Doing Something With Your Faith

     Before I met my wife, I participated in a singles Sunday school class at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. One morning, a young man, a student of Georgia Tech, asked if he could speak to the class. He shared, “Several years ago I said I believed in Jesus Christ and trust Him as my Savior. I was then baptized in this church. Yet, I did nothing with my faith so my faith did nothing for me.”

     Fortunately, that was not the end of the story. He shared that it was now his intention to change; to take his faith seriously. He asked the pastor to help him chart a path for intentional progress in the Christian faith. Part of that path was accountability. That is where the singles Sunday school class came into the conversation. This young man was asking us, fellow class members, to walk with him and encourage him as he sought to be changed by his faith. Changed – a powerful word. Formation is another word that means the same thing. As people who say that Jesus Christ is Lord, we are people who seek to be “changed” or “formed” increasingly into a person who acts like Christ, speaks like Christ and thinks like Christ.

     Five times a year I reprint in our monthly newsmagazine, The Spire, a basic approach to growing in Jesus Christ. This approach is summarized by four important words: Practices, Solitude, Community, and Sharing. It is a pathway or means that, if followed, will result in our own change or formation to look more and more like Jesus. Simply, that is what is meant by the terms Spiritual Formation or Christian Formation. Take the journey and when you need your faith the most it will be there to strengthen you.

Joy,

Marks of a Healthy Congregation

     The Alban Institute, a non-profit that conducts research on what makes for effective churches in the United States began asking, “What would a transformed congregation look like? After considerable research, they concluded that a congregation is healthy and vital if it has fourteen characteristics:

1.      Created and sustained by vital authentic quality worship that bonds the people to God and one another.

2.      Enriched but not imprisoned by the past and open to the guidance of the Spirit.

3.      Caring for the “Corporate Soul” of the congregation as well as individual souls.

4.      Committed to a shared vision from which it prioritizes and uses its energies and resources.

5.      Committed to an effective discipling process.

6.      Healthy Leadership, both clergy and elected church leaders.

7.      Committed to membership growth realizing that growth brings change.

8.      Able to face and deal constructively with conflict.

9.      Actively engaged in addressing the issues and problems of its community.

10.  The congregation enjoys an “adult/adult” relationship with its denomination.

11.  Places a high priority on biblical literacy and the capacity of members to utilize the biblical story to illuminate their own lives individually and collectively.

12.  Committed to thinking globally while acting locally.

13.  A wise steward of its resources.

14.  Manifest a healthy sense of humor.

Whenever the question is asked, “How are we doing?”, it is helpful to have some tool or instrument for shaping an answer. After considering the fourteen benchmarks mentioned above, where do you think First Presbyterian of Delray Beach is succeeding in its mission? Where do we still need work?

Joy,

The Marks of a Spiritual Life

     The spiritual life is often spoken of with little understanding of precisely what is meant by it. In many circles, its use remains vague and may have various applications. A person may be admired for civic devotion yet be said as lacking any evidence of spiritual depth. A coach may be ineffective but spoken of having a spiritual impact upon the team. A church may be involved in many ministries of outreach in the community but have a reputation for having little spiritually among the membership. Is it surprising that there exists a lack of clarity of what is meant by the spiritual life?

     An answer to this perplexing question may be located by a careful look at any number of persons in the Old and New Testament. For the sake of this brief discussion, let us limit our attention to the Apostle Paul. From a careful examination of what the Bible tells us about Paul, I suggest that the spiritual life is marked by two irreducible qualities. First, consecration. Paul took his gift for deep thought and ability to communicate complex ideas simply and with clarity and dedicated it to the cause of God. Paul’s intellectual capacity was not in itself spiritual. History is replete with women and men of enormous intellectual gifts who did not believe in God. Paul’s intellectual gifts became spiritual when devoted to the divine purpose of God’s work in the world. The spiritual life, then, may be said as that life that is given a new direction or given to the new purpose of serving God.

