check out the updates

Many of you may know that we launched a new network called the upstream collective.

Caleb Crider and I are travelling this summer in various locations. I guess we are on tour. I have always wanted to have tour. We are not selling t-shirts or hats. Sorry.

We are calling it "About Europe". We are talking with various pastors and church planters and other mission influencers. We are blogging about this as we go so please check out the updates on http://www.theupstreamcollective.org/

Membership Decline

The SBC and church membership decline.

(okay - for my many non SBC friends- SBC is the Southern Baptist Convention)

It seems many people are writing on this membership decline topic. I figured I would attempt at writing an angle.

I am not including a lot of numbers. You can find that elsewhere.

I read this in The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper this week.
"The resolution (regarding church membership) , which reflects the growing influencing of Calvinism in the SBC, comes on the heels of denominational statistics that showed the 16 million-member convention shrinking. Membership fell in 2007 for the second time in a decade. Even more discouraging, officials said, baptisms in SBC churches dropped for the seventh time in eight years – down 5.5 percent in 2007."

So there you have it. The SBC is in decline.

What do we do about?

I am sure there are lots of reasons that people are citing.

• Too narrow as a denomination
• Too broad as a denomination
• People are not loyal to denominations any more
• We have lost the passion to evangelise
• The SBC needs new programs or methods for evangelism
• The SBC needs reach the next generation of leaders
• They need to come together as a convention and work together

On and On the reasons go.

Some of them could even make sense.

I am also sure that this list is not extensive.

I want to explore another angle. It is simply an observation that I want to make.

One reason I feel we are in decline is that most churches (I would venture to say inside and outside the denomination) are churches who are more "attractional". By this I mean their primary way of growth is to invite people to church. This can be done in various ways but often through cool programs or outreach events. A lot of energy and resources are spent on building the church to be an attractive place for the community to come. I have been a part of this approach for nearly all of my ministry.

However, I believe this approach makes a dangerous assumption. It is assuming that people want to come to church. It is assuming that people are looking for a church to attend. I am not that old but I do remember the late 80s and 90s in church growth. I was a young child then. smile.

You could offer quality childcare, relevant preaching, good programs with cool logos and brands, a great band and then you could "attract" a crowd. We have seen churches grow in this way. I personally think much of that growth has always been transfer growth but nonetheless many churches gained a lot of attention by growing in numbers and thus many people felt - IT IS WORKING and this must be the way. However, I would not want to minimize what some times took place in those days for I know that many people came to know Christ personally. Many others renewed their commitment to Jesus. Some great things happened and their are places where great things are happening today.

BUT --- I noticed upon living and ministering in Europe that it is an uphill struggle when you are trying to use attractional methods in a post Christian culture where the vast majority of the people are not looking to go to church. For the majority attending church of any sort on Sunday is not a blip on the radar screen. I think America is quickly following suit and we need to discover ways to minister amongst this culture or we will continue to see decline.

The HOPE is this.

I would say a couple of authors Allan Hirsch and Michael Frost articulate this much better than I in their book "The Shaping of Things to Come". I think the church has to become "missional" in it's approach to ministry. The church has to get out of it's building and programs and traditions and get into the streets and neighborhoods and take the Gospel to the people by living amongst them. Our lives as Christ followers should be the attraction to our lost friends not the building or programs of the church.

Instead of extracting new believers out of their culture and into the church where we expect them to be many hours during the week we must find ways to evangelise, disciple and plant churches (or cell groups / small groups) amongst the people where they are living and working. I believe this is best achieved by what is called "incarnational" ministry. Living as a Christ follower intentionally amongst the people who need Him the most. Sharing Jesus in a natural yet intentional way.

finding our way

On Friday I took a 6:30 am flight from Basel, Switzerland (near my home in Germany) to Malaga, Spain which is on the Med. in the area called Andalucia, Spain. By 9:30 am I was having a great cafe con leche and a tostada con tomate (toast with olive oil and tomato paste which is one of my favorite Spanish breakfast foods) in a small city called Torremolinos. I went with a colleague of mine to scope out some excursions for an upcoming conference that is being planned. I was the translator. I am not saying I was good or bad but simply leaving it as I was "The Translator".

