No Uptick in Americans’ Religiosity

I've heard a ton of pastors expressing that a recession might be a really good thing for the American Church. Here's an interesting article on a recent Gallup Pole taken on the topic:

"Despite suggestions that the economic recession might cause religiosity among Americans to increase, 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. These results are based on an analysis of more than 425,000 interviews Gallup has conducted since January 2008."

For the full article click HERE.

Learning from Europe

Several Global Church leaders have challenged American church leaders to keep their eye on and learn from what has happened and is happening in the European Church. Their fear, if we don’t change, that we won’t be far behind.

With that in mind, I’ve tried to educate myself. Along the way, I found the following 2008 article from the Christian Culture Journal. I contemplated whether or not to post all of it, thinking that we might get so distracted with the discussion of discrimination, that we'd miss some of the other significant thoughts on the division of church and the massive decline of professing Christians. Although some of the conclusions feel like a bit of a stretch, I thought I’d share it in its entirety as written. I found it interesting for many reasons.

UN REPORT CALLS FOR DISESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND DUE TO LACK OF BELIEVERS AND OFFENSE TO MUSLIMS

"The divisibility of the Church is the cardinal document of Anglicanism, and its most fundamental heresy." Abbott Chapman (20th cent)

According to a recent study conducted by the U.N., two-thirds of British citizenry claim no religious affiliation. The 23-page report by a special rapporteur of the U.N. claims that the 2001 census which found that nearly 72 per cent of the population is Christian is no longer accurate.

Excerpts from TIMESONLINE: "The report calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England. It says that the role and privileges of the Church do not reflect “the religious demography of the country and the rising proportion of other Christian denominations”.

"The report says that there is an “overall respect for human rights and their value” but it gives warning of discrimination against Muslims.

"Citing research that 80 percent of Muslims in Britain feel that they have been discriminated against, the report singles out the Terrorism Act 2000 for particular criticism. Under the Act police in some areas can stop and search people without having to show reasonable suspicion.

The report’s author also criticizes terms in the Terrorism Act 2006 for being “overly broad and vaguely worded”.

Certainly, if a church is founded upon the notion that Christ's Church can be divided, then this same church therefore becomes subject to division, disestablishment and even elimination itself. The curse of the Reformation may well be the Islamization of Britain.

"And so the stage is set for the chastisement which the prophecies say will be very severe for England." Catholic Prophesy, Yves Dupont.

For the sake of maintaining the article's "integrity", I posted all of it. I don't believe that the Reformation will cause the Islamization of Britain. So please don't read that into why I posted it. And while any bit of discrimination certainly bothers me, my greatest concerns from the article are two fold: (1) The shrinking church and (2) the divided church.

"Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand." Mt 12:25

Tony Morgan - Are you really the leader?

Great post from Tony Morgan on Positional Leadership in the Church Today. Completely worth the read. To read the whole thing click HERE. In the meantime, here's just a glimpse:

The days are behind us for those situations when someone gets out of line and the head-honcho just takes their subordinate out to the woodshed for a reminder of who’s the boss. Leadership is no longer a title on a business card. (Do people still carry those things?)

Leadership looks a lot different these days.

-It doesn’t necessarily reside in the corner office.
-It’s something that’s earned rather than bestowed.
-It rarely tells people what to do, but rather asks how can I serve?
-It can’t be bought, because most people ultimately care very little about the money.
-It’s focused more on the mission than the tasks.
-It’s concerned more about fostering influence instead of wielding power.
-It recognizes the next new idea will come from someone else.
-It doesn’t necessarily require words.

Reality of Legacy

"When it's all said and done, what do you want to be known for?"

That's a great question. One that I'm hearing more and more regularly from men whom I respect. It's one that, if we'll allow it, can really shape how we do things as leaders. I've heard that Ed Stetzer and Mark Driscoll had this conversation. It's rumored that someone had the same conversation with Rob Bell. While I cannot substantiate either conversation, there has always seemed to be this common chasm for Pastors between how we think others perceive us and how we're actually perceived. So when we consider our "legacy" (if you will), or even our "Kingdom" reputation, it's a question certainly worth exploring.

Below are some thoughts I read recently from a minister of 57 years. He was asked the question, "If you had the opportunity to do it again, what would you change?" It's kind of like the same question but from the other perspective. I decided not to give the name of the Pastor, it's really irrelevant to whether or not we should or could identify with his statements. I'd just challenge each of us to let the statements stand on their own. Take 'em or leave 'em.

Question: If you had the opportunity to do it again, what would you change? What would you do differently?

1. First of all, I would do nothing until I had been filled with the Holy Spirit. I would lock myself in with God and not come out until I was absolutely sure that His anointing and empowering were upon me. As a young pastor, I knew nothing about the baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit. That loss was tragic to me and my congregations.

2. I would develop a life-style of prayer that was unrelenting. My "closet" would become more important than my pulpit; my private devotion more prized than my public preaching. My meditation more valued than my ministry. My continuous conversion to Christ and death-of-self would become my greatest pursuit. I would be more concerned about "glowing" than showing.