     The second irreducible quality of the spiritual life is inspiration. Paul was aware of the Divine Presence. There was something more about Paul than his own natural talent and gifts. This “more” was the indwelling and active God. Paul spoke of this “more” often and in various ways particularly when he spoke of the evidence of God’s strength in his own weakness. When a person presents their life to the purposes of God, what we earlier identified as “consecration”, the Holy Spirit is released and works God’s work through them. Consecration and inspiration are the individual-directed and God-directed aspects of the spiritual life.

Joy,

Sound Theology Will Do That

“Yes, sound theology will do that.”

     Dr. Greg Ogden shares in one of his books the delightful Peanuts cartoon where Linus and Lucy are involved in substantive dialog. Lucy is worried because it has been raining so hard for so long. She wonders whether there will be another world-wide flood as in Noah’s day. Linus informs her that this won’t happen. Referring to Genesis 9, he reminds her that God promised never to flood the earth again. Lucy says, “Well, that takes a load off my mind.” Linus, while sucking on his blanket, says, “Yes, sound theology will do that.”

     Sound theology is shaped by God’s Word, the Bible. The authority for what is sound theology has never been placed to a democratic vote by the people. As Christians, we submit to God. Now this may sound obvious to many but consider this true incident. A North Carolina pastor shared with me some years ago that he was called to start a new church. The agency funding the church start wanted to lay the foundation, provide the blueprint for establishing a large congregation. The expectation is that by staffing for a large church and providing biblical principals of administration, the church would grow rather quickly into a large church. In fact, the experiment was successful. The church now has over one thousand in worship on an average Sunday.

     Early in the church, start a woman came to visit this pastor. She was interested in joining but wanted assurances that the pastor would provide all the pastoral care that her family would require. Tactfully, he said that he would participate in a system of pastoral care that included trained lay people for care with an associate for pastoral care. Simply, he would participate with others in responsible pastoral care but would not be doing it all himself. That was not acceptable to the woman. “That’s not how it’s done in my church!” she protested. The pastor then proceeded to show her the biblical principals for pastoral care within churches, demonstrating that those principals speak to pastoral care as something the church members provided for one another. Her response was, “I will not permit the Bible to inform what I know is right!”

Joy,

The First Christian Small Group

     Jesus’ own pattern of disciple-making was to be intimately involved with a few so that His life and theirs would develop such traction that transformation would occur organically. The disciples comprised the first Christian small group, and their close contact with Jesus provided not only learning experiences but the opportunity to view appropriate application in daily cultural settings. Observing Jesus not only as teacher but as a fellow sojourner in life offered the disciples the insight required to make incremental changes in their own lives to conform to His. Jesus taught the crowds, but He discipled a few in a small group.

     Alexander B. Bruce, in his book, The Training of the Twelve, provides considerable clarity as to the methods Jesus used to develop His disciples and deploy them in the ministry of spreading His message to others. Bruce observes, “From the evangelic records it appears that Jesus began at a very early period of His ministry to gather round Him a company of disciples, with a view to the preparation of an agency for carrying on the work of the divine Kingdom.” Bruce goes on to unfold the three stages in the history of the disciples’ fellowship with Jesus that would insure that they were committed to continuing His ministry beyond Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. What becomes apparent is that Jesus desired not only to have disciples, but to have about Him those whom He might train to reproduce their discipleship in others. By limiting His discipling efforts to a few, who would then reproduce themselves in others, Jesus was capable of reaching men and women on an extensive scale.

     Effective discipling today must imitate the model of Jesus: selecting a few, pouring one’s life into them, and asking that they reproduce themselves in a similar manner with others. This model, equipping disciples through a small group, provides intimacy and the value of shared spiritual gifts exercised within the group, without the intimidation of a larger group setting. The high level of interaction between Jesus as discipler and those being discipled teaches well, provides a high level of accountability, and can be a center for shared missional activity that further promotes maturity in Christlikeness, the ultimate goal of the Christian journey.

