How Is My Church Really Doing?

We should periodically take time to assess how our church is really doing, but what do we assess? As I've studied the New Testament I've come to the conclusion that a NT church is simple a community of Christ-followers continuing the mission of Jesus. That's what a church is (and should be) in its simplest form.

With that in mind, here are the three components that we should assess. First, we should assess how we're doing as a community:

• Are there strong relational connections between the members/attenders of our church?
• Is there a high degree of fun and fellowship among our people?
• Are new people being assimilated into our community?

The second component that we should assess is mission:

• Do we have a sense of momentum?
• Are individuals joyfully engaged in missional activity?
• Do we as a Body have a clear, focused missional vision that is shared by all?

The third component that we should assess is disciple-making (Christ-followers):

• Do we have weekly/monthly stories of life-change?
• Do we have an effective system for spiritual formation that produces disciples and leaders?
• Are our people engaged in disciple-making relationships?

Let's not beat ourselves up for the areas where we see deficiencies, but lets work toward continually improving our life together as the Body of Christ. Let's always be working toward being the church that Jesus desires.

Leverage: The Focus of Strategic Leaders

As I work with post-launch planters the concept I try to help them understand is leverage! Leverage is getting more accomplished with less effort. Leverage is working smarter not harder. Leverage is about exceptional impact!

Most church planters do way too much of the work themselves. They all think they delegate well, but very few do. (This is true about pastors in general.) There are four major ways we achieve leverage:

1. We can leverage communication. Think strategically about how you will use your pulpit, your Sunday service, your weekly communication vehicles, etc. Think strategically about how you will communicate to the community (often referred to as marketing - but it is much more than our traditional mindset about marketing.) Think about other strategic opportunities you have to communicate.
2. We can leverage the gifts of our people. Think about everyone (not just your favorites) in your congregation. Who is not engaging their gifts or talents in significant ways? Brainstorm on ways to engage the talents of newcomers & prospects too.
3. We can leverage systems. Think systems. Learn to develop systems. Implement systems. Measure the effectiveness of your systems.
4. We can leverage technology. How are you using your website? E-marketing? Blogs? Facebook? Meetup.com? Linked In? etc.

Don't miss the opportunity to multiply your impact and effectiveness through leverage. Need help? Get a coach!

Don't Stop Doing Evangelism!

One of the major mistakes I see church planters making in their first and second year is that they stop engaging aggressively in outreach and evangelism. This is a mistake!

In our Essentials Training we talk about "How to do the work of an Evangelist." Let me remind us all of a few key points:

• We must continue to build intentional relationships with people who are far from God and the church. We must continue to encourage our Core Team to do this as well. We must never stop initiating this!
• We must continue to pray for open doors. Opportunities don't just happen. As we pray, God opens doors for conversations, outreach, and assimilation.
• We must continue to gather non-believers around us. They may not be ready to come to church, but they will come to your house for dinner, go to a movie with you, or do something fun. Every leader on your team (and especially you as the planter) must be doing this.
• We must look for the best ways to leverage our time to build more relationships. This is the biggest problem of all. Once our new church is launched, we get busy. Our busy-ness is what robs us of time and energy for evangelism.

Remember, as the church planter, it is your responsibility to keep the evangelism temperature high. No one else can or will! You must set the example. You must be telling fresh stories every week. You must be challenging others and holding them accountable to this. It is the life blood of a new church.

Are you needing help with outreach and evangelism? Get a coach!!! To know more about our coaching services email me at glenn@nciglobal.org.

God's Favor in Church Planting

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as a shield." Psalm 5:11-12

Church planting can be very discouraging at times. Many planters describe their experience as providing them with their "highest highs and lowest lows." These words can bring comfort, encouragement, and hope. I pray that every church planter will feel God's favor; that you will feel His favor surrounding you!

Church Planting Movements or Jesus Movements?

Recently I have been reading two excellent books, The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch, and The Multiplying Church by my dear friend Bob Roberts. I recommend them both.

