Have you ever done any renovation? I remember a friend of mine who was good at renovating--sometimes too good. He and his wife bought an old house in Catonsville and began to renovate it. He was the kind of guy that would go into a job with a sledgehammer, smashing all the old stuff, making way for the new. Sometimes, he would hit the wrong thing, like a pipe or something and say like, Steve Erkle, "Did I do that?"
Some people don't like to renovate. Slumlords don't like to renovate. They normally hate spending their money; so instead of a makeover, they cover over; instead of fixing it up, they dress it up. I've been in some of these properties where the walls have several layers of paint with different colors, or the plumbing and electricity has been patched instead of repaired and it makes you wonder how they get away with it.
Over the last few weeks we have been focusing on how we might renovate our church. No, I'm not talking about sanding and painting or fixing the plumbing or electricity, but reconstructing the ministry of our church in such a way that God's focus becomes our focus, and God's priorities become ours.
I'm not talking about doing patch work here or banging a nail there to keep things looking pretty and appearing like they're ok, we've been discussing some major renovation--like removing walls and installing new fixtures.
The way we've approached ministry in the past reminds me of a Popeye the Sailor cartoon.
Olive Oyl is in a boat and the boat begins to leak. She plugs up the hole with something and then the boat starts to leak in another place. She plugs the new hole with her finger. Another leak begins, she plugs that hole with another finger. Water shoots up from another place and then another and by this time she has run out of fingers and toes and the boat sinks.
Over the past couple of years some of us have felt like we were on a sinking boat. Every time there is a need it has been like another leak spraying in our faces. You already have a couple of leaks plugged and then Pastor Chuck or someone else in the church has the nerve to ask you to plug another.
Let me paraphrase a verse in the Bible, "God will not give you more leaks than you can bear" (1 Corinthians 10:13). I believe that when God sends Christians to become members of a church, He does so that they might help to plug the leaks, fix the boat and help keep it in good working order. God won’t send our church more leaks than we have the people to plug them.
I believe that Scripture teaches that there is a leak that only your finger can plug successfully. I may try to plug it or someone else may try to stop your leak, but your hole only fits your finger and it's still going to leak unless you plug it.
The trouble is that when I try to stop your leak I may have to pull my finger out of one of my own leaks to plug yours. This is Scriptural, because the Bible says, "The strong must bear the infirmities of the weak," (Romans 15:1) however, Paul is speaking of assisting weak brothers or sisters, not filling in for dead-beat Christians who have abandoned their commitment.
The needs of the body of Christ are abundant but God has taken care of that by strategically positioning the members in the body in order to meet the needs. This is what the apostle Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 12:20-27
(1 Cor 12:20 NIV) As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
(1 Cor 12:21 NIV) The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"
(1 Cor 12:22 NIV) On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
(1 Cor 12:23 NIV) and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
(1 Cor 12:24 NIV) while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
(1 Cor 12:25 NIV) so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
(1 Cor 12:26 NIV) If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
(1 Cor 12:27 NIV) Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Everyone is necessary in the body of Christ and in the local assembly. As we seek to renovate ministry we must do it differently than it has been done in the past. Our boat has been sinking because we are running out of fingers. This isn't God's fault. We can't blame Him for failing to supply the people to help out; He has promised to do that and He has been faithful.
Our boat has been sinking because people don't recognize their responsibility to serve in the local church or they just refuse to.
As your leader I am to blame for much of this ignorance of the game plan and the unwillingness of some to serve in our church. For many of you, I have failed to communicate the playing rules before you made a commitment to membership at this church. On the other hand, most of you never asked.
Who was it that said, "What we have here is a failure to communicate"?
What if you were hired to work at a hospital and arrived on your first day of work and were told that you had your choice of cleaning the windows on the 18th floor or working in the hospital morgue. When you complained to your supervisor, he would tell you that you never asked what you would be doing, you were just so excited that you got a job.
This has been the way it is for some of you--I never told you what would be expected of you, and you never asked.
As we begin to renovate our church, this is going to change. The Bible teaches that everyone who claims to be a Christian should be doing some ministry as a member of the local church towards the overall goal of reaching the lost for Christ.
If I've never said this before, let me say it now: If you are here as a member or thinking about membership but don't want to contribute towards our goal of reaching the lost for Christ, New Vision is not the place for you. There are plenty of good Bible-teaching churches in this area that we can recommend to you. If all you want to do is attend services and not serve and minister, you're going to feel uncomfortable at this church.
The goal of renovation is to develop a healthy church.
Having a daughter who has cerebral palsy, I have had many occasions to observe other people like her who have been stricken at one time or another in their life with an illness that has seriously impacted their health and well-being.
