Effective? #2 – Consultation With The Man

Consultation with the Man

I recently read an article about a Christian Consultation Firm.  Ever heard of one?  I hadn’t either but when I stumbled across this article I was intrigued, so I read on.  A Christian consultation firm is an organization that comes into a church and assesses it.  They basically look at your church and tell you what sucks about it and why (hey, at least they’re honest!)  What an awesome job!  I have been in several churches where I would have liked to have a conversation like that.

I read a laundry list of proposed problems that can cause a church to suck, maybe you’ll relate to some of these…

A stale worship experience! Ever been in one of those? You know the feeling, like walking into a funeral home to celebrate the death of your church!

Out of touch and inapplicable sermons! I bet you have never heard one of those now have you?

A closed mind to other religious beliefs! You are just to narrow minded, how could a Christian believe Christ is the only way to heaven?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe you should have a worship service that celebrates a God that has pulled you out of the mire and into the light.  I believe you should preach sermons that are relevant and are easily applied to life.  And I do not believe that preaching Christ as the narrow road leading to heaven will stifle the growth of your church. I do not believe that these are the real reasons most churches are not effective. However, I do believe that we have missed the boat.  The main things are no longer the main things, they have been lost!

Imagine if you could hire Jesus to be your personal Christian Consultation Firm.  What would he think, feel, and say about your ministry? About your church?  What would he say are the greatest things you can do to help your church be effective are? Where would he say effectiveness starts?  Well I have a novel idea, let’s look and see.  It’s time for a consultation with the Man.

As I stated in my prior blog, the church has gotten so far away from it’s original design and mission that I am not sure Jesus would even recognize them.   However, this isn’t the first time in history it has gotten this bad.  When the Man came down to earth the first time his people had strayed so far from the main things he had to start all over.  Jesus didn’t sit down with the current bureaucratic religious leaders to “reform,” he started with 12 men to re-teach them what mattered.

Even the apostles had it all wrong.  When Jesus called them they were ready to march in and overthrow the Roman government.   They believed Jesus was there to be their earthly king.  They were all jockeying for a position on his right and left.  They really believed they knew what this was all about, but they were sadly mistaken.

The religious of Jesus’ day had it all wrong as well.   They believed that it was all about following the letter of the law.  They believed that it was about looking good.  They couldn’t have been more off.   At one point tried to trick Jesus by asking him a series of questions (Matt. 22.)  They thought they had him when they asked what the greatest commandment was but they didn’t know that they were about to get a consultation with the Man.

Jesus’ answer is so simple yet so profound..

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ Matt. 22:37-42

How many Christian Consulation Firms would you say have given the following answer for why a church sucks…

“After much observation and study of your church we have decided it is ineffective because, well, your church…does not love God.  They love many things with all of their heart, soul and mind but God just doesn’t appear to be one of those things.  They love their comfort, their pew, their privacy, their tradition, their rules and so many other things, but not God.  Oh yeah, and something else that we observed, they really don’t love each other or the lost either.”

How well would that go over?  Not well at all!  You see we want to think the problem in our churches and ministries is just something that needs to be tweaked.  We believe we are ineffective at our mission because we aren’t doing the motions correctly.  Folks, if your ministry is not effective it is much more likely that it is not a ministry that loves God and loves people.  You see, all of the other stuff you do means nothing if you do not have love.  All of the other laws that help your church grow hang on the first two.

What is your ministry focusing on? Have you been teaching that something outside of loving God with everything will help you to be effective?  Maybe you need to sit back and honestly evaluate yourself, your ministry and churches love for God.  If teaching your people to love God is not the first and greatest thing you do, you have missed the boat and you need a consultation with the man.

In the next blog (hopefully sooner than this one came out) we will discuss this subject more…thanks for reading!

Effective?

I have been thinking long and hard about what I would like to discuss in a blog on Campus Ministry, well, here’s where we start…

I am sure that most of you have a favorite sports team of some kind.  I personally love football and baseball and happen to be a Cardinals and Chiefs fan.  There are many factors that go into choosing a favorite team.  Maybe your team is in close proximity to where you live or grew up.  Maybe your great grandfather loved them and the tradition has been passed down to you.  Perhaps you like a coach or a player on the team.  Some of you may like a team simply for the mascot and team colors.  Regardless of the reasons; we love our teams!  However, the purpose of a professional sports team is to win championships.  This fact has led me to wonder why some people stick with the teams they do.  I have never understood Cubs fans.  They make no sense to me…How can you so love a team that is SO ineffective?  I mean you haven’t won a World Series since 1908!  That’s over 100 years, talk about a curse!  Teams are created to win but so are ministries.  You may love your team but that doesn’t mean that they are effective…ask a Cubs fan!  You may love your church and your ministry but that doesn’t mean that it is effective at fulfilling it’s purpose and mission.  Many people love their church because it is all they know.  They love their church because it is close to their house, they grew up there, they like the preacher, the elders, the people, the music and so on and so forth.  However, none of this matters if your church and ministry are not what God designed them to be and do.

The problem with the above sports analogy is that in the long run it doesn’t really matter if your sports team wins or not. When it comes to God’s Kingdom we cannot afford to be Cub’s fans!  We cannot sit idly by and watch our churches and ministries be ineffective and let it slide saying “I just love my team!” It is about time that we get honest with ourselves and the people in our ministries, most of them are completely ineffective.  I do not mean to seem harsh but take a look at what John had to say to the churches and ministries of his day in Revelation 3…

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither                 hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸I counsel you to buy from               me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. ¹⁹Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest,                 and repent.

Paul loved these churches and was not afraid to tell them what they needed to hear.  I believe we must engage in honest and sometimes painful discussions in order to be what God has called us to.  I know that this blog may seem like a rant but I do not intend for it to be a simple gripe session.  What I would like  to do is to take an honest look at what the bible has to say about effective ministries.  What is a winning ministry?  How can we once again have ministries that change the world?  Over the next few blogs we will look at what God has to say an effective winning ministry looks like.  I hope that we can all be honest, open and ready to change and repent.