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Coorporate Self-Esteem

December 15, 2009

The size of a congregation will, by and large, set the agenda for its future viability and effectiveness. We become what we think we are. The congregations attitutde about themsleves will set the pace for the future of the churches effectiveness. As Solomon wrote, "as a man thinks in his heart, so he is." Prov 23:7. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.The self-image of a congregation is very important in its effort to grow.

I am not questioning the commitment and call of churches that do not grow. I am simply stating, mainly from my own experience in working with churches for the last twenty-three years, that ministry is slowed, and the danger of falling into a survival mode will be a greater probability.

Smaller churches struggle to grow. The reasons for this struggle are multiple. Smaller churches, while effective in some ways, tend to be more family oriented and do not allow visitors to feel at home as readily. Lyle Schaller refers to churches under the two hundred mark as “Collie” churches. Some people tend to wonder why these churches remain on a plateau in size or why church shoppers often do not return after that initial visit. Collies tend to have strong affection for members of the family, but they often bark at strangers. When any church falls into this mode of operation, growth becomes almost impossible. Myriads of books and articles have been written about the growth problems of the small church. The key to avoiding these problems is for a new church to reach the two hundred mark as quickly as possible. New church plants that do not grow rapidly will develop a small church mentality, stifling their ability to reach out and impact the community. Planting new churches should be an attempt to overcome growth problems, not emulate them.

Crowds attract crowds. To create new missions that break out of the mold of the self-serving, survival-minded, family-run organizations, leaders must find a way to plant churches that grow rapidly in size in a very short period of time. When a church is able to grow rapidly and gain momentum, it will create a healthy attitude among the members, A primary difference between growing and declining churches is their attitude. Growing churches feel they have something worthwhile to offer to their community. Their high level of self-esteem provides the energy and strength to share the gospel of Christ with people in the community.

Church plants, as well as established churches, that do not grow beyond the 150 average in attendance, will often lose momentum and fall into the smaller-church trap that will result in a low sense of congregational morale. Church plants are more vulnerable to a sense of low morale due to heightened expectations for success. When not met with immediate success, most church plants fall prey to discouragement.

The attitude of most members involved in an established church is usually fairly level. Most have settled into a routine way of doing church. Members may pray for, expect, and hope to grow, but the level of expectation for dramatic and rapid changes is not as high as in a new church. In contrast, the expectation of those involved in a church plant is one of rapid growth within a short period of time. When expectations are not reached at the level anticipated, a sense of failure is certain.

Once an attitude of defeat settles into the hearts and minds of the church planter and the new congregation, they begin to view themselves as small, weak, unattractive, powerless and frustrated with a limited future. Unfortunately, this attitude is the state in which many church plants find themselves. If conventional wisdom is true, two-thirds of church-planting attempts will begin to develop a small-church self-image.

Any church looking to break out and grow needs to reach the two hundred mark quickly or face a myriad of problems. Rapid growth will help a new church maintain momentum and offer it a sense of credibility. That growth will also give the church the ability to offer holistic services that can answer the felt needs of the community. A new church that does not reach this mark will struggle financially and may develop a sect-like attitude. The church plants size will perpetuate the problem. Both rapid or slow growth churches will generate a sense of corporate self image that can dictate the future impact of any church in its community.

Posted 12/15/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

The call to plant

December 7, 2009

Let me preface everything I am about to say with this firm conviction: The Local church is the only hope this world has! The church is not a human invention or a manmade organization created to oppress and control the people of the world. It is a divine, God ordained, Christ commissioned organism, designed to be extension of the work of Jesus Christ, offering salvation, wholeness, healing and transformation to a sin-sick world. It is the only hope humanity has of finding forgiveness and proper standing before a holy and righteous God. Without the church, the world has no hope. If you don’t believe that, then there is no use in planting any churches. Close shop, go home and forget you ever considered planting a church in the first place. I can hear a few of you saying, "No, without Jesus, there is no hope." True, but the church has been called ot be Jesus' hands and feet. The Church, His bride, has been called to do "even greater things" than he did. The Church, lives because God called it into existence and ordained it to be His representative. Just as Jesus and the Father are one, a dichotomy does not, or at least should not exist between Jesus and His Bride. 

Throughout his ministry, Jesus shared the importance of evangelism as a driving force in the church. The Great Commission in Matt. 28:19 was his call to the church to participate in the practice of evangelism: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Just before his ascension, Jesus reiterated these words: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In my opinion, the Great Commission was understood as a call to start new communities of believers wherever the Disciples traveled.

Any serious reader of the Bible will quickly come to understand that God’s nature is at the root of mission. The living God portrayed in the Bible is a sending God. He sends because of his love for the world. The Church is called to be the living expression of the kingdom of God on this earth and to express the love of God by fulfilling the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18.

However, the Great Commission given by Jesus in the New Testament is not a new calling to God’s people. This commission, given by Jesus, is built upon the call to Abram found in Genesis:

"Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will provide for you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you." (Gen. 12:1-3)

This call to Abram shows God’s desire for Israel to become a movement that would touch the entire world. God's call to Abram was not a call to become a regional, stagnate, inward focused tribe. God’s design in this calling was to push the future nation of Israel to think beyond socioeconomic and ethnic borders. God’s desire was to bless the world through Abram. Abram’s obedience to God, then, would be the beginning of the people called Israelites and, ultimately, today’s Christian. Clearly, God’s intention, from the call of Abram, was to create a people group that would reach out to every nation. They were to be God's Blessing to an entire universe! So, Genesis 12:1-6 stands as the foundation upon which the Great Commission rests.

According to the New Testament, Israel is no longer those who were, by blood, considered to be of Abram’s linage. Rather, the true Israelite is understood as he or she who receives adoption into the family, through the blood of Jesus. paul stated it best in Romans 9:8 “It is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” Clearly Paul knew thast those who are the followers of Jesus Christ and part of his Church, are now called the “children” of Abraham. This classification becomes significant, as followers understand that the Great Commission is a reaffirmation of the original call given to Abraham. The Church, like Israel, is not to become a stand-alone organization, rather a life-giving organism that can influence the world.

Church-planting is not new to denominational bodies. It was and is the lifeblood mission of the church from the very beginning. Church planting is the “intentional pursuit of lost people” that flows out of the Great Commission. God’s original call to be a blessing to the world is alive in the Great Commission. My firm conviction is that this calling was a call to spread the kingdom of God primarily through the means of planting new churches. As the church involves itself in this work, it is fulfilling the original call, given to Abram, to be a blessing to the nations. ∫Many New Testament Scriptures can be used to show the importance of church-planting. The book of Acts offers the reader a unique opportunity to witness the actions of the early Church in response to the Great Commission. Acts becomes an important dynamic because it best illustrates the early believer’s behavior after Jesus commissioned them.

In essence, the book of Acts becomes the history of a church-planting movement. Although the phrase “church-planting” is not explicitly mentioned in Acts, I believe it is implicitly understood as a “normal expression of New Testament Missiology”. Church-planting was, without question, at the center of early Church activity. It was a primary means of spreading and establishing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Posted 12/7/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Recession's Impact On Christian Organizations

November 25, 2009

New Survey - "The Recession's Impact on Christian Nonprofit Organizations"
by Ashley High

How are Christian nonprofits surviving the economic downturn? A recent survey conducted by J. David Schmidt & Associates for the Christian Leadership Alliance discovered the main ways Christian nonprofits are reducing expenses and handling the economy’s impact. Below are the results of “Economic Outlook Survey: The Recession’s Impact on Christian Nonprofit Organizations.”

Reponses to Financial Difficulties:

Reducing travel – 52%

Freezing pay raises – 44%

Freezing hiring – 36%

Cutting overall 2009 budget – 43%

Reducing or eliminating training expenses for 2009 – 29%

Reducing full-time staff – 28%

Freezing infrastructure expenses – 28%

Delaying or eliminating outside counsel/consulting expenses – 27%

Financial Information

Portfolios and endowments reported down from last year – 73% of organizations

Diminishing reserves reported – 51% of organizations

Declining donations reported – 48% of organizations

Have less available cash – 40% of organizations

Budget

Annual budget under $1 million – 22% of organizations

Annual budget of $1-10 million – 52% of organizations

Annual budget of $30+ million – 9% of organizations

The Christian nonprofits affected most by the economy where those with annual budgets under $1 million.

