Lnis Sampler March 09

Tools f or Innov a t i ve Minis t r y

r eal stories in n o v a t i v e ideas transferrable truths

Endorsements for Confessions of a Reformission Rev: After reading Driscoll’s Confessions, you will never go back to being an inwardly focused church without a mission. —Dan Kimball, author of They Like Jesus but not the Church Driscoll’s Confessions is a necessary read for those who desire to take the unchanging gospel into our ever-changing world. —Darrin Patrick, founding pastor of The Journey

Endorsements for The Multi-site Church Revolution: The multi-site church is not just another passing fad but a revolutionary remaking of the church. is a must-read. —Robert Lewis, Pastor, Fellowship Bible Church If you want to understand the rationale, benefits, and challenges of multi-site, and to see some practical examples of how it works and where it’s heading, The Multi-site Church Revolution is for you. — Larry Osborne, Pastor, North Coast Church

Endorsements for The Big Idea: Every ministry leader and church planter needs to read The Big Idea —Craig Groeschel, author of It The Big Idea is an approach to preaching that is as ancient as the parables of Christ, but it will revolutionize the next generation of preachers. —Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor, National Community Church

Endorsements for Leadership from the Outside: Kevin Harney has a heart for people in ministry. And he writes as one who knows. —John Ortberg, Pastor and Author, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church If Christian leaders will prayerfully absorb Leadership From the Inside Out, I am confident that they will emerge with a fortified soul, more in love with their God, more aware of their own heart, more settled in their calling, and more passionate about loving others. — Gary Thomas, author of Authentic Faith and Sacred Pathways

Endorsements for The Monkey and the Fish: I couldn’t put down The Monkey and the Fish until I finished it all. Dave writes about our global and cultural context that most western Christians are oblivious to . . . but not for long. — Bob Roberts, author, The Multiplying Church In The Monkey and the Fish, Dave Gibbons delivers insight that will challenge your view of our world and the role of the local church. — Tony Morgan, Chief Strategic Officer, The NewSpring Church The Monkey and the Fish is an essential book for Christians and church leaders seeking the answer for how the church should be in the twenty-first century. Dave Gibbons brings us to a whole new level to understand the perspective of Jesus, who is third-culture God. — Namjung Lee, Pastor, Sarang Community Church, Seoul, Korea

Endorsements for Deliberate Simplicity: Dave cuts through all the mess with practical ways to make church natural, simple, & effective. Regardless of the form or stage of your church, Deliberate Simplicity will save you time, money, and misery. — Hugh Halter, Author of The Tangible Kingdom Deliberate Simplicity is a valuable contribution to the move toward lowering the bar on how church is done and raising the bar on what it means to be a follower of Christ. — Neil Cole, author, Organic Church

Endorsements for Servolution: In all my years of exploring the power of leadership, I have learned that the true expression of leadership is found in serving. I have witnessed the incredible story of Dino Rizzo and Healing Place Church and have seen the eternal impact that serving has made on so many lives in their community and throughout the world. Servolution is a must-read for anyone who wants to transform their life and the lives of others simply by choosing to serve with no strings attached. John C. Maxwell Author, Speaker, and Founder of EQUIP “Louisiana is a beautiful state with tremendous resources. But our land and bounty cannot match the magnificence and generosity of our people. I saw it first hand, when the levees broke, and the waters rose. Dino and thousands like him took in the homeless, fed the hungry, and served those in need. The power of love, the power of serving, binds us together as a people and honors the truth of our highest calling.” Bobby Jindal Governor of Louisiana

About the Leadership Network Innovation Series Since 1984, Leadership Network has fostered church innovation and growth by diligently pursuing its far-reaching mission statement: To identify high-capacity Christian leaders, to connect them with other leaders, and to help them multiply their impact. While specific techniques may vary as the church faces new opportunities and challenges, Leadership Network consistently focuses on bringing together entrepreneurial leaders who are pursuing similar ministry initiatives. The resulting peer-to-peer interaction, dialogue, and collaboration — often across denominational lines — helps these leaders better refine their individual strategies and accelerate their own innovations. To further enhance this process, Leadership Network develops and distributes highly targeted ministry tools and resources, including books, DVDs and videotapes, special reports, e-publications, and free downloads. Launched in 2006, the Leadership Network Innovation Series presents case studies and insights from leading practitioners and pioneering churches that are successfully navigating the ever-changing streams of spiritual renewal in modern society. Each book offers real stories, about real leaders, in real churches, doing real ministry. Readers gain honest and thorough analyses, transferable principles, and clear guidance on how to put proven ideas to work in their individual settings. With the assistance of Leadership Network — and the Leadership Network Innovation Series — today’s Christian leaders are energized, equipped, inspired, and enabled to multiply their own dynamic kingdom-building initiatives. And the pace of innovative ministry is growing as never before. For additional information on the mission or activities of Leadership Network, please contact:

800-765-5323  •  www.leadnet.org  •  [email protected]

sampler

r eal stories in n o v a t i v e i d e a s transferrable truths

Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s

Confessions of a Reformission Rev, by Mark Driscoll Chapter Zero

The Multi-site Church Revolution, by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird Chapter One

The Big Idea, by Dave Ferguson, Jon Ferguson and Eric Bramlett Chapter One

Leadership from the Inside Out, by Kevin Harney Chapter Eight

Sticky Church, by Larry Osborne Chapter Four

The Monkey and the Fish, by Dave Gibbons Chapter One

Deliberate Simplicity, by Dave Browning Introduction

Servolution, by Dino Rizzo Chapter Two

This is the story of the birth and growth of Seattle’s innovative Mars Hill Church, one of America’s fastest growing churches located in one of America’s toughest mission fields. It’s also the story of the growth of a pastor, the mistakes he’s made along the way, and God’s grace and work in spite of those mistakes.

Mark Driscoll’s emerging, missional church took a rocky road from its start in a hot, upstairs youth room with gold shag carpet to its current weekly attendance of thousands. With engaging humor, humility, and candor, Driscoll shares the failures, frustrations, and just plain messiness of trying to build a church that is faithful to the gospel of Christ in a highly post-Christian culture. In the telling, he’s not afraid to skewer some sacred cows of traditional, contemporary, and emerging churches. Each chapter discusses not only the hard lessons learned but also the principles and practices that worked and that can inform your church’s ministry, no matter its present size. The book includes discussion questions and appendix resources. “After reading a book like this, you can never go back to being an inwardly focused church without a mission. Even if you disagree with Mark about some of the things he says, you cannot help but be convicted to your core about what it means to have a heart for those who don’t know Jesus.” —DAN KIMBALL, author,The Emerging Church “… will make you laugh, cry, and get mad … school you, shape you, and mold you to have the right kind of priorities to lead the church in today’s messy world.” —ROBERT WEBBER, Northern Seminary

MARK DRISCOLL is considered one of the fifty most influential pastors in America. He is the founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (www.marshillchurch.org), the Paradox Theater, and the Acts 29 Network, which has planted scores of churches. The author of The Radical Reformission, Mark speaks extensively around the country. He lives with his wife and children in Seattle.

RELIGION / Christian Church / Growth

US $16.99/UK £9.99/CAN $21.99

This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.

5 1 6 9 9 EAN

Cover design: Kirk DouPonce, DogEaredDesign.com Cover photo: Thomas James Hurst, The Seattle Times

ISBN-10: 0-310-27016-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27016-4

9

780310 270164

Contents

Acknowledgments

7

Prelude

9

0. Ten Curious Questions

13

1. Jesus, Our Offering Was $137 and I Want to Use It to Buy Bullets

37

0 – 45 People

2. Jesus, If Anyone Else Calls My House, I May Be Seeing You Real Soon

57

45 – 75 People

3. Jesus, Satan Showed Up and I Can’t Find My Cup

73

75 – 150 People

4. Jesus, Could You Please Rapture the Charismaniac Lady Who Brings Her Tambourine to Church?

91

150 – 350 People

5. Jesus, Why Am I Getting Fatter and Meaner?

115

350 – 1,000 People

6. Jesus, Today We Voted to Take a Jackhammer to Your Big Church

139

1,000 – 4,000 People

7. Jesus, We’re Loading Our Squirt Guns to Charge Hell Again

163

4,000 – 10,000 People

Appendix 1 — The Junk Drawer: Answers to Common Questions

188

Appendix 2 — Distinctives of Larger Churches

195

Notes

198

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I was not a Christian when I came to the church. Today I am a pastor.

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Ten Curious Questions

This book is about the hard lessons we have learned at Mars Hill Church in Seattle (www.marshillchurch.org). Writing this book caused me to reflect on our past and subsequently conjured up a horrendous feeling eerily similar to seeing my high school yearbook photo in which I sported a soccer-rocker mullet. Like me, most people prefer not to dwell on past moments of folly, embarrassment, or failure. But the providential hand of a gracious God commonly uses exactly such occasions to shape ministers and their ministries. At each step of the crazy journey God has had us on, we have made mistakes that should have killed us. But God has continually saved us from ourselves and, like the perfect Father that he is, has taught us important lessons. Before we get started, I want to ask you a handful of questions that I continually ask myself to ensure that our church remains faithful to Jesus and his mission in our city. These questions will help provide us a common jargon for understanding one another. They are intended to help clarify your church’s identity, gospel, mission, size, and priorities.

Question 1 Will your Rev. require reformission? In my previous book, The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out without Selling Out, I explained the growing reformation of what it means to be a Christian missionary.1 Missions once solely meant sending American Christians into foreign lands and cultures to live among the people there and to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to 14

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them in a relevant way. But reformission also seeks to determine how Christians and their churches can most effectively be missionaries to their own local cultures. Reformission, therefore, begins with a simple return to Jesus, who, by grace saves us and sends us into reformission. Jesus has called us to (1) the gospel (loving our Lord), (2) the culture (loving our neighbor), and (3) the church (loving our Christian brothers and sisters). One of the causes for the lack of reformission in the American church is that various Christian traditions are prone to faithfulness on only one or two of these counts. Consequently, when we fail to love the Lord, our culture, and our church simultaneously, reformation ceases, leaving one of three holes: the parachurch, liberalism, and fundamentalism. Gospel + Culture – Church = Parachurch

First, some people become so frustrated with the church that they bring the gospel into culture without it. This is referred to as the parachurch and includes evangelistic ministries such as Young Life and Campus Crusade for Christ. The parachurch has a propensity to love the Lord and love its neighbors but not to love the church. Culture + Church – Gospel = Liberalism

Second, some churches are so concerned with being culturally relevant that, though they are deeply involved in the culture, they neglect the gospel. This is classic liberal Christianity. Liberal Christians run the risk of loving their neighbors and their Christian brothers and sisters at the expense of loving their Lord and his gospel. Church + Gospel – Culture = Fundamentalism

Third, some churches are more into their church and its traditions, buildings, and politics than they are the gospel. Though they know the gospel theologically, they rarely take it out of their church. This is classic fundamentalist Christianity, which flourishes most

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widely in more independent-minded, Bible-believing churches. Fundamental Christians are prone to love their Lord and their brothers and sisters but not their neighbors. The only way out of these holes is repentance, which enables reformission. Through repentance, Christians and churches are empowered by the Holy Spirit to simultaneously love the Lord, love their neighbors, and love their Christian brothers and sisters. Gospel + Culture + Church = Reformission

Reformission combines the best aspects of each of these types of Christianity: living in the tension of being culturally liberal yet theologically conservative Christians and churches who are absolutely driven by the gospel of grace to love their Lord, their neighbors, and their fellow Christians. This book is a painfully honest chronological account of our church’s reformission and how it caused us to grow from 0 to 4,000 people in eight years.

Question 2 Will your church be traditional and institutional, contemporary and evangelical, or emerging and missional? For the past one thousand years, the Western church has enjoyed a privileged position in the center of culture, during what was known as Christendom. Because of this, the church also provided a common moral framework and language for our nation. Simple examples would include the frequent biblical allusions in the writings of our founding fathers and, more recently, the deeply biblical imagery in the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. During the era of Christendom, it was generally believed that our national culture was Christian, or at least Judeo-Christian. Consequently, it was the job of the church to make converts for the nation by challenging people to commit themselves to Jesus and live morally. The upside of Christendom was that many people did attend church. The downside was that the church in large part became the servant of morality and the national good. The result

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was a mean-spirited hypocrisy among “Christians” who wrongly believed morality and redemption were synonymous and lived lives more dominated by the American values of pride and selfishness than by the gospel virtues of humility and selflessness. Also, Christendom churches defined themselves in contrast to other competing churches, which often led to unnecessary hostility between Christian traditions that were distinct but not altogether different. The era of Christendom was dominated by the traditional and institutional church, which is marked by the following traits:2

• Missions is solely funding Americans to evangelize in foreign • • • • • • • • • • • •

countries. Culture is where the church expects to occupy a privileged position of influence. The primary culture to reach is modern. Theology is liberalism or fundamentalism, with fighting between the two sides. Churches exist largely to meet the needs of church members. Churches grow through births and attracting people with denominational loyalties. Community means the church is a subculture that is closed to outsiders. Pastors are selected and trained in seminaries, outside of the local church. Pastors are servants and teachers who do most of the church ministry, especially evangelization of the lost. Lost people are not frequently pursued for evangelistic relationships. Faith is private and personal. Worship ser vices are based on tradition (e.g., robes, hymnals, organs, liturgy). Church buildings are considered sacred places (e.g., crosses, stained glass, icons) where people are to dress and act formally.