One of our tasks on our fact finding mission was to find this place in the middle of nowhere (a town on a mountain in the desert is a better description) that hosts outdoor adventure activities.

We found it on a website and it gave us directions. At least we thought. We had pretty good directions from 1 - 6 but for some reason direction number 7, 8 and 9 were missing. Direction number 6 simply got us into this very small pueblo (small town). It was a typical "white washed" Spanish pueblo that you see in post cards. We arrive in the town to really discover this may be harder than we thought. We see no signs or billboards for this place. There were no signs or billboards period. I have my friend pull into the center of town where they have the government building. Luckily they were open and the woman was friendly but she did not know really where this place was located though she heard of it. She said it will be hard to find for it is in the middle of the "campo". (It is in the middle of the country). But, if you will take a right and then a left and then another right through this town you will find a bar (in Spain restaurants and coffee shops are called bars, trust me). The owner knows this person who has the recreation place and you can ask him and he can tell you. So we did.

We walk into the bar and there were 6 other people there and we stuck out a bit especially after I used my Spanish. I ordered a coke and some chips thinking that I would get better directions if I bought something. Plus at 1130 am it was time for second breakfast. In Spain you normally do not eat lunch until 2:30 or 3 pm. I asked the owner who also was the waiter about this place. Sure enough he knew and he gave us another set of directions that got us there. It was quite a journey and adventure.

If there is a point to this story it would be how we gather information in life for life and how that relates to discovering God's will and way for us. I know I really want steps 1- 9. I want all of the directions mapped out for me but it is not always like that. I usually have to stop and ask directions along the way and those directions may only get me to the next stop and it is there where I have to stop and ask for more directions in order to get to the destination. What I am learning is to be "okay" with that.

It suits my desire for control to know all of the steps but life is not always like that and I sometimes have to figure it out as I go. What I need to keep in mind is the Holy Spirit is with me as I go. I have a guide. The Holy Spirit gives me direction even though I may not be able to see it all at first. I think it requires us talking with other believers, studying His Word, praying, experiencing the journey and the circumstances that come from that. It also takes time and it not always an instant discovery.

It is a journey of adventure.
It is a journey of faith.

Though I look forward to the final destination I am learning that it is also possible to enjoy the journey as you go.

more iPOC

I feel after posting my blog on iPOC that I ought to tell you why I wrote it or what inspired me.
It was not listening to itunes while running and using my ipod. It is not because we are a family of four with three ipods. We actually had four until this winter when I came in from a run and put the ipod shuffle into my sweatsuit pocket. Little did I know it needed a wash but I have learned that while they wash nicely they do not seem to dry out very well. Thus we are a family with three and i have to now steal (i mean borrow) my wife's ipod shuffle. I also have to hide it as I run for it is pink or purple but that is another story.

I was inspired because i have a lot of volunteer groups that come over there to work on various projects and I use this tool to debrief each day. We are able as a mission team to look back and talk about what we prayed for, how God answered those prayers. We are able to note observations about the people and culture which help us understand some needs that may exist. From there we find relevant and natural ways to connect with the people.

As we talked one day one of the mission team participants said "you know, we can do this at home". I said, NO YOU CANT.. just kidding. Of course you can. You can do this anywhere. Again, it is not a program it is about living your life amongst the people as Jesus did. In mission talk this is "incarnational ministry". Wherever you are and whatever you are doing you represent Christ. You are His ambassadors. That has to be somewhere in the New Testament.

So I am a HUGE advocate of taking what you do overseas on a mission trip and making practical applications at your home. If you are willing to pay a lot of money to go to Mexico (for example but you could fill in the blank anywhere) then it would make sense that you would do all you could to minister to the Mexicans in your own city. If you are interested in reaching people from the 10/40 window in their country then we should be involved in doing it in our own city.

How do you do that?

Pray for them. Pray for opportunities
Observe the people and look for potential needs
Connect with them
Do it continuously
iPOC2

iPOC3

These days, I hear a lot about churches trying to be more evangelistic or missions-minded. Church leaders may create a new program or come up with a new idea to attract people to the church in order to reach their communities. While the intention behind these programs and ideas may be right on target, I believe evangelism and missions can be much more personal. The special events and weekly meetings of a church are not designed to do the work that we as individual followers should do daily.

