Lesson Tag: Disciple

Video 27 Conclusion

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Video 26 The Joys and Challenges of Lay Leadership

I’ll never forget when a seminary-trained paid pastor told my friend who was a lay elder, “You’re one of the best lay teachers I’ve ever heard.” The paid pastor was actually a terrible teacher: excessively dull, unclear, and irrelevant. He couldn’t teach his way out of a wet paper bag. My friend—the mere lay teacher—was ten times better than the pastor. He just didn’t take a paycheck for it.

So what can we do with this weird space we find ourselves in? It all depends on the relationship you have with the other leaders of the church. In one sense, I’d recommend that you seek to implement things in the same way that the pastor should. But you’ll have a harder time doing this if the other leaders aren’t on board. (Paid pastors generally have much more pull in introducing changes than lay leaders do.) In any case, here are some general recommendations.

First, go about it in a humble way. If you see changes that should be made—maybe some programs that aren’t contributing to people’s growth in Christlikeness—don’t storm the next elder meeting and call everyone on the carpet. Whatever insight you may have is best introduced in a humble way, not claiming to have all the right answers but wishing instead to reexamine some things in light of Scripture. And as I’ve said, don’t try to suggest too many changes at once. Maybe focus on one and humbly talk to the leaders about it.

Second, talk about your concerns on a relational level with other leaders. Talk to your pastor or your fellow elders. Don’t rally the troops in your Bible study and cause them to think badly of the church or its leaders. That’s called gossip and spreading discord—and God hates this (Proverbs 6:29). Be sensitive to where people are, not frustrated because they’re not where you think they should be.

Third, by all means, don’t go all Nehemiah on people in public. (Read Nehemiah 13:25. It’s really funny and scary at the same time.) Don’t publicly call out the people in your Bible study for being segregated. If you’re up on stage, don’t condemn the stage, the lights, the sound equipment, and the worship leader for buying the new projector when he should have sent the money to Nepal. If you go against the leadership and try to change the church by yourself, you’ll probably end up splitting the church—and then no one wins.

Fourth, start doing it in your own life. Find time to get to know the needs in your community. Visit another ethnically diverse church in town and get to know its pastor. Figure out ways in which you can live more simply and give more money away to people in need. Read some books on grace and ask the Lord to show where you are still trying to earn his favor through performance. Dive into your church community more wholeheartedly and demonstrate community. Get to know some of the Millennials at your church and listen to their questions, passions, and doubts.

Okay, so I guess if you’re not a pastor or a leader, you’re just a general Christian. A plain old average pew sitter. I’m kidding, of course. Actually—whether you believe this or not—you have the same Spirit of God dwelling in you, and your gifts are just as vital, just as valuable, and just as powerful as the gifts that the Spirit has given to your leaders. The kingdom of God has been advancing on the backs of “general” Christians for the last two thousand years.

If you’re really passionate about creating a better discipleship climate at church, you could propose a new ministry to the leadership that would help people become more like Jesus. Maybe it’s a new outreach to the poor in the community.
If you want to create a more traditional church ministry, make sure it’s authentic and effective at helping people become more like Christ. Maybe lead people through a Christian book that will shake them up a bit rather than affirm the status quo. If you’re more of an outlier, share your heart with the leaders and help them see how your outside-the-box ministry can further God’s kingdom among fellow outliers of society. Tell your leaders about the various unbelievers you’re reaching out to and invite them into your ministry to them.

Now here’s the thing. There’s a chance—maybe a good chance, depending on your church—that your idea will get shot down. This is one of the biggest complaints among people who leave the church. They say that all their ideas were shot down by the professional ministers who apparently had all the right ministries already in place. I know this can be discouraging, but if this happens to you, try not to get discouraged. Try again. Think of another ministry. If all your ideas keep getting shot down, then have an honest conversation with the leaders and share your heart.
And—pay attention to this—be open to the possibility that your ideas are not actually good ideas. Don’t be so prideful that you simply assume you are right and your leaders are wrong. If they are truly called by God to lead the church, then there’s a good chance that they may see things in your ideas that aren’t biblical or don’t fit within the ministry philosophy of the church.