One of the key things that both of these men tell us is that the early church and the dynamically expanding church these past decades in China were not focused on creating a "church planting movement." Their focus was making disciples who knew and were passionate about Jesus. What they created were "Jesus Movements."

Sometimes I think we today miss the point when we focus on church planting movements. Authentic cpm's are the result not the goal. The goal is to make authentic disciples. When we do that we create a Jesus movement and churches are naturally born.

The central question and issue is this: Are we making passionate, missional Christ-followers? Or another way of saying it is are we making authentic disciples? Multiplication, movements, and church planting is the by-product. Let's be sure our focus is right and clear!

What Are You Trying To Accomplish?

Recently we have been asking ourselves the question, "Are we being successful as a church?" I serve on the elder team of my church and we are clear about our mission. It is Mt 28:19-20. The way we say it is "To honor God by making growing followers of Jesus Christ." But how do we measure that?

As we wrestled with this question, we went back to define "What is a Disciple?" and "How do we know when we've made on?" This led us to do two things:

1. Create a Profile of a Maturing Disciple (e.g. a growing follower of Jesus Christ), and


2. Clarify the process of spiritual formation, beginning with the "pre-Christian" (e.g. how do we turn someone who is far from God and the church into a growing follower of Jesus?
   

What we have defined as our target (end goal) is a person who is pursuing:

• Spiritual Intimacy


• Biblical Community


• Missional Living

We are now in the process of placing behavioral identifiers on each of these charactersitics, ways that we can know that this person is becoming a growing follower of Jesus. We are also defining the steps along the process -

Far from God & the Church ---------------->Growing Follower

We are identifying our metrics so we can evaluate how we are doing along the way. We are identifying the knowledge, character, and skills/practices that we want to develop in our people. We are also continuing to refine our profile of our outreach target group.

Are you making disciples? How do you know? You cannot manage what you do not measure. But what you measure will be your mission. Are you measuring the right things?

Hurricane Ike - How Leaders Deal With the Unexpected

This past weekend we got visited by Hurricane Ike. We suffered some minor damage but many residents in Houston have suffered a lot. Yesterday one of our church plants was to have their final pre-launch Preview Service. It didn't happen. He called me and said none of the books talked about what to do if a hurricane hits on launch week. We talked through his NEW strategy for launch!

That's just one value of coaching. Unexpected things happen. However, leaders take the unexpected and turn it into a victory! That's what my friend is doing. What unexpected challenge or set-back are you dealing with right now? How can you turn it into a victory? That's leadership!

Protect Your Marriage While Church Planting

I'm back after taking a couple of weeks off. My recent reflections have been around the need to guard our marriages.

In church planting the work is never done! At the end of the day there are still more people to see, more details to cover, more strategy to plan, more projects to manage, and more ideas to create & develop. Plus we must always keep evangelism as a central focus, be discipling new and very immature believers, not to mention recruiting and developing more leaders. The work is never done.

Here's the issue: Can you say "no?"

Do you know when to stop? Are you monitoring the balance between work and family? Do you maintain enough margin in your life so that when those most critical relationships (e.g. spouse and children) need more time, attention, and energy from you - do you have the margin necessary to give them what they need without creating a crisis in the other areas of your life?

I have 3 suggestions:

1. Reflect and journal about this aspect of your life. Pay close attention and be brutally honest with yourself. Remember, we lie loudest when we lie to ourselves (Eric Hoffer).
2. Discuss it openly and honestly with your spouse. Give them permission and space to express fully their thoughts and feelings about this. Make sure you know their honest perception about how well you are present for spouse and family.
3. Discuss it with an accoutability partner. To be honest, sometimes our spouse is so committed to us and what we're doing that they are not honest with themselves about personal needs and desires that are going unmet. Have an outsider asking you tough questions and challenging you about your marriage and family.

Church planting is demanding! It is very hard work. But it is something we are passionate about; so passionate that sometimes we lose perspective about our personal reality. It's easy to become obsessed with our "mission."