As I understand it, Jesus did not talk about how the church needs to have creative programs in order to reach people. Instead He gave that job to each one of us as His followers.

Consider what Jesus says in Acts 1:8:
• You will receive power.
• You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the Earth.
• I will be with you.

We are all missionaries.
Some people are called to live out this calling in another cultural context, but all of us are called to live it out wherever we are. That’s what living missionally is all about.

Living missionally doesn’t come down to a formula, but I must admit: I was inspired by a certain brand of computers in regards to how to think and live missionally wherever I am. This little non–formula is called “iPOC3.” I am not a huge fan of acrostics, but iPOC3 reminds me of some basic things that I can do on a daily basis, no matter where I am, to work toward that end:

Pray: Prayer should be the foundation for all we do. Through prayer, I have seen people who were previously closed to spiritual things really open up. I have seen hard–to–reach areas become receptive through prayer. Prayer is the essential piece for living a missional life. We often make time for prayer during our quiet times, but prayer should also be an active part of the rest of the day. As you move about in your daily life, pray. Pray for open doors. Pray that God will show you people with whom you can talk. Pray for opportunities. Pray that God will open up the hearts of the people wherever you are.

Observe: As you pray, you also observe where God is at work. Observe the people and discover possible needs that you can meet and ways that you can connect with them.

Connect: This final point can involve almost anything as you relate to people. Connecting with people can be striking up a conversation with a post office clerk. It can be walking with an elderly person as he or she crosses the street. It can be helping someone carry his or her groceries when it’s clear the load is a little too heavy.

At the end of the day, I believe evangelism today is more than a simple formula. It is your actions toward people. Evangelism is highly relational, and God will provide you opportunities to connect with people.

Continuously seek to have spiritual Conversations: The second and third Cs of iPOC3 would drive home the importance of continuously seeking to enter spiritual conversations with people as you connect and as God opens doors. You may even be able to strike up a lasting friendship with someone you connect with during a typical day. If that’s the case, who knows? You may even find that the person is interested in spiritual things and might be open to hanging out regularly to talk about life and spirituality. From my experience, that is a much better, less threatening, often more sensitive option than simply taking that person to a local church in order to be taught more. That’s because I believe that, as followers of Jesus, we are all equipped with the ability to speak truth into their lives and tell them about Jesus. If that sounds intimidating, go back to that Acts 1:8 thing. “You will be my witnesses,” Jesus says. He will give us power and help us in this. He promises.

To recap, iPOC3 comes down to ...
I pray
I observe
I connect with people Continuously Seeking to have spiritual conversations

In conclusion, I need to add that iPOC3 is not a program or something else to do in your church. For me it has been an easy way to remember what I should be doing as I go about my day, but there’s no magic formula. Living missionally is about who we are and what we are becoming. Pray and seek out what God might want that to look like in your daily life.

FROGS for FUN

I have to be honest.
I was not expecting this.
I came around the curve near our house. We live on the edge of the Black Forest and I had to adjust my speed limit because of Frogs crossing the road. Between the hours of 8 pm and 6 am in this area you have to be careful for there are frogs crossing the roads and you can only go 50 kph.

As We Go...

The Church Recapturing the Great Commission

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:18 -20, The Message

I believe there is a basic assumption that Jesus made when he gave us the Great Commission. He assumed that as disciples of his, as followers of the Way that we would naturally do what he did.. Make Disciples and that we would be willing to do it wherever we are living whether that is in our own city or in a land far away.

The early disciples took serious this charge. They told others rather boldly about Jesus. I think they did it in their normal every day life. In most cases they did this within the context of their own job and families and friends.

But something unique seemed to happen in Acts 13. As the church was gathered worshiping and praying the Holy Spirit spoke to the church and told them to set a part Barnabus and Saul.

What could even be more unique is that the church obeyed the Spirit and they laid hands on them and sent them on their way. Lately these verses have sparked a renewed vision for me. A vision where the church recaptures the Great Commission.

Obviously at that early point in church history we did not have mission boards or societies. We simply had the church finding a way to send it's own people. How can we recapture that today? How can the church today find creative ways to act globally in world missions?

I may have some ideas. stay tuned.