old days).  Rather, we have people from all races and a variety of nations from around the world.  We even have a few racially mixed marriages in our congregation.  I think it's a good thing that we provide the kind of environment where they feel welcome.

When I see children enthusiastically running down the Kidz Zone hallway on Sunday morning because they can’t wait to get to their class, I am elated.

Unfortunately, some people get a bad case of indigestion over such things.  Even hostile.  They believe such innovation and modern ministry methods are compromise, or conforming to the world, or whatever.

What I would sincerely say to some of my brethren is simply:  Get over these hang-ups about secondary issues.

Jesus never wore a necktie.  None of the disciples did either.

Some things are cultural and not spiritual.

Not one word in the NT supports the idea that one’s go-to-meeting clothes should be any different from his/her weekday clothes.  Not.  One.  Word.

And we’re going to argue over suits, neckties, denim, and sneakers?

These issues are cultural and a matter of personal preference.  That’s all.  You can't leverage the Bible to support your position (of personal preference); it's a misuse of Scripture.

1.  If I read from the Bible bound in black leather with the pages edged in gold, and you read from a printed message guide (or large screen), am I more spiritual than you?

2.  If Preacher Joe wears a necktie and dark suit and Preacher Bob wears a sports shirt and khakis (and doesn’t tuck his shirt in), is Joe a greater preacher or better qualified to occupy the pulpit today?

3.  If the church service features music from a pipe organ and grand piano, is that more Christ-honoring than two guitars, a bass guitar, keyboard, harmonica, and a set of drums?

Fifty million Christians on the continent of Africa need to know this because, if so, they’re getting it all wrong.

4.  If one church sings hymns such as “Old Rugged Cross” and “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” in their service, are they more spiritual than the church that features “The Day’s of Elijah” and “We Will Ride”?  (BTW, at PCC we sing them all).  :-)

5.  Is a worship service more spiritual where everyone is quiet than the one where many people throughout the congregation are standing, clapping, and shouting?

We need to know these things and get it settled before we break fellowship with one another over unworthy issues.

If we differ on whether Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for doctrine, then that’s one thing.  Some things are worth fighting for and I’ll go to the mat over things like that.

But not guitars, denim, and drum sets.

Those things are a matter of personal preference and one's Christian liberty.

Five Lessons About Ministry

1.  Put Your Marriage and Family First.  Put them before your church, your church work, your ministry, your whatever.  Planting a church is tough work.  Pastoring is tough work.  Being on a church staff is tough work.  Heck, being a volunteer ministry leader is tough.  Your work is never done, and you don’t have enough fingers to plug every hole in the dam. The sheer volume of things to be done can overwhelm your schedule very quickly, robbing you of time, energy, and leaving you emotionally drained.  This means your family gets what little of you is left over.  Don’t give your family, spouse, or children the short end of the stick – for anyone or anything.

2.  What You Do to Reach People is What You Have to Do to Keep Them.  This is a powerful ministry lesson to learn.  You can draw a crowd by doing bold, audacious things because people have a tendency to show up at places where the latest big splash occurs.  But if you use that model of ministry, you will have to keep outdoing yourself week after week, month after month.  Additionally, it will be hard to move people towards spiritual growth, because you will have unknowingly created a culture where discipleship isn’t modeled.

On the other hand, if you simply use the Bible to reach people and emphasize full devotion to Jesus Christ, that’s all you’ll ever need to keep people.  After all, Jesus Himself said that students want to be like their teacher and disciples want to be like their master.... and for them “this is enough” (Matt. 10:25).

In the end, hype and sizzle doesn’t help.  Discipleship does.  It’s not hard to draw a crowd, but it requires a great deal of intentionality and hard work to take people on a spiritual journey. 

3.  It Doesn’t Get Easier When it Gets Bigger.  I used to think a bigger church would mean a bigger budget, but in reality it just means bigger expenses.  The same problems exist in larger churches as smaller churches; only with more zeros.  

People who are not generous in a little church won’t be generous in a bigger church.  People who are not faithful in the little things won’t be faithful in bigger things.  It's just the way it is.

I wonder why we equate bigger with better.  Maybe it’s just an American thing.  But bigger is not always better.  Bigger is just bigger, and it doesn’t make things easier.

4.  You Can’t Do it Alone.  You.  Can’t.  Do.  It.  Alone.  Don’t even try.  You’ll crash and burn, have a meltdown, or end up in a moral ditch somewhere.  Surround yourself with people to help shoulder the load.  Until such people show up or step up, it’s best to let some things go undone.  Wait on God – and in His timing – because He will send the right person at the right time.  Even Moses needed the help of Aaron and Hur to hold up his hands when he grew tired (Exodus 17:12).