Economy’s Impact on the Charity:

High impact – 21%

In between low and high impact – 48%

Low impact – 31%

However, despite the poor economy, three-quarters of the respondents remain confident and hopeful, stating that belief in God’s faithfulness helps them through difficult times. “If there was one theme that kept coming through in respondent comments, it is that Christian charity and church leaders have a strong sense of a larger story. They seem less rattled and remain confident in God’s provision and care, despite being stress-tested by their circumstances,” said David Schmidt, whose agency conducted the survey.

Information taken from: Jennifer Riley. “Survey: Christian Nonprofits Relying More on Volunteers in Hard Times.” 9 July 2009. The Christian Post. 13 July 2009. www.christianpost.com.

Posted 11/25/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Ten Deadly Sins of Dying Churches

November 24, 2009

Why are our young people leaving the Church and how can we regain their attention? Can we, as Christ followers, help the younger generation rediscover an essential quality to the Church? Those pressing questions were the catalyst behind the research revealed in essential Church by Thom and Sam Rainer. According to the authors, more than two-thirds of young adults drop out of church between the ages of 18 and 22. The church is only retaining one-third of our young adults. Most simply leave, lose contact and relegate the church to ineffective and non-essential.

Why does this happen? Rainer offers seven primary reasons the church is losing the battle for the hearts and souls of our youth. He calls them the “Seven Deadly Sins”. I have added three of my own to his seven. Each of these sins, to varying degrees, can be seen in stagnant and dying churches.

1. Doctrinal Drift
In a desire to reach more people, churches have often watered-down doctrinal truths believing that they are creating a more inviting environment for seekers. I dislike the term “Seeker Sensitive” the scripture isn’t very sensitive in many ways. Rather, we should think in terms of “seeker intelligibility”. The Word of God may not be very sensitive to an unbeliever, but it should be intelligible. Make o mistake, the younger generation likes straight-talk. They are tired of the mush.

2. Evangelism Atrophy
Most churches in America aspire to have evangelism as a driving force but they have lost their passion. Ask every one of them, however, and they will proclaim it as a core value. Yet, a quick look at their checkbook, annual budget and programs will tell the truth. For most churches in America evangelism is a great thought and desire, but in all actuality very little in the way of evangelism is done.

3. Failure To Be Relevant
I know, many in the church hate this word. But don’t forget, the Gospel was not written in a cultural vacuum. The words we read today were written thousands of years ago. They still apply today, but we must learn to understand them in their cultural context and then find ways to help 21st century people understand.
Church is no different. We have to do church in a way that connects with this culture otherwise the church simply becomes a huddled mass of cloistered believers hiding from a sin-sick world.

4. Inwardly Focused
The new2, unspoken mantra of the modern American church is; “It’s all about me.” While no one will readily admit it, all one has to do is look at the ministries and programs. What can be quickly discovered is that most churches build ministries to satisfy the already fed. These programs are good to keep the flock happy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but too much of a good thing ends up being a bad thing.

5. Personal Conflict
Not sure I need to explain this too much. Church people have found a way to make an argument out of almost anything. Political power struggles rule the day.

6. A Priority Of Comfort
Dying churches refuse to reach out beyond their own comfort-zones. When any real ministry does happen and dirty, sinful people walk in among the righteous, it upsets the apple cart. It simply isn’t comfortable.

7. Biblical Illiteracy
The latest research by Gallup and other pollsters reveal that most long time members of churches don’t really know what they Bible says. Phrases like; “God helps those who help themselves” are regularly quoted as scripture.

8. Hording
It amazes me the amount of money many dying churches have in their saving accounts. The thought is that they are saving it for a rainy day, but I wonder what God thinks about this? Will he be happy if we, like the man with one talent, have not invested his Kingdom resources in the Great co-mission work when returns. Which would be best; Die rich, having saved our resources and done as little as we can get by with, or Die broke with the knowledge that we have done all we can.

9. Failure to Follow
Too many cooks in the kitchen. Too often pastors are treated like hirelings and not called, anointed people of God. The pastor is forced to walk on eggshells to avoid losing their job.

10. Idolatry
You may think this is absent from today’s Church, but it is very alive. Beloved programs, versions of the Bible, furniture, paintings on the wall and the placement of objects have caused more quarrels than I care to mention. We have taken these items to god-like levels in the church and forgotten the main thing.

Posted 11/24/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

The Power of 10

November 16, 2009

God is doing some amazing things through the "Power of Ten" challenge. Some churches have adopted the "Power Of Ten" as a church-wide challenge and others have used it as a Sunday School Challenge.

Everday God is bringing us new churches, leaders, and church planting opportunities. God is up to something big and it is exciting to know that we are a part of His great plan. Over the next few months I expect to see our opportunites expand to even greater possibilities.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to be a part of this big vision! If you have not taken the challenge, why not!

Imagine the life-change we will celebrate this year as God continues to work through our movement!

The Vision
10 New church planters assessed
10 New fast-growing church Plants launched
10 New church adoptions
10 New General Baptist churches involved in helping to plant a church
10 New Unified Giving General Baptist churches
10 New cities reached with Gospel of Jesus Christ
10 New States with a General Baptist church

10,000 General Baptists praying 10 minutes a day for National Missions
10,000 General Baptists giving $10 a month until 10/10/10

All of this culminates in the celebration of 10,000 CONVERSIONS.

This is a big vision and well beyond human means to accomplish.

If you would like to sign up CLICK HERE.

Posted 11/16/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Friendly Fire

November 11, 2009

According to Webster’s dictionary the word fidelity means “The quality or state of being faithful.” Fidelity is synonymous with words like devotion, faithfulness and allegiance. No doubt these are qualities every planter or planting team hopes to find in the people that surround them. Yet, far too often those on the front lines, planting new churches experience the exact opposite. Sometimes even from the most unexpected people. In war they call it friendly fire.

As in the case of Jesus, sometimes our most avid and staunch supporters end up denying they even knew you. Many church planters have been blind-sided and sidelined by the loss of fidelity from co-workers, primary investors, friends, team members, denominational supervisors, district leaders, even family members. You may think that it will never happen to you, but think again.

So why do church planters experience a loss of fidelity from friends, family, supervisors and colleagues once they start the church planting process? Every planter has experienced this at some level. While our list is not exhaustive, by any means, we believe that these are the top five reasons. 

1. The Call

This particular reason is most prevalent as it concerns your extended family. Can you imagine what Abrams family thought when he told them his plan for moving? God called to Abram “Get out of your country, from your family. Imagine the humor in the conversation Abram had with his family about his new journey. The conversation probably went something like this.

“Abe. What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know!”

“Then how will you know when you’ve arrived?”

“I don’t know.”

“How will you provide for yourself?”

“I don’t know.”

“What will happen if things don’t work out?”

“I don’t know,”

“So, why would you do something so crazy?”

“Cause God told me too.”

Maybe you have already had conversation like this. When God places a call on your heart and you begin to follow through, many will not understand it. We have heard of parents turning their backs on their own children because the parent felt their son or daughter was off on a fool’s errand.

2. Money

More battles have been fought over this issue than we care to mention. Church planting takes an endless stream of money and many in the established church don’t understand. Furthermore, some feel that the money should go to help struggling churches rather than toward a new church. If we have heard it once, we have heard it a dozen times, “Why are you spending so much money on planting new churches when you should be helping us?”

3. Territorialism

This is probably one of the most prolific complaints against church planting. The problem is this complaint doesn’t come from those outside the walls of the church but by those in the church. Most of the time the person heading the charge is the pastor.

It doesn’t really seem to matter how far away you are, you will always be too close. After all, the little church of 50, already established, has a claim on the 200,000 people of their city. The own the mud! They have been in this city for 50 years and have reached an average attendance of 50. But they are on the verge of breaking out, if only they had a bigger building, more money, less competition from other churches, etc…

We call this an “Empire” mentality. Honestly, most pastors seem to be more interested in building their own little empire than building the Kingdom of God. They will passionately fight for their ability to hold sole rights to the souls of their community even though their facility will not hold even a fraction of those who live on their own block.

4. Style of Worship

The style of worship you chose to use could also become a sore spot and cause a loss of fidelity, A young planter in the Tennessee area fund this out the hard way. After launching his new church with a format and style foreign to the rest of the churches in his district, he was ostracized and shunned. Still to this day, even though he has the largest, healthiest, and strongest church in the district, his own colleagues won’t have much to do with him.

