The Foundation of a Healthy Church

As you many of you know, I am the Lead Pastor at a church in Richmond, VA. Dayton Birt of Redemption Ministries contacted me when he knew that I was going to be transitioning. There was a church in the conference that was once very predominant, but over the past several years has declined rapidly.

My wife, Dianna, and I found a group of people who wanted to touch their community with the Gospel. They had raised the white flag. I am not speaking of surrendering to Jesus (which they have done), but rather they had surrendered their past traditions, failures and successes. We feel that there is a great group of core people left to see this church "thrive" in their community.

During this revitalization project we have renamed the church to Thrive Church. We have retooled our Core Values and mission. Right now on Wednesdays we are looking at what a "healthy church" is made up of. Our goal is not to grow as fast as possible, but to become a healthy core that can grow healthy with God's timing. Unhealthy people need a healthy environment to flourish in. They will either want to become healthy, or leave.

Last Wednesday I introduced the core team at Thrive Church to the 10 Commandments of a healthy church. Dr. Sam Chand said this, "What is more important than strategy or vision? Your culture." The culture of an organization must be inspiring and encouraging, yet it must also have accountability. These 10 commandments are just guidelines to help us to remember what creates an inspiring and desirable culture.

The 10 Commandments of a Healthy Church:

          1. Thou Shall Worship God and not a Ministry Style or Tradition (past, present or future).

          2. Thou Shall Not Gossip about Others and Spread your “Opinions” to Other people about them.

          3. Thou Shall _____________________________. (Let this be open) 

          4. Thou Shall not Desire Positions but rather just be People of Production.

          5. Thou Shall not Run People off from the Church by being Mean to Them.

          6. Thou Shall be Willing to be Flexible to Find the Best Way for the Health and Growth of the Church and its People. (Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape)

          7. Thou Shall Embrace Other Races and Cultures. (racism and prejudice are  condemned by God and a mark of an immature disciple or worse, an unbeliever)

          8. Thou Shall not GET OFFENDED or STAY OFFENDED, but will act like mature adults when conflict arises. 

          9. Thou Shall work with others in a team ministry format to see the 8 systems come to pass. (speaking of Nelson Searcy's 8 Systems)

          10. Thou Shall be Generous with Lavishing Love on Others, Serving and Financial Giving.

I know there are HUNDREDS of these we could come up. These are just 10 that go along with a healthy church. You can use these with your leaders or come up with your own for your church, business or even your family.

All these commandments represent are "non-negotiables" that we must attend to.
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www.ThriveChurch.ME Chesterfield, VA

Potential Over Problems

I was recently sharing with our congregation from the Book of Acts Chapter 3. This is a powerful account of Peter and John healing a man who was lame. This man sat by the temple gate everyday begging for money. This man had an apparent problem. The religious people of that day recognized his problem and had figured that he would ALWAYS be like that. Peter and John saw a man, by the power of Jesus, that would be able to walk.

The key is that one group saw potential in this man while another saw problems.

If you are going to start a movement and see God move in the lives of people you have to be able to see potential in people. People will show up with very apparent problems. As a leader you have to see potential in them.

Peter and John saw potential. They also prayed for him. Finally, they helped the man to his feet.

To bring people to potential we have to be reminded of these principles:
1. Look at the potential.
-Don't gossip and talk about what they are, but talk about who they are in Christ and the plans he has for them.
2. Pray for their issues to be healed.
-They recognized and affirmed that he had an issue. Instead of talking about it, they spoke to him directly about it. Many times we dance around people's issues because we have turned the church into a popularity contest. I was once at a church where one of the main deacons would curse his employees out consistently. I don't believe that God sees that as cool to do to people. But, no one has ever sidelined that guy.
Pray for them and speak to their issue to bring wholeness. Learn to speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love brings them to maturity.
3. Help them get to the place they need to be.
-Finally Peter and John helped the man up by his right hand. They helped him. We cannot just see potential and pray, but we must get involved with them.