5.  Do Not Neglect Yourself, Your Soul, or Your Mental Health.  You can have a big church, a big ministry, or a big business, and be withering on the inside.  What good is it if you have growing influence and gain the whole world, but lose your own soul?  What good are you to anyone if you have a nervous breakdown because you burned the candle at both ends, never taking enough time for yourself?

Taking care of your own soul is the most important thing that any person can do – including ministry workers.  Forget this, and you’ll live to regret it.

What Makes Pastors Scream in Frustration!

Ten years ago, a man wrote the financial adviser of the Washington Post for advice.  He was planning to marry his fiancé of 18 months as soon as they dealt with her spending habits which were clearly out of control.  Her closet contained 400 pairs of shoes, many still new, and was overflowing with clothing.  She justified her spending habits by saying she worked two jobs and always looked for bargains.

The man asked the financial adviser, “What can I do to help her curb her spending habits without making her feel bad or as though I am putting her down?”

The financial adviser, a woman herself, Michelle Singletary, urged him to postpone the marriage.  They were not even close to being ready until this matter was solved.  She suggested pulling the credit reports, seeing what they revealed, and then finding a credit counselor.

That was ten years ago.

The other day, Michelle Singletary received an e-mail from that guy telling her what happened.  The news is not good.

He did none of the things Ms. Singletary had suggested.

After getting married, he learned his new wife owed $30,000 to the IRS and $15,000 in back taxes to the city.  He took out a second mortgage on his house to cover her debts, and now stands a good chance of losing his home.  He said, “I am on the brink of financial ruin and a failed marriage.”

This is why counselors quit and walk away.

People ask for your input, and when you knock yourself out trying to help them, they ignore everything you said and plunge headlong into disaster.

Many a pastor has concluded – based on his own experience – that all premarital counsel is a waste of time.  By the time a couple walks into his office about their upcoming nuptials, their hormones are raging, their minds are made up, their mammas are making plans, and all common senses is out the window.

They are not listening to a thing the preacher says.

The same is true for most of our counseling experiences.  We advise people, provide guidance, tell them what God says in His Word, offer our insights based on years of observation and experience, and pray over them.

Do they listen?  You know the answer to that.

It's enough to make you yank your hair out.

This is just one more reason – of ten thousand, I suppose – why ministers must be called by God into this work.  If we entered the ministry idealistically purposing to “better” people’s lives, we would soon quit in frustration and look for something else to do.

Granted, some do listen (to our advice and exposition of God’s Word in sermons) and we affect some people’s lives in a positive way.  This is not to say otherwise.  It is to say, however, that a greater percentage comes to us for counsel and then ignore everything we say.

If the truth be known, they want us to say what they want to hear.

It can be frustrating.

I've often pondered the mystery of why some people respond so well to the things of God, while others remain unchanged after years of investment in their lives.

To be honest, the answer escapes me.

This is precisely why we must leave the results to God.  We sow the seed, others water, and God brings the increase.  It’s all in His hand.  Not ours.

The man or woman who is genuinely called of God will get up each day and do their work – leaving the results to God – all the while knowing that God's people will persevere.  They hear His voice and respond to His Word.

In the process, you get over yourself and your frustration.

It’s very liberating.

Trying to be Cool verses Bearing the Reproach of Christ

Dear Pastor,

Stop trying to be cool.

It’s a trap.

When people who are outside that faith – that is, they have no appreciation for Scripture, the call of God, the blood of Jesus, or the penalty of sin – keep complimenting you on your coolness, you can get in danger real quick.

The moment he craves those compliments is the moment he begins to order his life and ministry by the coolness factor.  If he preaches a certain doctrine he knows his friends will not appreciate, he will water it down or conveniently find another topic.  If he speaks up for a particular value, they will suddenly find him uncool, so he mutes his message.  Accordingly, he wears his hair and arranges his clothing that will make him appear cool.

It’s a seduction.

Someone once asked an old time preacher, “If I follow Jesus, do I have to give up the world?”  He answered, “If you get truly converted, you won’t have to worry about that.  The world will give you up!”

John the Baptist wore camel hair and ate insects.  They called him mad.

Anything but cool.

Jesus attended wedding parties and was called a winebibber.

Again, not very cool.

In the OT sacrificial system, the carcasses of animals were burned outside the city, away from the general population.  It was too unpleasant to see.  The writer of Hebrews in the NT draws a parallel with the Lord Jesus dying outside the city gates (Heb. 13:11-13), and then makes this application:

In the same way, “we Christians should go with Him outside the camp – that is, away from the crowd and flow of culture – and thus bear His reproach.”