5. Jealousy

Truth be told, this is probably where most problems rest. Almost every pastor I know talks about how they would like to see the hand of God on their church in a powerful way. They would like to see the Holy Spirit move and bring hundreds of new people into a live-changing relationship with Jesus. The only problem is their prayer is more focused on them and their ministry than on the actual move of God. Most love to talk about growth and salvation unless it is someone else’s.

Many pray for growth and hope God does marvelous things and when it starts to happen in someone else’s church the pastor immediately disapproves God’s movement by claiming that the other church is either watering down the gospel or behaving in a way that is not proper. Isn’t that strange? We all want to see revival, as long as it happens in our way and on our turf.

Posted 11/11/2009 in Church Planting | 1 Comment - Add Comment

Is the "Institutional" Church Anti-Biblical?

October 30, 2009

Over the last few years the demonizing of the institutional church has ramped up. The Church, as it stands, has been called the “bad guy” in the midst of all kinds of cultural and societal changes. As Ben Witherington states in a blog critique of Pagan Christianity the big bad guy, within this movement “is not sin, suffering, the Devil, or any of those things. The big bad guy is going to be what is loosely called the Institutional Church…” If this demonization came from outside the church, it would be easy to overlook. However, that is not the case. The greatest attacks leveled at the Church (and here I mean the institutional church) are often from among those within the Church. Most cloak their demonization in a lofty concern for returning to the ancient ways in order to revive the Church.

The institutionalization of the church, blamed on Constantine, is viewed, by many within this new movement, as an offense to the ancient ways of the Bible. One advocate states that Constantine’s legitimization of the Christian faith and subsequent institutionalization of the Church was “absolutely disastrous to the Jesus movement.”

One of the great failures of this new movement, in my opinion, is a failure to accept institutions as viable, transformational entities. From the time of Christ’s ascension and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, spoken of in Acts 2, the Church has progressed and fulfilled the Father’s glorious purposes. All manners of forms, formats and styles, throughout history have been applied to further the Gospel, none greater than the other. History is replete with revivals and Spiritual awakenings happening within the context of the “institutional church”. I fail to see the power of their arguments. Maybe I am just not smart enough to see it. That is a distinct possibility.

Another problem, as I see it, is a failure to recognize the early and rapid development of the Church’s leadership structures. It is hard to deny that the church had a grassroots movement. It is equally hard to deny that leadership structures, as seen in the Council of Acts 15, did not exist. This council decided on and made sweeping statements for the church at large.

Culture always has, and always will change. That is one constant we can count on. It would be very difficult to prove that culture has not changed since Constantine’s “institutionalization” of the church, and yet that seems to be the underlying claim. Somehow, our culture has so evolved that we have to now radically change our paradigms. Everything we used to know, as Brian McClaren would claim, must be thrown away for something new.

I usually don’t do this, but let me give you a long quote. I think Ben says it about as good as anyone can.

“frankly there are no such thing as ‘institutional churches’. Churches have institutions of various sorts, they aren’t institutions. Furthermore, the Bible is full of traditions and many of those developed after NT times are perfectly Biblical. It’s not really possible to draw a line in the sand between ‘Biblical principles’ and traditions. The question is which traditions comport with Biblical tradition and which do not. And there is a further problem. It is ever so dangerous to take what was normal in early Christianity as a practice, and conclude that therefore it must be normative. It may have been normal in the NT era for non-theological reasons, for example for practical reasons.

To tell us that the church is really people, people united in Christ and serving the Lord, is to say nothing for or against the ‘institutional church’, or for that matter its institutions. Everyone agrees that the church is people, more specifically people gathered for worship, fellowship, and service. Everyone agrees that the church is a living thing and organism, not an organization. So what’s the beef here, and where is the real thrust of the critique?”

Posted 10/30/2009 in Stephen Gray | 1 Comment - Add Comment

The Barnabas Factor - Part 2

October 28, 2009

Handling the ridicule and resentment from your own tribe/family/denomination, can add almost intolerable levels of unexpected pressure. In my case, regular encouragement from the pastors within my district would have given me added strength to carry on when things became unbearable. Instead, the open suspicion and verbal attacks from my colleagues pulled me in the opposite direction. The resistance I felt from my colleagues ultimately led me to question my own abilities. Because of my own experience, and a sneaky suspicion that emotional support plays a big part in success/failure, I sought to discover if science would back up thoughts. What I discovered was significant.

The research can be found in my book Planting Fast Growing Churches. Here are the questions I used to discover the issue of emotional support.

1.     How much encouragement did you receive from your superiors?

2.     How well did you feel you were supported by your pastoral colleagues?     

3.     How well were you accepted by surrounding churches in your denomination?

4.     Did you have regular fellowship with other pastors?     

5.     Was your work celebrated within the denomination?     

6.     How much negativity did you have to overcome from your sponsoring agency?

Out of the six questions asked, five significant differences were discovered in this section. The only question both groups responded equally on was the encouragement they felt from their direct superiors. Overall, planters leading fast-growing church plants experienced higher degrees of personal and emotional support than did those leading struggling church plants.

Planters leading fast-growing church plants felt significantly more support from pastoral colleagues, acceptance from surrounding churches, had more fellowship with other pastors, were celebrated more widely in the denomination, and experienced less negativity from their sponsoring agency. Perhaps this data shows that praise only goes to the victorious. Perhaps it’s easier to support a church on the move, but I don’t really think this is the case, nor does it matter. If a church plant is floundering, it needs support. This data, if only looked at in this way can also show support being pulled out from under struggling church plants because it’s floundering. In any case, more plants that felt encouragement from outside sources thrived than failed. This is entirely clear. 

It is vital that planters have adequate emotional support. The implications of this discovery reveal that the emotional health of the planter will have an effect on the emotional health of the entire fledgling congregation. If the planter is depressed, frustrated, feeling a lack of support and encouragement, then the church plant will suffer. Conversely, a strong sense of support from colleagues, churches and sponsoring entities can only be beneficial for the planter as well as the plant.

My wife, usually a very quiet and demure woman, spoke to a group of church planting leaders at a seminar in Jan 2005. She was prepared to make a few clear points about church planting, and oddly enough, I had never really seen things from her perspective until that day. She walked in with a dry erase board and drew two lines, dividing the board in half. Above one of her two lines, she wrote the words “Established Church”. Over the other line, she wrote, “Church Plant”.

“Tell me” she said, “what kind of things happen for the pastor and his family when they come to pastor an established church? What kind of perks do they have right off the bat?”

These leaders bought in hook-line-and-sinker. Like rapid fire, they began to name the usual things. 

            “Security,” someone answered.

            “A new spiritual family,” another offered.

The group continued listing things like: a paycheck, ready-made friends, a social network, and the list went on.

“Now,” she said, “what happens for the planter and his or her family when they arrive on the scene of a new city to begin their work?”

You could have heard a pin drop. Not one positive suggestion was offered, most had never really thought about it in those terms. Unlike transfering from one established church to another, planter's and their families, in most cases, have no support network. Like bricks falling from heaven, her point hit these men squarely over the head. It sunk in that the structures and support systems built-in to an already established church do not exist for the church plant.

What my wife did was simple enough, but it had an enormous impact on these church planting leaders. Without exception, each of them confessed their need to commit to a higher quality of emotional support for those on the field planting churches. Perhaps a few church planters or denominational leaders will profit from my wife’s presentation. I hope so.

Posted 10/28/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

The Barnabas Factor

October 20, 2009

Over the last few years research groups like Gallup, The Barna, and the Association of Religious Data Archives have attempted to get a clear picture of the state of the Church in America. Until recently, it was widely accepted that over 40 percent of Americans attend church on a regular basis. If these numbers are right then over 130 million Americans fill our churches on any given Sunday. Not bad numbers , but are they right? Are we really doing that well? Recently, new research reveals that these numbers may be overstated and misleading.