That said, there’s a chance you are right and they are wrong. Ministry philosophies aren’t inspired by God, and they can sometimes hinder creative kingdom-advancement ventures from blossoming. Seek counsel from a diverse group of godly people. Have them examine your idea. Search the Scriptures, pray hard, and talk to your leaders again. If you are constantly stonewalled from using your gifts in ministry at your church, then it may be time to find another church.
I don’t say this lightly. I almost didn’t want to say it at all! I’m not an advocate of hopping around from church to church or leaving a church anytime you disagree with its leaders. This isn’t what I’m saying. If you must leave a church, do so humbly, graciously, and openly, seeking forgiveness from anyone you’ve sinned against.

God’s kingdom transcends any one church. It’s expansive and dynamic; it can’t be contained within the walls of any one church. It covers your community and is expanding into the county. It’s manifested in every place where believers are gathered and advancing good through the gospel. This kingdom cannot be shaken, and it cannot be stopped. You can kill it, stab it, and crucify it, but it will never die. It will only multiply. God’s reign over the nations will prevail, and the gates of hell don’t stand a chance.

So we must go. We cannot stay put. We cannot pursue the American dream, for this land is not our land—we belong to another kingdom. God’s kingdom. The global reign of God through his image bearers. And God has released his Spirit in you so that you can incarnate the love of Christ to a dying world.
So go. Go do that. Go make disciples of all the nations.
And I’ll see you on the other side.

Video 25 Slow and Steady Change

The post-Reformers used to say, Ecclesia semper reformanda est, or “The church is [reformed and] always reforming.” The Reformers regularly returned to Scripture and celebrated its ultimate authority over all belief and practice. They were not just reformed (that is, Protestant) but also reforming—constantly—in light of Scripture. This should be an ongoing posture, not a one-time event. The church should regularly drag traditionally held ideas and practices back to the Bible and eagerly demand reexamination.

It’s common for unexamined beliefs to become detached from their scriptural roots through time and repetition. We assume that the way we’ve always done it should be the way we always do it. But if we believe the Bible is our final and ultimate authority over everything we think and do, then the Bible—not tradition—must be our guide.

Now let me let you in on a little secret. One of the main questions any writer, teacher, or pastor must ask is Who’s your audience? To whom are you speaking? To be honest, I’ve had three different audiences in view: pastors, lay leaders, and general Christians who take their faith seriously. And when it comes to implementing the ideas of this course, this will probably look different for pastors, lay leaders, and general Christians. (I actually don’t love the term “general Christian,” by the way, but hopefully you get the point and aren’t offended.)

So let me close with a down-to-earth conversation about how all of us can apply what we’ve talked about.

I imagine that if you pastor a large church in a diverse neighborhood with well-polished Sunday services and plentiful programs and members who are mostly wealthy and white—well, you may be angry or depressed.

If you’re angry, my only question is, do you find the stuff I’ve talked about in the book unbiblical? And if so, why? Where? Make sure your anger is justified. Disagreement isn’t refutation. It’s just a reaction.

If you’re depressed, it’s probably because you agree with much of what I’ve said, and yet you don’t know where to start. Here’s my advice to you: Don’t try to change things overnight. If you see several areas in your philosophy of ministry that need to change, take them one at a time. Even if it takes ten or twenty or thirty years to become a more faithful, Jesus-like, disciple-making church, that’s okay. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the kingdom of God. It’s still under construction.

After all, this is how we should pursue Christ on an individual level. There’s no way we can carry out all the demands of Christ all the time starting tomorrow. We can’t physically witness to the lost; help the poor; visit people in prison; care for the orphan, the widow, the elderly, the homeless, and the refugee; disciple our kids; love our spouses; study the Bible; pray without ceasing; care for our relatives; mentor younger believers; help with setting up and tearing down at church on Sundays; and still have time to watch Netflix. Even if we cancel Netflix, we still can’t do it all. Not all at once, at least. We need to cultivate a rhythm of life that reflects Christ. The same is true of ministry.

One of the churches in Southern California, where I was a teaching elder, used to hold a “Celebrate Generosity” Sunday every year on its anniversary. All of the tithes and offerings that came into the church that week went to fund outside ministries we were involved in. Fifty percent went to help other local church plants we were connected with, and the other 50 percent went to overseas missions work we were involved in (including Touch Nepal). It’s crazy, but Celebrate Generosity is always the largest giving Sunday of the year. People love to give to tangible needs, especially needs where there’s some sort of relational connection. Last year, the church gave more than $100,000 on Celebrate Generosity. And the church only has a few hundred members.

