GlocalNet

“Totally wild spirits want to do far more than just serve in a Sunday capacity in their faith.” p. 108

For far too long we have allowed people to sit in the pews on Sunday and not expect them to be and do more for the Kingdom!  Truly wild spirits want to be set free to do their passions and use their time, talents, and vocations to engage the world for the Kingdom.  But we’ve relegated the business men who have amazing skills and entrepreneurial abilities to handing out bulletins or being ushers.  What would happen if you cut them loose?

How sad that we’ve settled for a growing campus instead of striving for a transformed community.  We’ve settle for what one person or a small group of leaders can do.

I’ve learned that the best thing I can do in the community is to saturate it with members of NorthWood because they have more clout, influence, and understanding of how society works than I and most preachers ever will.

So what kind of disciples do we need?

1. Radical: Let them do and be more

2. Comprehensive: Encourage them to see life as a whole

3. Vocational: Tell them how to use their jobs

4. Intimate: Help them love Jesus more

5. Servant: Show them how to look outward

6. Pilgrims: Remind them it’s an unpredictable journey

7. Giving: Model for them what it means to give it all

If you have been reading any of my books, heard any of my sermons, or heard me speak at conferences, you know what I am going to say next:  It’s all about the Disciple!  The lowest common denominator in all Church Planting is the disciple.

“How do you create disciples like what you are talking about?”

As mentioned a few days ago, you have to live the life that you want your disciples to emulate.  You can talk and teach, but it’s your actions that they will duplicate.  Too many people can talk a good game, but they don’t back it up with their actions.

Next, when making a disciple, you have to invest in the right people.  Just like Jesus spoke of in Luke 8, you need to be sure you are watering a seed that is in fertile soil.

Finally, you have to untame the wild.  Too many pastors and lay leaders alike see ministry as the work of the clergy.  Pastors tend to feed this line of thought by viewing the members of their churches as “merely the funders of religious work and the volunteers to make Sunday happen instead of the totally wild spirits they really are.”  A lot of people are begging to be let loose from the constraints of the pews!  Let ‘em loose!

5-17-80 - This is the day we said “I do.”
5-17-08 - This is the day, more than ever, I mean “I do.”

I cannot say that I love you with an eternal love - I have a beginning.
I can say I love you with an everlasting love - I have loved you from the beginning.

I cannot say we have never had conflict or confusion - no two people have more opposite than you and I.  I can say that no two people ever complimented and completed one another more than you and I. 

I cannot say our life is going to be predictable - even at this stage in the game, especially at this stage in the game.  I can say with every pound of uncertainty there will tons of adventure, with every second of confusion there will be hours of unexpected fulfillment coming from people, places and circumstances we never could have expected it from. 

I cannot say we will ever achieve all of our personal dreams and goals.  I can say we will have more things happen than we would have ever dreamed or set as goals - they will just continue to be different and unexpected. 

I cannot say we will ever be rich - at least by Western standards.  I can say our lives have been far richer than nearly anybody I have ever known regardless of their station or influence in life. 

I cannot say we will ever have a calm and highly organized life that will lead to a swing and a front porch - we never have from the first day.  I can say even now and the years to come we will be climbing mountains late into the winter, discovering the curious and unknown, perhaps little known things that make the world go round - and then look at them with awe and wonder and try to bring them back and spread them around.

I cannot say I’ll ever have a best-seller - though I’ve tried three times so far - each time getting a little closer - now up to bat a fourth turn.  I can say if our lives were a novel placed on a shelf by other couples who’s story was told from beginning to end - ours would be a real page turner - more than most if not …

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I’m asked all the time what do I look for in a church planter.  There are so many assessment tools - personality tests - leadership profiles, and I like them.  I look at those for every single planter that we check off on - but there are some things that also have to be present that if I don’t see, I back away.  Here they are:

Entrepreneurs: The one to jump
Why is this so important?  Courage and risk are brothers that cause a handful to prosper while others live in poverty.  It’s true, you can jump and wind up on the rocks instead of the water BUT, if God is telling you to jump, you hold on to him and enjoy the flight.

Evangelists:  Great conversationalists about Christ.
The only way we will ever see people come to Jesus is to live it and serve them.  It’s great to talk about what’s wrong with the church and everyone else - you’ll pull a band of disgruntled people around you.  People who change the world are excited and have something to offer - Jesus - and people are hungry for that.  Most people are angry, and most are attracted to fads - in both cases they wear off or kill each other in the end, only people who are pumped about who Jesus is change the world. 