Normally, when a child is inflicted with polio or multiple sclerosis or some other kind of affliction, the condition can hinder his or her growth and development emotionally, physically and even spiritually.
When it comes to the church, church growth is naturally related to church health. Healthy churches, like healthy people, must grow.
In his book, The Purpose Driven Church, Pastor Rick Warren says that if our church is healthy, attendance will be the least of our problems. He writes that "Healthy, lasting church growth is multidimensional. His definition of church growth has five facets.
Every church needs to grow:
* larger through evangelism
* deeper through discipleship
* warmer through fellowship
* broader through ministry
* stronger through worship
Many churches don't grow because they place more of an emphasis on any one of these areas to the neglect of the others.
For most of our existence one of our strong points was fellowship. A comment that was heard most during our telephone survey was that when people walked through our doors, they sensed the warmth and love of Christ. But the reason why many people don't come and if they come they don't stay is because we are lacking in the other dimensions of church growth.
Over the next few weeks we are going to look at each one of these dimensions with more detail.
Today we will be looking at the dimension of church growth that says, Churches grow larger through evangelism.
Churches grow larger through evangelism.
I've had some people tell me that they don’t like large churches because they can be so impersonal. What they are really saying is that they desire the warmth and intimate fellowship that a small group of Christians can provide. Did you know that this kind of fellowship is possible even among a group of Christians numbering in the thousands?
(Acts 2:41 NIV) Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Peter had just finished preaching and souls got saved.
(Acts 2:42 NIV) They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
(Acts 2:43 NIV) Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
(Acts 2:44 NIV) All the believers were together and had everything in common.
(Acts 2:45 NIV) Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
(Acts 2:46 NIV) Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
(Acts 2:47 NIV) praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Can’t you sense the warmth and closeness even among a group numbering in the thousands? How was this possible? We will discover the answer to this question in weeks to come.
Not too long after that Peter preached again and the number of believers increased. Acts 4:4 tells us that the number of men alone grew to be about five thousand. So the rule of thumb is that churches grow larger through evangelism.
Have you ever seen the car commercials that always end saying, "Wider is better"? Well, when it comes to evangelism, Bigger is Better. Before you disagree, let me explain.
The Bible glows with optimism when it speaks of numbers with reference to the ministry of Jesus and the church.
In the Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, there was always this large group of people that were following Jesus around. Though not every person was following Jesus for the same reason, they were following Him nevertheless. Some wanted to hang on to the hem of His garment and others, well, you mostly saw them checking things out from a distance.
These people were what the Bible refers to as the crowd. The KJV Bible uses the word multitudes (Mat. 4:25; 5:1; 8:1, 18; 9:9, 35; Acts 5:14; 8:6; 13:45; 14:13).
Bigger is Better for Evangelism:
When it comes to evangelism, a crowd is good. Many of the people in the crowd eventually became part of the church.
We hear a lot of negative things when it comes to a crowd, but when it comes to evangelism, a crowd is like a field of ripe corn, that’s ready to pick.
Several years ago I used to do what is called, Marketplace Evangelism. I used to go down to the Inner Harbor with a brother in the Lord. When I got there, I would set up my easel and begin to paint a picture. When I was about half done I would turn around to speak to the crowd that had formed out of curiosity. While I was drawing, I would actually pace myself while waiting for a good amount of people to stop to see what I was doing.
What I noticed was that a crowd could actually draw a crowd. This happens at the supermarket. When two or three people are excitedly going through the meat section, pretty soon one person comes over and then another. Soon a small crowd has formed.
This phenomena happened recently when Debbie and I were in Washington D.C. attending a conference. After the conference we went into China Town looking for a place to eat. There was a man waving everyone into his restaurant and in essence saying, “Hey! Come check us out!” In front of us were about three couples who decided to take the man up on his offer. We were right behind them. All of a sudden a long line grew behind us and there was a crowd forming. Out of all the restaurants on that strip where one could eat, a crowd was forming at this one.
Someone has said, "Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar how to find bread." Evangelism in the Bible was being accomplished as Jesus' disciples were telling their family and friends to "Come and see!" It was also being realized as people who had been healed and forgiven by Jesus were saying to their friends, "Come and see for yourselves the man who healed me!" (John 4)
There were crowds in those days because so many people were saying "come and see" and there could be a crowd at New Vision if we who have been healed and we who have been forgiven would only say "Come and see." Like that man who worked at the Chinese restaurant, we need to compel men, women, boys and girls to “come on in and check out the Christian life!”
The bigger the crowd, the more people we have to share Jesus with. Bigger is better for evangelism!
Bigger is Better For Praise and Worship
In 1997 Pastor Robert Anderson from Colonial came over to speak at our anniversary celebration. Many of the members of his church came out to support him that evening. During the time of worship, we sang some of the same songs that are part of our Sunday lineup, and used the same CD background music, but somehow our worship experience was so much better. Normally we have about 40 or 50 people singing together but on that evening we had about 200 in worship.