Don't fool yourself and don't lie to yourself. Make sure you have a firm grip on reality in your marriage and family. Be intentional. Always be taking action to nurture and protect your marraige while church planting. What are you going to do today?

Perseverance in Church Planting

It has been very inspiring to follow the story of Michael Phelps in the Olympics this month. He is a great testimony of perseverance. In fact, all of the athletes that are competing have stories of perseverance - without it, they would not be in the Olympics.

As church planters, we must be examples of perseverance as well. Church planting does not come easy. It takes enormous work, devoted (sometimes desperate) prayer, and perseverance to succeed.

This morning I was preaching at a 6 month old church that is doing very well. My text was James 5:7-12, "Be patient, then, brothers until the Lord's coming." James was encouraging these believers to persevere in difficult times, and I wanted to encourage this new church to persevere as well. He gives 3 examples that would be worth all of us considering, the farmer, the prophets, and Job.

From the farmer we learn that we need to persevere through the difficult seasons of life. From the prophets we learn that we need to persevere even when others attack us. From Job we learn that we need to persevere in the midst of spiritual battle.

We can also observe from this passage that our perseverance should be with a good attitude (v.9), with worship (v.11b), and with integrity (v.12). The mark of a great church planter is perseverance!

Benefits of Trusting

Many of us have difficulty trusting others. Some of us were trained to not trust. Some suffered greatly during their childhood and decided that they could not really trust anyone. All of us have experienced relationships where trust was broken. So why trust at all?

In his excellent book The Compassionate Samuri, author Brian Klemmer identifies five benefits that motivate us to trust.

1. It's the only way to access the synergistic power of teamwork.
2. It builds relationship and intimacy.
3. It releases time freedom and efficiency.
4. It's the primary tool for making a difference and being of service.
5. It gives you a feeling of exhilaration.

As church leaders, we must be looking for people who are trustworthy to partner with in ministry. The average person plays not to lose by not trusting. Extraordinary leaders learn when and who to trust and seek to build trusting relationships.

Commitment

Men and women of character say what they mean and do what they say. They make bold promises and keep them. Their lives are characterized by commitment!

The average person today doesn’t care much about keeping commitments if their commitments are not convenient. The value of his/her word has become so cheap that they break it almost every day. Average salespeople promise things they can’t deliver just to make a sale; average parents promise their children that they’ll tuck them in or take them to the park, yet feel no remorse when they fail to follow through. When average people are late for an appointment, they don’t consider their tardiness to be a broken commitment. I’ve seen many church planters who were guilty of this.

Commitment is the basis for trust, which is the foundation of all relationships. Therefore, breaking it equates to destroying trust. When trust is broken, relationships inevitably become shaky. More than that, when commitments aren’t valued and honored, it undermines the possibility of creating community, which is the essence of what the church is to be.

As church planting leaders, let’s make bold commitments. But let’s stand behind our word, even in the small things. Let’s disciple our people to do the same!

Wisdom

Wisdom is the ability to see life events from God's perspective, and the skill to act accordingly.

It is very important for us to be looking for God in every situation we face in our church planting experience. We ascribe meaning to every significant event of our day. The meaning we ascribe determines how we feel about the event and how we respond to the event. If we can begin to see God's hand in our daily and weekly activities we will be able to maintain the focus that we need to press ahead toward our vision.

The problem each of us faces is that we see life through a filter. This filter has been created by our past experiences and interpretations of those experiences. We can easily miss God when we see current challenges through filters of past disappointments which shaped false beliefs about ourselves and God.

God is at work. Keep your eyes open for Him. Learn to see every event from His perspective. He has purposes in every thing we are going through. Don't miss Him!

Unexpected Events in Church Planting

It has been many years now, but just prior to my first church plant, my father came to know the Lord. To be honest, this was an incredible answer to years and years of prayer. It was a tremendous blessing to be launching my new church and to be able to talk about it with my new Christian father. There were so many blessings surrounding that experience that I can't begin to describe them here.