If you desire to raise the intellectual bar in your church, then maybe you could orchestrate your own City Forums, or a Sunday night gathering focused on engaging in relevant topics and modeling critical thinking and dialogue. Maybe read through an intellectually rigorous book with your leaders to get them on board. (I’d highly recommend Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.) Or preach a sermon series on loving God with our minds. The key is to show people that good thinking is part of good discipleship. Chances are that your people are probably hungering for more depth anyway.

If you believe your church is too segregated and doesn’t reflect the multicultural heart of God, you can begin by having people of different ethnic backgrounds preach at your church or lead worship. You could reach out and befriend other ethnically different congregations in your city. Get to know their leaders and members and see how you could partner together. If you are hiring for a position, try to hire someone of a different ethnic background than other leaders at your church (assuming they’re qualified for the position, of course). Get to know the ethnic minorities who are in your church. Ask them whether they feel like they have to assimilate to fit in or whether their ethnic heritage is honored and integrated in your church.

Since the Bible is filled with stories of scandalous grace, a good place to start is by preaching on grace. Read Jonathan Dodson’s Gospel-Centered Discipleship or Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing about Grace? or—at the risk of self-promotion—my own book Charis: God’s Scandalous Grace for Us. Then preach and teach about this radical grace. If people aren’t offended, you’re probably not preaching grace as faithfully as you ought to. The grace that Jesus preached offended the religious.

Creating a more missional church is rather easy, since most people are so hungry for it. I’ve seen many churches ignite a fire in their people when it starts engaging the community in tangible ways. There will be some people, of course, who will accuse you of teaching a “social gospel.” But don’t let this scare you. Sure, implementing Christless, gospel-less outreach doesn’t reflect the heart of Jesus. But neither does ignoring the social aspects of the gospel out of fear that stubborn Christians will cut off their tithe money or leave the church if you start talking about the poor. If you believe it’s biblical—and it is—then you should make sure your people are engaging in the mission of Christ, if indeed you want them to become more like Christ.

Again, my main advice is to take it slow. Focus on one or two areas where your church needs to change in order to be more effective at making disciples.

 

Video 24 The Discipleship Miracle in Nepal

Along with being a college professor, writer, and (now) church planter (sort of), I’m also part of a ministry called Touch Nepal. Every year, some friends and I go over to Nepal to hang out with the ministry leaders we support. It’s always an eye-opening experience. I’ll never forget my first visit. One of the Nepalese pastors took us out to the middle of a jungle, where we were supposed to attend a church service. We must have been driving out in the middle of nowhere for two hours before I wondered, Did we take a wrong turn? Should I tell our driver that he must be on the wrong road? There was no civilization for miles around.

But then the jungle opened up and we found ourselves in the midst of a village that looked like it was straight out of the eighteenth century: donkeys, carriages, wooden carts, thatched roofs, smolder fires. I was waiting for Bilbo to pop out of his hobbit hole. The van stopped—apparently, we were at the right spot for the church service—but I didn’t see any church building or people wearing suits and ties.

Then I heard it. Coming from a broken-down, barn-like building thundered the sound of forty Nepalese believers worshiping Jesus in a room that should have held twenty-five people at best.

A couple of people ushered us to the front of the room as the believers kept belting out songs of praise to Jesus. We walked to the front, turned around, sat down facing the congregation, and met many smiling faces as they continued to cry out to their God.

This church was truly amazing. And it was simple. The pastor received a small stipend for his work but held a second job to provide income. The building was nothing more than an old barn with a room upstairs. No one else was paid. It costs hardly anything to come together and worship. Unlikely converts were being made. Most of them were saved out of Hinduism; they were ostracized by their families and, in some cases, brutally persecuted. Yet they kept singing at the top of their lungs. They kept preaching to their neighbors about a risen Savior who now rules the earth and its jungles.

A simple church with hardly any funds, no real building, a part-time pastor, no programs, and no stage. And they turned the world upside down because they were empowered by the Holy Spirit of God.

No model of church is perfect. Every model has its pros and cons. I’m not arguing for a particular model of doing church. I’m arguing for a more simple way of doing church, no matter the model.

I’m arguing that worship leaders should explore more simple and cost-efficient ways to lead people in worship. Powerfully lifting our voices in communal praise should not cost so much, nor should it take hours to rehearse.

I’m suggesting that church leaders should reevaluate their budgets to see if what they’re spending money on truly reflects the values of Christ. If Jesus were in charge of your budget, would it look the same? If not, then it needs to change.