In 2004 David Olson, director of the American Church Research Project, published his work

Posted 10/6/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Financing A Church Plant

September 29, 2009

Posted 9/22/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Finding Leaders

September 7, 2009

Posted 9/7/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Reaching Critical Mass Quickly

September 1, 2009

Posted 9/1/2009 in Church Planting | 2 Comments - Add Comment

Don't Be Married To The Church

August 26, 2009

Don’t be married to the church? What? Why would anyone ever blog about that? As a preachers kid I understand this problem in ways I wish I didn’t. As a pastor of 21 years I have not only experienced the effects of this problem in my life, but also helped to promote it in many ways. In my father’s generation, it was widely accepted that the church always came before the family. Why? Somehow his service, to the church, was considered an act of sacrifice and showed real commitment. Anything short of total life sacrifice simply wasn’t true commitment to the high calling of pastor.

I always remember my professor in seminary telling me; “God first, Family second, and Church third.” Sounds good in theory, but when I got into the real world, I soon discovered how truly difficult it was to keep that theory. The demands of the ministry are overwhelming at times. The pressure to succeed, the desire to grow, the need for more money, the promotion of church programs and the like put ever increasing pressures on the back of the pastor. Even our parishioners seem to have a level of expectancy for their paid pastor. Interestingly enough, the medical community has picked up on this phenomenon and labeled the profession of pastor as one of the highest health risks in the nation. Some of you may have learned how to deal with these pressures. However, I dare say the majority of pastors in the church today have not.

Now take the pressures of pastoring an established church and add the pressures of starting one from nothing. The stress and anxiety levels go through the roof. Many planters are goal driven and when their goals are not being met they naturally think; “if I work harder, pray harder and work longer, I will reach the pinnacle of success.” I many ways the planter commits a form of spiritual adultery and exchanges his relationship with his wife and family for a new marriage with the church. This new fledgling church, becomes for many their new mistress.

Donald Joy, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, reminded me of this danger today as I was reading Men Under Construction. Joy said, “The church has one husband: Jesus. That’s enough! We can’t have bigamy scandalizing the church. Be the husband of one wife…and Jesus will affirm you for it, but don’t go flirting with His bride.” (page 108) I think that sums it up nicely.

Don’t make the mistake of sacrificing the gift of family with a a new mistress called the church. God’s call to you is to be a Christian first, a spouse and parent second (if married) and a pastor third. The consequences of getting this out of a proper perspective can be catastrophic in more ways than one.

Posted 8/26/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Volunteers or Missionaries?

August 18, 2009

From the inner cities to the plains of Mid-America, Volunteers are an important part of our society. Political campaigns, para-church organizations, and non-profits of every form and kind would not be able to function without a good volunteer base. It is safe to say that your church would not be able to function week-to-week without a strong group of volunteers.

As I have considered the state of volunteerism in our churches, I began to wonder if it is really accomplishing what we intend for it to accomplish? Allow me to explain. Every week, in most churches, a plea goes out from the pulpit asking for help. Usually, the help needed is in the area of children’s ministry. Here is the question that haunts me. Why? Why do we ask people in the church to volunteer? One of two reasons comes to mind.

1.    We need help and want someone to fill a position, long-term or short-term.
2.    We want to give people the opportunity to grow in their faith and experience the fullness of Christ through being a servant.

While I believe we would all admit that the second option is the best. The goal of every church should be to grow those who attend into fully devoted followers of Christ. Yet, is that really what happens?

Let me make a few assumptions. We all attest in the giftedness of believers. We all understand that the church is to help our people discover how God has created them to serve. We all believe that becoming a servant is crucial to the Christian life. But is serving the pinnacle of our calling as Christians?

When we ask people in the church to become volunteers, are we asking them to serve the church or serve God? I think this is an important distinction. You may think believe they are doing both at the same time, serving God by serving the church. I'm not sure this is true.

Often is the case that our volunteers are simply used to serve the church and help it's ministries function. That is not a bad thing, but is serving the church, the concept our people should have? Will it help us to create fully develop followers? It is a means, but not the end.

Let me explain before I am crucified or burned at the stake. Matt 28:18-19 calls us to go to the world. We are all called o be missionaries to a dying, sinful humanity. This calling isn’t just for those in the pulpit, but for every follower of Jesus Christ. "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5

If that is the case, our calling, as leaders, is to call our people to become missionaries, not volunteers. You may think; "That is just splitting hairs." But is it? Our use of language can be profound. Helping Christ-followers understand that the high calling of the Christian life is to become missionaries in their culture encompasses volunteerism. (That doesn’t work the other way around. Being a “volunteer” doesn’t mean being a missionary)

Bottom line: Our use of language is important. We need to call people to volunteer in the church, but within the framework of being a missionary in their community. Calling Christ-followers missionaries has much more meaning than calling them volunteers. Any organization can have volunteers. The church has missionaries. It may be a small change, but I believe small changes can make big differences. A change of language can release our people to become more than mere volunteers, serving the church. Rather, they become missionaries, serving their community.

Posted 8/18/2009 in Stephen Gray | 1 Comment - Add Comment

The Power of Ten

August 14, 2009

Our national event, the Missions & Ministry Summit, was a tremendous success. Wednesday night, July 29th, I was given a brief opportunity to share my thoughts and cast cision for what I believe God would do 2010 through National Missions.

Like any good pastor, I had spent weeks praying, and dreaming about what I might say before  those who attended the M&M Summit. I was fairly confident of what I might say Wednesday night until God interrupted me and laid an enormous vision on my heart. Sunday morning, the day before our event, God woke me out of a deep sleep with a HUGE vision for National Missions. This vision is so big that if it is  accomplished, God will have to show up in a big way. I have to admit, I am both excited and frightened by what God laid on my heart.

Over the last three years National Missions has celebrated the birth of 53 new churches from Florida to California, and even in the heart of Missouri. Exciting isn't it! However, more amazing than the addition of 53 new churches is the fact that new churches have reported over 4,500 first-time conversions in the last three years. (365 of these conversion have come in the last 6 months). GOD IS MOVING and it is an exciting time to be a Christ-follower.

Here is what excites me and frightens me. Imagine what might happen over the next year, by 10/10/10, if we really got serious.

Imagine the life-change we could celebrate! “The Power of Ten” is what God laid on my heart Sunday morning. It looks like this.
 
10 New church planters assessed
10 New fast-growing church Plants launched
10 New church adoptions
10 New General Baptist churches involved in helping to plant a church
10 New Unified Giving General Baptist churches
10 New cities reached with Gospel of Jesus Christ
10 New States with a General Baptist church

10,000 General Baptists praying 10 minutes a day for National Missions
10,000 General Baptists giving $10 a month until 10/10/10

All of this culminates in the celebration of 10,000 CONVERSIONS. (It has taken 3 years to get to 4,500. Imagine how exciting it would be to celebrate the 10,000 mark by 10/10/10!)

This is a big vision and well beyond human means to accomplish. (Or at least my abilities)

You have an opportunity to be a part of this great vision! Take The Power of Ten Challenge. Be one of the 10,000 people who will be praying for National Missions 10 minutes a day as well as giving $10 a month until 10/10/10.

You don't have to be a General Baptist to take this Challenge! Please consider THE POWER OF TEN.

If you would like to sign up CLICK HERE.

Posted 8/14/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Go After Men

August 6, 2009

It has been a while since I wrote a new blog. I have spent the last month traveling far too much. April 21-24 I attended and spoke, at the invite of Ed Stetzer, at Exponential 08. Exponential is a national conference designed with the church planter in mind. The seminars covered everything from "Nuts and Bolts" of church planting to the "Organic Church" movement. I highly recommend this conference to anyone interested in church planting. Next year's conference will have an international flavor to it as they look to understand church planting movements across the globe.

So, while I sit in the airport in Tampa Bay waiting for my flight home I thought I might share a few facts I discovered while reading The American Church in Crisis by David T. Olsen. This is a must read book for anyone in the church. If Olsen is right, and the church continues on its path without a fresh vision, and drive for planting strong, healthy new churches we are in serious trouble. Planting new churches is the only way to revitalize our declining church base and begin a revival in the U.S.

One striking statistic Olsen shared blew me away! The stat is so shocking I think it needs some serious attention and should spark numerous conversations about how we plant churches. Olsen reports on page 89;

          "A Study in 2000 from Switzerland provides insight on the importance on male attendance on the religious development of children in the country. 'In summary, if a father does not go to church, no matter how regular the mother is in her religious practice, only one child in fifty becomes a regular church attendee. But if the father attends regularly, then regardless of the practice of the mother, at least one child in three will become a regular church attendee.'" 

