If I could do it all over again...

Seventeen years ago I was a young seminary student, engaged to be married, and excited about “changing the world!” I wanted – and still do – to spend the rest of my life with Joy planting a church that makes disciples, making disciples that plant churches, and planting churches to reach our world!

Since moving to Fairfield, I’ve done a few things right and a few things wrong.

So what have I done right?

1. About six or seven years ago I started consistently taking my Fridays off and taking a short ride over to Napa with Joy. Getting out of town and spending time with Joy helped me detach from the ministry and focus on deepening our marriage. Now my Fridays with Joy are the most treasured part of my week.

2. About four or five years ago we challenged the people of our church to transition away from being primarily a Sunday-morning event to become a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day disciple-making church that is reaching our community and our world one person at a time. It hasn’t been easy. A lot of people left the church. But we saw a lot of other people grow in a heart-deep commitment to Christ.

3. About three years ago we were facing some financial challenges. It didn’t look like we were going to be able to meet all of our commitments in the coming months. I felt like the unstated mission of our church had become survival instead of seeking and saving the lost…instead serving others with a sacrificial spirit. So we decided to do something reckless. We decided if we were going to crash and burn, we might as well crash and burn doing something we believed in. So we gave away an entire week’s offering to help plant a new church. Three years have passed, the economy hasn’t been the greatest, but we’re still paying our bills and we still haven’t crashed and burned.

So what would I do differently?

1. I would have spent less time watching TV and playing computer games for relaxation and more time reading, reflecting, writing, bike-riding, hiking, or just sitting in the backyard enjoying a cup of coffee with Joy!

2. I would have been less concerned with attracting a crowd and more concerned with serving – really serving – a community!

3. I would have spent less energy trying to please people and more energy on challenging people to follow Christ and bring others to Him!

4. I would have been less concerned with the survival of our church and more concerned with multiplying new churches!

In some ways I grieve because we still haven’t become what God wants us to be as a church. I believe, in part, because of many of the things that I have done and haven’t done mentioned above. I want to invest what is left of my life in leading our church in making disciples, making disciples that plant churches, and planting churches to reach our world!

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The other day I was wiriting a few thoughts about what the church is. So what does Jesus say to us about the church and being the church in the world?

“…I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

“…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

So what is a disciple?

• Disciples aren’t just a bunch of pewsitters wanting to be “fed!” Nor are they people who live in a bubble of religious activity trying to hide from the world! A disciple is someone who abandons everything dear in this life to follow Christ, only to find that nothing on this side of heaven can compare with what we find in Him!
  
  Jesus said,
  
  “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44
  

• A disciple is someone who follows Christ and brings others to Him!
  
  Jesus said,
  
  “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19
  

Thoughts about church as it is and can be

Yesterday I ran into a friend of mine at a baseball game. I have been praying for him for about seven or eight years. I invited him to church on Sunday and told him I'm doing a message for people who don't yet believe in God , but are spiritually open. Like so many other people, my friend said that he believes in God he's just not too crazy about the church. When I asked why, he said it was mostly the money thing. Even the last time he was in church they were talking about tithing.

I told him the Bible says a lot about money, so it's kind of hard not to talk about it as a pastor. But the Bible says a lot more about money besides giving. God wants us to please Him not just with how and what we give, but how we spend, save, and earn as well.

From there our conversation went to a book I'm reading - Bob Roberts The Multiplying Church. I commented that a lot of people in the church are hungry for change. In Bob's book he tells us that the church in the west may have more to learn from the church in the east, than the other way around. So my buddy asked if he could read the book after I finish.

It'll be interesting to see what happens.

As I was thinking about my conversation with my friend I realized how similar we are. My buddy didn't like the church so he gave up on it - at least for the time being. I didn't like the church, but I was much more arrogant and presumptuous so I became a church-planter. The truth is, we have been deeply dissatisfied with the status quo.

After reading the first couple of chapters of Roberts book I decided to work again on my definition. I am sure that my definition was and still is inadequate. But this is what I'm thinking as of now: "The church - local church - is a group of people who share a common devotion for God, who are committed to following Christ together, and who want to be a powerful force for good and dynamic witnesses for Christ as they live lives led and directed by the Holy Spirit. They are people who believe they are stronger together because of how God is working in and through them. They have a passion for reaching their community and world one person at a time. And they are content with nothing less than changed lives - theirs and others."

News from Hungary

This blogging stuff is still new to me. I'm still not sure what to say.

Earlier today I read an email from a friend of mine in Hungary. I met him back in 1980 when I spent a year in Hungary doing missionary work. Pishta wrote me to tell me that his mom died. She was 82.

I remember Pishta's parents. They couldn't speak English and my Hungarian was horrible so I really didn't have the patience to try and pursue a conversation with them. I don't know the stories of Pishta's parents, but I know they lived through the years of World War 2 and probably a lot of other hard years I don't know about. I'm sure they could have told me a lot of great stories if I had the wisdom and patience to ask and listen.

I have a lot more appreciation and respect for their generation now, than I did then.

I have recently been thinking about what makes Christianity Christian. A lot of people or groups may claim to be Christian, but what are the central, core, defining beliefs that most Christians - if not all - have claimed over the last two thousand years?

I am currently preaching on this subject on Sunday mornings and I have been using the Apostles' Creed. I have always wondered how you take the one thousand-plus pages of material, that we call the Bible, and reduce it to a two to three page statement of faith.

The Apostles' Creed has been used by Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, as well as many other Christian denominations as a starting point of defining much of the essential beliefs of the Christian faith.

I like Alistair McGrath's version in his book I Believe:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.