This blog is key to me because when I got saved I was delivered from drugs and alcohol. I needed people to walk with me, pray with me and see more in me than I could see. I had a local church that did that. I am here today because of that.www.thrivechurch.me

Leading by Fear of Loss

But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin. (2 Kings 10:31 NKJV)
---He set up golden calves so the people would not go to Jerusalem to worship God because he was scared to "lose" those people.---

As I am journaling through the Bible, I continue to find great examples of bad leadership. I researched the passage above to find out, "What was Jeroboam's sin?" I tried to over-spiritualize it at first, but really it came down to competition of keeping the people in his kingdom versus going to his brother's kingdom. So, he set up some golden calves.

I am not sure if I have blogged on this before, but it gripped my heart this morning. Many leaders are so scared that people will leave them that they begin to lead by fear and insecurity. I have seen this first hand. If you are under this tyranny, it can be very hurtful.

In 2004, I felt God leading me to go be the youth pastor at another church. Our church plant merged with another church and they did not have "room" for me. I prayed, fasted and sought God. My wife and I felt God's leading. When I went to visit my pastor, I did not get what I expected. I asked for prayer, counsel and blessing. He brought his prophetess in to give me a "word." They said I was leaving for money and control. That was awesome because I was a college student and the church could not pay me very much. He went on to trash that church and promise me I was making a big mistake leaving him. He also stated that a prophet just spoke at his church and told the congregation that anyone who leaves will be cursed. Long story short: best move I ever made; their church shut the doors and by the grace of God we have a cordial relationship today.

I shared that story for this reason; Don't let fear of people leaving inspire you to heighten your level of insecurity and scare tactics. Don't trash them. Bless them and love them. Create an environment where people can seek God and make their own decisions.

One final thing.... Don't play "God told me to tell you" tricks. Let people follow God and if it's wrong, He is big enough to speak to them. You can disagree with someone and still walk with them through their decision.

Don't walk in the "sin of Jeroboam."

Building Takes Time

And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it. (1 Kings 6:38 NKJV)

We live in a society that is addicted to convenience. Honestly, I love it too. We have our smart phones that do everything. There is no more need for TV guides, looking in the newspaper for movie times, watching the local weather or home phones. We have it all. Quick, easy and convenient.

The sad thing is that we have tried to convey this to starting movements. We all pack up in a car and go to the big church that found the secret to doing it faster, quicker and apparently, convenient. We read books, go to conferences and attend webinars looking for the faster way.

The passage above gives us insight into Solomon's building of the temple. It states that it took him 7 years in all. From the moment he was called to start it, it took 7 years. It took time.

Jesus called the disciples in Matthew 3, but did not commission them until Matthew 28. Time.

To build anything significant will take time. Time is the one element that everyone underestimates. I have said it before and will say it again: It's going to take more time than you anticipated and will be harder than you imagined.

Building takes time.

Success Can Be Your Greatest Enemy

But Peter lifted him up, saying, Stand up; I myself am also a man. (Acts 10:26 NKJV)

Success can be the greatest enemy to some of us. Success means the accomplishing of goals and the achievement of a fulfilled plan, but the goals achieved may be really bad for you.

Success and prominence can awaken a part of us that is dangerous. We all want to be admired. We all want to be known and heard. We all have a need to be needed. This can be dangerous if we have not been broken before the Lord. If we have not been broken before God then we will desire more and more success for the sake of success.

Peter faced a huge dilemma in the passage above. He had just touched success. He was at a place of fame. In that place he deferred back to God. This is much more than saying, "No, it was all God, not me." He deferred the fame and stardom that was being attributed to him.

We live in a personality driven generation. Spiritual leaders have to learn that God has to break us so we don't hunger for success but rather to have a life that makes a true difference.

How do we do this? There are no answers. You have to search your own heart.

1. Why do you want to be heard and known?
2. Do you always feel you are not appreciated enough?
3. Does the dream of success drive you or the desire for true impact?
4. Does more and bigger mean better to you?

Cart Before the Horse- Missional

You have all heard, "Don't put the cart before the horse." The idea is that we can get key priorities mixed up that will prevent the forward motion that was originally intended.

In the Gospels we find a very significant principle. Before Jesus released the disciples into ministry, He called them to "be with Him."

I am part of, excited for and a proponent of the Missional movement. It is a great thing God is doing in our midst. Everyone is called to a ministry. Everyone is called to serve. Everyone is called to "live sent." I believe all this, but the Missional movement cannot START with these statements and sermons.