Even though that research was done in Switzerland, I believe that it will hold fairly true in the U.S. as well. The disparity between "one in fifty" and "one in three" is huge! Just stop and think about those numbers for a while. That should cause us o consider how we are designing our church plants. From the color of the curtains to the use of PowerPoint backgrounds, we need to target the men. If we are honest, much of what we do appeals more to women. While we need and are thankful for those women who have faithfully served our churches over the decades, we must reach the men. I heard Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle share on a video The Good Soldier, if want to win the war, you have to win the men.

Steve Gallimore, pastor of Tennessee Valley Community Church, recognized this need several years ago and launched a NASCAR series. The church was located in an old car dealership and the stage and worship room was completely set up for this theme. The stage had a set of gummy tires from a racing car and when the service started the speaker roared with the sound of squealing tires and smoke machine added a sense of realism to the burnout. While many may find that kind of service sacriligious God used this series to bring hundreds of men into a saving knowledge of Christ and kept them active in the church.

Paul tells us to "become all things to all men". What does that mean? It means, in simplistic terms, we must use the

Posted 8/6/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Life in the margin

August 5, 2009

  Over the last few days I have been engrossed in a book called Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson.

Dr. Swenson starts the book by sharing how progress, which was suppose to give us more time to do the things we want, has actually robbed us of proper margins in our life. The technology that was suppose to take our work and simplify it, has actually served to help us live marginless lives that are destroying our relationships, emotions, finances and spiritual selves.

As I was reading this book I kept thinking to myself, "This is a really good book for church planters to read." Church planters live outside the margin most of their life. Planting a new church is a call, in many ways to live outside proper margins. We race around setting up meetings, organizing marketing campaigns, setting up gyms, theaters and cafeterias, only to tear it down again. Often the week becomes a blur and planters get burned out while running on the hamster wheel.

Interestingly enough, I find myself on the same wheel. Traveling from state to state, working with multiple planters, staff members, lay people and board members. How easy it is to get trapped in the vicious cycle of performance. If you are a Type-A, you struggle with this more than most.

What is the answer? Slowing down and creating proper boundaries in life. Remembering that God's call to us is primarily to be in relationship with Him and then with the family he gave us. Neglecting these areas of our lives was not God's intended purpose when he called us and yet I see the train wrecks many planters make of these two relationships.

Here is a plain and simple statement: The best gift you can give your congregation and staff is a healthy emotional, spiritual and relational you. If you can keep that in perspective, God will do the rest. Don't fall into the trap of losing the margins in your life. Busyness does not equal effectiveness.

Posted 8/5/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Top 12 Church Innovations

July 22, 2009

I have spent the last few days in Dallas, TX. at the Ideation Conference hosted by Leadership Network. Sixty of the top church dreamers and innovators were invited to come and be a part of this conference. Several of those present were from across the pond. (England, Germany, Denmark, Australia). It was an awesome experience hanging around with people who have a passion for, and love the church.

On the opening day each of us were asked to present our idea in one minute or less. (It’s harder than you think. Give it a try sometime!) Afterwards John Handy, Matel toy designer and Founder & President of Red Stilts, shared with us the 3i’s of innovation. (Inspiration, Ideation, Implementation.) John helped the group learn how to focus their ideas and create a compelling one minute  “Elevator Pitch” that would attract attention.

On Tuesday night everyone was asked to video tape their presentation, which would be viewed and voted on by the group. The following list is the top 12 innovations recognized by the group.

In alphabetical order:   

1% More – Jenni Catron – Crosspointe Church
2 X 2 Church Planting – Troy McMahon – Restore Community Church
Story Suite – Bryan Gaffney – Brooklyn, NY
City Serve – Reggie McNeal – Leadership Network
Commentary – Steve Lutz – State College, PA
Connection Engine – Boyd Pelley – Arlington, TX.
Externally Focused Church Planting – David Mills – Compassion By Design
Gospel Church Plants (Europe) – Peter Dyhr – Leadership Network
Legacy Churches – Stephen Gray – National Missions
Network Micro Churches – Andrew Conrad – Church of the Resurrection
On-line Leadership Training – Mac Lake – Seacoast Church
Re-Start Churches – Warren Bird – Leadership Network

You will be able to view videos of these ideas at the Leadership Network website.

Posted 7/22/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Doing Proper Follow-up.

July 21, 2009

Having  a good follow-up/assimilation strategy in place prior to your launch, is one of the most significant and important jobs to tackle. Yet, in all the church planting books on the market few, if any, address this enormous task. Failure to have this system in place will kill your momentum. Too often church planters allow their pride to get in the way of creating proper measures to re-invite first-time guests. What do we mean by that? Let’s just call it the “Field of Dreams” syndrome: “If I build it, and put the best of everything in place, everyone will flock to my doors.” Every planter feels that his or her church is the best thing in the world. Their band is second-to-none, the children’s ministry is the best thing since sliced bread, and their preaching skills, well, enough said. That kind of self-confidence is both a blessing and a curse. The very characteristic that drives them to launch a new work can also blind-side them and cause them to be so over-confident, they don’t follow-up properly.

Understand that people don’t come through your doors be accident. Everyone who comes to your church was drawn there by the power of the Christ. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…”  Everyone who comes into the doors of your church is dealing with something. They are carrying baggage and searching for answers. First-time guests are “extraordinary gifts full of unparalleled potential”  and Jesus has led them to you so make the “most of every opportunity”  and think strategically.

How important is follow-up for the first-time guest? “A church must keep about 16 percent of its first-time guest to experience a minimal growth rate of 5 percent each year. Rapidly growing churches keep between 25 and 30 percent of their first-time guests. Declining churches keep only about 5 to 8 percent of their first-time guests…A church keeps about 85 percent of its guests who comeback for a second visit the week after their first visit.”   Let that sink in a minute. Your new church needs to keep at least 16 percent of your guest to experience a slow and steady growth rate. The better you do at follow-up, the greater potential you have for retaining that first-timer. If by some chance you are able to bring them back for a second week, you will have an 85 percent chance of incorporating them into the body of the church.

Posted 7/21/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Breaking 200

July 11, 2009

A church plant is a lot like a boulder on a barren mountainside. You’ve seen this same rock in many adventure movies. Perhaps you’ve seen two nondescript cowboys desperately prying it loose, and then watching it fall. It quickly picks up speed, knocking other smaller rocks loose. Rocks smash against other rocks, breaking them from their resting places. All at once, a clamorous noise ensues, dust rises, and suddenly the entire mountainside is alive with the violent motion of falling boulders and debris. This landslide is what the cowboys were hoping for, and they whoop and holler at their success. A successful church plant is a lot like this scene.

In a 2006 study on fast growing church plants, I focused on church plants that, like a rolling boulder, generated enough momentum to reach an average weekly attendance of 200 within the first three years of public launch. I could have used any number, but conventional wisdom among most church growth experts is that this barrier is a significant momentum shifter in the life of a church. Steve Sjogren, an expert among church planters, writes, “With fewer than 200 people, a church will need to fight just to stay alive. With fewer than that number of people, you will not have hit your stride. It is inevitable that your attention will be focused upon trying to maintain the basics of church survival.” According to  Peter C. Wagner, a church plant should “expect to pass through the 200 barrier within about twelve months after going public. If you are not through it in two years, something is going wrong and your chances of ever doing it are greatly diminished.” A church plant that hits this mark quickly will be thrust forward with momentum and will have a greater possibility of retaining a growth pattern.

So, just how quickly should a church plant expect to reach 200? Some say it should happen in the first year, others believe you should reach it within the first 18 months. What I discovered was that both times are valid, but the “magic” cut-off time, if you can call it that, was closer to twenty-four months.

According to the data, 77 percent of the fast-growing church plants involved in this study reached an average weekly attendance of 200 by the twenty-four month mark. Only 23 percent of these fast-growing churches broke the 200 barrier after that time. It is statistically significant to understand that if a church plant has not broken this barrier within the first two years, it is unlikely that it ever will.

 
The graph above shows that only 15 percent of these fast-growing plants reached 200 within the first six months, 20 percent reached 200 by the end of the first year, an additional 15 percent reached 200 by the end of eighteen months. This bears revealing because it is widely believed, among some in the church planting world is if a church plant doesn’t reach 200 within the first eighteen months, it probably never will. Statistically, only 50 percent of these plants reached 200 within that time frame.