It’s an ideal metaphor, one that speaks perfectly to our situation.

• Woe to the man or woman who longs to be accepted by the world.

• Woe to the Christian who wants to be trendy rather than striving to hear God say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

• Woe to the preacher who orders his sermons and selects his topics that will keep him cool in the eyes of friends and unbelievers.

• Woe to the pastor who shies away from certain subjects taught in Scripture because people will turn away from him.

• Woe to the one calling himself a disciple but who discounts any scriptural teaching that conflicts with todays accepted values.

• Woe to the cowards who want God… but fear rejection from the world.

Let us never shy away from bearing the shame of the Lord because we prefer acceptance of the world.

God help us.

We cannot have it both ways.

Relationship Connections

People are a lot like Lego blocks.  We all have a limited number of connectors.  Introverts will have a few.  Extroverts might have dozens.  But either way, once they’re full, they’re full.  And when that happens people tend to be friendly with others, but will not connect with them. 

It’s what happens to people when they move into a new town and are excited by everyone’s friendliness, only to be discouraged three months later that they haven’t made any friends.

The same happens in churches.  Sometimes people will complain about a church being cliquish.  That’s not always the case.  In most instances, it’s not so much a church full of cliques as it is a church full of people whose connectors are already full.  They’re friendly to newcomers, but their relational overload makes it unlikely they will have room for more people in their friendship circles.

I tend to be an extrovert which means I have a lot of connectors.  However, all my connectors are full.  Due to my role and years in this community I have so many relationships that I don’t have any empty connectors left.  The only way I could add a new friendship would be to remove an existing friend to create an opening.

When I meet someone new, I’m friendly and enjoy talking with them.  Meeting new people is something I enjoy immensely.  But honestly, I’m not likely to connect with them on a deeper level or carve out a lot of time for them.  Here's why; if I have some extra time, or a chance to have some friends over for dinner, I’ll use it to reconnect with the people I am supposed to be close to but haven’t’ seen in three weeks – or three months.

The same could be said of a person’s time schedule.  Speaking for myself, my schedule is full.  All of my activity connectors are filled with things like work, family time, weekend chores, and the pursuit of a few hobbies.  I also have some rest time (margin) built into my schedule for recuperation.  The only way I could add anything new would be to remove an existing activity.

If I can't come to an event, accept an invitation, attend a party, or be present at a gathering, it's not because I'm a killjoy.  It's only because I am already so busy with other things that I cannot attend. 

When You Don't Buy Your Own Product

You can tell how reliable an insurance agent is based upon how much insurance coverage he has himself.  If he’s not willing to buy with his own money the very thing he sells, how can he convincingly (or honestly) persuade others?

If you are in the music business, but you never buy tickets or downloads, can you really empathize with the people you’re selling to?

If you work for a non-profit organization and you don’t give money to charity, what exactly are you doing with that job?  

And the real shame is that this inactivity on their part keeps them from experiencing the very emotion that they try so hard to sell.

You see, it’s easy to embrace an ideal, a value, even a mission, and not participate in it yourself - while exhorting others to do what you yourself do not do.

Let’s talk church, shall we?

I interact with a good number of church people, aspiring leaders, and ministers, and I’m sensing a breakdown precisely along these lines.

• They say, “We are serious about the Great Commission," but cannot name a single unchurched person that they have personally witnessed to or even invited to a church service. Ever.

• They claim to make disciples who are willing to die to themselves, but neither they nor their family seems to be willing to serve in the bowels of the ministry, whether that be mopping a floor or tending a child.

• They love to preach and teach, but not listen and learn.

The result?  Ministry becomes little more than a way to create a platform for ones personal fulfillment and ambition.  Consequently, we do not experience the very life we so energetically try to sell.

And the more that disconnect grows, the less we will succeed.

When a Committee Goes Rouge

Church committees.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t’.  And always, they are unbiblical.

A true story:

Last week, a woman in another state sent a message to say that her nephew, an associate pastor – a young man with seminary degrees and several years of experience – had just received a visit from the congregation’s personnel committee.  According to this little group, the minutes of the business meeting in which he had been hired several years back identifies him as a youth director, not associate pastor.  Thus they are cutting his pay and hours commensurate with that position.  The woman wrote, “And he has plaques on the wall from the church identifying him as their associate pastor!”

Veteran pastors know what is actually happening here.  What it "AIN'T" is a group of faithful members trying to be true to the original vision.  What it “IS” is a bunch of power-brokers trying to do an end run around the pastor and trim the sails of a staff member, with the end result being to run him off.

Make no mistake.  That’s what the point of this is.

