Church Leadership- Know Your Spiritual Flow

We have all heard the phrase, “Garbage in, garbage out”, most of the time referring to what we either put into our mind or put into our body.  It was a phrase repeated to me numerous times as a kid to get me to think about what I was listening to and what I was watching. It has to do with flow, the progression of how thoughts, faith, ideas, emotions, and wisdom move through us.

I recently experienced an interesting, but expensive, illustration of this truth. We were having some plumbing problems in our house, popping in the lines, sudden dripping in some faucets, so we called our local, friendly, and did I mention expensive, plumber. He walked in the house and took a quick listen to what our aliments were and immediately said, “I know what your problem is…”.

“OK”

“It’s your PRV valve, where is your main water cut off in the house?’

“Wait, a what valve?”

“PRV”

“You got me, what is PRV?… and is it expensive?”

“It is your pressure reducing valve”

“You got me again, what is a pressure reducing valve?… and is it expensive?”

“The PRV regulates the water pressure coming in from the street, it really shouldn’t be higher than 70-75psi. Yours is probably too high, it is why you are having these sudden leaks, there is too much pressure pushing against the faucets and hoses.”

“Oh, Ok… and is it expensive?”

“Yes”

The problem I was having with the “outflow” in my faucets was that my “inflow” was too strong… and after the repair, I needed more “inflow” into my bank account because my “outflow” was more than I expected!

The spiritual flow in a church is similar. As church leaders, as shepherds and servants in our congregations, we need to be aware of the “flows”.  In the beginning the Bible says that the Spirit was “hovering over the face of the deep”. That imagery is powerful, the awesome Spirit of God not sitting or relaxing, but hovering, waiting to move in power at the Word of the Father.  The flow begins as the Father says, “let there be light”, now there is movement, an outflow of power and might and wisdom as the universe comes into being.  Flow can be a powerful thing, sometimes it is gentle like a creek, sometimes it is powerful like the images we have seen from the Japanese tsunami. We can feel flow, we can hear flow, we can see flow, because we as people can sense movements, even slight ones. You could call spiritual flow the feel of a church- energized, tired, worn out, a servant’s heart, stagnated, lethargic… all describe an issue with spiritual flow.

Spiritual flow however has more to do with the idea of discipleship than anything else.  It is opening ourselves up to allow God to pour into our spirit and our mind and then allowing that flow to go through us to others. In a church setting sometimes we can get really tangled up with how to understand if God is working in our midst, are we making an impact?, are we making progress?… lots of questions that can be hard to discern. Grabbing a hold of the idea of flow can help us understand the nature of what is happening spiritually.

Here are several truths about spiritual flow that we need to get:

1) Flow is movement- there is no more simple truth than that, you cannot have flow without movement (verb- to move along in a stream, to circulate, to proceed continuously and smoothly)

2) Flow has to have a force- there is no movement, no spiritual flow without a force acting upon our Spirit.  Newton’s first law of motion tells us a body at rest tends to stay at rest unless it is acted upon by an outside force. To create flow, we need a flow creator, a force to put our Spirit in motion. God is the flow creator!

3) Flow has to be nurtured- flow cannot remain constant without action to keep it going. Spiritual flow runs into all kinds of obstacles that seek to block it and slow it down. Sin, circumstances, the world, pain, suffering, disappointments, conflict, and many other things seek to block spiritual flow.  You have probably encountered many of these kinds of things. Sometimes we call them joy killers, faith stealers, but the idea is that they are obstacles to God having full access to work through us. Because we inevitably run into these things, the spiritual flow in our lives and in the life of our church needs to be nurtured.  Hebrews 11 tells us that faith has to be nurtured,

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Despite all circumstances we must believe that God is, He still exists, is there even when we don’t necessarily see Him and that He is still in the blessing and working business by rewarding those who diligently seek Him.  In Transformational Church, the writers share about our bent toward allowing life or circumstances to make us think otherwise:

“But sometimes the tendency is to focus so much on the negative that we essentially  act as if God no longer exists” (Transformational Church, p. 21)