Mystics:  Seeing and thinking in ways others don’t.
God speaks to me most days in reading his Word in the presence of the “Word” as John understood it.  A mystic sees the dots connecting in relationships, infra-structure, and in one’s personal life.  Mystics swim deep in the mystery of who God is and filled with awe of that.

Designers:  Learning from a world of knowledge.
When you combine the other traits - and you have someone who is a cross-disciplinary learner - that changes everything.  They have the ability to flex with what needs to be done and at the same time not compromise.  Every church planter should read business, read biographies on people like Lincoln, Jefferson, Madison, Churchill, etc., read sociology from people like Bellah, read current events from people like Friedman, Zacharias, Sacks, read science from people like Brian Green, novels from Grisham . . . . all of that gives you a broader picture.  And yes, for the spiritutalist out there I already said Bible …

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A question that we get often from Pastors who want to start planting churches is, “Where do we start?”  The answer is simple, mentor young leaders.  On pg. 90 you’ll see the following mentoring principles:

1) “Live the life and do the stuff you talk about.” - You can’t teach it if you don’t do it

2) “Teach first from what you’ve experienced.” - Too many people want to start with what they have read lately or the latest speaker they heard, don’t do that.  Start with where you have been and go from there.

3) “Let others be around you in your context.” - Allow people to see you in your daily life and what you do from day-to-day.

4) “Hold people accountable.” - If you ask someone to do something, follow up with them!  Hold their feet to the fire.

5) “Give them bite-size things and watch them.” - Don’t give them the whole load - just a part.  Then watch what they do with it.

6) “Watch what’s unique about others and help them discover their own uniqueness.” - You have to first know what is unique about you, then help others find their own uniqueness.

7) “Let them see who you really are.” - Admit your faults.  When you’re honest about your weaknesses, you will increase your credibility with them.

“We are starting a church because it’s the best evangelistic method ever created.”  I read that on a lot of church planting prospectuses - it’s only half true.  It is a fact, that church planting is the most effective evangelistic method ever - but that is not enough.  We have been starting churches for that reason - and if that’s it we’ll never start the kinds of churches that are truly going to see lives and communities transformed.  History in America has born it out, that it is an insufficient reason by itself.  In the 50’s, we got all these boomer’s and others to pray the sinners prayer, but they were also the ones that opted out ten and twenty years later.  We also grew churches, but failed to see the church make any difference in it’s community. 

What is the kind of church that makes a difference long term - only a church that is transformational.  This is the third wave of contemporary church that we’ve had since the 70’s, and also the third wave of “organic” “house” “simple” church as well.  Once again, we are too obsessed with models and ignore history and what is even history in our recent past. 

What draws us to this venture?  How big is the Kingdom of God?  What do we believe is really possible?  It has to be to create a different kind of disciple.  It has to be to dramatically impact the community in an Acts 17:6 sort of way.  Where your starting point is, determines your behavior, metrics, and end game.  In my book Transformation, I wrote “converts grow a church, but disciples change the world.”  We’ll come back to that later - but for the time being the issue is where do we start.  If I focus on conversion, that’s all I get.  If I focus on transformation, I have to have a “convert” but then the question is where are we going - and it’s not just to church! 

Yesterday in our worship I had two friends I’ve come to know that just happened to be in the US at the same time.  One is from the West Bank who is raising money for a training facility for pastors in the Galilee area - where many of their churches are 20 in attendance.  Another is from Nigeria with churches with thousands in attendance on …

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One of the things that concerns me, is how despite the fact that we have all the research in and the stories coming from all over the world, that church planting for the most part in the US is not local church driven.  This is not an option.  I am grateful for denominations, networks, organizations, etc. that push, promote and try to do it, but the reality is that there is no movement without local churches driving it.  The past few years, the focus has been on the planter, now its starting to move towards the network, now the phrase I see a lot is “network of networks” and I even experienced that with Glocalnet.  BUT, you can have all of that, if it isn’t local church driven - you will NEVER get to movement status.  The key to movement is the mother even more than the planter, and definitely much more than the network or denomination. 