Some People Make My Job a Joy

PCC has some incredible people.  They make my job a pure joy. 

These people are non-demanding and supportive.  They labor quietly, sacrificially serve, and financially support their church.  They are reliable, consistent, and always there.  Their attitude is good.  They are positive about Jesus and growing spiritually. 

They are “encouragers.” In fact, they might even have the gift of encouragement. Aside from ministering their gift to the body, they often direct it towards their pastor. These people can do more for my emotional well-being than a professionally trained therapist. They are gifts from God.

Healthy Churches

If feels counter-intuitive, but I think healthy churches are messy and unhealthy churches often aren't messy at all.

A healthy church will be reaching people who are far from God with the Gospel and those people come to Christ with messed up lives.  Being a fisherman is messy business, and being a fisher of men is too.  You’ve got to catch a fish before you can clean it.

Unhealthy churches can actually be very clean, neat and easy. When you aren't seeing people coming to faith in Christ - there isn't a lot of messiness... just pettiness.

I was hurt....

I experienced a harsh dose of reality yesterday. 

Much to my astonishment I discovered some people in this church (who I believed we were actually helping to pursue a genuine spiritual journey, and, who I consider to be personal friends) are not interested in becoming disciples at all; they are only interested in this church being a “service provider” for them.  That is, they expect this church to provide them with all sorts of personalized services to fit their latest whim, and also expect the staff to do it all for them.  Kind of like we are a YMCA or something.

Even worse, they’ve tried to leverage their friendship to get their way. 

The real clincher?  These very same people (who are demanding so much from us) have a long-term track record of contributing nothing, absolutely nothing, to this church.

Now, they are threatening to leave.

I felt betrayed.  I was shocked, saddened, and my feelings were hurt.  And my indignation was aroused.  The disappointment was so great that I actually said out loud, “I’ve had enough of this.  I am through with the ministry.”  I genuinely wanted to quit.

For now, rather than quitting, I’m going to stand my ground and make an attempt at correcting this shallow immaturity.  With God’s help, I will clean up Pace Community Church and rid it of this kind of self-absorbed narcissism.    So let me state it for the record:

The absence of a particular ministry or program may be God’s way of getting you to grow up – to outgrow your preferences.  Maybe it’s time for you to get on board with what your church is DOING instead of expecting your church to do what you WANT.  This is called sacrificial service.

Have you even stopped to consider that this church has a bigger mission (and, btw, a more important mission) than to provide you with baby-sitting services or job counseling services?

We are not a YMCA.

(Read the post below for more elaboration in this subject, and my postion on it).

 

Church Viruses

Virus – a small infecting agent that can replicate and spread throughout a living organism, affecting its health negatively. 

People get cold & flu viruses.  Computers get electronic viruses.  And churches get carnal viruses. 

Here are a few viruses infecting the Lord’s work….

1.  The people who come to church are the customers and the job of church leaders is to satisfy them.  Church leaders often fall prey to this kind of carnal interpretation of church life (and its mission), believing the sole mission is to satisfy pew dwellers.    Under this kind of pressure, weak pastors will soft-pedal any teachings, standards, or decisions that may upset any segment of the congregation.

The second virus is like the first…..

2.  The pastors are hired to make us happy, and if they don’t we'll get rid of them.  It is a rare congregation that can abide a minister who preaches the truth of God’s Word and makes decisive decisions in leading the church.  There is a deeply ingrained mentality in church-life today that if the church member is unhappy, then the pastor is not doing his job well. 

A TRUE STORY:  “Pastor,” the little committee said, “we thought you would want to know that some members are unhappy with you.”

The pastor, looking around at the six distinguished men and women standing in his office, said, “So?”

“Well,” the speaker said, “We thought that would matter to you.”

The shepherd said, “It does…. but not that much.”

“Then we are under a misconception here,” said the spokesman. “Our understanding is that since a pastor serves at the pleasure of the people, if they are unhappy with him, he is failing at his job. And thus, his continued employment is in jeopardy.”

The pastor said, “The only misconception is on your part. The job of a shepherd is not to focus on making the congregation happy. His job is to make you holy and spiritually healthy which makes the Heavenly Father happy. Those are two vastly different concepts.”

There is hardly ten church members in every 100 who understands this distinction.  And many churches are paying a high price in terms of pastoral turnover and congregational conflict.  It is a virus that makes a church sick.

The third virus infecting the church is…..

3.  The deacons handle the ‘business’ of the church while pastors take care of the ‘spiritual side’ of matters.  I’ve encountered this foolishness in several churches, and every case, the result has been disastrous!  There is not a single word in all Scripture – not one – which would substantiate this wrong-headed notion on how churches are to be run, managed, and led.  Acts 20:28 and I Timothy 3 make it abundantly clear who the overseers of the church are.