4) Flow is fluid- spiritual life is not mapped out in blocks, it cannot be programmed or timed nor is it stiff and rigid. Like a river, spiritual flow has to rise, fall, turn, move, go over and around things. Spiritual flow changes and moves to fit the place it is given. Like liquid takes the shape of the vessel it is put in, so we to have to make a proper place for spiritual flow in our life.  Romans 12 tells us that if we are not to be like the world, but to allow ourselves to be open to God changing us into the image of Christ, the flow of the Spirit changing us as it moves through us.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

5) Flow can be stopped- God intends for the flow to continue, our lives are to be more like rivers of spiritual life, yet often they more imitate reservoirs. A reservoir is a place where flow stops, is backed up and is not allowed to move at its’ own pace. Reservoirs are tightly controlled places and flow can’t happen in tightly controlled places. Flow can be stopped by unbelief, rebellion, a lack of following, a hard heart, a stubborn selfishness, or too tight a control on our spiritual life, an unwillingness to allow God to change us, a fear of growth into the unknown….any way in which we purposefully resist God’s work in us.

6) Flow is meant to be a blessing- Early civilizations understood that the flow of water was a life-giving place. Early societies and towns often popped up next to rivers, canals, coastlines. These were places that allowed them fresh drinking water, a way of movement, abundant sources of food. Spiritual flow is like that- it is meant to be life-giving as God works through us.

Let’s take a look at inflow in our spiritual lives and the life of the church. We could haggle about the order of which is most important, but the important part of inflow is that these things are moving into our lives.

Inflow:

1) Worship-  Some would say that worship is outflow, something that pours out of us toward God, and I would absolutely agree. In fact there are several things that work in cycle. But in the life of the church, the community of believers, there is not much else that pumps Spiritual life and excitement into the body like worship.  Think about the meaning of corporate worship versus private worship. In corporate worship there is a joining of voices, hearts, focus and intent. What flows in as people encounter the pleasure of God at His people worshiping Him is affirmation, joy, encouragement and hope. The connection to God in worship give us a reminder that God is real, alive and well, worthy of our worship. Our private worship, those times of loving God that come in our private times are more intensely personal, but the result is the same- we are open to God, with our hearts focused on God allowing Him to shine brightly into our hearts. But corporate worship adds one key element, the secure feeling of being among those who are like-minded, believing and verbally and visibly showing their faith through worship. There is that extra bit of encouragement that comes by being together with others who are loving God as well.  It is the “cord of three strands” concept from Ecclesiastes. Look at passage below and think about how it applies to corporate worship…

9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

The spiritual inflow of worship stops when we believe that corporate worship is meant for our pleasure or entertainment rather than connection with God.  It is hard for the Spirit of God to flow when our heart is focused on self rather than on the object of worship which is God. He alone is worthy of worship and when we give Him the honor that is due His name, we bless Him.

2 Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. 3 Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. 4 All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” … 8 Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard     Psalm 66

God flows through that kind of praise. If your corporate or private worship is anything other than an offering to God, then it can be seen as nothing more than a self-help exercise to make yourself happy. Those may seem like harsh words, but God will not share His honor, or His worship, with anyone else. As church leaders, how are we presenting the discipline of worship to people… as a meeting, as entertainment, or as a sacrifice, an offering that is given to the Lord?  How are we helping people to get outside of themselves to focus on God rather than on self? How are we challenging people to slow down and take the time to, in a heart-felt way, truly honor and bless the Lord?

2) Prayer- again to some this may seem like something that we dish out, but prayer in its’ most basic form is connection with God.  Jesus Christ gives us bold and confident access to the Father, He intercedes for us and that connection brings life into us… at least it should. Prayer is the place that we can bear our souls, not to complain or gripe about our life, but so that we can truly encounter God, be honest with God and allow Him to bring us help, healing, guidance and hope. That kind of inflow energizes a believer, it fills them with the good things of God, no  matter what their circumstances are on the outside.

Prayer becomes ineffective when it is dialog, us talking to God, but not listening for Him to speak to us.  Really, you can no longer classify it as prayer, since the essence of prayer of the desire to connect with God through the sacrifice of Christ. If we don’t allow God to talk  we cut ourselves off from everything that is good in prayer. Yes we may be able to get things off our chest for a moment, but nothing ever departs because we don’t allow God to replace it with any of His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, healing…. And unfortunately this is the case all too often. Lots of talking, but no inflow in prayer. Make sure that prayer, whether personal or corporate takes time for inflow, intentionally taking time to listen and hear God. That is healthy spiritual inflow.