If you have ever been to a Billy Graham crusade or Family Life Conference, there is nothing sweeter than singing the praises of our Lord Jesus along with thousands of other Christians.
It is interesting that the Bible highlights this kind of singing as one of the pleasurable things that Christians have to look forward to in heaven.
(Rev 5:13 NIV) Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"
Bigger is Better For Ministry
Cleanup - Just ask Mike and Floyd. I’ve been in the church working when Mike or Floyd comes in for their scheduled day to clean. I know they get joy from serving you and the Lord in this way but it is hard work for one person to clean the entire church facility. Now compare what I just described to one of our "Church Cleanup” days when everyone comes out and works together—ministry becomes exciting then. Bigger is better when it comes to ministry!
This reminds me of what Jesus said in Luke chapter ten, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Obviously, bigger is better for ministry and evangelism. The more Christians you have in your church, the more you can send into His harvest field.
Bigger is Better For Prayer
Many people quote from Matthew 18, where Jesus says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them."
What is Jesus saying?
Is He saying that He is only in the midst when there are only two or three people gathered together in His name?
Is He saying that when one person is praying that He is not there or if a fourth person comes along and joins the three that are already assembled, He has to leave from their midst?
People often quote Matthew 18:20 outside of its context and come away with a faulty interpretation. The context of Matthew 18 is church discipline and the "two or three" that Jesus is referring to, is not an arbitrary number of people coming together for a prayer meeting.
The "two or three" refers to the two or three witnesses that have just confronted a sinning brother or sister (vs. 16) who refuses to repent (vs. 17). Jesus takes sin seriously and is saying here that when you and I confront a sinning brother or sister, He is right there in our midst, giving it His personal attention (20).
If God answers the prayer of one of His children who prays according to His will, imagine what would happen if an entire assembly prayed with pure hearts and on one accord:
(Acts 4:31 NKJV) And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
While Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Law from God, one of the things that God told him was that there would be fruit as a result of their obedience. One of the God promised to Israel was found in Leviticus chapter 26:
(Lev 26:7 NKJV) You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
(Lev 26:8 NKJV) Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
When one of my children comes to me and wants to do something I may or may not respond but when they all gang up on me it certainly gets my attention.
God certainly hears the prayer of any one of His children but there is something special that happens when a group of His children come together on one accord with a petition.
(Acts 1:12 NIV) Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city.
(Acts 1:13 NIV) When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
(Acts 1:14 NIV) They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
(Acts 1:15 NIV) In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)
Later, they were most likely in this same room when something strange happened:
(Acts 2:1 NIV) When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
(Acts 2:2 NIV) Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
(Acts 2:3 NIV) They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
(Acts 2:4 NIV) All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (languages) as the Spirit enabled them.
I believe that it was because this group of Christians were on one accord that the Lord responded in a big way. It wasn’t necessarily the size of the group that caused this, it was the size of their faith and unity. Bigger is better.
How do you grow a crowd?
Jesus wasn’t preoccupied with trying to draw a crowd. He was preoccupied with doing the Father’s will. What was the Father’s will for Jesus? The answer can be found in Luke chapter four:
(Luke 4:14 NIV) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
(Luke 4:15 NIV) He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
(Luke 4:16 NIV) He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
(Luke 4:17 NIV) The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
(Luke 4:18 NIV) "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
(Luke 4:19 NIV) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
(Luke 4:20 NIV) Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
(Luke 4:21 NIV) and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Do you know that Jesus said to His disciples before He went back to be with His Father, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21)
Let me tell you that if we are about our Father’s business of:
Preaching the Good News to the poor,
Proclaiming freedom to those who are bound in sin,
Recovering the sight for those who are spiritually blind, and
Releasing the oppressed the destructive effects of the world, the flesh and the devil,
we will not have a problem with attendance.
Our mission for the next several weeks is to evaluate our overall effectiveness in reaching the lost for Christ. Are we preaching the Good News to the poor, proclaiming freedom to those who are bound in sin,
recovering the sight for those who are spiritually blind, and releasing the oppressed the destructive effects of the world, the flesh and the devil?
If we do these things, I don’t think that we’ll have a problem attracting a crowd. Our problem will be keeping them here long enough for them to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and work through this good news towards a decision.
Rick Warren says one of the challenges of the local church is to move people from the crowd, to the congregation, and from the congregation, to the committed. If we are going to be successful in moving people from the crowd, to the congregation, and from the congregation, to the committed there are five things that we are going to have to change.
We are going to have to change our spirit.
