This week’s blog posts will be highlighting Reckless Faith. Check out part 1 of a 3 part TV program produced by “My New Day” TV, in Canada. Reckless Faith Part 1
Organic Outreach Encouragement…For the Middle of the Week: Point People to Other Churches
I received an email this past week from a friend who happens to be the Lead Pastor of a great church just one city away from where I pastor. He wanted me to know that a wonderful couple from his church was now attending the church where I pastor. He was not bitter. He just wanted me to reach out to them and make sure they feel welcome and get connected. He wanted to be sure they were part of a Bible believing, outreach oriented local church…and he did not care if it was the church where he was pastor.
After Sunday services this past weekend a young woman came up to me to talk and pray. She was struggling because she had spent a good deal of time in Europe this last year and had grown to love the liturgy, hymns, and a more traditional style of worship. She told me she missed it because she really connected with God during her time in Europe and her experiences in some traditional worship settings.
Our church is quite contemporary in style. So, I told her about Carmel Presbyterian Church. I assured her that she would find traditional worship, sing hymns, and that I was confident the people there would be welcoming and embrace her. I also told her that the two pastors are friends of mine and I truly respect them. The church is biblical and they have a deep love for the lost in their community. I said, “I want to encourage you to go visit there.” She looked a bit surprised and a little hurt. I went on to say, “I love having you as part of Shoreline Church. I am not trying to drive you away. But, I want you to be where you can really connect with God. I encourage you to explore this other great church.” She smiled and I prayed with her…for God’s leading in her life and walk with Jesus.
Simple truth…not every church is for everyone. And, not every church fits the same people through their whole journey of faith. If someone does not fit at your church, if they are longing for a very different worship experience, if they can’t find a place to connect, it is OK to refer them to another biblical and loving church community. The family of God is much bigger than any one church or denomination. Don’t be shy to point people to other churches.
Draw Near to God…Thoughts for a Monday Morning: Meeting God in Grief and Loss
Very dear friends received a late night phone call that no one wants to get. It was a call that has changed the course of their lives. “Your son was in a fatal crash, he is gone.”
I have been a pastor and follower of Jesus long enough to know that there are not any easy answers. There are no quick platitudes or words that make everything better in moments like these.
In the middle of deep grief and blinding loss, the only real comfort is in the arms and truth of the Living God. Over the past few days I have watched these friends, and their family, fall into the arms of Jesus. They have cried a lifetime of tears. They have comforted each other. They have been surrounded by God’s family…the Church. They are grieving, yet have hope and absolute confidence that they will see Nick again. Nick was a follower of Jesus. He placed his trust and life in the hands of the Savior. He is with Jesus and one day they will see their son, brothers, nephew again.
Tomorrow I will stand at a grave with the family and share a time of committal. I will read a passage from 1 Thessalonians. But first, I will talk about an inscription that has been found in the ancient city of Thessalonica. Back in the days of the apostle Paul and the early church there was a pagan saying. The inscription reads:
“After death no reviving; After the grave, no meeting again.”
The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote these words to the church in that very same ancient city. Notice the powerful contrast to the pagan attitude about death.
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
In this life we will have grief and loss, but we can meet God in these moments. When this life ends, all grief, loss, and tears will be banished, and those who have placed their faith in Jesus will be with Him forever.
Don’t listen to and fixate on the hopeless inscriptions of our culture. Listen to the Word of God and hold onto the hope He alone can offer.
Leadership Challenge…Heading Into the Weekend: Order with Innovation
Ministries, Christian businesses, and Non-Profit organizations can function in many ways. I have come up with three terms I use to describe where an organization is in its evolution. I have a graph I use to help make sense of these three seasons. It sets them up in three columns: Chaotic, Chaordic, and Order with Innovation (If you look at this document you will notice that it is focused on a local church concept because we used this sheet and the concepts in it to help us in our move from being a column two church to a column three church). This blog is a brief discussion of a more complex topic. You can lean more by looking at the graph. It is available under free resources at kevingharney.com.
Here are the three concepts:
Chaotic– When a Christian organization or church starts, there is a high level of chaos. This is part of the deal. Anything goes. There is often last minute planning. It is opportunistic to the core… you tend to grab what comes along. You make it happen as you go, fly by the seat of your pants, and have fun doing it!
Leaders in this season tend to love change. Enjoy surprises. Thrive on the energy of the last minute push. And they love to create on the spot and “wing it.”
One of the challenges in this season is that there is a high burn out rate and turnover of staff and volunteers due to the intensity of the season.