3) Bible study-There are times I believe that we have so overemphasized Bible study that we have made it the “first and greatest commandment”.  Bible study is both driven by and has the goal of loving God. We love God and want to discover more about who He is, how He works and how we are to live through His Spirit. It also has the goal of making us more like Christ, and more pleasing to Him, and as we learn more, falling deeper in love with God. That is the flow of Bible study, more than just learning facts, words and concepts. When we open our Bible we open ourselves to experience an inflow of truth, of righteousness, of conviction, of challenge, of hope and promise.

What inhibits spiritual inflow in Bible study is what I call dry knowledge. I have met many people over the years that are full of Bible knowledge, but very little of Jesus. They have a knowledge of Bible words, can tell you the order of the kings of the Southern Kingdom, but display no fruit of the Spirit. As leaders if we encourage people to study the Bible, we also have to share with them the goal of Bible study. As people we will naturally default to the easiest way to satisfy a standard or goal, left to our own devices, we believe the goal of Bible study is knowledge rather than life change. For many that is what we have set as the bar, “know your Bible”. But knowing our Bible does us little good unless we see and take the next step of allowing truth to flow into our lives and shape our heart into the image of Christ.

4) Fellowship- Spiritual inflow occurs as we live our Christianity out in community.  Many people see their Christianity as private, but it is meant to be anything but private, personal yes, but private no. The Bible is full of references to the corporate nature of our faith. Acts tells us that the church worshiped together, shared together, ate together, and generally supported one another, prayed for one another and ministered to one another. Inflow comes as we allow others to be an important part of our spiritual lives. God has equipped the body with a “diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit” (I Cor 12:4).  These differing gifts are meant to be a blessing to all, a way for each of us to minister to others, and when we allow others to use their gifts to bless us and help us, there is an inflow of the Spirit.

There are no self-sufficient Christians, and the belief that we don’t need others is a sign of pride. The Scriptures tell us that “God resists the proud” (James 4:6), that is another way of saying that there is no spiritual inflow for the proud!  As leaders are we encouraging the practice of fellowship, the use of spiritual gifts or are we promoting only an individualistic form of Christianity where everything is about being blessed, being fulfilled and going to heaven?  Here is another thought that constantly challenges me, as leaders are we modeling the need for others or are we trying to be completely self-sufficient?  Do you ever confess your need for others in the body of Christ?  Do you ever learn from other people in the church? Do you acknowledge the gifts of others?

If we desire our churches to have a great outflow in ministry and outreach, we have to monitor and promote the inflow into the life of the body. I love Jesus’ words in John 7 that speak to flow…

37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing  in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

There is an expectation that believers will have a great outflow, a river of living water pouring out of each believer. The Spirit overflowing and not just spilling out of our life, but flowing, moving like a river. What a beautiful picture of the life-giving Spirit flowing out of us and into others, blessing them with all the awesome things that God can accomplish in their lives. But we have to nurture the inflow, the filling of the Spirit into our lives. I pray for Jesus’ words to be fulfilled in every believer, every person with the Spirit flowing out of their heart, blessing this world with the presence and power of Jesus Christ.

High Achievement on Low Resources- Leading and Working in the Small Church

“If only”… we repeat this phrase many times in our life for many situations. If only we had a little more money, we wouldn’t be struggling so much every month. If only we had a little bigger house, we wouldn’t be so cramped. If only I had a better education, I could get that job. If only…. It is a statement of lack, of not having enough to do all that we would like to do or be all that we would like to be.

Sitting in the small church, this little two word phrase comes to mind often. If only, we had more people, money, land, resources, help, ideas, programs, children, younger couples, faithful givers…

That’s the one thing about small churches they are… small. There are a small number of people to do the work. A small budget to keep the lights on and do ministry. There is usually a small amount of property to work with. There is a small staff.  So, how does all this smallness make a big impact?  How can the small church achieve without big staffs, big money, big buildings or a big number of people?