The highest grouping, percentage wise, was between months 19 to 24. A total of 27 percent of these church plants reached 200 within this time frame. Combining the percentages so far reveals that somewhere between 10 to 24 months is the real cut off point. If a church plant does not reach and go over 200 within the first two years, they have only a 23 percent chance of doing so.

Momentum is a major issue that either works for or against the church plant. If all goes well, a small, excited group will reach out to their neighbors and invite them to join their new church. Then these will invite their neighbors, and so on. Hopefully a spiritual avalanche will gather force and momentum. But unlike the movie avalanche and more realistic

Posted 7/11/2009 in Church Planting | 3 Comments - Add Comment

The Church's Task

July 9, 2009

As I was doing my devotions this morning I read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. What an amazing story! Just imagine the look on the faces of those who witnessed this miracle. I wonder what I would have thought if I were there? The response of the crowd was mixed. Some hated Jesus and other became believers on the spot.

In the midst of this story is a strange happening that occupied my attention all morning.
“When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go." …John 11:43-44

Here’s the deal. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he was still bound by his grave clothes. Interesting isn’t it? Jesus raised this man to life and yet asked his friends and family to help set him free.

Too often when we lead someone into a relationship with Jesus, we think that we have completed the task. I hear many churches brag about how many individuals they led to Christ over the last year. My question to them is always, “Great. Now how many of them are still in the church and how many have truly experienced life-transformation?”

Our tendency is to believe that we are called to preach the gospel, lead people to Christ and then let God do the rest. But nothing could be further from the truth. God has birthed this thing called the Church to be a life-transforming organism helping to lose the bonds of sin from the lives of Christ-followers.

The Church’s purpose is to continue the work of Jesus as prophesied in Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…”

The church is to behave as the friends of Lazarus. Once Jesus raises them to new life, we are to rush in and begin to help set them free from those things that “so easily entangle” them in sin. We can help them “confess their sins to one another, in order that they might be healed.”

Posted 7/9/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Muslim Growth

June 18, 2009

Not much of a blog today. I simply want to share a video with you. A friend showed me this the other day and I haven't been able to get it off my mind. My only thought is that we meed to find a few good men from the middle east to plant a few fast-growing churches here in the states. Use them as training posts to send planters across seas to evangelize the Muslim population.

Posted 6/18/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Leadership In A New Church

June 16, 2009

Companies are notorious for hiring based on skill and firing based on fit. The Church is no exception. Leadership is one of the most important aspects in the life of a church plant. Make one mistake and it can cost you momentum, money and credibility. Find the right leader and your ministry can take off in ways you never imagined. When it comes to the issue of leadership in a new church, few things compare to its potential. Every veteran church planter can tell horror stories about leaders-gone-wild. So, if you are feeling the pressure of finding the right person to help you with your new church, or if you are in the midst of one of those personal horror stories right now, take heart, you are in good company.

Conflict will occur in your church plant. No matter how good or careful you may be, you will have conflict arise within your leadership. And when it happens, the first thing ‘wrong’ leaders do is leave the church to go elsewhere. How does a church planter respond?  Part of you wants to celebrate and another part of you wants to meet him/her in a dark alley.  

Until you have planted a church and understand the difficult balance of reaching out to the lost and paying bills coupled with the negative ‘hit’ that occurs when faithful leaders, servants and tithers leave the church, you cannot understand.  No matter the reason, most planters cannot help but have some question as to the impact of anyone’s departure from their church. But don’t forget that this is God’s work. Embrace the change and move with it. Whatever you do, don’t compromise or spend valuable time chasing leaders like this. You have enough on your plate. Keep this mantra in mind, “Move with the movers and love the rest.”

If you don't stay flexible and move with the movers, the movers will get moving and you will be left with a church of whinners who are focused more on themsleves and their own needs than they are the mission of the church.

The old adage remains true when dealing with leadership in the church. "Hire slowly, fire quickly!" That even counts for your volunteers. Can you fire a volunteer? Why not? Creating a strong leadership base is the planter's responsibility. Don't take it lightly.

Posted 6/16/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Dangerous Church

June 8, 2009

I enjoyed the opportunity to preach at Fellowship General Baptist Church Sunday May 31st. About four years ago Craig Groeschel preached a message to his church called "Dangerous Church." I was so impressed, and personally impacted by the message that I decide to use it as the framework for this opportunity.

Think on this: No movement of God, throughout history, was ever safe, predictable or comfortable. Rather, it was messy, unpredictable and dangerous.

Two thousand years later,however, the church has grown predictable, comfortable and safe. Many churches have simply fallen asleep and slipped into a coma. Many in our churches are Christians in name only. We now live in a country that holds to a civilized form of Christianity. "Having the form...but denying the power." 

In fact, we have grown accustom to a culture of safety. We show up sing a few songs, shake a few hands and go home. But this is not God’s design for the church. He has called us to be dangerous for His sake and His kingdom.

I am thankful for the opportunity I had to share God's word with the people of Fellowship General Baptist Church. At the end of each service several people raised their hand to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  I hope you enjoy.

Posted 6/8/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

What Unifies Us?

June 4, 2009

Here is a statement you can take to the bank, "Your opinion will never change anyone's heart!" The scripture doesn't say, "You shall know Steve's opinion and that opinion will set you free." :) Rather, it says, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." We operate far too often on opinions and personal tastes when it comes to "doing" church.

Here is an idea. What if we stopped telling each other, and God, how WE do church and ask HIM how do YOU want us to do it? Crazy idea isn't it? Grin:)

I dare say little would come from Jesus about what version of the scripture to use, (although he preferred Hebrew and Greek), He would probably have little concern with what kind of music we played or the style of worship we employed. (However, Psalm 150 gives us instructions about a fairly loud and exuberant form of worship, whatever that means.)

I believe Jesus main concern would be for the integrity of the Word and the message it carried. Too many things divide us, and Satan laughs with glee. If we were to put half the passion we have for fighting one another into the cause of Christ, we would be winning the battle in the U.S.

It is the CAUSE of Christ that unites us as Christian's not the peripheries.

Posted 6/4/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

A Game Changer

May 21, 2009

Ok, I admit, I am a fan of American Idol. The Bible says confession is good for the soul. So, there it is out in the open.

    As I watched the finale with my family last night I found myself paying more attention to who was in the crowd rather than those on the stage. Every time the cameraman panned through the crowd, you would see music artists from past Idol shows. I was amazed at how many of them, even though they didn’t win, had become music stars. After the fourth or fifth time they showed past contestants I realized that American Idol had become a game-changer in the American music industry. I wonder what the industries landscape might look like 10 years from now as American Idol continues to rake in the best and brightest musical talent from across the U.S.? It could be that the vast majority of those cutting albums will have been connected to the show.

    I wonder what might be a game-changer for the American Church? What event, concept, or idea might have such an enormous impact on the movement of the church that years from now we look back and realize that the landscape of the church was radically altered by that idea? Let me suggest to you that the Legacy Churches concept could be that game-changing idea.

    What if for every 1 church that closed in America, 2 could be planted? Wouldn’t that be a game changer? Every year around 4,000 churches close their doors. (Frankly, some don’t close that should. Some churches simply need to die.)  On the other hand only about 2,500 to 3,000 new churches are started every year. We are losing the battle across our nation.

    Imagine what might happen if we were to take the resources and assets from these 4,000 closing churches and use them to plant healthy, fast-growing new churches. How many might we be able to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? We might even see the start of another Great Awakening. Just so you know how significant these resources might be, if every closing church had an asset or property value of $25,000, (this is an extreme low-ball) that would mean the potential of 100 million a year that could be used for church planting. That, is what I call a game changer!

Posted 5/21/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Recession Has Had ittle Effect On American's Religiosity

May 19, 2009

According to a recent poll from Gallup. The current economic crisis has had little effect on the American’s need for religion. Despite the difficulties facing our nation, there has been no evident change over the past 15 months in either Americans' self-reported church attendance or the importance of religion in their daily lives. Forty-two percent on average have reported attending church every week or nearly every week during that time, and 65% have reported that religion is important in their daily lives.  Read more…

Posted 5/19/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Leading In Financially Difficult Times

May 13, 2009

I would like to do something different for this blog. Let's use this a learning environment.

Instead of writing about the difficulties facing our churches, I would like to hear from you. Has the financial downturn affected your church/church ministries? If so, how? What have you done, and what has worked for you as you have coped?