4.  I will give in the offering when I agree with the church, and withhold it when I don’t.  If someone is doing something sinful, unscriptural, or illegal, don’t fund it.  Don’t put as much as a buffalo nickel in it.  But if you are simply in disagreement with the leadership, get over it and bring your offerings anyway.  Act like a grownup, not a selfish child on the playground who wants to take his ball and go home because he didn’t get his way.

Few things speak about a person’s maturity than how they behave and continue serving after they did not get their way on something they wanted the church to do, but were told no by the leaders.  No one gets their way all the time, not even pastors.  It hurts, but we go forward, eyes on Jesus, and continue serving.  It’s what mature people do.

5.  I will come to church when I enjoy the morning speaker, but if someone is speaking that I don’t enjoy I will stay home that day.  This is the epitome of childishness, spiritual immaturity, self-centeredness, and downright disrespect.  If you are a follower of Christ, you should come to church no matter who is speaking that day (unless of course he is teaching false doctrine, etc).  Here’s why:

·      You should come out of reverence for the Word of God

·      You should come to honor your Lord

This is not about personalities, you know.  It’s about something much higher and nobler than that.  If you come to church only when you like the speaker of the day, then that means you are coming only to be entertained.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things (I Corinthians 13:11).

Passion is Overrated. Focus on Diligence and Hard Work Instead

Passion.  You know the line:  find your passion and you will excel.  I understand the point, but it’s over-rated.  The truth is, only 1% of the entire universe is fortunate enough to work in field they actually are passionate about.  If that describes you, count your lucky stars (or thank God) that you are so fortunate.  For the rest of the human race, you just have to plow your way through.

My point is simply this:  passion can be a starting point, but true long-term success is based upon excellence and hard work.  You can disagree.  That’s fine.  And you have a right to be wrong if you want to be.

I know many passionate people… and they are passionately ‘not making it.’  Starving artists.  Broke musicians.  Passion and success don’t always go together – and passion doesn’t always equate into happiness either.  But this is the nonsense being dumped on us by the ill-informed motivational gurus,

For the record, no business ever makes it on passion alone.  No business person or business owner ever makes it on passion either.  And no ministry leader will be successful just on passion.

Back to my earlier point:  excellence is what moves you to the top, and hard work doing the right things is what makes you excellent.  To tell someone that passion is the key to success is to mislead them.  Here’s why:  because somewhere down the road you will discover that no one else cares about your passion.  You will quickly discover, that, while you are passionate about your particular field, you will need to have something more than passion; things like having the right skills, being an expert, a marketing strategy, leadership, management, finance, or an understanding of market share.  You will need a business plan too.  If all you have is passion, trying cashing that in at the bank.

Take my job for example.  It involves things like preaching, teaching, pastoring, shepherding, and leadership.  I love the work.  I’m called to do it.  But loving the work is not enough…. I have to be reasonably skilled at it if I hope to make it.  I have to work hard too.  That means striving for excellence, improving my skills, and becoming an expert in my field.  The apostle Paul called it being a “wise master builder” (I Cor. 3:10).   It takes more than passion to grow a healthy church – it takes skill.   I wrote about this in 2008.  See here.

I enjoy being a pastor.  But if the truth be known, my real passion is LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER or LIVING IN THE COUNTRY.  There I would have one of my Jack Russell pups sitting at my feet on the front porch as I’m leaning back in my rocking chair,  having a conversation with my wife with no cell phone interruptions, with some Rolling Stones playing in the background while I’m enjoying the smell of freshly caught fish in the deep fryer.

Now, I can get passionate about that. 

But standing on a stage once a week in front of hundreds of people, trying to say something creative and inspirational, is a challenge.  I have to work at it.  It takes and incredible amount of discipline and diligence to study week-after-week, month-after-month, and year-after-year.  I bog down at it sometimes.  Yet, it’s my calling.  It’s my vocation.  It’s what I do.  Being skilled at it is how I stay employed.  If I was (only) passionate about pastoring, but not skilled at it, I would be UNemployed.

Passion qualifies you to choose a field to work in, but it does not allow you to make a living at it.  Excellence gets you paid.  And twenty or thirty years or hard work, study, and practice, is what makes you excellent.

So set your passion aside… and just get really good at what you do.  Got it?  Forget all that baloney about passion and just go to work, while striving for a standard of excellence.

MY ADVICE.  Keep your day job, get out of debt, and save a ton of money.  Then one day you’ll be able to pursue your passion without starving.