I’m urging lay Christians to view themselves not as mere “lay Christians” but as Spirit-endowed followers of the King who have gifts that can turn the world upside down.

I’m asking pastors to consider implementing the most faithful type of ministry—even if it means taking a financial hit—because any ministry that’s dictated by money is a disobedient ministry.

I’m challenging local churches to ask a hard question: What can we cut out of our church machine to make room for more effective ways of creating disciples who make disciples?

I’m urging all Christians to put into practice the central command to “love one another.” If your church experience does not include loving each other authentically, then you’re not experiencing church the way God intended.

Personally, I’ve found that the house church can be a great vehicle for carrying these things out. It’s simple and efficient, and if it has solid leadership, it can reproduce itself more easily and effectively. But it’s not the only model. I know several effective churches that maintain a traditional way of doing church, and yet have gotten rid of all the add-ons that aren’t helping Christians follow Christ more faithfully. They’re stripped down, financially efficient (and generous), authentic, and making a massive dent in their communities with the love of Christ.

Whatever the model, don’t let the cultural clutter get in the way of making disciples of all nations.

Also, let’s not overcomplicate the call of Christ. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19) and “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19-20). Shortly after that, the Spirit fell upon these believers, and they went out and started to make disciples.

So let’s do that. Let’s make this basic Christian command more central to the values of church.

Some of Jesus’ disciples were literate; most were illiterate. None of them were pastors with seminary degrees. Yet they turned the world upside down by making disciples. Maybe it’s our overly professionalized culture, I don’t know. But the fact is that many Christians feel that they don’t have all the right tools or all the biblical answers to disciple people. Of course, I’m all for becoming more biblically literate and making sure you’re seeking Christ before you tell others to. But let’s not overly complicate the command. Jesus says, “Follow me; then go make disciples and help them follow Christ.” He doesn’t say, “Make sure you’ve got all the answers before you make fishers of men.” He doesn’t tell only Bible study leaders or Sunday school teachers or paid pastors who have it all together to make disciples. It’s a command to all Christians.

So let’s go. Let’s do this. Let’s do what Jesus tells us to do.

Video 23 Where Does the Money Go?

What we see in the New Testament is radical generosity toward people. There was no such thing as an expensive church machine that sucked up most of the tithe money to keep the Sunday services going.

We shouldn’t glorify the first-century church, of course. It certainly had its own problems (see Acts 6:1-6; Galatians 2:11-14; Philippians 4:2-3). But what we do see is an extremely simple way of doing church that was very effective at making disciples. One of my favorite scenes in the book of Acts comes at the beginning of chapter 17. Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel in the synagogues of Thessalonica, and they got kicked out. Before they left, a bunch of Gentiles at the synagogue believed Paul’s message and became Christians. The Jews became jealous, so they formed a mob against the house of Jason, where Paul and Silas were staying. When they couldn’t find Paul and Silas, they dragged out Jason and other Christians and accused them before the authorities. This is what they said: “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6).

Turned the world upside down. I love that phrase! Even though this little religion was but a speck on the map of the Roman world, they made such a dent in society that they were seen as turning the world upside down. And they did it at cost. No bells, no whistles. No programs or events. No stages or lights or expensive sound equipment. No paid staff, no buildings, no podcasts, or radio shows.

None of these things are bad. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with sound equipment or stages. But when viewed against the backdrop of the massive decline of discipleship in the church today, we have to ask, Is all this stuff worth it?

Are we doing church the way we’re doing it because we wholeheartedly believe that it’s the most biblical and effective way to make disciples? (Few pastors I know say yes.) Or are we doing it because it’s all we’ve ever known? And because people will get mad and leave if we try to introduce more simple and effective ways of helping people become more like Christ?

Playing into people’s consumeristic felt needs is not the way of Christ. It’s cowardice.

I long for a simpler version of church, where Jesus’ disciples gather together for rich fellowship, an in-depth study of the apostle’s teaching, a shared cup of wine and loaf of bread in remembrance of Christ’s death, and intimate prayers. This is part of the reason why I’ve decided to plant a church. A simple church. A non-churchy church. A church where all the clutter is swept aside so that we can break bread together before we go out and share the love of Christ in our community.

At the time of writing, my family and I just got back from San Francisco, where we met with a network of churches called We Are Church that grew out of the video series Basic by Francis Chan. Those videos lay the groundwork for a more simple and reproducible way of doing church. What started as one small church in 2012 has now grown into a network of eight different home-based fellowships scattered throughout San Francisco. And it looks as if my family and I are going to start a We Are Church fellowship here in Boise. But it’s going to look quite different from most churches.

First of all, none of the pastors at We Are Church are paid. In fact, “doing church” costs exactly nothing. Nada. Nil. No money. One hundred percent of the tithes and offerings go toward the needs of the body of Christ (or outside the body) and furthering the mission of Christ. There’s not a single ministry decision that’s based on money. There’s no pressure to grow in order to support staff salaries and building mortgages. As long as we’re being faithful at becoming more like Christ and sharing his truth and love in the community, then it’s really up to God to bring people in. And there’s no pressure on my end if he delays.

Growth isn’t bad. But let’s face it. Most church growth is transfer growth, not conversion growth. Most churches grow because they’re doing church in a way that’s more appealing than the surrounding churches (better music, better programs, and more engaging preaching). And so Christians will leave one church for another church until another church pops up and puts on a better church service.

When a church has no financial burden, there’s no pressure to create an attractive environment that will draw (mostly Christian) people to the church. Again, paying a pastor isn’t wrong. It might be biblical. But not paying a pastor isn’t wrong either. It might enable the church to reproduce itself more effectively.

Since We Are Church churches gather in homes, they are small. The smallness helps enable (though does not guarantee) a more relational, “family-like” gathering. No one sits on the sidelines or gets lost in the pews. Everyone is treated like a brother or sister or mother or father. And as we’ve said, genuine discipleship can’t happen without relationships.

Now, as I’m sure you know, family can be messy! So let’s not candy-coat the whole family metaphor. Gathering as a family doesn’t mean that everyone will get along perfectly and that there won’t be any relational problems. Quite the opposite! But what it does mean is that everyone will be committed to each other in love and truth.

After all, “love one another” is one of the most basic, fundamental Christian commands given to the church.

• “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
• “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
• “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11).
• “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23).
• “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
• “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (which Jesus says is the second greatest command, next to “Love the Lord your God”—Matthew 22:37-39).

Most people come to church, chitchat for a few minutes, and then attend a service where 95 percent or more of the people sit and watch other people using their gifts. Then when the service is over, parents rush off to get their kids from Sunday school, and if there’s a second service about to start, they need to do this rather quickly. Some people may connect with other people on a deep, intimate level. But in my twenty years of “doing church” at twelve different churches, belonging to four different denominations in three different states and three different countries, I can confidently say that for the majority of churchgoers, Sunday morning is not the time to love or be loved.

It’s also not usually the time to ask hard questions. Or serve the poor. Or share Jesus with unbelievers. Or help other believers in need. Or do a whole bunch of other things that Christians are to do. Again, church services aren’t bad. They can be a wonderful time of worship and teaching. But it does appear that by itself, attending church services—even really good ones—is not producing the types of disciples Jesus intends to create.

At We Are Church, even though the pastors aren’t paid, they are still training up other pastors and multiplying churches. Even though forty-five-minute sermons aren’t preached every Sunday, everyone in the church is reading through the Bible and discussing it on Sundays and throughout the week with each other. Even though there aren’t any programs, the lost are being reached, the youth are being discipled, and communities are being touched by the love of these radical Jesus followers. Even though there’s no worship band or expensive sound equipment, every week believers cry out to Jesus through songs of praise.

Francis Chan told me a beautiful story about a time when one of the house churches gathered together for worship, but the worship leader—a girl with a guitar and a good voice—couldn’t make it to the gathering. At first, no one knew what to do. How can we worship God without a skilled musician? So one of the members, an ex-con who recently got saved, stepped forward and started belting out songs of praise to Jesus. He had a terrible voice: totally off-key. No band, no guitar, no stage, no sound system. Yet everyone joined in with authentic, heart-pounding worship. And tears flooded the room.

When I hear stories like this, I just wonder whether we have overly professionalized the church’s worship of its holy Creator. What would happen if we explored simpler, more dimmed-down, more authentic ways to worship Jesus—the one who said “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23)?

Smaller home-based gatherings like this are not perfect. They’re messy and difficult and come with their own set of trials. My point is to give a tangible example of church that is done more simply, cost-efficiently, and authentically. And this more stripped-down version of church is still doing all the things that God calls the church to do.