3. I would zealously commit more Scripture to memory and seek its deepest meaning. I would let the Bible speak for itself rather than listen to others' claims about it.

4. I would seek to love everyone more eagerly, more generously, more obviously.

5. At the same time, I would waste no effort on insincere Christians and "false brethren." While I would cultivate a merciful spirit, I would confront and expose religious tradition, falsehood, abuse, without hesitation. I did not always know to do that. Everyone suffered because of it.

6. I would focus on a "Kingdom" ministry and nothing on denominationalism. In my later years I came to see the hypocrisy of denominational division; it is a delusion for which truth and integrity are needlessly sacrificed. Good men reject each other for the sake of a false, sectarian identity. Being "orthodox" for the sake of protecting myself or others would never again be a consideration. I would become radical for God rather than remain a decoy for the devil.

7. I would more boldly preach against pride, self-centeredness, false piety, and egotism in my church and leaders; instead, I would expect genuine humility, godliness, sincerity, in all who worked with me. I would absolutely stop the "elitist" spirit in deacons, elders, etc. Everyone holding church authority would submit to deliverance ministry and discerning of spirits or not function.

8. I would fight church politics as a deadly disease.

9. I would never again allow church leaders to usurp a God-given vision for the sake of protecting their own appearance and self-esteem.

10. In many ways I was naive; too trusting. I would never do that again; instead, I would base my trust on people's verified integrity and not on my assumptions about them. Were I to repeat my ministry, I would seek to be "wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove." --- But, I would definitely be more wise.

11. I would seize every opportunity to learn from older ministers, to explore their hearts and minds, and learn from their successes and failures. In my youth I traveled with men who preached in the 1800's. I would devour as much information as possible from every stream of church history and intensify my education in those areas that directly benefitted the Kingdom of God.

12. In my personal life, I would more carefully expose everything to the investigation of the Holy Spirit, to Scripture, godly advisors, and my heart-conviction. A God-given ministry is too valuable to be wasted on self-deception, religious hobby-horses, or the previous generation's prejudices. I would want to hear what "the Spirit is saying to the churches" and move forward with that alone.

13. Theologically, I had to escape my Calvinism long enough to quit blaming God's sovereignty for all the negative circumstances in life, exercise the spiritual gifts and authority Jesus gave me, and take full responsibility for my ministerial success or failure. I did not do that soon enough.

Network DNA - Church Planting

While discussing creating Networks of Networks, specifically the merging of the MISSIO and FORGE efforts in America, Alan Hirsch (Author of The Forgotten Ways and ReJesus) shared the following DNA pieces of the existing Network. These are great thoughts for those invested in apprenticeship networking. They might be in a book somewhere, but I've never seen them compiled in this fashion so I thought I'd pass them along.

1. Context is Everything.
• Place interns in context.
• Academy is not the best place to form missional leaders.
• Just as we cannot learn leadership outside of influence of leadership, we can’t learn missional outside of context.

2. Teachers must be Practitioners.
(Reflective practitioners, created ethos)
• Cannot teach what you do not know.
• Lead from the front.
• Beyond Theory.

3. Put Risk into the Equation.
(Becoming a learner instead of expert).
• We only learn what we know in comfort zone.
• Take two steps out of comfort zone.
• They need to feel the potential of failure.

4. Action Reflection Learners.
• Do it, then reflect. Evaluate, critique.
• Assumption is that we will learn as we do.

5. Relational Empowerment
• Coaching with emphasis on relationship

6. Inspiration THEN Information.
• Major on motivation and inspiration.
• Quantifies the information

7. Imagination is a Key Resource.
• Not just pragmatism
• We repeat what we know
• Helping us find our new maps.
• ReImagination is a cultivator for leadership
• “If you can’t imagine it, you can’t do it.”

8. Intellectual Engagement.
• Theology
• Missionaries should be our best thinkers.
• We’ve got to be thinking better.
• Become learners, but also become thinkers.
• High Quality information. Web is a wonderful resource.

Cultivate - Vince Antonucci

I'm hanging out this morning with some of the ELI guys at their Cultivate gathering at Gateway Community Church in Austin Texas. Vince Antonucci just shared some great reminders on "Principles of Programming for People far from God". Vince, who left his mega church post in Virginia to plant a church in Las Vegas, is author of "I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt."

Before I get into the list, let me remind you (as Vince did) that context is everything. We simply can't hear and apply. We have to hear the heart behind the principle and apply in our context. Vince also admitted that these are fairly simple thoughts, but rarely will we find a church that applies all of them.

Also a reminder: This list is primarily about our church POSTURE at our Sunday gatherings (From a creative and intentional level). However, some of the principles can certainly be applied to any environment where we might be evaluating our posture in regard to sharing the Gospel. In fact, thinking about those daily-life moments might help inform how we should shape our weekend efforts (See #3).