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As the era of Christendom began to wind down, it became apparent that two things were needed. First, the dwindling remnant of Christendom included many people who attended church but did not know Jesus and needed to be saved. Second, the growing babyboom generation was less likely to attend church and less attracted by tradition or the denominational heritage than their parents had been. The result was the birth of a new form of church, the contemporary and evangelical church, which sought to evangelize the unsaved in the church and to bring other unsaved to the church to be evangelized. Today, the traditional and institutional church is hemorrhaging to death. In 1906, 40 percent of all Sunday worshipers were in mainline denominations.3 By 1999, that number had fallen to only 16 percent of all worshipers because less people were attending church and those who did were choosing the newer form of church.4 The end of Christendom and the transition to a post-Christian culture is currently dominated by the contemporary and evangelical church, which is marked by the following common traits:

• Missions is a church department that sends people and • • • • • • •

money to foreign countries. Culture is where the church battles to regain a lost position of privileged influence. The primary culture to reach was modern and is transitioning to postmodern. Theology is conservative and is built on a modernistic view of truth and knowledge. Churches exist to meet the felt needs of spiritual consumers. Churches grow through marketing that brings people to church events. Community means the church is a safe subculture that welcomes lost people into the church. Pastors need not have formal theological training or ordination.

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• Pastors are CEOs who lead and manage their staff, which is • • • •

responsible for ministry. Lost people are invited to evangelistic church programs that target seekers. Faith is private and personal but is openly shown at church. Worship ser vices are based on styles from the 1980s and 1990s (acoustic guitars, drama, etc.). Church buildings are functional places (e.g., no crosses, no stained glass, no icons) where people can dress and act informally.

With Christendom essentially winding down now in the United States and officially over in Europe, the traditional and institutional church is dying as its market share dries up, and the contemporary and evangelical church is scrambling to adjust to emerging postmodern cultures and generations. A third incarnation of the church is arising, the emerging and missional church, which is marked by the following traits:

• Missions is every Christian being a missionary to their local • • • • • •

culture. The church accepts that it is marginalized in culture and holds no privileged position of influence but gains influence by serving the common good. The primary culture to reach is postmodern and pluralistic. Theology ranges from ancient orthodoxy to heterodox liberalism built on postmodern denials of true truth and known knowledge. Churches are the people who love Jesus and serve his mission in a local culture. Churches grow as Christians bring Jesus to lost people through hospitality. Community means the church is a counterculture with a new kingdom way of life through Jesus.

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• Pastors need not be ordained or formally educated in • • • • •

theology and are trained in the church. Pastors are missiologists who train Christians to be effective missionaries. Lost people are saved by the Holy Spirit when and how he determines. Faith is lived publicly together as the church and includes all of life. Worship ser vices blend ancient forms and current local cultural styles. Church buildings are sacred, as is all of God’s creation.

Because the declining, dominant, and emerging church types each work from a different set of assumptions, it is incredibly important that churches and church leaders determine which church form they will adopt. And to answer this question, they must carefully consider what the people in their local culture are like. For example, a church ministering to modern-thinking retirees would likely have better success with a traditional and institutional church. This explains why Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, with a traditional liturgy, a robed choir, a pipe organ, and the classic oration of preacher Dr. James Kennedy, is flourishing among retirees in Florida. Conversely, a church ministering to suburban baby boomers would likely have better success with a contemporary and evangelical church, such as Willow Creek or Saddleback, and a pastor like Rick Warren or Bill Hybels. And a church ministering to spiritual young creative types would likely have better success with an emerging and missional church and pastor. This book is about our church, Mars Hill, which is an emerging and missional church because that is the most effective church form for reaching the city of Seattle, to which God has called us. I believe that the emerging and missional church will eventually displace the contemporary and evangelical church in much the same way that it displaced the traditional and institutional church. But

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as long as there are varying cultures of people, there will be multiple church forms. The point is not that one of these church forms is good and the others are bad. Rather, one is likely more effective for reaching the people in your local culture than the other forms are. Therefore, those using one church form need not critique the other forms as long as all are faithful to the functions mandated for the church in Scripture. To be effective, churches and their leaders must first evaluate what type of church they presently are. Churches must also evaluate what their culture will look like in the future and how their church can best prepare to reach that emerging culture. They must then become the church that their future culture will need, if they are not already.

Question 3 Will your church be an emergent liberal church or an emerging evangelical church? I was part of what is now known as the Emerging Church Movement in its early days and spent a few years traveling the country to speak to emerging leaders in an effort to help build a missional movement in the United States. The wonderful upside of the emerging church is that it elevates mission in American culture to a high priority, which is a need so urgent that its importance can hardly be overstated. I had to distance myself, however, from one of many streams in the emerging church because of theological differences. Since the late 1990s, this stream has become known as Emergent. The emergent church is part of the Emerging Church Movement but does not embrace the dominant ideology of the movement. Rather, the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism. The only difference is that the old liberalism accommodated modernity and the new liberalism accommodates postmodernity.

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During dinner one evening with a friend, Dan Kimball, who wrote The Emerging Church, I was struck by his distinction between the emergent church and the emerging church.5 There has been much confusion on this matter, partly due to the similarity in names. The emerging church is a growing, loosely connected movement of primarily young pastors who are glad to see the end of modernity and are seeking to function as missionaries who bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to emerging and postmodern cultures. The emerging church welcomes the tension of holding in one closed hand the unchanging truth of evangelical Christian theology ( Jude 3) and holding in one open hand the many cultural ways of showing and speaking Christian truth as a missionary to America (1 Cor. 9:19 – 23). Since the movement, if it can be called that, is young and is still defining its theological center, I do not want to portray the movement as ideologically unified because I myself swim in the theologically conservative stream of the emerging church. I am particularly concerned, however, with some growing trends among some people: the rejection of Jesus’ death on the cross as a penal substitute for our sins;6 resistance to openly denouncing homosexual acts as sinful;7 the questioning of a literal eternal torment in hell, which is a denial that holds up only until, in an ironic bummer, you die and find yourself in hell;8 the rejection of God’s sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, as if God were a junior-college professor who knows only bits and pieces of trivia;9 the rejection of biblically defined gender roles, thereby contributing to the “mantropy” epidemic among young guys now fretting over the best kind of looffah for their skin type and the number of women in the military dying to save their Bed, Bath and Beyond from terrorist attacks;10 and the rejection of biblical names for God, such as Father, which is essentially apologizing before the unbelieving world for the prayer life of the flamboyantly heterosexual Jesus, who uttered the horrendously politically incorrect “Our Father” without ever having the decency to apologize for being a misogynist patriarchal meanie.11 This is ultimately all the result of a diminished respect for the perfection, authority, and clarity of Scripture, all of

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which was written by patriarchal men. After all, how in the world can we possibly know what anything means after we have a college degree?12 Come to think of it, I’m not even sure what I mean when I say that I’m not sure what Scripture means — know what I mean? For some Emergent leaders, this critique may be as welcome as water on a cat. But I assure you that I speak as one within the Emerging Church Movement who has great love and appreciation for Christian leaders with theological convictions much different from my own. And because the movement has defined itself as a conversation, I would hope there would be room in the conversation for those who disagree, even poke a bit of fun, but earnestly desire to learn from and journey with those also striving to be faithful to God and fruitful in emerging cultures. Standing with my brothers and sisters in our great mission, I hope this book can in some small way help the greater church emerge in biblical faithfulness and missional fruitfulness. Therefore, it is very important that any church seeking to be emerging define whether it is an emerging evangelical church or an emergent liberal church. Our church is emerging and missional in its practice and evangelical and biblical in its theology.

Question 4 Will you proclaim a gospel of forgiveness, fulfillment, or freedom? Traditional, contemporary, and emerging churches also differ in how they present the gospel. The traditional church generally proclaims a gospel of forgiveness. According to the gospel of forgiveness, we have sinned against God and are under his wrath until we ask for his forgiveness and live changed lives of repentance. This gospel worked for people in Christendom because they had a general knowledge of authority, sin, judgment, hell, and Jesus. Though this gospel made sense to most people at one time, this sort of gospel seems judgmental, mean-spirited, naive, and narrowminded to the ever-growing number of people who do not understand the basic tenets of Christianity. Such people do not appreciate

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being pushed to make an immediate decision to reject sin and accept Jesus because they don’t know what sin is or who Jesus is until we have taken the time to inform their understanding, which may take months or years in a friendship. The contemporary church generally proclaims a gospel of fulfillment. This gospel is influenced by the non-Christian psychologist Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs.13 His point is that people move from basic survival needs to higher needs of actualizing their full potential to be and do all that they desire. The problem with Maslow’s theory is simple but significant. He establishes each individual human being as their own god, on their own mission, pursuing their own glory. In this framework, I do not exist for God but rather God exists for me. For example, if the Lord’s Prayer were rewritten according to Maslow’s priorities, it would read “My kingdom come, my will be done, for mine is the kingdom, power, and glory.” The contemporary church’s gospel of fulfillment essentially accepts Maslow’s faulty hierarchy and teaches that God exists to enable each of us to actualize our full potential. So in this therapeutic gospel, you use Jesus to achieve your ends, which can vary from health to wealth to emotional contentment, or whatever personal vision you have for your own glory.14 What hinders the fulfillment of our full potential is not that we are sinners but rather that we don’t love ourselves enough and don’t have enough self-esteem and positive thinking. God exists to worship us, by telling us how loveable we are and how valuable we are. In this gospel, the cross is an echo of my own great worth, since God found me so loveable and so valuable that he was willing to die for me so that I could love myself, believe in myself, and achieve my full glory. The therapeutic gospel is a false gospel and an enemy of mission for many reasons. First, it does not call me to love God and my neighbor, but instead only to love myself. Second, it does not call me to God’s mission but rather calls God to my mission. Third, it does not call me to be part of the church to serve God’s mission, but instead to use the church to make me a better person. Fourth,

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it does not call me to use my spiritual gift(s) to build up the church but rather to actualize my full potential. Fifth, it takes pride, which Augustine called the mother of all sins, and repackages it as selfesteem, the maidservant of all virtue. The emerging church proclaims a gospel of freedom. According to the gospel of freedom, we were made to live in community with God and with each other without the pains of sin and death. But because of our sin, we have wrecked God’s good creation and brought death and havoc into all of life. And though we are selfdestructive, God in his loving-kindness has chosen to save us from ourselves. Our God, Jesus, came to live without sin as our example, die for our sin as our substitute, and rise from death as our Lord who liberates us from Satan, sin, and death. The gospel of freedom says that only through Jesus can we be brought back into friendship with God and with each other, because he takes away the sin that separates us. And only through Jesus can we be brought back into his original intentions for us: worshiping God instead of ourselves, serving the common good, making culture, and through his grace, helping to right what has been made wrong through sin. The Bible is replete with the gospel of freedom, beginning with Moses. Perhaps the most obvious example is found in the story of the Exodus, from which Paul adopts his understanding of redemption to mean being freed by God from slavery to evil.

Question 5 Will your church be attractional, missional, or both? The contemporary church growth movement and its evangelical seeker churches are attraction-based, meaning that the church functions as a purveyor of religious goods and ser vices. Therefore, the primary task of these churches is to bring people from the culture into the church to partake of programming that targets their felt needs.