Posted 5/13/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Are You A Jonah?

May 7, 2009

As I sat in Bible study last night I was struck by the similarities between the story of Jonah and many of our current battles among church methodologies, styles and ideologies. Let me explain.

Jonah was called of God to "GO" to Nineveh. He wasn’t asked to stay and wait hoping some of them might find their way to the temple. Jonah was asked to pack up his things, and go to the sinful and vile center of the Assyrian empire. He was asked to go into the midst of their culture to meet them where they lived and share with them the word of God. The Ninevites were a vile, nasty and vicious people. They didn’t care about the God of the Israelites. They had little empathy for the suffering of those they conquered. Yet God called Jonah to go and share His word with them.

Chapter four is where the story get interesting. After preaching to them, much to Jonah’s dissatisfaction, Nineveh repented and God spared the city. Jonah was furious with God. Imagine that; furious with God because he had mercy on sinners. Jonah said, “I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to become angry, rich in faithful love, and one who from sending disaster.” I don’t know about you, but I would hate to be recorded for all of history as one who was angry with God because he was merciful to sinners.

Later on that day, Jonah sits on a hillside and waits to see if God will destroy them anyway. I think Jonah secretly wanted God to pull back from being merciful. As the story continues, God provides a plant to shade Jonah and then later takes it way. Jonah becomes so miserable, he asks God to kill him. What a baby! But this event gives us a glimpse into the heart of Jonah and his motivations.

Jonah is selfish. Bottom line, Jonah is more concerned with his own comfort, than with the salvation of the Ninevites. God says to Jonah, “Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”(NLT)

Here is the question for us to ponder. Have we become a religious culture more concerned for our own comfort than for the millions of people living in spiritual darkness? Do we complain and fight for methodologies, styles, and ideologies that are built around our own selfishness whims and desires while many die and spend an eternity separated from God?

Do not misunderstand me. I am not advocating for one methodology or style over another. My question goes deeper than that. God has called us to “GO” to those who need his word, meet them on their turf, in their culture and call them to repentance. But like Jonah, many of us run from this calling.

Posted 5/7/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

The Granola Factor

April 28, 2009

Church plants attract all kinds of people from every walk of life. Many times they also attract every freakish, nut-job in the community. That is the nature of the beast. These fanatics will come into your church with all kinds of presuppositions about how a church should be governed, what it should be believe and how attendees should dress. Some will want to argue end-times eschatology. Others will tell you that any music played in a minor key is of the devil. You may even have some fruitcakes come into your church who want you to trim your mustache to a certain length or wear white, long-sleeved shirts like Jesus. While many will come in your doors to experience something new and exciting, make no mistake, others will come in with personal agendas seeking to impose their will on you.

Jesus dealt with people like this all the time. The Pharisees wanted him to perform only the miracles and signs they insisted were proper. Jesus was never to perform any miracle on the Sabbath and he and his disciples had to wash themselves in the prescribed manner. Some of Jesus’ followers didn’t want him to talk about hard issues like eating flesh or drinking blood. Even, Peter himself tried to hijack Jesus’ agenda by trying to convince him that dying on a cross was foolish talk.

What do you do with people like this? You use them to fulfill the work of God’s kingdom. Building critical mass is the challenge of every church planter. It is imperative that a planter builds momentum as quickly as they can. That means you can not be too picky! I heard Andy Stanley once say that momentum is caused by the concepts of something being new, improved or improving. That is why church plants are so successful in the very beginning. No doubt, in every new church plant, there will be people who show up, get involved, begin to give and then show their true colors. But you need them to build what God has called you to build.

A new church plant will need everyone it can to join in on the fun.  Basically, when we started, if you had a pulse, we could use you.  We are not talking about providing care for our children but just about everything else was fair game.  We connected with and included many people in ministry that we would probably not put into ministry at this stage of the game.  We would even ask people to just show up and fill a pew.  Those first weeks and months are so important from an energy and momentum standpoint.  The more people involved, the more energy in the service.  When new people would show up, they observed all this scaffolding and thought, “There must be something going on here.”

Some of those new people will ‘stick.’  They will see the ministry going on, resonate with it, and join you in serving in the new plant.  But it can get kind of tricky trying to see through their ‘offer to help.’  On the one hand, some are genuinely looking for a place to serve and help.  Others may have a personal agenda or less than true motives.  Judging someone’s motives and intentions is a difficult and dangerous endeavor, but you must try to evaluate everyone who gets involved in the church. Trust your gut instinct, it is often right.
Some scaffolding needs to be removed as quickly as possible.  In fact, you want to try and indentify bad scaffolding before it goes up.  That way, you will not have to take it down in the middle of construction.  Never feel bad about asking freaks, fanatics and fruitcakes to leave. You cannot effectively build a church with poor scaffolding.

Many times, these freakish people want to serve but only on their terms.  Many come from a ‘congregational’ governance background. Others have a bad experience in a previous church, and want to make this new church to fit their liking.  They want to serve the church but they hav

Posted 4/28/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Church Planting and the Great Co-Mission

April 19, 2009

Throughout his ministry, Jesus exemplified the importance of evangelism. He spoke boldly and truthfully of the Father wherever he traveled. As his time on earth came to a close, he laid out the next phase of his ministry. The Great Co-mission, in Matthew 28:19, was his call to the Church to participate in the practice of evangelism: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Just before his ascension, Jesus reiterated these words. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV). The Great Co-mission was to be understood as a call to start new communities of believers wherever the disciples traveled.   

Any serious reader of the Bible will quickly see that “God’s nature is at the root of mission. The living God portrayed in the Bible is a sending God. He sends because of his love for the world.” The Church is called to be the living expression of the kingdom of God on this earth. It is to reach out to the lost with the truth and reality of the Gospel. It is to form loving, nurturing communities of new believers. In so doing, the Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, should heal the spiritually sick. The Great Co-mission is not a new calling to God’s people. It goes back to the era of Genesis where God gave a very similar commission to Abram: “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you  I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing  I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  (Gen  12:1-3)

This call to Abram shows God’s desire for Israel to become a movement that would touch the entire world, not merely a regional organization. God’s desire was to bless “all the peoples on the earth” through Abram. God’s design for the future of Abram’s race is one that was intended to transcend the socio-economic and ethnic borders of Israel. Abram’s obedience to God, after many generations, transforms itself into a nation of Israelites. This same obedience, taken on by Jesus’ disciples, will again transform itself into today’s Christian. God intended from the beginning—his call to Abram—for his Spirit to flow out of that nation into every nation on the earth. Israel, the nation that grew out of Abram’s lineage, was to be the prototype of the Church. Genesis 12:1-3 stands as the foundation upon which the Great Co-mission rests.

According to the New Testament, God’s children are no longer confined or defined by blood, or lineage to Abram   Rather, true Israelites are understood to be those who received adoption into the family through the blood of Jesus. “It is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” (Rom 9:8 NIV).  Those who are followers of Jesus Christ and are a part of his Church are now, through their obedience to the Holy Spirit, transformed into the “children” of Abraham. This classification becomes significant, as followers understand that the Great Commission is a reaffirmation of the original call given to Abraham. The Church, like Israel, is not to become a stand-alone organization, but a life-giving organism that can influence the world.

Church planting is not new to denominational bodies. Church planting is and always has been the “intentional pursuit of lost people” that naturally flows out of the Great Co-mission. As the Church involves itself in this work, it is fulfilling the original call, given to Abram, to be

Posted 4/19/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Fast-Tracking

April 14, 2009

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, putting something on the fast track means “to speed up the process or rapidly advance.”  One of the greatest temptations many planters will face is the desire to launch their church before the proper time. Yet, launching the church prematurely could destroy the church’s potential.

Rarely will the end turn out well if a planter fast-tracks the launch of their new church. Unfortunately, it happens more often than you might think. Why? This what we have experienced as the top three reasons.

1. Pressure
Denominational leaders, district sponsors and even mother churches place unneeded pressure on planters to get a new church off the ground. They have spent thousands of dollars in taking this risk. And many times these leaders or churches have placed their reputations on the line. So, everything must go as projected in order to meet goals, save face and fulfill unrealistic expectations.