Many of us have a spirit of pride that says, “I’m saved and that’s good enough for me.” We are going to have to develop a burden for the lost and a passion to reach them for Christ. We are going to have to get rid of the “I’ve got mine, now you get yours spirit.”
We are going to have to adjust our social life
Jesus adjusted his social life so that He might spend more time with those who were bound in sin and oppressed by the world, the flesh and the devil. He had dinner with them and attended their social gatherings. He was so good at doing this that His enemies said of Him, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners.” (Luke 7:34)
If we are going to attract a crowd, we are going to have to spend time with people who know not Christ. We are going to have to establish common ground and gain their trust. We are going to adjust our social life in order to earn the privilege to share Christ with them.
We are going to have to change our schedules.
Adjusting our social life will mean changing our schedules. Changing our schedules may call for us to sacrifice our time, treasures and talents for the sake of the Gospel. It means sacrificing a momentary pleasure in this life for an eternal reward in heaven.
(Mat 16:24 NIV) Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(Mat 16:25 NIV) For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
The Apostle Paul says that it is the wise person who takes care to make the most of every opportunity to do the Lord’s will.
(Eph 5:15 NIV) Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise,
(Eph 5:16 NIV) making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
(Eph 5:17 NIV) Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
We are going to have to change our service.
If you have ever visited a Chinese or Korean church and sat in on their worship service you would feel similar to how an unbeliever feels when he attends most worship services—he or she doesn’t understand a thing that is going on.
(1 Cor 14:23 NIV) So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
(1 Cor 14:24 NIV) But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all,
(1 Cor 14:25 NIV) and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”
In many churches the services are too long, the words of the song are hard to understand, the kind of music puts him to sleep and most of the members don’t speak his language, if they even take the time to talk to him.
Paul was concerned about this problem in the church and told the church in Corinth:
(1 Cor 9:22 NIV) To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
(1 Cor 9:23 NIV) I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
In order to reach the Jew, Paul told the Gentile believers not to serve ham or other meats purchased in a Gentile supermarket (Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 10) when you invite a Jewish person over to dinner. Paul encouraged Timothy to get circumcised so as not to offend the people he was trying to reach (Acts 16:1-3)
We are going to have to be selective.
Before you turn me off let me explain what I just said. When Jesus began His earthly ministry He was selective. In Matthew 15:24, Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
Although His ministry was primarily to the Jews, He never turned anyone who wanted to be helped.
The Apostle Peter’s ministry was primarily to the Jews and Paul was a missionary to the non-Jew or Gentile.
Did you know that we are already being selective but don’t realize it?
We only have tracts written in the English language in our tract rack. Some could accuse us of discriminating against non-English-speaking people.
Our Agape Dinner menu on many occasions has had ham and other cuts of meat from the pig. The Muslim and Jew would certainly be offended by it.
When we evangelize, we have restricted our efforts to the community surrounding our church.
We don’t have someone in our congregation that signs—this becomes a barrier for the deaf person.
We choose to sing mostly praise and worship songs and not too many hymns or chants.
Being selective doesn’t mean there is only one kind of person that we want in our church. It means that we are targeting the kind of person that we would be most effective at reaching, considering our strengths, weaknesses, culture, geographical area, worship style, and other characteristics.
When missionaries go into a foreign country, part of their strategy is to train a national, that is, a person who was raised in that culture. They have found that people more easily identify with someone like themselves and will listen to someone with whom they have a common bond.
When you watch a commercial and it appeals to you it is not by accident. Companies spend millions of dollars doing research on how to best catch the consumer. There are some products that they would sell on the west coast but wouldn’t dare sell on the east coast.
Some commercials are shown during a football game and other commercials are shown during the Saturday morning cartoon timeslot.
Haven’t you noticed how the McDonald’s commercials shown during a show with Afro-American movie stars feature Afro-American actors and actresses. Why? Because the viewing audience is predominantly Afro-American while that show is airing.
Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, ” Jesus said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Fishermen don’t just throw their lines in the water and expect the fish to bite. They have to bait the line with the kind of bait that will attract the kind of fish they are hoping to catch.
As fishers of men we are to do the same thing. I believe that in God’s Word He gives us permission to use any method to catch our “fish” as long as we don’t compromise or violate the message. It takes skill to catch fish and it also takes skill to be a fisher of men.
One of the tasks that we will complete during our focus sessions is to select or decide who our target will be.
If we are going to draw a crowd:
* We are going to have to change our spirit.
* We are going to have to adjust our social life
* We are going to have to change our schedules.
* We are going to have to change our service.
* We are going to have to be selective.
That was number one on the list of the Five Dimensions of Church Growth
Every church needs to grow:
* Larger through evangelism
* Deeper through discipleship
* Warmer through fellowship
* Broader through ministry
* Stronger through worship