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Conversely, emerging and missional churches see the church’s primary task as sending Christians out of the church and into the culture to serve as missionaries through relationships, rather than bringing lost people into the church to be served by programming. Pastors of emerging and missional churches routinely criticize the attraction-based model as caring only about bringing more people in to grow a bigger church. And pastors of attraction-based churches commonly defend themselves by stating that their churches are larger than most emerging and missional churches, which they say proves that attraction-based churches are more effectively making disciples as Jesus commanded. The growing criticism between these camps is in large part unnecessary, because they are working for the same goal — the reaching of lost people for Jesus — but simply using different methods, methods that are complimentary, not contradictory. Consequently, churches must both bring people in and send people out and must therefore structure themselves to achieve both objectives. Additionally, we see both attractional and missional ministry methods in the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ incarnation is in itself missional. God the Father sent God the Son into culture on a mission to redeem the elect by the power of God the Ghost. After his resurrection, Jesus also sent his disciples into culture, on a mission to proclaim the success of his mission, and commissioned all Christians to likewise be missionaries to the cultures of the world (e.g., Matt. 28:18 – 20; John 20:21; Acts 1:7 – 8). Emerging and missional Christians have wonderfully rediscovered the significance of Jesus’ incarnational example of being a missionary immersed in a culture. But sadly, they are also prone to overlook the attractional nature of Jesus’ earthly ministry.15 In addition to immersing himself in a culture for a mission, Jesus’ ministry was also marked by the large crowds that were drawn to him because of his preaching and miracles. One important example of the attractional elements of Jesus’ ministry is found in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. A very large

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crowd, numbering thousands of people, came to see Jesus perform miracles and to hear him preach. Jesus appears to be modeling attractional church growth strategies of doing what was needed to gather many people to hear the preaching of the gospel. Jesus then fed the entire crowd by miraculously multiplying a little boy’s lunch, which would only have increased the crowds that thronged to see him. But Jesus then preached that he was the bread of life, which drove many people away from him in confusion and disagreement. We see that Jesus not only gathered a crowd but also intentionally drove many people away because they were not among the elect chosen for salvation ( John 6:37). Some disciples, however, remained with Jesus and continued to be trained as missionaries by Jesus. They were later sent out to follow his pattern of incarnating in a culture, attracting crowds, preaching hard words that harden some hearts and soften others, and then training those who believe to be missionaries who follow Jesus’ principles of attractional and missional ministry. Therefore, the growing hostility between attractional-ministry pastors with larger churches and missional-ministry pastors with smaller churches need not occur. Instead, each needs to learn from the other; each has a vital piece of the truth gleaned from the life of Jesus. Attractional churches need to transform their people from being consumers in the church to being missionaries outside of the church. Missional churches need to gather crowds to their church so that hard words of repentance can be preached in an effort to expose people’s hearts. Those whom God saves can then be trained to go back out into the culture as missionaries to gather more people to repeat the process. Simply, the goal of a church that is both missional and attractional is to continually follow Jesus’ example so that more people are saved for God’s mission and more influence is spread for God’s kingdom, without rejecting one aspect of Jesus’ ministry in favor of another.

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Question 6 What size shoe will your church wear? Churches, like children, have a shoe size that they will grow into. As a church grows, it must accept its size. This can be difficult because people have different ideas of what constitutes “large” and “small.” Additionally, people are prone to attach a moral value to church size. This means that people who prefer a small church will criticize a large church for being too slick and impersonal, and people who prefer a big church will criticize a small church for not experiencing enough conversion growth, diversity of people, or quality of programming. When it comes to church size, a few things are important to remember. First, a church must determine what size they would like to become and start acting like a church of that size if they hope to achieve that goal. Second, a church must accept its size and not allow people to demand that they receive the type of treatment they would receive at a church of whatever size they prefer. An example of this would be the expectation of some people in a large church that the pastor be as accessible as the pastor of a smaller church. Third, for a church to grow, it must also accept that the church will change. The problem with most churches is not that they don’t want to experience conversion growth but rather that they do not want to change, which negates their ability to grow and is a sin to be repented of. Therefore, each church must ask how large they want to be and prepare to work toward that goal. To help determine a reasonable goal, it is helpful to see the various sizes of other churches. However, determining size categories for churches is very difficult. The following is a rough estimate I came up with after reading some books on the subject16 and interviewing John Vaughan of Church Growth Today, who was particularly helpful. No one is exactly sure how many Protestant churches there are in the United States, but the general figures are somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000

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churches.17 So for purposes of a rough estimate, I am assuming that there are 400,000 Protestant churches in the United States. I am also assuming that the reported attendance at these churches is accurate, which is highly questionable since the overreporting of church attendance is estimated by some to be as high as 50 percent.18 Therefore, a rough estimate of weekly church attendance for adults and children in America breaks down as follows: Churches with 45 people or less

100,000 churches, 25% of all churches

Churches with 75 people or less

200,000 churches, 50% of all churches

Churches with 150 people or less

300,000 churches, 75% of all churches

Churches with 350 people or less

380,000 churches, 95% of all churches

Churches with 800 people or less

392,000 churches, 98% of all churches

Churches with 800 people or more

8,000 churches, 2% of all churches

Churches with 2,000 people or more

870 churches, 0.22% of all churches

Churches with 3,000 people or more

425 churches, 0.11% of all churches

Summarily, George Barna says, “Four out of ten church-going adults (41%) go to churches with 100 or fewer adults while about one out of eight church-going adults (12%) can be found in churches of 1000 or more adults.”19 According to church expert Lyle Schaller, the two most comfortable church sizes are 45 people or less and 150 people or less.20 Consequently, these are likely also the hardest size barriers a pastor has to push through. Practically, it seems that churches of 45 people or less are large enough to gather for worship and function as a church but small enough for everyone to know each other and have a say in everything that happens. A congregation of 150 or less can usually gather in one ser vice and exist as one community, yet have the resources to hire a pastor to care for all the people. These factors may help explain why the average church in America is reportedly 89 people.21 Pushing through the 350 barrier can also be very difficult, because it usually requires that the church transition to multiple

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pastors, multiple ser vices, and multiple communities. The following chapters will speak very practically of how we navigated through each of these seasons, from being a church of under 45 people to being a church of over 4,000 people. I acknowledge that some readers may be turned off by my focus on numbers, even though we have a book of the Bible titled the same word. But every number is a person, so numbers do matter because people matter. A megachurch is technically 2,000 or more adults and children in weekly worship.22 The first modern megachurch was led by my favorite Christian outside of the Bible, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, whose church grew to more than 5,000 people in London in the late nineteenth century.23 Perhaps the first megachurch in America was led by the aberrant theologian Charles Finney, who preached to between 2,000 and 3,000 people each week at Chatham Street Chapel in New York City in the late nineteenth century.24 In 1970, there were only 10 non-Catholic megachurches in the United States.25 Today there are more than 1,000 U. S. megachurches, and a new church breaks the 2,000-attendance threshold every 2 days, according to megachurch expert John Vaughan.26 But emerging and missional churches will include more megachurches than ever, and they will be both attractional and missional in their philosophy of ministry. If a church is truly missional, it may become a megachurch for three reasons: (1) the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful and effective, (2) a truly outwardfocused missional church will experience conversion growth, and (3) a truly missional church has such a burning desire for cultural transformation that it must grow large enough to serve a whole city. Mars Hill is one of the first emerging and missional megachurches in the country to target postmodern culture. Schaller notes that most people born after 1965 are used to functioning in much larger institutions (e.g., schools, grocery stores, hardware stores).27 Therefore, younger people generally feel at home in larger churches, which partially explains the popularity of megachurches and the willingness of younger people to drive greater distances to attend a megachurch.

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Schaller’s teaching and our experience at Mars Hill confirms that emerging generations indeed feel more comfortable in larger churches. This information runs contrary to much of the popular teaching today, which asserts that the future of the church will be house churches and smaller church communities. I believe that the megachurch phenomenon is not over but rather just beginning, that the “experts” are simply wrong, and that the future trend will be toward the extremes of very small and very large churches. Nothing is wrong with a small church, providing it hates sin, loves Jesus, serves people, obeys Scripture, and sees transformed lives. However, I find the conversation among numerous young pastors who prefer smaller churches to be theologically troubling. The governing assumption is that the early church, described in Acts, was not a megachurch with systems and structures but simply small groups of Christians hanging out informally in one another’s homes. This position was reinforced in a conversation I had with Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, who wrote the popular and insightful book The Shaping of Things to Come.28 During a lecture they gave in the Seattle area, they stressed this point and referenced the account of Acts 2:42 – 47, in which the early church is described as small, disorganized, and meeting informally in homes. But what they failed to also note is that in those same verses, the early church did meet in a larger gathering in the temple courts. And in Acts 2:41, God added three thousand converts in one day, making the early church an immediate megachurch. Curiously, this was accomplished by a good sermon about Jesus — the very thing that many young pastors decry as a modern act, when it is in fact simply biblical. Additionally, church history confirms that from its earliest days, Christianity was marked by megachurches. As early as AD 323, church buildings were reportedly constructed that could accommodate upwards of 10,000 to 20,000 Christian worshipers at a time.29 Therefore, the existence of larger churches is not a modern phenomenon but is in fact something God has been doing since the days of Pentecost.

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In 1980, the largest church in America was 13,000 people, and in 2003, the largest church was 25,000 people.30 While a church of 25,000 people may seem very large to many, size is indeed relative when you consider the world’s largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church, in Seoul, Korea, which has 763,000 church members.31 Therefore, each church must ask how large they expect to be and labor toward seeing enough conversions to achieve that goal. In setting this goal, a church must be realistic, since not every church can or should be a megachurch. A church should also not seek to limit its conversion growth simply because they wrongly believe that smaller churches are closer to the early church model.

Question 7 Will your church have a mission of community or be a community of mission? The buzzword community is so often bantered about that it is nearly devoid of meaning. But since the church is a community, it is important to define what kind of community the church should be. Without a clear definition of what a missional church community is and does, tragically, community will become the mission of the church. Consequently, the goal of people will be to hang out together in love, like the family they never had. While this is not evil, it is also not sufficient. If taken too far, this can lead to the heresy of participatory redemption, in which the goal is to have authentic friendships and a loving community instead of repentance and personal faith in Jesus Christ as the means of salvation. This error is a very real threat that is overlooked by many young Christian leaders I meet who prefer smaller and more loosely defined neo-church arrangements and socalled new monastic communities, in which being in community sometimes takes priority over being in Christ. In Scripture, we see two prototypical communities: Babel/Babylon and Pentecost. Their similarities and differences are noted below.32

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Ten Curious Questions Babel Community

Pentecost Community

A small city

A large kingdom

Built to house a few people

Built to house many people

•

Marked by walls

Marked by no walls

Intentionally resisted diversity

Intentionally pursued diversity

Avoided hospitality

Practiced hospitality

Gathered a homogenous people

Gathered a heterogeneous people

Made their name great

Made Jesus’ name great

God came down

God came down

God judged their sin

God forgave their sin

God confused their languages

God unified their languages

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The Babylonian version of community is godless affinity. Babylonian community does not aspire to grow except by internal births, does not welcome people who are different, does not practice hospitality, and seeks to remain safe and successful. Community is the only goal for churches who think Babylonian. God’s response to Babylonian community is judgment and scattering, because it is a sin, especially in the church. The Pentecost version of community exists for mission, not for itself. Pentecost community is not held together because people are similar but rather because they are on the same mission with the same Lord. Because of this, Pentecost community is marked by a desire to expand God’s kingdom through the salvation of many diverse people, who are hospitably welcomed to learn about the greatness of Jesus. People who think with a Pentecost mindset do not see the building of community in their church as their mission. Rather, they see their church community as existing solely for God’s mission, and they accept that the only way to have healthy community is to pursue God’s mission of reaching lost people because community is an effect of mission but not an effective mission. God’s response to Pentecost missional community is grace and unity through the Holy Spirit.

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Question 8 Will your leaders work from guilt or conviction? One of the greatest inhibitors of keeping a church on mission is the erroneous spoken and unspoken expectations people have for church leaders and their families. In a missional church, the lead pastor is the architect who builds the ship more than he is the captain who pilots it, the cook who washes dishes in the galley, or the activities director who coordinates the shuffleboard reservations.33 The role of architect is incredibly important because most pastors have been trained how to work on a ship instead of how to build a ship. Having a skilled captain, cook, and activities director is important but does not really matter if the ship can’t float, which means that boat building is the most important job. Likewise, the pastor’s highest task is to plan the building of a church that will float and to allow everyone else to use their talents and gifts to accomplish the overall mission God has for that church. Most pastors, however, work in their boat and not on their boat because often the Christians in a pastor’s church have mastered the art of making him feel guilty and making their needs seem urgent and important, when they rarely are.34 Therefore, leaders of emerging and missional churches must work from the conviction that comes from God and his Word instead of from the guilt that comes from people and their words. Leaders must frequently decide between offending Christ or a Christian, and Ghost-guided biblical conviction alone must determine the duties of church leaders. Otherwise, church leaders will waste their time washing dishes while their church sinks.

Question 9 Do you have the guts to shoot your dogs? Dogs are idiotic ideas, stinky styles, stupid systems, failed facilities, terrible technologies, loser leaders, and pathetic people. Most churches know who and what their dogs are but simply lack the courage to pull the trigger and shoot their dogs. Therefore, it is

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vital to name with brutal candor the people, programs, structures, and ministry philosophies that are dogs needing to be shot. Be sure to make it count and shoot them only once so that they don’t come back and bite you.35

Question 10 Can you wield a sword and a trowel? In the days of Nehemiah, when the Israelites’ mission was to rebuild the wall, Nehemiah had his people carry a trowel in one hand to build and a sword in the other to defend their work. As we build our churches in a culture no less hostile than that of Nehemiah, we too must learn how to both build a missional church and defend it from Satan, demons, and evildoers. In the following chapters, I will be painfully honest about the shots from hell that nearly killed my family and our church. In the next chapter, we’ll start our journey in the hot upstairs youth room of a fundamentalist church.

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Reformission Reflections 1. Do you personally tend toward liberalism, fundamentalism, or reformission? Why? 2. Does your church or ministry tend toward liberalism, fundamentalism, or reformission? Why? 3. Should your church or ministry be traditional, contemporary, or missional? Why? 4. Is your church or ministry better at being attractional or missional? How could improvements be made where it is weak? 5. How large is your church or ministry? How large should it be in the next year, five years, and ten years? 6. Does your church or ministry community exist for the mission of reaching lost people or primarily for itself? 7. Name at least ten dogs in your church or ministry that need to be shot. 8. What does your church or ministry need to be defended from to remain healthy? What can be done to defend it?

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This is the story of the birth and growth of Seattle’s innovative Mars Hill Church, one of America’s fastest growing churches located in one of America’s toughest mission fields. It’s also the story of the growth of a pastor, the mistakes he’s made along the way, and God’s grace and work in spite of those mistakes.

Mark Driscoll’s emerging, missional church took a rocky road from its start in a hot, upstairs youth room with gold shag carpet to its current weekly attendance of thousands. With engaging humor, humility, and candor, Driscoll shares the failures, frustrations, and just plain messiness of trying to build a church that is faithful to the gospel of Christ in a highly post-Christian culture. In the telling, he’s not afraid to skewer some sacred cows of traditional, contemporary, and emerging churches. Each chapter discusses not only the hard lessons learned but also the principles and practices that worked and that can inform your church’s ministry, no matter its present size. The book includes discussion questions and appendix resources. “After reading a book like this, you can never go back to being an inwardly focused church without a mission. Even if you disagree with Mark about some of the things he says, you cannot help but be convicted to your core about what it means to have a heart for those who don’t know Jesus.” —DAN KIMBALL, author,The Emerging Church “… will make you laugh, cry, and get mad … school you, shape you, and mold you to have the right kind of priorities to lead the church in today’s messy world.” —ROBERT WEBBER, Northern Seminary

MARK DRISCOLL is considered one of the fifty most influential pastors in America. He is the founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (www.marshillchurch.org), the Paradox Theater, and the Acts 29 Network, which has planted scores of churches. The author of The Radical Reformission, Mark speaks extensively around the country. He lives with his wife and children in Seattle.

RELIGION / Christian Church / Growth

US $16.99/UK £9.99/CAN $21.99

This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.

5 1 6 9 9 EAN

Cover design: Kirk DouPonce, DogEaredDesign.com Cover photo: Thomas James Hurst, The Seattle Times

ISBN-10: 0-310-27016-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27016-4

9

780310 270164

Contents Foreword by Erwin Raphael McManus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Preface: A Prediction for the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Part One:

The Birth of the Multi-Site Movement One: You Say You Want a Revolution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Meet several highly successful multi-site churches

Two: A Wide Variety of Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Notice the broad range of models in this overview of the multi-site movement

Part Two:

How to Become One Church in Many Locations Three: Would It Work for You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Consider why your church should explore multi-site as a strategy

Four: On a Mission from God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Discern God’s call for your church and leadership

Five: Opportunity Knocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Don’t expect “We’ve always done it this way” to become your church motto

Six: Selling the Dream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 Learn how to use effective vision casting, helpful language, and strategic field trips

Seven: Who’s Going to Pay for This? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 Discover how to do multi-site in ways your church can afford

Eight: Launching the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Evaluate these common factors in the successful launch of a second location

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Part Three:

What Makes Multi-Site Work Best Nine: Hitting the Sweet Spot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Make sure to define and replicate your unique DNA with help from these ideas

Ten: Designing the Right Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Learn to grow at multiple locations by modifying the way you staff, structure, and communicate

Eleven: Building Better Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142 Experience success by emphasizing the role of campus pastors, developing the next generation of leaders, and promoting from within

Twelve: Leveraging Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163 Find the right balance of technology, whether you use in-person teaching or video

Thirteen: Avoiding Detours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173 Learn important lessons from churches that have taken wrong turns or hit roadblocks

Part Four:

Why Extend Further and Reach More People? Fourteen: Secrets of Ongoing Replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185 Don’t let your dream stop short of developing an entire movement of replicating campuses

Fifteen: Where Do We Go from Here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195 Be part of turning the tide in a battle being lost by current approaches to doing church Appendix A: Internet Link for Multi-Site Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . .201 Appendix B: International Multi-Site Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202 Appendix C: Directory of Multi-Site Churches Cited . . . . . . . . . . .204 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209 Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215 About the Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222

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Chapter

One You Say You Want a Revolution? Meet several highly successful multi-site churches These men who have turned the world upside down have — ACTS 17:6 ESV come here also.

It is coming . . . a movement of God. Some even call it a revolution. On Sunday morning at Seacoast Church, where I (Geoff) serve on staff in Charleston, South Carolina, a band launches into a hard-driving worship chorus as lyrics and background images are projected on screens and television monitors throughout the auditorium. Everyone begins to sing along with the worship team. This describes the experience at many contemporary churches, except that this scene happens eighteen times each weekend in nine locations around the state, all of which are known as Seacoast Church. Using many different bands and worship leaders, Seacoast’s eighteen nearly identical weekend ser vices represent the look of a church that chose not to fight city hall in order to construct a bigger building. We instead continued to reach new people by developing additional campuses. 15

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At another church across the country, a congregation just north of San Diego sings “How Great Thou Art” in Traditions, one of six venues on the same church campus. North Coast Church in Vista, California, developed six different worship atmospheres, all within a few feet of each other. Traditions is more intimate and nostalgic, while other venues range from country gospel to a coffeehouse feel to vibrating, big subwoofer attitude. The elements unifying these six on-site venues are the message (one venue features in-person preaching, and the others use videocasts) and the weekly adult small groups, whose discussion questions center on the sermon that everyone heard, no matter which venue they attended. North Coast has now developed multiple venues on additional campuses, so that on a typical weekend in early 2006, worshipers chose between more than twenty different ser vices spread across five campuses. Over in Texas, Ed Young Jr., senior pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, preaches every Sunday morning on four campuses — Grapevine, Uptown Dallas, Plano, and Alliance — all at the same time. Ed delivers his Saturday night message in person in the main sanctuary on the Grapevine campus. It is videotaped and viewed the following morning by congregations at the other venues via LCD projectors and giant projection screens, framed by live music and a campus pastor. “We decided we could reach more people and save a huge amount of money by going to where the people are and doing smaller venues instead of building a larger worship center in Grapevine,” Ed says. In downtown Chicago at New Life Bridgeport, a small church meets in a century-old former United Church of Christ facility. The pastor, Luke Dudenhoffer, preaches a sermon that he’s worked on with up to ten other pastors across the city. Each pastor leads a satellite congregation of New Life Community Church, which is known as one church in many locations. At Community Christian Church in Chicagoland, eight different drama teams perform the same sketch at eight different locations. Then up to three different teachers deliver a message they’ve developed collaboratively. Most services have an in-person preacher, though some sermons are videocasts.

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These churches, and more than 1,500 churches like them across the country, are discovering a new model for doing church. Going beyond additional ser vice times and larger buildings, churches are expanding into multiple venues and locations, and many of them are seeing increased evangelism and even The exponential growth as a result. The approach approach of of taking one church to multiple sites seems taking one church to to be the beginning of a revolution in how multiple sites seems to be church is done in North America and the beginning of a revolution in how church is done in North around the world. America and around the When four university computers were world. linked together for the first time on something called ARPANET in the fall of 1969, there was very little press coverage of the event. Aside from the scientists working on the project, no one considered this event revolutionary; it was just an adaptation of concepts that had existed for many years. In spite of such simple beginnings, ARPANET, known today as the Internet, has revolutionized almost every aspect of our lives in the twenty-first century — from how people get sports scores to how they buy airline tickets to how they size up a church before visiting it. Revolutions often begin with little fanfare. They are usually built on concepts that have existed for many years and are seldom recognized in the beginning as revolutionary. The measure of a revolution is its impact, not its origins. That is why we believe the multi-site church movement is revolutionary. The concept of having church in more than one location isn’t new or revolutionary; the roots of multi-site go back to the church of Acts, which had to scatter due to persecution. Elmer Towns points out that the original Jerusalem church “was one large group (celebration), and many smaller groups (cells). . . . The norm for the New Testament church included both small cell The groups and larger celebration groups.”1 Likewise, measure of Aubrey Malphurs observes that Corinth and other a revolution is first-century churches were multi-site, as a numits impact, not its ber of multi-site house churches were considered origins. to be part of one citywide church.2

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The Birth of the Multi-Site Movement

Multi-Site Overview What is a multi-site church? A multi-site church is one church meeting in multiple locations — different rooms on the same campus, different locations in the same region, or in some instances, different cities, states, or nations. A multi-site church shares a common vision, budget, leadership, and board. What does a multi-site church look like? A multi-site church can resemble any of a wide variety of models. For some churches, having multiple sites involves only a worship ser vice at each location; for others, each location has a full range of support ministries. Some churches use videocast sermons (recorded or live); others have in-person teaching on-site. Some churches maintain a similar worship atmosphere and style at all their campuses, and others allow or invite variation. What kind of church uses the multi-site approach? The multi-site approach works best for already growing churches but is used by all types of churches. The majority of multi-site churches are suburban, but many can be found in urban contexts and some in rural contexts. Multi-sites are found among old churches and new, mainline and nondenominational, and in all regions of the country. Smaller churches (30 – 200 people) tend to do multi-site as a niche outreach or as a regional-campus approach. Medium-size churches (200 – 800 people) that go multi-site tend to have only two or three campuses. Larger churches (800 – 2,000 people) and megachurches (2,000 people and up) are the most likely to be multi-site and to do it in a way that develops a large network of campuses. Why become multi-site? The purpose of becoming a multi-site church is to make more and better disciples by bringing the church closer to where people are. The motivation is to do a better job of loving people, including different types of people, with an outcome of making significant advances in obeying Jesus’ Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37 – 40) and Great Commission (Matt. 28:19 – 20). How long do multi-site churches last? Several churches have been multisite for up to twenty years, and a handful for even longer. Some churches use a multi-site approach as a transitional strategy during a building program or a seasonal outreach. Other churches intentionally choose to be multi-site only temporarily as a church-planting strategy to help new congregations start out strong.

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Until recent years, few churches in this century have purposely pursued a multi-site strategy. In fact, many churches in the movement have stumbled into multi-site almost by accident. The potential impact of the multi-site movement, however, is extraordinary. Even though the movement is still in the very early stages, multi-site churches are beginning to have a significant influence on how people are being reached with the good news of Jesus Christ.

For Most Churches, Multi-Site Is a “God Thing” True to historic movements, this new paradigm is finding expression around the world, across all denominations, church sizes, and structures. Churches with 20, 200, 2,000, and 20,000 attendees are experimenting with the “one church in many locations” idea, while denominations are testing multi-site as both a church revitalization model and an alternative to customary church-planting models. The multi-site movement, however, isn’t confined to the suburbs or to the opening of new locations for growing churches. Urban churches facing the prospect of closure due to dwindling membership are being revitalized as they become satellite campuses of a growing congregation elsewhere in their city. Rural churches are expanding into other communities in their region as they continue to grow in their own town or village. The impact of multi-site churches of every size, shape, and denominational background is just beginning. It seems to be happening everywhere, with each church having a different trigger point. After preaching the two Saturday evening ser vices, Craig Groeschel went home with his pregnant wife, Amy, and in the middle of the night, they headed to the hospital for Amy to give birth to their fourth child. Craig was not going to make it for the next morning’s ser vices in their fast-growing congregation, Life Church in Oklahoma City (which stylizes its name as LifeChurch.tv). Now what? they wondered back at the church. Someone had a crazy idea: “Hey, let’s roll the video from Saturday night.” That decision proved to be divinely inspired. ‘“Life Church even extended itself to Phoenix in July 2005. How can a church in one location “jump the fire trail” almost one thousand

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miles like that? It starts with the church’s leadership being convinced that it is something God wants them to do as part of their mission. A multi-site approach is well suited to fast-growing congregations like Life Church, and high-visibility congregations tend to be the ones highlighted in the recent wave of media attention to the multi-site movement. But far more churches are flying under the media radar. They come in all sizes and settings, but their results are equally as impressive. Take, for example, twenty-five-year-old Chartwell Baptist Church in Oakwood, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, where Peter Roebbelen is pastor. “We backed into multi-site,” says Peter. “It’s not something we intentionally tried to do. It was more like a disruptive moment when we faced a problem and saw an opportunity.” In essence, their problem became an opportunity. For Chartwell, the initial motivation for becoming multi-site was to accommodate growth. “We needed to go to a third ser vice, but we wanted to do it during the optimal Sunday morning time,” Peter explains. So Chartwell began experimenting with the use of additional campuses. That was in 1993. Ten years later, Chartwell was offering six Saturday night or Sunday morning ser vices on four campuses. By 2005, more than 1,200 people regularly attended one of the Chartwell congregations, yet the original church’s seating capacity was 260 — and still is — which is consis“We backed into tent with their particular strategy of creating a multi-site. It was more sense of relational intimacy within each local like a disruptive moment worship setting. when we faced a problem Life Church and Chartwell are typical of and saw an opportunity.” how a congregation becomes multi-site. Most — Peter Roebbelen churches that use a multi-site approach evolve into it, rather than starting out with it. According to our research at Leadership Network, the 1,500-plus multi-site churches across North America become multisite by extending themselves to more than one location: some to locations across town, some across the state, and some around the world. Church analysts have been observing this trend for a number of years, which was initially seen only in the more innovative churches.

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In the 1990 book Ten of Today’s Most Innovative Churches by Elmer Towns, three of the ten featured churches have modeled, during some part of their recent history, the practice that the book calls “one church meeting in many locations . . . Most a multi-staffed church, meeting in multi-locachurches that tions, offering multi-ministries, with a single use a multi-site identity, single organization, single purpose, approach evolve into it, 3 [and] single force of leadership.” rather than starting Peter Roebbelen is one of the few people who out with it. has researched the development in recent years. Using a study grant from the Louisville Institute4 (funded by the Lilly Endowment), he visited a number of different locations. His analysis? “I think this is a true movement, a true new work because it’s popping up in independent situations all over the place at about the same time, literally around the world.” The people he interviewed don’t seem to be fad driven. “It’s a God thing,” Peter concludes. “Most didn’t sit down to strategize and plan and then conclude, ‘We’re going to try multi-site,’ because none of us had heard of multi-site. We simply began doing it. The stories have been remarkably similar from coast to coast and from north to south.”

Especially Helpful for Fast-Growing Churches Among the ten fastest-growing churches in the United States, 70 percent use multiple venues or multiple campuses. Likewise, among the ten largest churches in the United States, 90 percent use multiple venues or multiple campuses (see the tables on pp. 22 – 23). Among megachurches in general, 27 percent hold ser vices at off-site locations, according to a 2005 research project on megachurches.5 Some megachurches continue to build and fill huge sanctuaries. Willow Creek, Chicago, moved into a new 7,100-seat auditorium in 2004; Salem Baptist, Chicago, built a 10,000-seat mega-facility in 2005; Lakewood Church, Houston, bought and refurbished the 16,000-seat Compaq Center sports arena in 2005; First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Georgia, finished a 7,000-seat sanctuary in 2005; Without Walls, Tampa, bought a 9,000-seat Lakeland campus and a 3,000seat Auburndale satellite campus in 2005; and Glory Church of Jesus Christ, a Korean-American congregation in Los Angeles, bought and

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The Birth of the Multi-Site Movement

America’s Ten Fastest-Growing Churches (Fastest-growing church listed first) Multi-Site?

Church Name

City/State

Yes

Without Walls International Church

Tampa, FL

Yes

Mount Zion Baptist Church

White Creek, TN

No

Lakewood Church

Houston, TX

Yes

LifeChurch.tv

Oklahoma City, OK

Yes

Saddleback Church

Lake Forest, CA

Yes

The Fountain of Praise

Houston, TX

Yes

Second Baptist Church

Houston, TX

Yes

Franklin Avenue Baptist Church

New Orleans, LA

No

Prestonwood Baptist Church

Plano, TX

No

Fellowship of the Woodlands

The Woodlands, TX Adapted from Outreach’s 2005 annual ranking

moved into a 7,000-seat former boxing arena, known as the Grand Olympic Auditorium, in 2006. (Two of these congregations — Willow Creek and Without Walls — have at least one other campus as well.) The bigger trend, however, is toward smaller auditoriums. As sociologist Scott Thumma told National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, “Many of the very large megachurches are beginning to spin off satellite or branch campuses around the city or area as a way to reach their diverse populations but also so they don’t have to continue to invest in larger and larger buildings.”6

Not a Growth Strategy by Itself Bill Easum and Dave Travis have observed that the genius of multisite is not that it grows your church but that it keeps your church growing. In their book Beyond the Box: Innovative Churches That Work, they comment, “The key to understanding the multi-site movement is to remember that fulfilling the Great Commission drives these congregations, not a growth strategy.”7 In short, multi-site is a means toward an end, not an end goal in itself. Most churches do generate growth through multi-site, but just

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America’s Ten Largest Churches (Largest church listed first) Multi-Site?

Church Name

City/State

No

Lakewood Church

Houston, TX

Yes

Without Walls International Church

Tampa, FL

Yes

Saddleback Church

Lake Forest, CA

Yes

Second Baptist Church

Houston, TX

Yes

New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Lithonia, GA

Yes

Willow Creek Community Church

Yes

World Changers Church International College Park, GA

Yes

Southeast Christian Church

Louisville, KY

Yes

Potter’s House

Dallas, TX

Yes

Fellowship Church

Dallas, TX

South Barrington, IL

Adapted from Outreach’s 2005 annual ranking

as importantly, multi-site keeps them from capping the growth they’re experiencing.

Multi-Site Churches Are Bridging Today’s Gap In recent decades, American churches have morphed from seekerdriven to purpose-driven to postmodern models, all as a response to the skyrocketing number of unchurched Americans and the constant need to apply a biblical worldview to current contexts. Church attendance did increase slightly (from 42 percent to 43 percent), but the actual number of unchurched adults has nearly doubled in the last fifteen years, currently numbered at 75 million.8 The net result is that despite the sincere prayers and efforts of thousands of pastors and leaders across the country, current models of church growth are not working well enough. We must continually find new ways to bridge that gap. The new multi-site approach, from all early indications, is beginning to do just that. “Early indicators show that multi-site churches are more evangelistic than those with one site,” reports Thom Rainer, a prominent consultant and church researcher.9 A survey we helped

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The Birth of the Multi-Site Movement

Becoming Multi-Site Increases Evangelism We’ve become more evangelistic as a church No discernable difference at this point

69% 31%

We’ve become less evangelistic as a church 0% Source: Survey of 1,000 Multi-Site Churches © 2005 Leadership Network, available www.leadnet.org

conduct in 2005 (see the table above) found that churches have a greater evangelistic impact when they become multi-site. The many reports of conversion growth at multi-site locations affirm that something is working well. Many people who are wary of “established religion” are willing to come back to these same churches in one of their multi-site expressions, as seen in this email Seacoast Church recently received: I am twenty-five years old and have spent the majority of my life questioning religion and Christianity. My wife, however, has always been an amazing Christian woman and example to me. She attended a ser vice [at Seacoast] last year, and she was so touched that she insisted I go. I told her I would go with her, [although] I was as far from a relationship with Jesus Christ as a person could be. I left that ser vice at the West Ashley Campus moved by [Pastor] Greg’s words, relatability [sic], and sincerity. I felt like, and have since that first ser vice, that each message was delivered solely for me. I do not know how to thank you all for bringing Christ into the life and spirit of a twenty-five-year-old atheist.

Churches are discovering the power of multiplication as they begin to grow beyond the four walls of the box they built. Moving beyond the traditional outreach and discipleship model of multiple ser vices and larger buildings, they are embracing the concept of “one church with many congregations.” And the revolution is just beginning. Imagine the impact of thousands of people in your town committing their lives to Christ for the first time. Imagine churches in your community whose attendance either has plateaued or is in decline finding new life as they partner with growing churches to reach the lost. Imagine the

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impact as the revolution crosses cultural and international boundaries to reach people who have never been exposed to the good news of the gospel. The reasons for choosing to become a multi-site church are as varied as the multi-site expressions that have evolved, but the vast majority of multi-site congregations are finding the experience to be a solid win for their mission as a church. The next several chapters will illustrate how the multi-site approach is being used in a wide variety of settings across North America, the lessons learned, the pitfalls to avoid, and how your church can join the revolution.

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the

. . . and impact beyond the four walls

Fueled by a desire to reach people for Christ, a revolution is underway. Churches are growing beyond the limitations of a single service in one building. Expanding the traditional model, they are embracing the concept of one church with more than one site: multiple congregations sharing a common vision, budget, leadership, and board. Drawing from the examples of churches nationwide, The Multi-Site Church Revolution shows what healthy multi-site churches look like and what motivates congregations to make the change. Discover how your church can • cast a vision for change • ensure a successful DNA transfer (vision and core values) to its new site • develop new leaders • fund new sites • adapt to structure and staffing change • use technology to support your worship services You’ll identify the reasons churches succeed and how they overcome common snags. The Multi-Site Church Revolution offers guidance, insights, and specific action steps as well as appendixes with practical leadership resources and self-diagnostic tools. “I wholeheartedly recommend this book for any pastor or church leader who needs to know the pertinent issues, tested solutions, and real examples of multi-site strategies that are currently being deployed around the world.” —Ed Young, senior pastor, Fellowship Church “The authors have done their homework. They have firsthand knowledge of the successes and failures of this movement, having been networking with and facilitating dialogue among churches across the country for years.” —Max Lucado, senior minister, Oak Hills Church “Look no further than this book to propel your ministry to Ephesians 3:20 proportions: exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever ask or think!” —Randy and Paula White, senior pastors, Without Walls International Church

RELIGION / Christian Church / Growth

USD $16.99/GBP £9.99/CAD $17.99 ISBN 978-0-310-27015-7

Cover design: Ron Huizinga This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.

0310270157_multi.indd 1

9

780310 270157

51699

multi-site church revolution

expand your church’s reach . . .

Being one church . . .

. . . in Many locations

MULTI SITE CHURCH REVOLUTION THE

Foreword by Erwin Raphael McManus

surratt ligon bird

geoff surratt greg ligon warren bird

3/31/08 9:35:05 AM

Contents

Introduction: Idea Overload! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Part 1: Little Ideas or the Big Idea?

1. No More Chris­tians! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2. Communities of Transformation, Not Information . . . . . . 29 3. Creating Missional Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Part 2: What’s the Big Idea?

4. The Genius of the “And” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 5. Changing Churches One Big Idea at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Part 3: Create Your Own Big Idea

6. Creating Your One-Year Big Idea Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 7. Implementing Your Big Idea Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 8. The Two Most Important Players in the Big Idea . . . . . . . 115 9. The Big Idea Creative Team Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 10. The Big Idea Teaching Team Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 11. The Implicit Big Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Part 4: A Really Big Idea

12. Creating and Reproducing Big Idea Networks . . . . . . . . . . 189 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 

P a r t

ONE

Little Ideas or the

Big Idea?

Chapter 1

No More Chris­tians! What do you expect to happen as you read this book? Be honest now. In fact, I’m going to be honest too and put on the table what I hope I can convince you of in this opening chapter: 1. If you’ve been calling yourself a Chris­tian, you should stop. Maybe not what you were expecting? It is exactly what you and the church need — forget ever being a Chris­tian again. 2. If you have ever encouraged someone to become a Chris­tian, you should never do that again. Seriously, I hope you will never again ask a friend, family member, coworker, or neighbor to become a Chris­tian. Why? Because the last thing the mission of Jesus Christ needs is more Chris­tians. Here is the brutal fact: 85 percent of the ­people in the United States call themselves Chris­tians. Now, let’s pause long enough to realize that’s a whole lot of ­people — 247 million ­people, to be exact. But how are those 85 percent doing when it comes to accomplishing Jesus’ mission? Here is what research tells us about ­people in North America who call themselves Chris­tians:

■ Those who call themselves Chris­tians are no more likely to give assistance to a homeless person on the street than nonChris­tians. 13

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Part 1: Little Ideas or the Big Idea?