2. Pride
    Among church planters, pride is typically a problem. We are not suggesting a sinful pride, rather a sense of strong confidence about their vision, plans and processes. The very confidence that drove them to plant the new church may also get in the way of sage advice. After all, God had given them this vision and laid out the process with such clarity. All the stars seem to be falling in place and the planets were aligning just right. Just kidding, but that is often how they feel, even if they don’t verbalize it. So, forcing this confident, motivated, passionate planter to slow down is like dragging your finger nails on a chalkboard. Flashing a caution light, for many planters, is almost as bad as a bright red stoplight. So, they press on!   

3. Poor Planning
Fast-tracking a church plant is a dangerous idea with potentially devastating consequences. Months, sometimes even years, worth of planning go into starting a new church. No one would ever think of starting a new business in a city without first doing copious amounts of research, market analysis and possibly even hosting a focus group or two. Yet when it comes to the church, we tend to over-spiritualize it, turning a deaf ear to anything that smacks of “good-business” because it just sounds too worldly to us.

One of the strangest stories Jesus ever told is found in Luke 16. Jesus is talking with his disciples and begins to tell a story about a lazy manager who is mismanaging his master’s household. The manager finds out that he is going to get fired and starts to make friends by cutting in half what some business owners owe the master of the house. In effect, he is stealing from the master to ‘make nice’ with some potential future employers. Jesus closes the story out like this;

“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” 

Let’s not get into a big theological debate over this text. Simply look at it and understand that Jesus talked about the use of “worldly” wealth as a way to gain eternal influence. Good business, is God business! Starting a new church is like starting a new business; it takes time and involves a well-planned, flexible strategy.

Posted 4/14/2009 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

The Emerging Church

March 5, 2009

Over the last few years the fight for truth has heated up between fundamental and postmodern thinkers. Those on the side of postmodernism proclaim that the church has lost its power an influence in our culture. Those in the fundamentalist movement accuse leaders of the emerging church movement of syncretism. So what are we too make of this whole debate? Who is right and how can we find balance in the midst of the chaos? Both are right on some level and wrong on another.

Let me suggest a few things for you to consider.

1. Let’s be honest. The church has lost touch with this culture. The latest research from David Olsen reveals that only 17.5% of Americans attend church on any given Sunday. I hope that number causes you to stop and weep. For decades the Church as fallen asleep at the wheel and slowly but surely lost touch with the culture they serve and survive in.

Some in the fundamental camp say, “Well, that is just a sign of the times, that is the way things will be in the end. People will fall away from the truth.” True, the scripture reminds us of that fact several times. My problem is that those who quote that phrase too often use it a way of excusing themselves from fulfilling the great commission by engaging the culture in an appropriate way. “Oh well, that is just the way things are.” What a foolish and lazy perspective. As if God has excused us from trying because we live in a sinful world.

2. Again, being honest. Many in the emerging church movement are way out of line. Theologically liberal, lacking any moral and ethical base, except that which is relative to the situation.  This movement was born out of a frustration at the established Churches in ability to address the culture. I do think the emerging church needs to be heard. While I do not agree with every writer, (some I agree with very little) still they offer the Church the ability to enter into dialogue about being Jesus to the world.

Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger, in their book, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Baker Academic, 2005) define emerging in this way:

"Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. This definition encompasses nine practices. Emerging churches (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, and (3) live highly communal lives. Because of these three activities, they (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities."

    Its hard to speak against these 9 practices. After all, this is what the church should be. The difficulty, as I see it, with the emerging church movement is that it is too young to have any strong bearings yet. Typically this movement is stereotyped by the most liberal leaders in the movement like Chris Seay, Tim Keel, Brian McLaren, and Mark Oestreicher.

I thinks it is important for us to step back away from both sides and take a proper, objective look at both sides. Instead of using fear-mongering tactics to ignite discord among believers, open dialogue and learn how to best reach a sin-sick culture with the Truth of God’s word.

Posted 3/5/2009 in Stephen Gray | 1 Comment - Add Comment

Leaving A Legacy

February 20, 2009

This week my new book, Legacy Churches hit the market. It is my dream that every church would see the value of leaving a legacy when the time comes to close the doors. While no church ever dreams of dying, over the last three decades, thousands of churches have closed their doors. Unfortunately, many of them are nothing more than a vague memory of days gone by. The vision of reachig their community has been lost and their hopes and dreams have been silenced.  Is there a way to carry forward their original vision spreading the Gospel to spiritually needy people even after a church has closed its doors? The answer is, "YES! You can become a Legacy Church!"

Reflect on the words of Gary McIntosh D.Min. Ph.D

Aging has a way of making us look at life from a different perspective than when we were younger. Like many people, in the first half of my life I was concerned about making a living and being successful in my chosen profession. In the second half of my life, however, my thoughts are focused on being significant to others, particularly my own family. In short I am concerned about leaving a legacy to my children and
grandchildren. I want my family to remember me as a person who loves God, loves his family, and loves others.

As the authors point out in Legacy Churches, a similar cycle takes place in churches (or it should). During the first years of a local congregation’s life cycle an emphasis is placed on winning people to Christ, growing the worship attendance, and building a stable ministry program. Unfortunately, after a church becomes stable, it tends to travel a predicable life cycle that leads naturally to decline and closure. While a few churches are able to avert this natural cycle, eighty-five percent of churches will eventually close. None of us, of course, likes to think about a church closing. Yet, between 4,000 and 8,000 churches do so every year in North America. These churches must look at their life from a different perspective. They must decide how to leave a lasting legacy!

Stephen Gray and Franklin Dumond provide a seasoned, practical, and biblical approach that all churches can follow to leave a lasting legacy for generations to come. I am in one hundred percent agreement
with them that the best way for a declining church to leave a legacy is to fund the starting of new congregations. By assisting in the birth of daughter congregations, an older church leaves a legacy that will live on in the lives of countless individuals and families for eternity. I encourage you to read this book, and then apply its insights. Generations of new believers will be glad you did.

Posted 2/20/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Legacy Churches

January 12, 2009

In just a few weeks, "Legacy Churches" a book authored by Dr. Franklin Dumond and myself, will be released by ChurchSmart. The main thrust of the book deals with helping churches to close with dignity and yet impact the future with greater efficacy. Is that possible? Can the death of a church have a silver lining? Can a dying church give birth to a new movement of God through one final, selfless act? Here is an excerpt from chapter three that will help you to answer that question.

"Since death is an inevitable fact of life, how is the Christ-follower to view death? What is a proper theology of death? The Apostle Paul believed God was able “to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his [Christ’s] power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). Did that refer to life on earth or life beyond the grave? The answer is simple: Yes! God’s power not only gives us life abundantly, but also life eternally. For the Christ-follower, death is not the end; rather, it is just the beginning of something greater. Paul summarized it best: “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). To die, at least for the Christian, is the great adventure all of us wait to experience. The writer of Hebrews penned, “it is appointed for all men to die once” (Heb. 9:27). No one can escape death. It is the great equalizer of all men. And yet, everyone seeks to avoid it.

We live in a culture that promotes a never-ending search for the Fountain of Youth. Thousands of Americans stream to the doctor each year for botox injections, face-lifts and tummy tucks in hopes of beating the odds. Death is viewed, by this culture, as the enemy rather than a glorious end and a new beginning. Unfortunately, this secular view of death has permeated the theology of the Church. Too many congregations have bought into the idea “survival at any cost” as the only faithful road to travel. Has the Church (in our present American culture) lost a meaningful theology of death? The scriptures remind us time and again that for the Christ-follower death will lead to new life. It shouldn’t be odd, therefore, for the Christian to celebrate and appreciate death.

If you really stop to think about it, you may come to the conclusion that sometimes more can be accomplished through death than through continued existence. No one understood this better than Jesus. Through His death, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit came to live in and empower us. Jesus told His disciples, “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” John 16:7). Earlier in Jesus’ discussion about His impending death He told His disciples, “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). Once again Jesus taught that his death would bring about fruit in ways His continued earthly ministry would not.

A few chapters later, Jesus drove the point home. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). Jesus did not see His own death as a failure. It seems fanciful to believe that we could do greater things than the Savior, but through His death and the subsequent sending of the Spirit, the Kingdom of God was propelled across the world. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered, gifted, called, and sent on a co-mission with Jesus.

Likewise, the death of a church does not need to be seen as an end or a failure. Local churches plateau, decline, and die. That’s a fact! David Ols

Posted 1/12/2009 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment