Archive for the ‘Evangelism’ Category
Is Your Church Compelling? Part 1
There is a deafening, non-stop discussion in evangelicalism about what the church needs to be (many of the most vocal are those who pastor no one and win very few to our Lord). On and on they pontificate about how church needs to be personally relevant and interesting and meet felt needs. About how it needs to be entertaining for people without making them uncomfortable. About how it needs to be cool and compassionate and connected and cultural and . . . Here’s a “C” word for you, CHURCH NEEDS TO BE COMPELLING.
I believe with all my heart, that much of what the church has become in our day is measly, milk-toast, and malnourished. It’s about as compelling as a ‘walk in the mall.’ I believe the New Testament church needs to be compelling. By that I mean, window-rattling, life-altering, Almighty God unveiling, COMPELLING! (I was yelling when I thought/wrote that).
Here are five things that make church compelling:
1) “Thus Saith the Lord,” Preaching
The most common observation about Jesus’ teaching was “he teaches as one who has authority.” Yet even Jesus used the Word of God for his teaching. “Did not our hearts burn within us as he walked with us on the road and taught us from the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). A preacher who has been gripped by the Word of God and who is overflowing with Holy Spirit conviction will make a more compelling impact and draw a bigger crowd that all the cheesy substitutes currently popular. Nothing is more compelling than people coming to church and hearing from God through the word preached. Everything else is just pathetic by comparison. “And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4).
2) “Spirit, to Spirit” Worship
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). God is seeking worshipers and we can be confident that when sincere adoration of God’s Son is flowing from the hearts of God’s people, those who attend will report that “God is truly among them.” Again the question we should be asking is not, What do worldlings see as their greatest need? But actually, what is their greatest need? It’s not to be impressed with Jesus or to find out the church isn’t as ‘bad’ as they thought. They need their world rocked by God Himself and He has promised to show up in power when his Son is unashamedly adored from the heart by His people. “The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Corinthians 14:25).
3) Stories of God at Work
The best use of the powerful medium of video is not in showing dopey movie clips that parallel some spiritual reality in some vague unnecessary attempt at relevance. Real stories of God at work in the life of the church are always compelling. The number one source of these stories is of course baptismal testimonies, but other stories of God in the life of His people are also extremely impacting. We are currently building a whole team of media-skilled people to capture the stories of God at work in our church. These stories creatively told in the mist of a worship service, make dramas and movie clips look like a Model T Ford at the Indy 500. Skip what’s cool and go for what’s compelling. If we rattle people’s windows through an eyewitness encounter with God’s power at work in the lives of people today, the issue of ‘relevance’ will see irrelevant. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).
4) Loving People Doing Life Together
I often say there are ‘no enduring relationships without forgiveness.’ But where those relationships do exist and endure they are a compelling testimony to the power of the gospel. People who are diverse in every way except their love for Christ — living in community and loving one another unconditionally are incredibly attractive and compelling to those who don’t have that. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
5) Miraculous Answers to Prayer
News Flash: God does answer prayer, and where there is a group of believers fervently calling out to God in faith, there will be answers. All around us are people who don’t know how to climb the mountains they are facing. When we take them to the throne of grace, and help them find the help God offers in time of need (Hebrews 4:15) we are giving them something very compelling.
Here’s a word of advice — skip the clever and cultural and cool church gig completely. Be authentically and biblically compelling and you’ll need to order more chairs soon.
Do you agree? Leave a comment here . . .
I Love the Gospel
I never get tired of telling people how they can turn from their sin and embrace Jesus Christ by faith. Do you? Here’s how I gave the Gospel last weekend at Harvest. Check it out.
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Red Apple Evangelism: Part 4
Thanks, everyone for your helpful comments. Hope this series on evangelism has been helpful for you. Here’s the final video…
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Red Apple Evangelism: Part 3
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Red Apple Evangelism: Part 2
Continuing on with our second video in our evangelism series…If you haven’t seen the first post in this series, check it out here. Part three will be up next week.
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Red Apple Evangelism: Part 1
Hey Everyone:
There’s nothing more central to the mission of the church than the Great Commission – i.e., making disciples. And a big part of making disciples is evangelism. You can’t make a disciple of someone who hasn’t embraced the gospel. People often ask me about Harvest’s philosophy of evangelism. Here’s the intro video to a short video series on our evangelism strategy; I call it “red apple evangelism.”
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I’m on my way to Israel tomorrow, so we’ll be posting this video series while I’m gone. The next installment is coming Tuesday. I look forward to interacting with your thoughts when I return.
Making Disciples or Making Disciple-Makers?
As pastors, we properly view discipleship through the lens of personal sanctification; it’s about helping Jim become a better father, Jane a better wife, Bob a better employee—all for the glory of God. It’s about helping Betty overcome her sin issues, and encouraging Sam to get more disciplined regarding his devotional life—again, all for the glory of God. In other words, discipleship is about helping others bring every aspect of their lives under the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit. Well and good. But the question of “how?” needs to be asked. How do we go about helping people move toward sanctification?
Over the last year and a half I’ve spent quite a bit of time reflecting on my calling as a disciple maker. And one thing that has emerged with fresh awareness is the realization that the only way to help someone become a disciple of Christ is to help them become a disciple-maker. Or to state it another way, the only way to help people become sanctified is by helping them become agents of sanctification in the lives of others. We will never help Jim and Jane and Bob and Betty and Sam realize the fullness of the Spirit-filled life until we’ve helped them become channels through which the Spirit of God flows into the lives of others.
The expression “filled with the Spirit” (and its approximates) is used roughly sixteen times in the New Testament. And what’s fascinating about the expression is that twelve of those times it’s used in connection with Great Commission activity. We don’t read “And Paul, filled with the Spirit, overcame his anger problem.” Or, “Peter, filled with the Spirit, became a more sensitive husband.” Instead, we read things like, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Act 4:31). In other words, the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church is meant to flow into us and then through us. Like electric current, the Holy Spirit can’t flow into a person unless he’s flowing through a person into the lives of others.
This, I believe, explains why many of our people (indeed, even we ourselves) struggle so much with living the Spirit-filled life. We’re trying to tap into the Spirit’s sanctifying power without simultaneously engaging in Great Commission activity. We want to have our lives cleaned up (it’s no fun being a sin addict), but we don’t want to have to re-arrange our lives toward the priority of the Great Commission. But I can’t stiff-arm the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit and still hope to tap into the sanctifying ministry of the Holy Spirit. We meet him in the midst of his work. If I would know Christ, I must be about making him known.
So if you want your people to realize everything God has for them, then you need to give them a vision of discipleship that extends beyond a sanctified version of the American dream. We must help our people engage earnestly in the Great Commission as their primary calling in life. The Holy Spirit will only flow into them as much as they are willing to let it flow out of them into the lives of others. Those of us in a pastoral role haven’t completed the hard work of making disciples until the people we’re discipling are both equipped and motivated to engage in the disciple-making process themselves. In other words, a disciple isn’t a true disciple until they’ve become a disciple-maker.
The Parable of the Talents and the Great Commission: Connecting the Dots
Have you ever thought about the connection between the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the Great Commission? We all know the parable: A man is about to go away on a long journey. He calls his servants to himself and charges them with the task of investing his property. After an undisclosed amount of time he returns and demands an accounting—the hour of reckoning has come. Two of the servants make good on the assignment and enter into the joy of their master. One, however did not and does not. And for this last “servant” the results were disastrous.
The point of the parable is rather obvious. The man going away on the long journey represents Christ. The servants represent his disciples. But what does the task of investing the property represent? Too often we think about the discharge of the talents in abstract, general terms—becoming a better person, using our gifts and abilities at church (I sing in the choir), etc. Indeed. But we must be more precise. The discharge of the talents is congruous with the Great Commission.
Note the connection: Christ is about to go away on a long journey. He calls his disciples to himself and charges them with a singular assignment: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” After an undisclosed amount of time he will return and call us to himself. The hour of reckoning will come. He will not ask us if we have been decent, moral people. He will not ask us if we have been faithful in attending church. He will not ask us if we said our prayers every night before going to bed. No. He will expect that we have been fully engaged in the one assignment that he left for us to do—making disciples.
Make no mistake about it. A true disciple of Christ is engaged in the mission of Christ. Making disciples is not something we do on the side—a spiritual hobby to be pursued in our spare time. Like the wise servants of the parable, making disciples must be the one great task of our lives. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking we can pursue some higher agenda for our lives other than Christ’s agenda and still enter into his joy. In the end, the parable reveals only two kinds of servants—those who hear “Well done,” and those who hear “Go to Hell.” God have mercy on us for allowing ourselves to be distracted by every little thing. Christ has promised to be with us in this task. May we who long for his presence rush to where he is and meet him in the midst of his work.
For those of us who would know and love Christ, the Great Commission must be the singular focus of our lives—the one great task that, above all, we are striving to make a good return on. And by God’s grace, we will.
No More “Tag along” Jesus
Maintaining vibrancy in one’s Christian faith is difficult work. And often, the first thing to go is a sense of calling, a sense of mission. We muddle about in our Christian morality and our sanctified niceness—as though the only thing God wanted from us was to be decent people.