■ Those who call themselves Chris­tians are no more likely than

non-Chris­tians to correct the mistake when a cashier gives them too much change. ■ A Chris­tian is just as likely to have an elective abortion as a non-Chris­tian. ■ Chris­tians divorce at the same rate as those who consider themselves non-Chris­tians. ■ Even though there are more big churches than ever before filled with ­people who proudly wear the title Chris­tian, 50 percent of Chris­tian churches didn’t help one single person find salvation. In fact, when the Barna Research Group did a survey involving 152 separate items comparing the general population with those who called themselves Chris­ tians, they found virtually no The last thing the difference between the two mission of Jesus groups. They found no differChrist needs is more ence in the attitudes of Chris­ Christians. tians and non-Chris­tians, and they found no difference in the actions of Chris­tians and non-Chris­tians. If the contemporary concept of a Chris­tian is of someone who is no different than the rest of the world, is Chris­tian really the word you want to use to describe your willingness to sacrifice everything you have to see God’s dream fulfilled? No way. This absence of distinction between Chris­tians and non-Chris­ tians is a huge problem. But it is not a difficult problem. This is a problem for which the solutions are simple, though not easy. So this book is all about one of those simple but not easy solutions for accomplishing the mission that Jesus gave to his church. Let’s start with a typical Sunday as a family returns home from church. The question posed to the children is the same every week: “So what did you learn today?” And the response is too often the

CHAPTER 1: No More Christians!

same: (Silence.) “Ummm . . .” (More silence.) “Ummm . . .” (Still more silence.) “Ummm . . .” Parents have tried to think of different ways to word the question for their kids, but it always comes out the same. “So what This absence of did you learn today?” It’s not distinction between the most enticing question, Chris­tians and nonbut it’s the question that gets Christians is a huge asked millions of times every problem week during the car ride home from church. And the truth is, if our kids asked us, we might give them the same response: (Silence.) “Ummm . . .” (More silence.) “Ummm . . .” (Still more silence.) “Ummm . . .” How is it possible that so many ­ people, young and old, can respond with nothing but silence to such a simple question after spending an entire Sunday morning in church? Is it too little teaching? Is it too little Scripture? Is it too little application of Scripture in the teaching? What’s the problem? Well, let’s review a typical experience at church. Is it too little or maybe too much? The average churchgoer is overloaded every week with scores of competing little ideas during just one trip to church. Let’s try to keep track. 1. Little idea from the clever message on the church sign as you pull into the church parking lot 2. Little idea from all the announcements in the church bulletin you are handed at the door 3. Little idea from the prelude music that is playing in the background as you take your seat 4. Little idea from the welcome by the worship leader 5. Little idea from the opening prayer 6. Little idea from song 1 in the worship ser­vice

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7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Little idea from the Scripture reading by the worship leader Little idea from song 2 in the worship ser­vice Little idea from the special music Little idea from the offering meditation Little idea from the announcements Little idea from the first point of the sermon Little idea from the second point of the sermon Little idea from the third point of the sermon Little idea from song 3 in the worship ser­vice Little idea from the closing prayer Little idea from the Sunday school lesson Little idea from (at least one) tangent off of the Sunday school lesson 19. Little idea from the prayer requests taken during Sunday school 20. Little idea from the newsletter handed out during Sunday school

Twenty and counting. Twenty different competing little ideas in just one trip to church. Easily! If a family has a ­couple of children in junior church and everyone attends his or her own Sunday school class, we could quadruple the number of little ideas. So this one family could leave with more than eighty competing little ideas from one morning at church! And if we begin to add in youth group, small group, and a midweek ser­vice, the number easily doubles again. If family members read the Bible and have quiet times with any regularity, it might double yet again. And if they listen to Chris­tian radio in the car or watch Chris­tian television at home, the number might double once more. It’s possible that this one family is bombarded with more than one thousand little ideas every week explaining what it means to be a Chris­tian. No wonder when the parents ask their kids, “So what did you learn?” the answer goes something like this: (Silence.) “Ummm . . .” (More silence.) “Ummm . . .” (Still more silence.) “Ummm . . .”

CHAPTER 1: No More Christians! More Information = Less Clarity

We have bombarded our ­people with too many competing little ideas, and the result is a church with more information and less clarity than perhaps ever before. But the church is not alone in its predicament. Businesses also get distracted with lots of little ideas and forget the Big Idea. Many marketplace leaders are relearning the importance of the Big Idea in regard to advertising. It was a multimillion-dollar sock-puppet ad during Super Bowl XXXIV that epitomized the absurdity of the advertising during the dot-com bubble. This same era brought us commercials with cowboys herding cats, singing chimps, and a talking duck — all great entertainment, but they didn’t convey a thing about the brands they represented. Brand consultants Bill Schley and Carl Nichols Jr., in their book, Why Johnny Can’t Brand: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Big Idea, tell us this type of advertising is not effective branding. Schley and Nichols exhort companies to redefine We have bombarded their products in terms of a our ­people with too single, mesmerizing “Domimany competing little nant Selling Idea.” They go ideas, and the result on to explain that somewhere is a church with more along the way, “Johnny” forgot information and less the basics of revealing the Big clarity than perhaps Idea in an easy, everyday way ever before. that cements a brand as top dog in the hearts and minds of consumers without resorting to puffery and shallow glitz. What are businesses learning? That “more” results in less clarity. (And less money!) Don’t misunderstand — this is not a rant against entertainment or churches that are entertaining. I actually think churches should be more entertaining. But that’s a chapter for another book. This is a rant against churches (and businesses) that don’t discipline

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t­ hemselves to create experiences that convey and challenge ­people with one Big Idea at a time. Why? Because the lack of clarity that we give our ­people impedes the church’s ability to accomplish the mission of Jesus. “More” results in less clarity. Dr. Haddon Robinson, in his classic book Biblical Preaching, recognizes the simple truth that more is less and challenges teaching pastors to communicate with crystal clarity “a single idea.” He says, ­“People in the pew complain almost unanimously that the sermons often contain too many ideas.”1 Robinson is right on. And it is good news that ­people are complaining. Their complaints about too many ideas tell us that ­people in the pew want clarity, direction, and guidance in how to live out the mission of Jesus Christ. We can no longer afford to waste another Sunday allowing ­people to leave confused about what to do next. So let the change begin! But this change can’t be relegated only to the preaching. It also must happen in the teaching of children, students, adults, and families It is one Big Idea at a and in the overall experience time that brings clarity of church life. How? The Big to the confusion that Idea. And it is one Big Idea comes from too many at a time that brings clarity little ideas. to the confusion that comes from too many little ideas. More Information = Less Action

In 1960 when John F. Kennedy was elected president, more than $20 million was spent on the presidential campaign for the very first time. The money was spent so the candidates could deliver their political ideas to the ­people in a compelling way through the new medium of television. Every year since then, more and more money has been spent to better communicate each candidate’s political ideology, with the amount increasing more than 400 percent to $880 million in 2004. You would think that with all that money

CHAPTER 1: No More Christians!

and all those ideas being communicated in every imaginable format, ­people would be better informed and more convinced to take action and cast their vote for the candidate of their choice. Wrong! More has resulted in less action. Although the 2004 presidential election saw a slight increase in voter participation from the 2000 election, overall, there has been a forty-year trend of declining voter participation in national elections for U.S. president. Why? In Thomas E. Patterson’s book The Vanishing Voter, he asks, “What draws ­people to the campaign and what keeps them away?” He discovered after the 2000 election that despite almost a billion dollars spent to communicate lots of ideas, when surveyed on election day, a majority of ­people flunked a series of twelve questions seeking to ascertain whether they knew the candidates’ positions on prime issues such as gun registration, defense spending, tax cuts, abortion, school vouchers, prescription drug coverage, offshore oil drilling, and affirmative action. Patterson concludes, “I don’t believe that voters are more apathetic than they were 40 years ago. I think they are more confused than they were 40 years ago.”2 Sure I vote, but do you know one of the primary reasons I vote? It’s so I can say, “I voted.” Seldom have I gone to the polls with a strong conviction that I really knew the ideology of each candidate. The main feeling I have in connection with voting is confusion, and confusion does not produce positive action. Around the Ferguson household you can see how “more” results in less action. Having friends over for the evening usually means a scramble to clean up the house and get things presentable for company. So my wife, Sue, and I start barking out orders to the kids: “Vacuum the family room, dust the railings, put away your coat, pick up your shoes, shut the door to your bedroom . . .” What happens next? Usually they stand there staring at us and say, “What?” They are willing to help, but after our barrage of requests, they are overwhelmed and do nothing. Now, my wife says that just the boys and I have this problem and that girls can multitask. Maybe. But I

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think it’s another example of the fact that more results in less action. Experience has taught me that if I want the kids to get something done, I’m farther ahead to give them one task, ask them to check in with me once it’s finished, then give them the next task. This is the Big Idea approach. It provides clarity and produces action. I know that as church leaders we can’t control the media and the barrage of information that comes at our ­people — and we don’t want to control it. But what we do want is to challenge our ­people with the truth of God’s Word and insist that it be lived out missionally. When we contribute to the bombardment of little ideas, we are implicitly telling our ­people that not all of God’s truth has to be accompanied by obedient action. We are implicitly telling our ­ people that just We must challenge our because they hear the truth ­people with the truth doesn’t mean they necessarof God’s Word and ily have to live it out. We are insist that it be lived out telling our ­people that what missionally. is really important is saying it and not doing it. One Big Idea = More Clarity and Action

I was in a graduate class when I heard the Big Idea explained for the first time. The professor, Jim Pluddeman, challenged my classmates and me by saying that the Bible was written to be understood and applied. He said, “The effective teacher is like a person who takes a strong rope, ties one end around the big ideas of Scripture, ties the other end around the major themes of life, and then through the power of the Spirit struggles to pull the two together.” I was just beginning to understand that accomplishing the mission of Jesus would mean focusing on one Big Idea, not trying to juggle competing little ideas. Jesus did not confuse ­people with a lot of little ideas. Instead, he presented one Big Idea with a clear call to action: “As Jesus was

CHAPTER 1: No More Christians!

walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him” (Matt. 4:18 – 20). I can’t help but notice that Jesus didn’t say to Peter and Andrew, “Come, be Chris­tians.” Here’s how Don Everts puts it in a terrific little book titled Jesus with Dirty Feet: Jesus was not a Chris­tian. He never asked anyone to become a Chris­tian, never built a steepled building, never drew up a theological treatise, never took an offering, never wore religious garments, never incorporated for tax purposes. He simply called ­people to follow him. That’s it. That, despite its simplicity, is it. He called ­people to follow him. . . . It is never more than Jesus’ call: “Follow me” and a response: dropping familiar nets and following, in faith, this sandaled Jewish man. It is never more than that. Two thousand years of words can do nothing to the simple, basic reality of Chris­tian­ity: Those first steps taken by those two brothers. Peter and Andrew’s theology was as pure as it gets: Jesus said, “Follow me.” And we did.3

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When Jesus met someone for the first time, he challenged them with one Big Idea: “Follow me.” A Big Idea that was simple but not easy. If Peter and Andrew were asked, “What did Jesus teach you today?” there is no way they would respond like this: (Silence.) “Ummm . . .” (More silence.) “Ummm . . .” (Still more silence.) “Ummm . . .” And if they did, it would not be because they were confused and didn’t understand, but rather because they were stunned at the boldness and size of Jesus’ request. This Big Idea was very clear, and the call to action could not be misunderstood. The simplicity and clarity of that Big Idea, “Follow me,” was what catalyzed a movement of Christ followers into action. And these Christ followers knew what was expected of them and would do anything and everything, including trade their very lives, to accomplish the mission of Jesus. What about “deeper teaching”? That is what the rich young ruler wanted. He came to Jesus and began to explain that he already knew the commandments — “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother” (Mark 10:19) — and that he had obeyed these commands since he was a boy. He wanted more. He wanted a midweek ser­vice. He wanted graduate-level teaching. With When Jesus met clarity and simplicity, Jesus someone for the first challenged him with one Big time, he challenged Idea when he said, “One thing them with one Big Idea: you lack. . . . Go, sell everything “Follow me.” you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21). The message was clear. It was a call to action. It was a Big Idea that was simple but not easy. What would happen if we challenged ­people in the same way? What if we gave ­people one clear and simple Big Idea and asked them

CHAPTER 1: No More Christians!

to put it into action? That is exactly what we have been attempting to do at Community Chris­tian Church and the NewThing Network for the last several years. Every week, we give all of our ­people of every age and at every location one Big Idea and ask them to put it into action. The challenge is simple and clear — but never easy. That’s the Big Idea. Recently we were in the middle of a Big Idea series titled “Get in the Game” for the adults and “U Got Game” for our Student Community and Kids’ City. Kids’ City puts every Big Idea into one concise statement, and this time it was “God uses his teams’ offering to change the world.” It was a powerful series. I received the following email from a mom in our church: From: Kirsten Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 8:18 PM To: Dave Ferguson Subject: “U Got Game” Big Idea

I just wanted to let you know that my kids really, really got a lot out of this week’s large group time in Kids’ City. It made such an impact on them to know where their offering money goes every week. Each week when they get their allowance on Saturday, 15 percent automatically goes with them to church, but they’ve never really understood where that money goes. (I guess I haven’t been very effective at explaining what “giving back to God” means!) Anyway, when they came home this week after experiencing the Big Idea, they both went in and emptied their piggy banks into the offering bags they made and said, “We have to give it all to church. There are orphans in Rwanda that don’t have homes. We have to help those kids get a home!” Never mind that we talk about “poor ­people” around this house all the time, but for whatever reason they “got it” in a way they never had, thanks to the way you presented it in Kids’ City. Thanks!