Joy,

Creative Spirituality

     In an engaging and insightful book, Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Heart, Robert Wuthnow identifies some of the criticism that has been voiced in recent years about spirituality in the broader culture. One of the most recurrent criticisms is that too many Americans shop around for spiritual cues, rather than settling into communities of faith where they can learn discipline or serve others. Spiritual seeking draws criticism because it seems to reflect a shallow consumerist mentality.

     Against this consumerist mentality, Holy Scripture, the Bible announces that an authentic relationship with God is rooted in a personal engagement in all that God is doing in the world. It is an announcement from personal gratification to participation in God’s activity; from an inward spirituality to an outward commitment to disciple the nations. Quick routes to personal gratification may be an easier course to navigate, but is a pilgrimage that is unknown in Scripture and one that fails to encounter the deep mysteries of faith.

      This failure to navigate the deeper waters of faith leaves people standing on the shore of God’s promises, rarely encountering God in a fashion that results in transformation. Discouragement settles in, and those who claim to follow Christ wonder if there is not something more. In more than twenty-six years of ministry, I have met many who have derisively commented that faith failed to do anything for their lives. In each instance, my unspoken question has been, “What exactly did you do to care for and nurture that faith?”

Joy,

Things Happen

“But Steve Jobs realized that when people run into each other, 

when they make eye contact, things happen.”

Matt Woodley, Leadership Journal, summer, 2013

     I have twelve to fourteen years as your pastor before I retire. This reality has placed me among those who are asking, “What legacy do I wish to leave, what difference do I hope to make in this place.” This is a common question people in their fifties ask. Most of us want our lives to count for something; to live for something larger than ourselves. When your fifties roll around, that question receives considerably more attention.

     It is no secret that my most urgent passion is to engage increasing numbers of people in intentional Christian formation. I want to move people from membership to discipleship. The difference is considerable. Members are always seeking privileges like those who carry an American Express Card. Disciples are always asking how they may be used in a mighty way for advancing God’s purposes. Members spend a good deal of their time thinking about their wants and needs. Disciples spend a good deal of time seeking God’s presence at work in their communities and then joining God in that work. Members focus on themselves. Disciples focus on others.

     Solid Christian formation is always the work of God in our intentional engagement with classic spiritual disciplines such as solitude, reading and applying the Bible to our lives and participation in a small group. God does something and we do something. Christian formation requires both.

     Something else is helpful – a professional church staff that shows us the way forward. Church staffs, ordained clergy and lay staff, work together to pray, think creatively and develop ministries that support, encourage and direct the holy environment where we grow as Christians.

     Yet, for staffs to bring maximum value to an organization, they must be “forced to interact, to run into each other regularly.” That idea was advanced by Steve Jobs when work was being done on a new Pixar facility. “Things happen,” said Jobs when people make regular eye contact and speak with one another throughout the day. What happens is a creative force that simply is absent when staffs are isolated from one another.

     When Pixar became a huge international success following the release of the movie Toy Story, there were plans for three separate buildings to accommodate the growth of the company. One building would be for the animators, another for the computer programmers and a third for the management. But Jobs scrapped that plan and instead moved everyone into an old Del Monte canning factory that had one huge room with an atrium in the center. Jobs wanted to create a space where people throughout the company could bump into each other, deepen relationships, and share ideas. The idea worked and the level of creativity released by the staff soared beyond anyone’s expectation.

     To maximize the value of this church’s staff, I want the same thing as Pixar – I want the staff to all be under one roof where we can bump into one another all day, deepen relationships, and share ideas. Naturally, this will require careful thought for the renovation or expansion of our church facilities. Organizations rarely build just to have more or newer buildings. Buildings are tools for advancing the mission of the organization. We can take a page from the playbook of the Holly House; they understood that their ministry would advance if they could all be in the same room where there was greater interaction with one another. Today they have that facility. It’s the same story with Pixar. I hope one day it will be the story for your church staff.

Joy,