But Jesus isn’t content for us to simply pursue the American Dream in an ethical way. He won’t be a ‘tag along’ while we chase down our own agendas. He has placed a higher calling on each of our lives—an overarching purpose that must remain central to all that we are.
He has called us to be disciple makers.
Not just on the side, not just when it’s convenient. Not just paid professionals.
What is your life about? What gets you out of bed in the morning? Into what greater vision do all your hopes and dreams funnel? Is it something other than the Great Commission? Christ has not simply called you to be holy; he has called you to help others become holy as well. Anything less is not true discipleship.
5 Distortions of the Gospel in Our Day
Our oldest son Luke, sent me a link a while back that quoted A.W. Tozer and James Kennedy (both wonderful Christian leaders in their day). Both men believed that many, if not most, professing believers they encountered around the country were not actually saved. They were deeply troubled by the distortions of the gospel that were the result of trying to get the gospel to more people—well-intentioned, yes, but eternally dangerous for the souls of men and woman who had not heard the whole message.
The article prompted me to look in my files for something I remembered writing a while back. Here it is . . . What gospel have you heard and believed?
Five Distortions of the Gospel in Our Day
1) The Cake Mix Gospel: If we leave out key ingredients our souls will never “rise” to God. We don’t need the message reduced to some irreducible elements, we need the whole gospel. You don’t expect your car to run without all the parts. You don’t expect your body to function without all the organs working properly. You don’t expect a cake to taste right if it’s rushed and readied without the right ingredients. The gospel without repentance is not the gospel. Acts 18:26, And he [Apollos] began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
2) The Cultural Gospel: Skip the postmodern sales job and go for the heart where human need never changes. Understanding the ‘culture’ is much less important than knowing what the Bible says about every human heart separated from God. We don’t need slick sales people giving out the gospel. We need bold, Spirit-filled messengers with a deep heart of compassion for lost people. The gospel without authoritative/binding truth is not the gospel. Acts 17:30, In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
3) The Cool Gospel: Jesus transcends fashion trends. Marketing Jesus is cheap and powerless. We don’t need to ’spin’ the message, we need to say it. We need to stop shaping Jesus in some misguided effort to make Him appealing. Jesus doesn’t need to be like us; we need to be like Him. The gospel wrapped in stylistic packaging is not the gospel. Revelation 3:17, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”
4) The Carnal Gospel: What Jesus can do for me: health, wealth, always happy, never hurting? Jesus solves those issues, but not in the way we may think. He’ll change what you want a lot more than what you have. The selfish gospel that promises things Jesus doesn’t promise is a lie and is sentencing the lost who listen to a shocking surprise in eternity. The gospel of “me before Jesus” is not the gospel. Mark 8:35, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
5) The Careful Gospel: Let’s not upset anybody, just keep ‘em comfortable and coming back; there’s lots of time for folks to figure it out. The gospel of “get them to church, and in time everything will come together as long as we don’t offend them” is a dangerous gospel. Well-intentioned is not enough. The gospel without urgency is not the gospel. 2 Corinthians 6:2, Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION.”
Do you understand the implications of a distorted gospel? What horror to imagine many people thinking they are ready to meet God only to find out they never were because they believed a distorted gospel. Matthew 7 predicts just a scene of shocking surprise. Matthew 7:22-23, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.”
I wrote a little poem called, “I Want the Whole Gospel,” I’ll share it with you on Monday. Have a great weekend of worship and the Word! 
James
Resources for Teaching about Hell
The doctrine of Hell is perhaps one of the most difficult in all the Bible. And it is a great sticking point for critics of Christianity, particularly in a post-modern culture that vehemently rejects the very notion of judgment. And quite frankly, it troubles many Christians as well. How can a God of love condemn people to eternal torment? I know I’ve wrestled with the tension myself. Yet the Scripture doesn’t leave much wiggle room. As emotionally appealing as universalism or annihilationism might be, such positions just don’t square with the clear teaching of Scripture. Yet how do we preach Hell? How do we communicate this doctrine to an unbelieving world? Many pastors aren’t sure, and so they simply don’t preach or teach on Hell at all. But this won’t do. Jesus spoke frequently about the reality of final judgment, and the New Testament authors were just as direct. If we intend to preach the whole counsel of God’s truth, we’re going to have to grapple with (and be bested by) the Word of God at this point.
If this is a doctrine you’ve been struggling with, or one that you’ve avoided preaching on because you can’t figure out how not to sound like an angry fundamentalist, I’d encourage you to get a copy of James’ recent sermon on Hell. Powerful stuff. Not only will it help you think Biblically about this important doctrine, but it also provides a good preaching template. Additionally, I recently gave a lecture entitled “The Difficult Doctrine of Hell” at one of Harvest’s monthly Apologetic forums. The focus of my lecture was on how Christians can communicate the Bible’s teaching on Hell to a secular world that finds the very idea of judgment and Hell offensive.
“Reaching Our Culture,” blah blah blah!
Wow, what a great weekend, truly a plentiful harvest at Harvest. Greg Laurie, a dear friend who pastors a different Harvest in Riverside California and a truly gifted evangelist, came and preached the gospel at “our Harvest” as hundreds made first time decisions to follow Christ. Among those professions of faith were some people we had been loving and praying about for months or even years.
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Hey, not just at our church but around the country as I travel . . . why does it seem that most of the people talk talk talking about reaching the culture are doing such a meager job of it. Why is it that from frustrated old college professors to angry young mega church haters, the vast majority of people waxing eloquent about their passion to penetrate the culture with the gospel are bearing such scanty, sparse, spartan, even scarce fruit? By fruit I mean actual living breathing men and women turning from sin and self and embracing Jesus Christ as Savior and Master of their souls.
Occasionally this comes to mind when we are seeing a great harvest of souls in our own church, ’cause we never spend any time talking about ‘how to reach our culture,’ we just keep praying and sowing the seed and proclaiming Christ. Yet individually and together we are seeing upwards of 1k adults annually embrace the cross in all it’s glory. We’re not sneaky, were not clever; I’m not writing any books or holding any conferences on ‘how to do it,’ but by God’s grace we are penetrating our culture with the gospel. I think some people need to be a little more honest about what they really mean when they say “reaching the culture.” Here’s three things I think they mean:
1) They mean reaching people very different from themselves. Who doesn’t long to see people so different than we are taken and shaken by the awesomeness of who Jesus Christ really is? Such conversions are the best stories in any church and even in the book of Acts, yet more typically don’t we see people reaching people like themselves? Isn’t it much more common for us to win lost souls from inside our own cultural subset? Mom’s are the best ones to reach hurting mom’s. People who have been through a broken marriage are better at reaching someone in that heartache. Converted homosexuals will always be most effective at reaching back into that darkness and pulling others to light and liberty, etc.
2) They mean reaching secular people who have no interest in God All of us feel the weight of the teaming masses of people passing by us on the freeway or at the mall with no apparent interest in Christ, the joy of our souls. Every sincere believer has felt their faith numbed by the democracy of unbelief. Of course we want to win the aimless arrogant graduate student so articulate in his atheism, but why? Could it be that we want to win such people because framing the arguments to penetrate their secularism bolsters our own faith. Do we see Jesus spending a lot of time targeting people with no time for God? Do we see Paul dialoguing ad nausea with high profile intellectuals? Might the fascination–even preoccupation–of some churches with Mars Hill/Acts 17 flow from a misguided fear that the gospel is not universally relevant if it is not successful in every quadrant of society?
3) They mean reaching cool people who make them feel cool. One of the most disturbing trends in the emergent church is the focus on ’style.’ Living in Wrigleyville, (Chicago) or Greenwich Village (New York) etc. is most assuredly ‘cool.’ And seeking to share Christ with the masses of immensely immoral 20 somethings that inhabit such regions is a worthy goal; but why is that target so popular? Almost everyone it seems wants access to the arts district in Austin Tx., or the uptown area of Atlanta. Who is this about really? When did style statements, and fashionable eye wear, and how I dress and how I act, and my toootally tasteful music preferences become such a key ingredient in reaching ‘the culture?’ Who is all this really about? Is it about lost broken people in these areas dying without Christ and without hope? Or is it about me choosing a place of ministry that advances my personal mission of self expression? I’m just asking . . .
2Corinthians 4:2 “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”
Cultures don’t come to Christ, individuals do. Different races, varied social economic sub groups, and very different backgrounds all come to Christ for the same reason.
1) I thought my life was going great ’til God dropped a ‘boulder’ (some point of acute need) on me and I saw how pointless, empty, dark, or dismal my future was without Him.
2) A caring person intersected my life with true compassion just as my heart opened to the reality that another round of self repair was not going to fix anything.
3) the good news of Jesus Christ’s love and forgiveness was given to me boldly and plainly and I opened my heart by faith to what I finally knew I needed most of all.
I think it’s high time we started challenging the ‘talk about it people’ to get over themselves and dive into the messy business of actually doing it. Cultures don’t come to Christ, people do, one at a time.