Kirsten

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Part 1: Little Ideas or the Big Idea?

That same week another mom stopped me in Starbucks and said, “Dave, I have to tell you what happened with my boys — it was the most amazing thing. We were going out to get an early start Every week, we give on Christmas shopping at the all of our ­people of mall. When we got to the door every age and at every of the store, there was a Salvalocation one Big Idea tion Army bell ringer with his and ask them to put red kettle and bell trying to it into action. The get donations. I didn’t think challenge is simple and much of it. Sometimes I give clear — but never easy. and sometimes I don’t — you That’s the Big Idea. know. This time I didn’t. But when I got inside the store, I couldn’t find my two boys. I looked around for them, and then I saw them outside next to the Salvation Army bell ringer emptying their pockets, giving everything they had. My two boys gave away their entire allowance! I was pleased but shocked. When they caught up with me, I asked them why they did that. They told me, ‘Mom, isn’t that what they were talking about at church?’ It was amazing.” That’s the power of the Big Idea. I asked Jen Pedley how the Big Idea impacted her. Here’s what she said: The Big Idea was the first time in my life that God’s Word applied to my everyday, ordinary life. It helped me in a practical, “meet you where you are and don’t worry, I’ll still love you” way. No one had ever spoken so clearly about what it meant to be a Christ follower (I mean, come on, everyone in my hometown claimed to be a “Chris­tian,” but I saw firsthand how much that really meant in many ­ people’s lives), why you would even want to live this way, and how to do it. I never heard the Word of God speak to me personally until coming to CCC. I never saw the point until then. Big Idea teaching

CHAPTER 1: No More Christians! touches on so many basic truths that even though I had gone to churches my whole life, I had never heard before. When you put God’s Word into where ­people are at today — whew, I was blown away. I still am.

Jen came to Community Chris­tian Church in 2000 and soon made a commitment to be a Christ follower. She was baptized, began doing life with a small group of believers, and joined one of our vocal teams. In 2004 she and her husband, Ken, packed up their kids, leaving behind a job and home to move with a group of ­people from Chicago “The Big Idea was the to the Detroit area to start first time in my life that 2|42 Community Church. God’s Word applied Why? They were committed to my everyday, to the Big Idea of selling all ordinary life.” they had and following Jesus to accomplish his mission. The Power of the Big Idea

So what if we took that same trip to church, and instead of hearing lots of competing little ideas, our whole family was taught only one Big Idea? One Big Idea is displayed on the church website. One Big Idea is on the cover of the church bulletin you are handed at the door. One Big Idea is projected on the screen as you listen to the prelude music while taking your seat. One Big Idea is introduced in the welcome by the worship leader. One Big Idea is the focus of the opening prayer. One Big Idea is the theme of song 1 in the worship ser­vice. One Big Idea is supported by the Scripture reading by the worship leader.

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One Big Idea is the theme of song 2 in the worship ser­vice. One Big Idea is at the heart of a secular song used as the special music. One Big Idea and how you can understand it further in a small group is the only announcement. One Big Idea is explained in the first — and only — point of the sermon. One Big Idea is reinforced through a video. One Big Idea is the theme of song 3 in the worship ser­vice. One Big Idea is the focus of the closing prayer. One Big Idea can be explored even more deeply by going to the “next steps” table and picking up a recommended reading list. One Big Idea and how to have a conversation with your kids on this topic is the theme of the Kids’ City handout given to parents. One Big Idea is the central topic of discussion at small group during the week. One Big Idea is the focus of the prayer time during small group. One Big Idea is reinforced by a phone call (by your request) from the teaching pastor at the end of the week. (Silence.) “Ummm” would not be your response if you were asked, “So what did you learn?” What the church needs is one unmistakable Big Idea. A crystal-clear Big Idea that calls everyone to act on the Jesus’ mission. So why does the church in the United States have 247 million Chris­tians and not nearly enough Christ followers? And why is it that we have access to the best and most thoroughly thoughtthrough theology in all of history yet still aren’t gaining ground in accomplishing the mission of Jesus? Could it be that we have forgotten the Big Idea and gotten lost in too many little ideas? Is it because the church of Jesus Christ has not challenged ­people the

CHAPTER 1: No More Christians!

way Jesus challenged ­people — with one Big Idea, simple and clear: “Follow me”? I no longer call myself a Chris­tian. I no longer try to convert ­people to Chris­tian­ity. It’s not that the title is wrong but that as a label it has come to mean something far different than what it means to follow Jesus. Being a Chris­tian has been reduced to the expectation of niceness. How pathetic. How boring. How easy. How insignificant. And even that expectation of niceness doesn’t have to be fulfilled, because the greater expectation is hypocrisy — the I no longer call myself practice of professing beliefs, a Chris­tian. I no longer feelings, or virtues that one try to convert ­people to does not live out. Who would Chris­tian­ity. I am a Christ want to be associated with follower. I follow Jesus that? step by step as his I am a Christ follower. I Spirit moves me in his follow Jesus step by step as his community called Spirit moves me in his commuthe church. nity called the church. When Jesus steps, I follow. When Jesus speeds up, I increase my pace. When Jesus slows down, I slow down too. The direction, the speed, and the ultimate destination of my life are determined by keeping in step with Jesus’ Spirit. Simple. Clear. Not easy!

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WITh Too maNY

CaN mIss

“little ideas”

the

BIG IDeA

THE

ChurChes ThaT bombard people Community Christian Church embraced the Big Idea and everything changed. They decided to avoid the common mistake of bombarding people with so many “little ideas” that they suffered overload. They also recognized that leaders often don’t insist that the truth be lived out to accomplish Jesus’ mission. Why? Because people’s heads are swimming with too many little ideas, far more than they can ever apply.

• THE BIG IDEA CAN HELP YOU CREATIVELY PRESENT ONE LASER-FOCUSED THEME EACH WEEK TO BE DISCUSSED IN FAMILIES AND SMALL GROUPS. CREATIVE COLLABORATION THAT BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER AND MAXIMIZES MISSIONAL IMPACT.

• THE BIG IDEA CAN ENERGIZE A CHURCH STAFF AND BRING ALIGNMENT AND FOCUS TO MANY DIVERSE CHURCH MINISTRIES.

“eVerY Year oNe booK Grabs me aNd WoN’T leT Go. THE BIG IDEA Is ThIs Year’s booK. IT Is a ‘musT-read’ For eVerY ChurCh leader.”—CraIG GroesChel, pasTor, lIFeChurCh.TV

RELIGION / Christian Church / Growth

US $16.99/UK £9.99/CAN $21.99 Cover design: Rob Monacelli Cover photo: Masterfile This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series.

51699 EAN

ISBN-10: 0-310-27241-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27241-0

9

780310 272410

FerGusoN

This book shows how the Big Idea has helped Community Christian Church better accomplish the Jesus mission and reach thousands of people in nine locations, and launch a church planting network with partner churches across the country.

IDeA

• THE BIG IDEA SHOWS YOU HOW TO ENGAGE IN A PROCESS OF

Contents Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Introduction: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Life-Giving Power of Self-Examination 1. Love Strengthens Every Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 The Leader’s Heart

2. Lifelong Learning Expands Our Horizons . . . . . . . . . 41 The Leader’s Mind

3. Attentive Listening Informs Wise Decisions . . . . . . . . 59 The Leader’s Ears

4. Clear Vision Sees What Lies Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 The Leader’s Eyes

5. Affirming Words Bring Blessing and Energy . . . . . . . . 99 The Leader’s Mouth

6. Humble Service Reveals Jesus’ Presence . . . . . . . . . . 119 The Leader’s Hands

7. Laughter Sustains Our Sanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 The Leader’s Funny Bone

8. Understanding and Harnessing Our Sexual Desires . . 151 The Leader’s Libido

9. Bearing the Yoke of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 The Leader’s Back

Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Discussion Questions and Prayer Prompters. . . . . . . . . . 181 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Suggested Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

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Understanding and Harnessing Our Sexual Desires The Leader’s Libido

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Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. — 1 Corinthians 6:18 – 20 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. — Proverbs 5:18 – 19

It was a hard year. I received a one-two-three punch that knocked the spiritual wind out of me. Punch one came when a dear brother, who had been in a pastors accountability group with me for many years, left his wife, children, and ministry for a woman in his church. He shocked the members of our group with a whole series of choices that turned his life upside down. Sadly, he never came to us early in the process, when his heart was wandering toward another woman. He told us after the damage had been done, the sexual lines had been crossed, and his ministry had been compromised. My initial response was anger. Our pastors group prayed with him and challenged him to seek restoration with his wife. But he rejected our council. We continue to pray for him and seek to keep the door of our lives open to him. A few months later, I was hit with the second blow. I received a call from another pastor friend. “Can I come by your office to talk? I need to come over right now.” I cleared my calendar for the morning. He walked into my office, sat in a chair, made no eye contact, and pensively looked at the floor. Finally, he spoke. “I have sinned. It could cost me everything. I don’t even know how it happened, but I have sinned.” I prayed for him and then listened. He explained that he had become involved with a woman, entered an emotional affair, and finally had a sexual encounter. When the woman found out he was a pastor, she blew the whistle. Again, I went through a strong emotional response. But this time, I was not angry. I was numb, confused, and filled with despair. Sadness came over me. I trusted this leader

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like a brother. I did not see this coming. I was brokenhearted for his wife, children, church, and for him. I mourned the effect his decisions would have on so many people. One bright light in this situation was that he committed to a process of confession and reconciliation. The knockout punch came when I heard the accusations about Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals. Reporters were talking about “accusations” of his involvement with a male prostitute and illegal drug use. It seemed far-fetched, almost too bizarre. But something inside me broke. I had never met this pastor, but my gut told me that when the smoke cleared, things would be even worse than initially reported. This wasn’t some kind of prophetic insight but feelings based on what I had been experiencing with my two pastor friends. I was growing painfully aware of the sinister power of sexual temptation. Once the confessions came and things were in the light, I entered unfamiliar emotional territory. I was not angry, and I was not sad. I was filled with fear and profoundly introspective. Leader after leader was shipwrecking their lives through sexual compromise, and I had a sober awareness that I was not beyond temptation. I found myself scrutinizing my own ability to self-deceive, my propensity toward sin, how I can rationalize poor choices, and how I can live a double life if I’m not very careful. Anger came when I realized my first friend was leaving his family and ministry for another woman. Sadness engulfed me as I walked with my second friend through his time of struggle. Sobering fear gripped me when the news broke on Ted Haggard. The fear has not gone away. I hope it never does.

Symptoms Check

My Desires N

❏

eed Harnessin

g

I find myse lf lett ing p eople in m tiona l need y church m s that shou eet emold be met o n ly by my spouse. continued ➮

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understanding and harnessing our sexual desires azines, et sites, mag rn te in s, w TV sho an effort w movies, ulation in ❏ I vrieother sources of visual stimth ehaviors ese secret b o If ” s. d ssed and y sexual nee be embarra ld to “meet m u o w I y ministr y. ome public, promise m m were to bec co en ev t nd it migh ere I ashamed, a y mind wh world in m sy ta ings in n th fa e a ted er do thes ev n I have crea ld u o ❏ gage in sexual sin. I w self playing out mental en nd my rld, but I fi the rea l wo rong. k now are w ll scenarios I e ha nd, I ca On the on . fe li pery le b m u a do ut in holiness. B I a m liv ing d n a n ty em ri d u n p ❏ eople to moral iors I co p ver y behav e th in e I engag sona l life, undaries publicly. lationa l bo re g in tt se want to face topic of ause I don’t When the ec b ve si en ❏ mes up, I get def undaries. crossing bo co f o it ab h a I have the fact that

The Power of the Mind I can’t believe that three decades have slipped by since I grew up on Santa Barbara Street in Fountain Valley, California. As I write these words, I sit two thousand miles and a lifetime away from my childhood home. Yet at the speed of thought, I can close my eyes and find myself standing in our front yard. I can see the juniper shrubs, my best friend’s house across the street, and the decorative giant Zs (one frontward and one backward) on our garage door. I can see the hallway of our home — the strip of carpet my dad and mom made us run back and forth on when one of our feet fell asleep during dinner. It was torturous running on a prickly foot, but three or four times up and down the hall always did the trick. I can even smell the homemade chocolate fudge my mom made when we had company over. The scent still lingers, wafting through the storehouse of my mind.