There are thousands of small churches, for every large church or mega church, there are multiple more thousands of churches that run a hundred or less in worship. The army of small churches is large. The resources that God currently has invested in these churches is enough to expand the Kingdom of God at an amazing rate. Think of it this way for a moment- if revival were to break out in the smaller churches, the Kingdom of God would grow faster and reach farther than if it did in the larger churches. Why? There are more smaller churches. There are more people attending smaller churches. There are more locations of smaller churches (in fact smaller churches reach communities and areas where no larger churches exist).  It is simple math- the potential of the small church is great!  Here it comes though… “if only” they could/would make that kind of impact.

Below are a few key principles to make the most of what you have in the smaller church. If you are a leader, teacher or worker in a smaller church, you can and should believe that God intends to use the resources He has put into your church for great Kingdom impact.  In my previous article, “The Little Church that Could”, we made the case for everyone to believe that the smaller church can be a key part of Kingdom growth.

So, let’s stop dismissing the role of your church, no matter how big or small it may be. Let’s get past the “if only” and work with what God has invested in us. Let’s stop thinking that we have to have more before we can be a useful part of the Kingdom of God… and let’s get to work with what we have at hand and have high achievement in the smaller church.

1) Work to your strengths and on your weaknesses

Several years ago I was sitting in a breakout session at an evangelism conference when the presenter made this analogy that I will paraphrase

“The church is like a physical body, if you want the body to excel you have to shore up its’ weaknesses and take care of its’ deficiencies. You can’t excel if you are sick, you have to spend the money to get well. You can’t excel if you are malnourished, you have to go get some food.”

Now at some levels I would agree with him, but for the small church it begs the questions: where do we get the money to buy the medicine? What person will drive us to the doctor? Who is going to pay for the food?  The church, any church, great or little, mega or small, has weaknesses. There is not a church around who does not look at themselves and see areas that need to be shored up, worked on or changed.

Now in the larger church, this analogy is easy to put into practice. What we lack, we buy, we bring in a specialist, we create a new ministry.  In the smaller church we run into a whole set of problems trying to do this.

This is, I believe, one of the mistakes we make in leading a small church- putting all our time and resources into trying to fix our problems or filling in all of our holes.  When you lead a smaller church, with limited resources, use those resources to work to your strengths, don’t exhaust people’s time and energy trying to fix all that is wrong. In other words, make the most out of what you have. Do the most good with the resources God has placed in your hand. Spending all of your time, resources, energy and effort to try to fix every problem ends up accomplishing little and becomes a vicious cycle because your weaknesses and problems will never end.  Work to your strengths and on your weaknesses.

Take a look at the passage below:

I Corinthians 12   18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.

Right now God has strategically placed people within your body to accomplish His purpose for your church- to fulfill the Great Commission, to be Christ in your community, to minister to the ‘least of these’.  You may think that you are riddled with too many weaknesses to be effective, yet if you believe that Scripture above, God has placed the people you need in your body already. The problem may be that you are looking at the resources at hand to try to do a task that you are currently not called to do or worse, you look at the limited resources at hand and fail to try to do anything with them.

Practically what does this mean?  If you have 50 people in your congregation- you may not be called to do a big event that requires 200 people to run. But if you look at your 50 people and find their strengths, there is a lot you can do with 50 people and the power of the Holy Spirit. Here is where you have to stop looking to copy what someone else is doing and look at your 50 people as 50 of God’s servants He has placed here to do ministry.

Now as you look at your congregation, what are these folks good at?  What is it that they do well?  Maybe your church is really good at building relationships, welcoming new people but not good at confrontational evangelism. Then you need to leverage that strength by putting people in fellowship opportunities. So instead of doing a door-to-door campaign, your going to invite the neighborhood to a cookout or children’s party or a free car wash, where your folks can mingle with the community and serve them. Maybe the men in your church do not attend the men’s breakfast Bible study, but they are very handy. So instead of trying to force them to attend, contact the local council on aging and find some seniors who need handyman projects done and minister to your community.

Anyone can nitpick a congregation apart, but if you are going to lead this group in the small church, find their strengths, find their sweet spot, and use it to your advantage to build the Kingdom. It is why God has them in your church at this time.

2) Be strategic in your organization

This second point follows the first one very closely. Organize your church for ministry, not maintenance. Many smaller congregations have their time and resources drained by poor organization. They are overloaded with committee work and often the same people are on two or three different committees. If we are serious about making the smaller church effective at achieving Kingdom growth, then we have to free up our limited resources for ministry…. and what is the number one resource today- time.