Principles of Programming for People far from God

1. Unfolding Arms principle: figuratively and literally. Unchurched are coming already thinking, “I don’t like church, someone told me this is different. Prove it. Quick.”

2. Wear their Shoes principle: Try and get in their head to understand what they are experiencing and thinking when they come to your church.

3. Guest for Dinner principle: Treat visitors at your church like you would treat a guest who came over for diner. The fact that they ARE there might change how we do things (not to get them to come). Some things we won’t change, but we’ll offer the courtesy to explain it. (1 Cor. 14:23)

4. Joe DiMaggio principle: Center fielder for Yankees. Famous for hustling to “weird” degrees.Teammates would job to field, Joe would sprint. Always sprinted to first, even when out, even when walk. Interview: Why? Answer: because I know in every game I play there is some kid who it’s their first time to see me and I want them to see what’s right. In the same way, every Sunday, we know there is at least one new person there. If it’s their first time to come back to church, what is it that you want them to see?

5. Check your influences principle: Who are your influences in shaping your weekend gathering? We all have influences. Most of them come with models. Who are they? Hopefully our main influence is God (Theology). In all those areas that have been left undefined or a-biblical, our influences should be non-churches.

6. Use their Culture principle: (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) Paul speaking at Mars Hill, quotes poets, compliments their religious culture. Use a their culture to break down walls. Purpose is not to change who you are, but to break down walls.

7. Don’t use your Culture principle: Your assumptions will create your crowd. The words you say in your message, between your songs, introductions… Ask yourself the quesiton: What do my words assume? Speak to the chairs. Explain “The Bible Says…” Our service is still for Christians (it’s not Seeker)... yet we still CONSIDER who’s listening. It’s not FOR seekers, but we recognize they are there so we EXPLAIN everything. Communion, Ephesians, offering. (They’re little, but they add up)

8. Authenticity principle: The unchurched and the dechurched are coming in with the questions: Why should I listen to you? Are you anything like me? Do you even know what I’m dealing with? Can you relate? Because I need you to relate for me to relate. So, share who you are. Personal stories: I have a past. I struggle in the present. I have hope in the future.

9. Love principle: Do you really think non-christians think, man I need a really good rock band, need to laugh, etc… I’m gonna get up early and go to church. Those things are important, but they can get it other places. What they can’t get from SNL, at a comedy club, or a concert is LOVE. Instead, they need to know there is a zero percent chance I’m gonna get judged here. All things must flow from this place.

Something New with Missio/Forge

I spent the week in Colorado with some amazing people.

It started on Tuesday with a small gathering of some great leaders talking and dreaming about merging efforts towards an intentional missional church planting effort in America. Involved in the conversation was Todd Wilson (Exponential Network), Hugh Halter and Matt Smay from Missio (Tangible Kingdom), Alan Hirsch (Forge), Lance Ford (Co-founder of Shapevine), Cam Roxbrough (Missional Training Network), Nick Boring (Vision 360), Andrew Taylor and Alley HArding from Church Resource Ministires (CRM), Bob Harrington (Stadia Network), a handful of organic, hybrid, and mega, missional church pastors including guys like Dave Ferguson (Community Christian Church) and Tom Shrader (East Valley). I'm still trying to figure out how I got an invite.

It was a powerful meeting. I think Lance Ford (Shapevine) put it well:

"We are forming a convergence of folks and organizations that include simple church, micro church, megachurch, and just about anyone that wants to move forward missionally. We are not settled exactly on the name or branding yet, but it will be under the banner of either Forge or Missio, with Shapevine providing the online support and training platform. We have been aware for sometime now that there is a need for a more unified effort that highlights training options and gives more support. There is so much great stuff happening out there, and much of it is under the radar. We really want to see a collaborative, peer learning community develop. If you are interested, keep an eye out, we will be providing more information as we develop it. I would really encourage you to attend the Exponential ’09 Conference in Orlando, in April. Shapevine handles the Missional Tracks and we will be sharing about the new network."

To put it briefly, and in Alan Hirsch's own words: “There’s much that can be gained from finding a common ground”. Here's a handful of my favorite "Alan quotes" from the day:

“We’ve been captured by a paradigm... where true innovation is a very rare discovery. In terms of ecclesiology, it’s time. We must find new forms. Based on principles, of course, that are defined by the scriptures.”

“There’s something phenomenal going on.”

“We need to be a network of networks”

“Traditional and contemporary church will appeal to about 40% of America. That’s a very real and important thing. My concern as a missionary is for the other 60%.”

For a little glimpse of the nuts and bolts of what's going on, here are some of the shared distinctives of Missio/Forge:

• Holistic approach to mission
• Action learning approach to missional leadership development
• Culturally appropriate mission methodology in all settings.
• Grassroots movement ethos
• Diversity of approaches and models
• Intentionally networked structure
• Networked cross-denominational structures
• A passionate action-based spirituality
• Creativity, innovation and experimentation in all we do.
• The priority of modeling for leadership and mission
• Coaching and mentoring

To read more about what's going on from Alan Hirsch's BLOG click HERE