It was after the launch of my church, but during the first year, that my father discovered he had cancer, and soon died. It was a tremendous gift from God to get to have conversations and connections with Dad on a spiritual level that year. However, he had only been a Christian for a few years before his death. It seemed so premature, in some ways unfair. But God is always just and faithful.

A few months before his passing, my dad confided in me that he struggled with tremendous guilt over the life that he lived prior to coming to faith. As we reach adults with the gospel we discover that this is not uncommon. The scripture that the Holy Spirit led me to and that we read together was Psalm 103:8-13. You may find this helpful for yourself and for those new believers you are discipling:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

These words gave my father hope and peace as he faced eternity. They give me that same hope and peace today. Church planting brings many surprises and unexpected events. I hope we can learn to see God's hand in every part of it, and that we can give this kind of hope and peace to a vast world that does not yet know our compassionate Heavenly Father.

Overcome Fear; Accomplish Something Extraordinary

“The history of the human race is the history of ordinary people who have overcome their fears and accomplished extraordinary things.”-Brian Tracy

Are you worrying or experiencing fear on a regular basis? Don’t forget that 95% of fears never materialize. Here is a thought for applying FEAR as an acronym:

False Expectations Appearing Real.

Worrying accomplishes absolutely nothing! In any situation, just face the worst case scenario, accept it, and then improve upon it. Don’t let this limiting emotion called fear hold you back!


Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:6-7

Looking for the Kingdom

Jim Peterson and Mike Shamy in their excellent book The Insider, state:

God is at work, creating....He is creating a people, an eternal people! He is gathering them out of every nation and from every generation - to present them to his Son as "a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." What an astonishing metaphor for an even more astonishing work! ... If that is what God is doing, if in these days he is creating such a people, should we not expect to see signs of this activity all around us every day? ... We need to train our eyes to see the kingdom of God.

I couldn't agree more! I have spent a lot of my recent years training churches and church planters how to analyze (exegete) their culture. We need to know the community and the people we're trying to reach. But we must also learn to look for evidence of God's kingdom in our midst.

I believe that Jesus wants us to be instruments of His kingdom. He taught us to pray "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I believe that He specifically wants us to look for evidence of His kingdom as well as be channels of His kingdom. As we pray and do the works that Jesus did we will become channels, and the end result will be that there is an increasing evidence of His kingdom on earth.

How will we know? The answer is "His will is being done," in the lives of individuals and in the community. Are you a part of His creative activity? He is redeeming individuals and transforming communities. Let's be looking for the kingdom. It is manifest now in part, and we are His channels. But one day, He will return and it will be evident in full!

Agents of the Kingdom

Acts 1:3 tells us how Jesus prepared His disciples to start the very first church. It says that he schooled them for 40 days on the Kingdom of God. That's right. Jesus knew that if His disciples could capture His heart and vision for the Kingdom, once empowered by the Holy Spirit, they would turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

It has been my growing conviction that Western churches, for the most part, have not been having the kind of transformational impact on society that they could (and should) have. I believe that this is due (in large part) to our lack of understanding about the Kingdom of God.

As believers and as churches we are agents of the Kingdom. To be "missional" is to understand and act on our Kingdom calling. It would be good for everyone of us to spend 40 days really "schooling" ourselves on the Kingdom of God. Sources I would recommend to help us gain fresh insight into the Scriptures are Ladd, Bright, Tolstoy, Glasser, and Willard.

Over the past few years our teams have interviewed many non-churched people in cities where we have been supporting church planting. What we have found is that the non-churched population (for the most part) do not see the church adding any value to society. They often view the church as a "taker" rather than a "giver" to the city. For the most part we are not viewed as "salt" and "light." Rather we are a non-factor or worse, a nuisance.

I want to encourage every new church to see themselves as agents of the Kingdom, bringing blessing and hope to the city! (Jeremiah 29)

Are We Making Disciples?

I love working with church planters and seeing new missional initiatives started! However, I continue to be concerned about the quality of disciples we are making.