Belt-tightening is often thought of when it comes to working with limited financial resources, but we don’t seem to be as good at tightening up our time resources.  With fewer people to work with, fewer servants on hand, prioritize their time to accomplish Kingdom work first.  So often the smaller church fills “key” positions first- finance committee, deacons, property committee, ushers… yet when it comes to leadership for Kingdom growth, these positions go unfilled. We seem to place a higher degree of importance on maintenance, placing people in areas of service that keep our church going, when we need to free up people’s time for participating in outreach, ministry, compassion and service to the community.

I have talked to many pastors, and have experienced it myself often, who struggle to engage people in ministry. Yet the very people we are looking for to participate in ministry are already on the property committee, taking their turn in the nursery, working in the kitchen… and then we wonder why they don’t come out on a Saturday to work at our children’s outreach event. As leaders, you have to be aware of helping your workers to prioritize their time. You cannot escape the fact that we, by the committees and teams we ask people to work on, tell them what is important. You cannot say Kingdom growth is important to us, when you have filled your workers time with maintenance work.

It is a bold step to change the organizational structure of a church, but if we are serious about achieving impact in the smaller church, the resources we have must be prioritized for the most important things… and keeping the church painted, the carpet cleaned, controlling the budget and a personnel handbook are not the priorities of the church. Would you like to stand before God as a leader and tell Him, “Look, we kept the books tight, the flowers watered, the hymnbooks in the racks, the kitchen stocked, enforced our by-laws….”.  Do we really believe that God would say, “well done good and faithful servant”?  We have to organize to bear the fruit of the Kingdom- making disciples of all nations- and use the resources He has placed in our hands for His purposes.

3) Don’t be afraid to invest what you have

Here is one thought that will free up your view of money in the small church. Stop referring to your budget as what you have “spent”, rather look at your budget as what you are going to invest in the Kingdom of God. Investment implies one thing- return. When I spend, I think of money leaving my account, never to come back. When I invest, I am looking to build on what I have.

In the smaller church where every dollar has to do the work of two dollars, spending is expensive, even small amounts of money can be seen as an issue. But if we look at our resources and see everything we do as investing, then it is not an expense, but growth. For example, your utility bill can be expensive, or we can look at it as an investment to have lights on so people can see their Bible as we study or have the heat on so people will feel comfortable attending. You can look at your literature order as expensive or as an investment in discipling your congregation. That money you need for your outreach project, can be expensive or an investment in seeing people come to know Christ as their Savior.

Whatever amount of money you have, don’t be afraid, with the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to invest it in the Kingdom of God. We can foolishly spend, but investment in the Kingdom of God always provides returns. Listen to what Jesus says to Peter:

Luke 18  28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” 29 ”I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, ”no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come,eternal life.”

If we are stingy with our resources, believing that if we hold on to them we are better stewards, then we are spiritually mistaken. In a worldly sense, you may be right to be tight on spending and keeping what you can in reserve. But in the Kingdom of God, those who sow little into the ground reap little in return…another way of saying that if we don’t invest our resources in the Kingdom of God, we will be ineffective, and achieve little for the Kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 9    6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Galatians 6   9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Be creative when resources are slim, but do not use a lack of resources for an excuse not to do ministry.  With the internet and advances in technology there are a ton of resources that are free or relatively inexpensive that you can use for outreach and ministry.

www.mailchimp.com is a resource you can use for an email campaign to visitors or people in the community, creating html emails that look professional… for free.

www.vistaprint.com you can order business cards, many times for free, to distribute in the community, postcards that you can mail or any number of things, all relatively cheap

www.vflyer.com is a resource I have used to develop great looking flyers that can be emailed or printed for free.

What about staff and people?  Every smaller church would love some more staff help. Did you know that just about every seminary, Bible College or Christian College has students that are looking for experience?  Most of these students that are looking to go into ministry would love to have an opportunity to lead ministry and have something to put on their resume. Internships, and small part-time positions are appealing for these up and coming leaders. Your church an be a part of investing in the future of the Kingdom of God by hiring one of these students as an intern, paying a small stipend and giving them a title to put on their resume for the next position. You get an energetic  and willing leader, they get experience to help grow the Kingdom into the next generation.

