GlocalNet

In the first book I ever wrote, Transformation, I made the statement that what’s good for my church numerically may not be best for the kingdom - but what’s good for the kingdom is always best for my church.  The Kingdom is our context, our paradigm - our base of operations - not the other way around.  We’ve confused that.

I discovered that in church planting it can impact the size of your local church.  That isn’t bad - it’s good.  We’ve helped over 20 churches get going all around us.  There are over 10,000 people in those churches combined - but I doubt seriously if we’d ever run 10,000 at our local church.  But by helping to facilitate other churches and young people called to plant churches - we reach far more.  There’s a lot of dying to self that has to happen.  We say it isn’t about the size of a church but be it at a conference or wherever - generally it’s the people with the largest ministries that are invited to speak.  I would say though - that influence and impact is not limited to size alone.  Thom Wolf is a man that impacted me dramatically in ministry in my early years.  His church was never over 600 that I’m aware of - but I learned more from him, than most of the huge mega-church pastors of the Southern Baptist that I was raised with.  I learned there’s a big difference in thinker-pioneers and organizer-developers.  We need both. 

I discovered loving other people radically can hurt your church attendance.  I’ve learned that from working with people from different faiths and political backgrounds.  Working with Communists and Muslims can get you in trouble with a lot of evangelicals.  When we began to do that we lost members that were fearful and even isolationist.  The Great Commission was for everyone BUT Muslims!  Generally it’s your most “strident” Christians who believe in grace but live by fear.  I was with a church planter that came out of our church recently, and he was really struggling.  His church has grown significantly.  Someone from the arts community got involved in his church, found Jesus and started bringing lots of people from the arts community in.  Some of them were homosexuals, and some of them began to give their hearts to Christ. The result was they attracted more.  Some of the “strong” “church” members really got upset because of all these new visitors coming to church not like “us”.  People want lost people to find Jesus - but thy want nice, acceptable, like us lost people - I’m so glad Jesus wasn’t that way.  We must go after the ostracized, the neglected, the marginalized - these are the ones that Jesus went after.  Racially, churches reflect who we share our faith with and what lines we are willing to cross. 

I’ve discovered being serious about making disciples will actually hurt your “church attendance” at times.  We live in this consumer culture - and it’s prevalent and it’s everyone and it’s not limited to a denomination or even to a style of church.  Some house churches are just as consumeristic as mega-churches.  What does it mean to hear God’s voice and follow him?  I was just skyping with a pastor in a difficult part of the world where people lose their lives regularly for accepting Jesus or even starting a church - even if they are the nationality of the people there.  Being a disciple isn’t going to church - and it’s not just feeling good about life and all your dreams coming true.  We had a long discussion yesterday with a handful of people on this whole thing of moving people from consumerism - it’s prevalent within our culture. 

We’ve learned that standing up for what is right and just will cost you members.  I grew up accepting whatever was on ABC, CBS, NBC, and later CNN, and FOX as the gospel truth.  It’s not.  I discovered there were Kurds in Turkey and Iraq that faced persecution.  I discovered that there were Palestinians - even evangelical Palestinians - that lived in the Holy Land, had been there for centuries and now were losing their homes for one reason - they weren’t the right race.  I’ve discovered in America we believe in religious freedom - but does that extend to others as well or, is it just for Christians?

Make no mistake - our church has had a great year. We’re growing locally, multiplying churches, and financially doing well in a terrible economy.  But those aren’t the primary markers that matter.  A couple of Sunday nights ago, when all the Muslims came to Northwood, and were greeting me and our church members, listening to me share who I believe Jesus is and I was walking through the crowd - I thought to myself - this is what matters, these people matter to God, and they need the same opportunity to be loved on by Christians as everyone else.  I said a prayer in my heart, “God, you are so happy and pleased with us tonight.  Forgive me for worrying about attendance, lost members, negative press simply for being friends with Muslims - it’s worth it.”  In the end, the people who get mad over stuff like that are “Christians” not the unchurched.  Unchurched actually love it - it’s what they think churches should be doing.  I’d rather lose a few “saved” people who don’t like all people, than keep those unhappy “saved” people and lose others for an eternity.  As I read in Revelation this morning -we are part of an eternal kingdom.  Rick Warren taught me to always make decisions for the long haul - he’s right.  Making decisions that impact people’s eternity - that’s the only question that really matters in the end.