Barna has been challenging us for years to address this. The most recent Reveal research has challenged the assumption that participation in church programs result in spiritual maturity. Our standard methods for making disciples do not seem to produce the results we want - nothing near what Jesus calls us to! My fear is that our new churches often replicate the same methods.

Our mission is to make disciples. But what does a disciple look like in Western culture (our context)? Jesus calls us to radical obedience. He really does intend for us to live the way he lived. He said "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father." (Jn 14:12)

I hope that every church planting leader will give serious thought to this! You have the opportunity to do something new and different. You have the opportunity to create a system that will produce missional disciples. Think it through carefully and measure your results. Be ruthless about this! If you need help, get a coach. Don't take this lightly - this IS our mission!

The Global Warming Myth

A few years ago when the Global Warming scare was just picking up steam I read an article by a professor at Texas A&M University that directly challenged this idea. I was stunned when I read the article because I had already "drank the koolaid" and begun to believe all the media hype about global warming. After that I began to examine this a little more carefully.

Having been a pilot now for 35 years I am accustomed to talking personally with flight briefers and meterologists - sometimes several times a week. Every meterologist I've approached the subject with has questioned the reality of global warming. Recently I have discovered that there are many highly accomplished and recognized meterologists who serously question global warming. Most recently I've discovered that even meterologist John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel, is adamantly challenging this current thinking.

Why is this conversation important to church planters? Because most of the church planters I talk to have also "drank the koolaid." Recently I read two different books related to the subject of discipleship that were propogating the scare! Politicians speak of global warming as if it is a foregone conclusion. Many pastors are doing the same. (There is even a bill in congress this week calling for a "Global Warming Tax.")

Please don't misunderstand me and start throwing stones - I believe very strongly that we are called to be stewards of creation and that we will answer to God for how we steward planet earth. I would just like to encourage everyone to THINK, and to not just buy the media hype and the PC wave. Our stewardship responsibility requires it!

A good resource to give you a more balanced perspective is Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor by Dr. Roy Spencer. Dr. Spencer serves as the U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) flying on NASA's Aqua satellite. He is also the co-developer of the original satellite method for precise monitoring of global temperatures from Earth-orbiting satellites.

However, please know that he is just one of many scientists who are calling for a more honest debate on this subject. As Christian leaders, let's be informed and thoughtful about this subject! Let's lead our society in honest, critical, right thinking.

COACHING: A Valuable Resource!

If you read my blog much you probably know that I place a high value on having a coach! Everybody needs a coach! If you don't have a coach there is a good chance you are not growing personally!

A good coach recognizes that the internal obstacles are often more daunting than the external ones! Coaching is about unlocking a person's potential to maximize their own performance. A coach will help you grow in self awareness. He will also help you chart a course for change, growth, and confidence! A coach will empower you to make choices that will significantly improve your game. Contact us or contact someone else, but get a coach!

The Next Generation of Church Planter Training

On May 30-31 we will be hosting our training "The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church." This training is considered "the next generation" of church planter training for several reasons!

First, we begin with a thoughtful analysis of our ecclesiology. What do we really believe about the church? What are we REALLY trying to start?

Second, instead of presenting the latest or most popular "model" of church, we guide the planter through a process to think like a missionary and to design a unique model that fits his/her gifting and that fits the context in which they are planting. We take the planter much deeper in his/her understanding of contextualization. With that said, we will explore best practices, but we will do it with your context in mind.

Next, we place a very strong emphasis on the movement of God which is foundational to any successful church planting endeavor. The birth of a new church is truly a miracle. But it is a miracle that God wants to perform all over the world. We will discover how to identify what God is doing and how to join Him in His activity of giving birth to new churches.

Also, we will give special emphasis to the transformational impact new churches can and should have in their world, both locally and globally.

This training will be unlike most any other church planter training you will experience. Register now and join us in Houston, TX on May 30-31 for "The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church." For more details, click here!

For more information on our ministry go to www.newchurchinitiatives.org!