Just because there may be fewer resources in the smaller church, does not mean there cannot be a great supernatural impact for the Kingdom of God. Being small is not an excuse nor is it a reason the church is not making progress in growing the Kingdom.  Be wise, and be good stewards of the resources God has placed in the body so that you can achieve what God has designed for you to do.

Do you have the proper mix in your church?

Years ago I was a bartender. My job was to mix drinks, and mix them the right way so that the proper taste and texture of the drink satisfied the customer. Too much sour or too much alcohol could ruin the taste of a drink. Too much ice or too little carbonation in a drink could ruin the texture of a drink. Mixing properly was a key to being a good bartender.

Groups of people are the same way, you have to have the right mix of people in order for the group to “taste” right, to function and work the right way.  In a business this might be the right mix of management to employees and the right balance of experienced employees to new employees. It might be the right mix of personalities. However, dysfunction seems to be the norm in most groups of people. We all have probably seen what happens to a group when there is a clash of personalities,  too many dominant personalities and there is constant conflict, too many passive personalities and nothing gets done, too many detailed oriented people and it gets bogged down in small issues, too many visionaries and everyone daydreams without getting the work done.

The church is no different. It may be a spiritual group, focused around the person of Jesus Christ, but it is still a group of humans growing and developing into the people God desires them to be. It too needs the right “mix” to function properly.  If the church is dysfunctional, the wrong mix of people, then its’ effectiveness will come up short of what God could do with it. People are the instrument that God chooses to work through, and groups of people (that is the church) are the funnel through which God pours His Spirit, His power and His love. Just like with a musical instrument, if it is out of tune, the note that it plays will not sound quite right, so too the church can be out of tune if we don’t pay attention to the right mix in the church.

There have been numerous articles and books written on church health, church growth, church renewal and church revitalization that talk about how the church can become better through programs or emphases, and all of these can be greatly beneficial. I want to take a step back from those and ask a question,  Does your church have the right mix of people to experience church growth or renewal?

I want to take a look at this from several perspectives…

God’s complete mix

1 Cor 12  18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased….  20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

Each person in the church is part of God’s complete mix for the church.  Today in your church, there is a complete mix of people to do what God has called your particular body to do. Often churches are concerned that “we don’t have enough people to do what {insert name of larger church down the street} does”.  No you don’t, but God, at this time, has provided you everyone you need to do what He has called your church to do.

Let me ask a question, how many people do you need to reach people in your community for Christ?  Do you need a church of 200 to reach one person for Christ, no you just need one Christian who will do what God has called them to do.  Remember the parable of the talents, what the master was concerned with was what each servant did with what was given to them. Did they multiply the gift given to them or did they, as the one did, whine and complain about what they had? Is your church happy with who and how many God has given or are we complaining and waiting for the day God will give us more before we begin to do what God has called us to do?  We can’t wait for something or someone else- God has placed the people in church as He pleased… in order to please Him by doing what He has called you to do. That is true in a church of 10 or 1,000 or 10,000.

This Sunday take a look around your church. Take a look at the people sitting in the rows around you. First, thank God for all of them, He has placed them there as He pleased. Second, realize that this is the group, right now, that is expected to carry out God’s design for your church. You can’t wait for more people, nicer people, smarter people, better looking people, older people, younger people… these are the people, however imperfect, however many there are, that God has given to accomplish His purposes at this time.

This is also why you need to be keenly aware of who God adds, or takes away, from your group. He doesn’ t bring people to you unless there is a reason or strategic purpose for who they are and what they can do.

God’s functional mix

1 Cor 12  7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all…  11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

God has chosen a mix for the church to make it function correctly. Each person within the body has a spiritual gift, an enablement from God to do something in the church that will benefit the rest of the church body. You can notice the dysfunction begin to arise when the people in the church begin to focus on benefiting themselves instead of benefiting others. You hear , “I didn’t get much out of that”, “the church doesn’t visit me enough”, “I don’t like the (fill in the blank), so I an not going to (give, serve, come, attend, etc)”.  That is a dysfunctional mix. The people are not just out of place, but their function is not being performed.