Local churches have to own it - not just fund it.  It has to be a part of their DNA.  Church planting is the tithe of the local church.  Tragically, we just don’t think it matters that much - it’s what someone else does.  No pastor would be content to never see someone accept Christ, or people tithe, etc.  but most pastors turn a deaf ear, a blind eye, a cold heart to church planting.  The reason is two-fold.  First is turf.  Second, they view themselves as a church trying to reach their community.  THIS IS ABSURD.  No single church EVER reaches their community alone.  Pastors need to think more like a missionary trying to “church” the community instead of being a pastor of a congregation in the community.  THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF MISSIONAL DNA! 

Brian Bloye at Westridge in Atlanta, Georgia last year started close to 10 churches and this year will do probably the same.  When the Brian’s and other church planting churches keep planting and connecting at the same time - watch out. . . . .  Ed Stetzer’s research last year on church planting churches confirms it.  Even on the list, Ed stated many of the churches listed didn’t necessarily represent just the church, but the churches network as well.  It just shows the lack of apathy most churches have towards church planting - this must change.  I believe the best hope of changing it however …

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Soooo, if we understand that it’s a Jesus movement, not a church planting movement - the cpm comes out of the Jm - the next question is what is left?  And I’m convinced it will be the emergence of global movements.  For the most part, movements have been tribal and national.  As I stated at the first part of the chapter, the Chinese are emulating this in their “Back to Jerusalem” movement.  The linking factors in these movements will be two things - first is the centrality of Jesus and second the flatness of the connection points.  Gateway global cities, airports, global entertainment sites, are all places where churches are emerging today.  A global cpm is the natural progression from where we have come.  It’s the natural response of an emerging global church.  It’s necessary to engage society at all levels.  It’s possible because of an emerging third culture which is global.  It’s also possible because of technology and all forms of connectedness. 

I believe they will also come from the East and South.  I believe those of us in the West will join movements versus starting them.  Not that we are “incapable” but because God cares for the whole world and for the Gospel to span it they are going to have to be driving it like never before.  That means that we can join, resource, and participate and even lead in some ways- but they need to be point if it’s going to be really global.

On pages 39-44, I began the chapter on Global Church Planting Movements and, in doing so; I deal a little with defining the church. You notice the phrase “a little.” The reason is because I think we are lost in our definitions of church. When you say that, automatically we go to our theology—which isn’t bad, but neither is it enough. I’m not anti-theology, but our theology must not be “sola theologia!” When you discuss “church” with Chinese and others, the focus is more on who you are and where that leads you as a community. When you read it in theology books, it’s more the structure and community, and sorely lacking in purpose. For me, Alan Hirsch articulates it about as good as it gets. I also worked with Chris Seiple, President of IGE because of his exposure to the global church and the world as it is. The premise is, we must first understand theologically what the church is before we can function properly. I disagree.  I believe we must first live as family committed to loving the least and farthest. When that happens and Jesus is at the center, we behave in certain ways driven by the life of Christ, not polity. THEN, after we’re living the life of Christ, polity can be formed, but not until then. Furthermore, when we say church often we are saying primarily form or model of church, polity, and location. I believe the church is far bigger than my local congregation. If I really believe that, that has huge implications for how I relate to other churches and believers both in my community and worldwide.

The Evangelical Manifesto will be released at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.  You can read it here.

There are several things about movements I wrote—some obvious—some not:

1. It’s a Jesus movement - not a church planting movement.
2. Movements are highly personal and societal.
3. Jesus movements take time.
4. Jesus movements are led by disciples not church planters.
5. Historically only one Jesus movement per nation that involves everyone.
6. Jesus movements surge from the young.

You could list a lot of other things, but the reason I listed these was the first one is essential to understand what the movement is. The second should never be forgotten and Rodney Stark drives that home. The third is an observation I began to make as I read movements. It really opened my eyes to being patient and to value seed sowing—it goes against what I had thought or understood. The fourth is the movement can be viral. As long as it’s tied to the preacher, we can grow only as much as we have “religious professionals.” There is an unlimited amount of disciples, the question is what kind of disciples are we making. The fifth was depressing, but it winds up getting excited - there are many sub-movements, but only one national movement that sweeps a nation. The sixth—nothing new, but cannot be forgotten or we keep trying to reinvent yesteryear.

One side note, you can learn a lot from movements from studying the Civil Rights Movement, Woman’s Sufferage Movement, and others—both good and bad. Most have a leader with big vision, all have many evangelists, all are grassroots. All have hit a chord for a specific issue in time that people are ready to rally around.

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