Why? Jesus did not start with these statements.

Before he called his disciples to go, he called them to simply "be with Him."

The Missional movement has to flow from a heart that is saturated and motivated by an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. People have to be encouraged to activate a living, vibrant relationship with Jesus FIRST. If we get this part right, then people will sense the prompting of the Spirit of God. They will be energized. Their ministry in the market place will not flow from a self-energized strategy, but rather it will be energized from heaven. Love will motivate their action instead if a sense of duty.

The key is not to teach people FIRST to serve more, do more and become Missional. The key is to teach them to be with Jesus intimately and personally. If this happens, we will see a people who possess the heart of God that burns for those don't know Christ.
If we bypass this foundational teaching of "being with Him," then we will see tired pastors teaching tired saints to do more, serve more and give more.

The Missional movement should flow from disciples who have hearts gripped by their Savior. The key is to intimately connect with Jesus. He is our source and strength. Let ministry flow out of relationship. Let our "being with Him" produce a doing "with Him." (we don't work for God, we partner with Him.)

If we get this mixed up we will see a certain fad that died because people were trying to model a Book of Acts life without the intimacy of being with Him in the Gospels.

Put the horse before the cart.

Bitter-Birthed Movements

Jonathan Martin of Renovatus Church in Charlotte, NC sparked this topic in one of his blogs on church movements. I can't take all the credit for it.

I am all for different "expressions" of the church; example: home churches, traditional churches, Gen-X and even Messianic churches.

However, the problem that I do have is when an expression of a local church is being birthed out of hurt, bitterness and simply to prove a point against another expression. It's a huge problem when all their teachings is to prove someone else wrong. (might be the formation of a cult)

One of the prime examples in our modern context is the house church movement in America. I think the theory and practice of house churches in the right context can be a powerful expression. In China, where they are not allowed to meet corporately, the house church expression is a movement of evangelism and discipleship. It's very effective. The key to this movement is that it is birthed out of a passion and desire to see people saved and to become fully devoted followers of Jesus. They are not mad at a local church or hurt by a church. They were not voted out of a church or out to prove a point in which expression is better. They are not isolating themselves from mainstream Christianity. Their expression is the ONLY expression they can operate in due to government restrictions.

Any expression of the local church has to be birthed out of a God-ordained passion and calling. It cannot be birthed primarily out of being hurt by another local church expression. Neil Cole has done a terrific job of birthing house churches in California. He even states that was the strategy for THAT region and it may not be God's strategy for every region or everywhere. The expression depends on God's calling and the gift-mix of the leader.

We live in a generation who have been wounded by the church. Because of this (and I have been guilty) we seek to birth an expression that shields us from that hurt.

Here are a few thoughts:
1. Let passion, calling and not pain (hurt) be your driving force.
-Don't build something based on what you are against. I saw a Messianic guy post on Facebook this statement, "Many professed believers..." Wow. You just stated that you have the copyright on the perfect way to Jesus. Build something based on God's call. This will allow you to celebrate other expressions of the church and join in unity.

2. Don't birth an expression to prove a point on the best way to "do church."
-How many times have we seen this? The youth pastor at the traditional mainstream church gets discontented with the way things are done, he gathers his youth workers (while still taking a salary from the church he is at) and starts the beginnings of a new church. I can say this because I have been guilty. The whole premise is that we won't do it like "them." The mission can't be negative in nature instead of positive. If you can't celebrate the place you were birthed from, then you probably birthed it out of negativity. The other test is this: Are you in good standing and relationship with that church?

3. The expression should have some semblance of effectiveness.
-If you birthed an expression out of pain and hurt, and there is no effectiveness; you may be just "acting out" due to pain. As Gamiliel said about Paul, "If God is in it, it will succeed." The problem with some of the house churches in America is that they are 3 people who got mad at a church and meet in a home to go "deeper." There is no desire to see lives changed or desire for evangelism. Their is little effectiveness and pain is everyone's common denominator. Therefore, the result is an isolated, angry, small group.

The writer of Hebrews warns us, "The root of bitterness will defile the whole body." (Kevin's paraphrase)

Discontent coupled with God's calling should be a motivating factor to birth local expressions. Hurt, bitterness and wounds should never be.