Like an engine with many moving parts that needs to work together in symmetry and synergy in order to produce the full power potential of the engine, the church needs all of its’ parts to work to achieve its’ full effectiveness. If you have ever watched a NASCAR race, the engines are extremely powerful, producing a great deal of horsepower and speed, at the same time they are also very fragile, just a small part or small problem and the car cannot compete in the race. One small hose, one piston, one tire, one spring, equals a big problem, the car becomes dysfunctional.  The parts have to work together and they have to work together for the length of the race. The reason the church is not making as large an impact in the community as it could and as it should, is that we have a lot of parts that are not performing their function. We have to challenge the church, as a whole and each person individually, to accept their role, perform their function, so God can work the maximum through us. The world needs no less and God expects no less.

As a church we need to emphasize that when we come to Christ we are not just saved individually, but that we are placed, baptized into, the body of Christ, given a spiritual gift and expected to function as a part of the body of Christ.  To not make this a part of the expectations of each Christian we create selfish Christians who believe that a relationship with Christ is all about them be blessed and all about them going to heaven…. sound familiar?

The Spiritual/Social Mix

This is the one aspect that is missing in many, if not most, of our churches. At a conference I attended, I heard Ed Young, pastor at Fellowship Church in Texas, say that for a church to be truly healthy it needed three groups of people in it.

a) The veteran Christian. The experienced disciple of Christ.

b) The newly converted, the just-recently-came-to-Christ.

c) The “not yet” people, those who are on the outside of the Kingdom.

As I have explored this idea, it makes such perfect Biblical sense. Each of these groups needs the others, and when they function right, God’s great power is shown.

a) The mature Christians need the newly saved to remind them of the joy of their salvation. David even prayed for God to restore to him his God-given joy. One of the reasons many churches feel “dead” is that they have not seen or been visually reminded of new life in a long while. If your church has not baptized people recently, then you can easily begin to lose your joy. The mature also need the newly saved to pour their life into, to share their knowledge, their experiences to help disciple and grow these who have not experienced as much of the Christ-life.

Mature Christians also need the “not yet”. To some that may seem strange, but the existence of the “not yet” people give the mature Christian a purpose for being here, and Paul says (I Cor 14:23-25) that we should expect unbelievers in our midst. To accomplish the task Jesus set forth for us- to disciple the nations. Without a purpose, particularly and outward purpose like this, a group can become selfish, self-centered, focused only on its’ own good, arguing over small things… wait…. does that sound familiar. Too many churches have simply forgotten that we have a purpose greater than ourselves. The church is not our earthly reward for being a Christian, it is a mission vehicle for God to make disciples of the nations.

b) The newly saved need the mature Christians to be their examples of what the Christian life is supposed to be like. (that should be a wake up call for many who have been around the church for many years, but fail to take their lifestyle seriously) Who else do they have to look to in order to understand what Christianity is supposed to be like. When I first came to Christ in my early 20′s, it was the nurturing of a couple of Godly Sunday School teachers that helped cement me in the faith and help me to understand and answer my questions.  Each Christian has a responsiblity to help other believers to grow in their walk.

The newly saved also have the closest contact with the “not yet” group. They are their first line of witness and often it is through these new Christians that some in the “not yet” group first come into contact with the church. The newly saved still have the significant portion of their relationships with those outside the church, and are full of excitement about their faith to reach these closest to them.

c) The “not yet” needs both of the other groups to share the gospel with them. They need to see it, hear it, and in some ways experience it in order to accept it. Those who are Christians need to make room for the “not yets” and give them the time, space, patience and understanding in order for them to come to Christ.  Could it be that the reason some of our churches don’t have this group in them is because we don’t allow them the room to be “not yets”?  Do we pressure them to act like us, think like us, have political views like us, before they even understand what a Christian life looks like?  If we don’t allow room for this group in our midst, how will we ever really win them?  Now don’t misunderstand, the “not yets” are not our church leaders or teachers, but certainly should be fellowshipping with us, bringing their kids to our events, be a part of projects, work days, they can serve food, many things, in our midst… so they can come to see what it is like to be a follower of Christ. Then the church gets to see God do an amazing thing, transform the life of an individual. His power and glory revealed in a life changed.

So, thinking about the mix of your church– do you have the right mix?  Are you out of balance somewhere?  Is your church not experiencing the full joy and power of God because your mix is dysfunctional in some way?

God has a design, a mix, for the church. It meant to be a mix that functions well, mixes well and ultimately brings him honor.  Check out your church this Sunday, are you mixing like God intends?