Chaordic– When a church or Christian organization is in this season, there is continued creativity and opportunistic approach. At the same time leaders are seeing that this approach is not a sustainable model. Leaders begin learning to plan, organize, and prepare…but it is hard. There is desire to hold to the free flowing way things have been done, but some structure and order is essential.
This is a time of transition. Entrepreneurial leaders can struggle in this transition time. There is creativity but leaders understand that structure will further the mission. Some leaders can stay with an organization during this shift but some can’t handle the growing structure and needed procedures. Others find themselves fighting the structure and even trying to dismantle it.
Order with Innovation–
This is a time of great creativity, but it is done in teams, with input, over time and not in a frenzied crunch. Planning, forecasting, team building, and structure begin to grow and they are blessed and encouraged by leaders in the organization.
In this time leaders are creative and innovative, but also value direction, planning, communication, and collaboration. Leaders who thrive in this time are team builders, they understand the need for procedures and policies, and consistent creativity within a vision driven system. It is rare to have an entrepreneurial starter lead well through column one, two, and into three. This is where some churches and organizations get stuck because the founding leader fights the very structures and processes that are needed to move forward.
I believe that an organization that has healthy order with consistent creative innovation can make huge kingdom strides forward. Look over the diagram on my website and reflect on this. Where is your church or organization in this process?
Organic Outreach Encouragement…For the Middle of the Week: It Comes Down to Jesus
I knew I would see poverty while in El Salvador and Honduras, but I learned something about the breadth of poverty. I was invited into one-room shacks with no running water, no electricity, and no toilet. I saw people who live with nothing and have no anticipation of their economic condition changing. I looked into the eyes of parents who can’t feed their own children yet love them as much as I love my sons. I knew I would encounter this kind of poverty and I was still deeply moved.
What I had not prepared for was the other kinds of poverty. There is a poverty of hope and spirit that comes when 50-60% of the people are unemployed and see no real sign of the situation changing. There is a poverty of encouragement that crushes little children who never hear their father or mother tell them they are beautiful, handsome, or have a future. There is a poverty of spiritual food in places where gangs rule, drugs are prevalent, armed guards stand at the doors of stores and hotels. In these places, demonic darkness hangs in the air so thick you can feel and taste it. There are many kinds of poverty and they all have one thing in common. The only hope to overcome any of them is Jesus.
I am more convinced than ever that this world needs Jesus Christ. When His people, the Church, mobilize in His power and Name, children will be fed, the gospel will be preached, the hopeless will see light, strongholds will fall, social structures will be transformed, and the presence of Jesus will be so radiant that the darkest of places will begin to shine.
This is not some silly and immature dream, but a reality that is already happening. I believe, in deeper ways than ever before, that the gospel, the person of Jesus, and His people being the church in the world is the one and only hope for true and lasting transformation.
I have seen three reminders of this reality in the past weeks. I hope you look at these ministries and learn from what God is doing.
Compassion International (http://www.compassion.com/ )
Community Transformation Honduras (http://cthonduras.wordpress.com/ )
Community Outreach at Shoreline Church (http://www.shorelinechurch.org/ministries/outreach/community-outreach/ )
Draw Near to God… What Does Worship Look Like
I write this blog on a plane flying from San Salvador to San Francisco. No connecting flights. One plane ride and a handful of hours will take me from one world to a radically different one.
Over the past days I have prayed with dear brothers and sisters in Christ in some of the poorest homes in El Salvador, I have danced with children in a humble church in the city of La Libertad (a gang ridden community with over 50% unemployment), I preached (with an interpreter) in village church to people in the remote community of Las Brisas, Honduras, and I sang with a community of passionate believers in an area with 75% illiteracy.
I have learned fresh new things about worship in my travels. Sounds systems, lights, and projection are helpful and valuable, but certainly not essential. Voices lifted in praise to Jesus, in any language, are beautiful. Economic poverty does not mean spiritual poverty. Jesus is present in many expressions of worship including children dancing, pastors singing in the middle of the sermon, teens presenting a drama about King David’s kindness to a family member of his friend Jonathan, guitars played that are not in perfect tune, voices of many praying out load at the same time, and the Word of God preached with passion.
Worship transcends language and binds or hearts together. If we want to increase unity among God’s people, from many traditions, places, and languages, we need to humbly enter their world and join in. I am not really a dancer and the church services I lead and attend don’t normally include dancing (and never with me in the mix). This past week I had two times that a little boy or girl ran over to me during a worship service, took my hand, and invited me out of my chair to join them in dancing during the worship songs.
What was I to do? Refuse these passionate and excited little brothers and sisters? I could not. So, I joined them and I danced for Jesus. I danced with family members I had never met before. I worshiped in fresh new ways.
If you get a chance to try something new in worship, I encourage you to give it a try.