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The mind’s power is staggering. It can transport us virtually anywhere in a flash. What we do with our minds, where we go, what we focus on, is critical for leaders. The mind can be a glorious place of hope, dreams, joy, and vision. It can also be a prison of lust, anxiety, and fear. It’s up to us. Each of us can choose to harness our thought life and use it for God-honoring activities, or we can let it run wild and suffer the consequences. Like a spoiled child in a chocolate shop, if we let our thought lives consume whatever they want, we will end up ill, sitting in a pile of candy wrappers, wondering why we feel so sick when everything tasted so good. Leaders don’t have the luxury of living this way. Though every leader has weaknesses and struggles with sin, we are called to offer the full force of our mental capabilities to God. As we nurture our thought lives, we discover what it means to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). Both leaders who are married and those who are single face this challenge. In a sex-saturated culture, we must guard our minds. This is the first line of defense. A leader whose outer world is squeaky clean can still allow the world of the mind to be perverse. The same mind that can catapult us back to a childhood home can create vivid sexual scenarios that dishonor God. Healthy church leaders inspect their thought lives and make sure they are seeking to live in holiness even in the hidden compartments of their minds.

Doctor’s Insigh t

You May Not See

It, but It’s There

With a know in g look in his ey es, Dr. Dek ki ng did you notice a asked, “Whe the first proble n m w ith your sk it and sa id, “W in ?” I thought hen I was thir ty ab ou t -six years old.” head to conf ir Jack just nodd m what he susp ed hi s ec ted. continued ➮

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es e, the on m s I h av le b s o r a e p nty y r sk in k ind of bout twe a e p th u t p a n o ent lo g d to p ined th I h ad s p sun, ten e He ex pla t. h th ig r to e y su r of hig h exac tl verex po ore yea r He was m . o e h n p due to o o o d s is y sk in to my d a m a ge ouble. M tr mers up f m o u n s a fter the ig y d im os e sun a ll or a ny in e re w a s n g s or e s , cades, th days in th e in r d r the o u t c a e tw r s d ay ots, ut for a rathon o d r y sp n school. B m e y r e m w f o es . T h e re s e qu e nc wa s fi ne e ious con r e s n. e nt in t h o th m f you s p e s r is is com c ation o a I e th t y e a e m ll t h you th ck told , “Did a ave told e h m beach. Ja ld d u e m o k a he d ad a s ?” I w w rong. T our sk in I f you h y n e e e g b r. a e m a ld hav bia l pipe ia su n d ut I wou e prover B . th it Ca lifor n y a h p it w to en away g to have a m. had gott was goin I d nt progr e n e rea la m , y e a r e p d th the sa m e s r e a r c fe fa e d in a ge w a s on e w il l x ua l at I w a s idden se at no on h th h d it n w a It’s just th le just d up who batt bits a re it covere L e a de r s w ing ha ey have ie e v th l r e o fe s to e t ome th ht liv mig h a lways c te thoug y a it y. They e iv th r p . r, e e ir a nc ecom w. The ke sk in c things b ever k no ut just li e worse B th ! , te m a e iv r e th that — p we ig nor e longer h T . e c fa su r

The mind is a battlefield. If the enemy can dominate here, he can infiltrate, poison, and destroy every area of our lives. I discovered this struggle early in my life as a follower of Jesus. I was a student seeking to live out my faith on the campus of Orange Coast College. Every day was a challenge. I found my mind wandering places it should not have gone. There were attractive women in all of my classes and everywhere on the campus. Since we had endless summer, many wore beach clothes, and this only compounded the problem.

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Help from My

What Helps Y

Friends

ou Keep Your

Motiv

es and Life P My model fo ure? r morality an d integrity is deep convict ions and pers my dad. He is a man of onal characte versations w r. I have had ith him conce regular conrning what it over the year means to liv s. He constan e a moral lif tly challenge impeccable ch e s m e and provid aracter. es a model of My wife, Clau dia, and I ar e open books is ever a ques with each othe tion concern ing any value, r. If there each other. decision, or co n d u ct, we ask My personal motivation is my two sons, adore. When whom I deepl I’m tempted y admire and to go down th ask myself, “H e w rong road m ow will this d or ally, I often ec is ion impact th is a huge mot e lives of my ivation for pu so ri ns?” This ty ! My board of elders meets questions. Th regularly wit is is not alway h me to ask s comfortable the tough My congregat , b ut it’s extremely ion is fully aw valuable. concerning m are of my lif e. I am open y values and integrity issu w it h them be perfect an es. I have nev d will readily er pr et sh en ar ded to and weaknes e my failures, ses. I share struggles, tem w it h pt them my pers ations, values and et onal choices hics. concerning — Wes Dupin , Senior Past or, Daybreak Community C hurch, Hudsonville, MI

I wanted to devote my mind to higher purposes. But I had difficulty thinking about anything except women. I had been reading the gospels and was struck by how Jesus had battled the temptations of Satan by quoting Scripture (Matt. 4:1 – 11; Luke 4:1 – 13). If my

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Savior used the Bible as a weapon against the attacks of the enemy, I would give it a try. I decided to memorize a few verses from the book of 1 Peter. Each time my mind wandered, I would meditate on these verses. The first week, I found myself walking around the campus constantly muttering, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, strangers in the world . . .” Honestly, it didn’t help much. I stuck with my commitment. If I was going to be a leader in the church, if I was going to live for God, I wanted my mind to be under his control and not running wild. So each time I found myself fixating on the lovely ladies of OC, I went back to 1 Peter. As one verse became part of my thinking and was rooted in my heart, I would add another. To give you a sense of how much the battle raged and my eyes and heart wandered, over that year of college I memorized all five chapters of 1 Peter and also the book of Haggai. I did this not because I was disciplined but because I was desperate. At first, when my mind wandered to the wrong places, my response was mechanical. I would begin at 1 Peter, chapter one, verse one. I would rattle off the words as fast as I could. Even this remedial approach was helpful. Some of my lust-filled moments subsided, and I thought more about God’s Word. But with time, something more substantial happened. The truth and power of God’s Word filled and dominated my thought life. I slowly stopped dwelling on thoughts that dishonored God and poisoned my view of women. I began to reflect on the goodness of God, the value of people, the truth I was learning. I began praying for people on campus. My mind was being shaped by God’s values and not the values of the world. Through the year, something amazing happened. The battle subsided. It did not go away, but the intensity lessened. My mind focused, more and more, on thoughts that honor God. Believe me, it was not a quick fix. But with time, something inside of me changed. Close to three decades later, I still turn to meditating on Scripture when my eyes and mind wander where they should not be. Every time I do, the truth of God’s Word brings power in the spiritual battle. Memorizing passages of the Bible and reciting them might seem old-fashioned. Some see this as a discipline for grade-school kids trying to get stars on a chart in their Sunday school classroom. I disagree.

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Doctor’s Insigh t

Preventive Care

As I spoke w ith Dr. John A lbre cht, my dent ist, about the impo he bega n ta lk in rtance of preven g tiv e care. John ex pl 1960s, a team fr ained that in th om the Univers e ity of Michiga n had periodonta l di done studies on sease (g um di sease) and lear cause was bact ned that the pr eria l infect ion. imar y At the time, th dental hygienis ere were relativ ts. Most dent is el y few ts wou ld do a minute clea ni quick ten- to fif ng of the teet h te enbut wou ld not the gums. address ta rtar under Once the cause of periodonta l disease was iden measures coul tif ied, preventiv d be ta ken. M e os t de ntal hygienists clea n and scra now ex tensivel pe the teet h at y ea ch appointment. the gums and T hey get unde remove tarter r so bacteria ca n’ the gums. Den t cling to it and tists encourag at ta ck e thorough brus this clea ns on ly hing, but they about 60 percen know t of the toot h su cate patients on rface. So they ed how to floss an ud clea n the ot he patients enter r 40 percent. W the preventivehe n ca re process, de When they refu ntal health incr se to do their pa eases. rt, problems gr ow.

I believe the best way to practice preventive care of our souls, when it comes to sexual temptation, is to saturate our minds with God’s Word. Meditating on Scripture is a cleansing process, and at any time, we can draw on portions of the Bible we have memorized.

The Wisdom of Setting Boundaries Another way to keep from falling into sexual sin is by setting clear and God-honoring boundaries. Wise leaders understand that the most benign of relationships can become a problem if you don’t set

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clear physical, emotional, and relational boundaries. This is something I gave a lot of thought early on in my ministry training. The assignment was simple. Write a case study on some aspect of relationships in ministry. Each of us would present our papers the next time our seminary colloquy group met. I decided to address the issue of boundaries in ministry. As a young man doing ministry with high school students, I had established some boundaries that I found helpful, and I decided to discuss them in my case study. Two weeks later, we met to present our cases. I had worked hard to list my boundaries and reasons for establishing them. I felt good about my paper. I really believed my presentation would be helpful and well received by the members of my colloquy group. I was wrong. I began by addressing the reality that all who serve in the church or in any Christian ministry face temptation. I made it clear that people in leadership roles have the responsibility to take great care not to fall to sexual temptation, and that we are also called to “avoid even the appearance of evil.” The group members seemed resistant to these concepts, and their eyes let me know that they were not with me. Then I presented the boundaries I had established in my youth ministry. First, I would never meet one-on-one with any of the young women in the youth group unless my wife or a church secretary was within earshot. The group members looked at me with skepticism. Next, I explained that I was careful not to be overly physical with the young women in the youth group. In particular, I told them that when I hugged the girls, I would do so with one arm, from the side, with what I had come to call a “buddy hug.” I avoided the frontal hug. At this point, the group was glaring at me, but I pressed on. Apparently, my final boundary was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I told them that I would never drop off a girl from youth group last, but I would go out of the way to drop a girl off first so that I was never in the car alone with any of the girls in the youth group. At this point, one of the members of my colloquy group launched into me. “That is just ridiculous! You have got to be kidding!” I didn’t get the reasoned and thoughtful group discussion I had hoped for. Instead, the group members castigated me for being so rigid. They explained that I was entirely out of line and that my boundaries would actually get in the way of my ministry.

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I looked to the professor, hoping for support. He focused on me with great concern in his eyes, chose his words carefully, and said, “I think you are afraid of your own sexuality.” I paused, thought long and hard, and said, “You better believe I am! I’m terrified of it!” The silence was palpable. Finally, one of the guys in the group spoke in a scolding way. “I am married, but my best friend happens to be a woman other than my wife. She is a fellow student here at the seminary. We spend time together one-on-one. I feel comfortable hugging her, and I don’t see any problem with this.” As I listened to him, I had a flashback to the first time I’d seen him on campus with his “best friend.” I’d actually thought she was his wife and was shocked when I discovered she was not. It was clear to me that he was deeply infatuated with this woman and was drawing unhealthy attention from her. Now I was ticked off. I said, “Let me tell all of you something. In twenty years, I will still be in ministry. My boundaries might get in the way of some things, but they will also protect me from all kinds of pitfalls.” Two decades later, I am still in ministry. I also have a set of boundaries for my relationships with women, and they are even more rigid. If you were to ask me if I am still afraid of my sexuality, I would put it a little more gently than I did twenty years ago, but I would still say, “Yes, I am.”

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understanding and harnessing our sexual desires sense I scene that I a is e er th !) , but imes my ears a good movie es (and somet ey I y When I go to t m ha e w os e cl I leav to be seeing, just have to I y, ll e na lik io k do not need as ic Occ ords st approaches. images and w g n y ro er W ev . as the scene ie for ov be a good m tact. This goes n ld co ou w t t rs fi gh e ou th th avoid mind. I try to barbs in my ’ Ignited Leader, Livin . m ia lis ed ge m n va of E form sham, PhD, — Nancy Gri

At Corinth Church, we address boundaries with our staff members. We have guidelines for how we relate to other staff members and people in the congregation. Here are some of the boundaries that are part of the staff culture: • When a staff member meets with a person of the opposite sex, it needs to be in a room with a window or the door must remain open. • Staff members can’t meet after hours with a person of the opposite sex unless there are others in the building. • Staff members may not meet one-on-one with a person of the opposite sex off church grounds. • Generally, staff members do not drive in a car alone with a person of the opposite sex. (Obviously they can drive in groups or help someone in an emergency.) No pastor or leader at Corinth would go out to lunch with a person of the opposite sex, either from the staff or the congregation. We feel this looks and feels too much like a date. Our staff and church board know that these boundaries are strict and that they can occasionally lead to complexities for travel and scheduling meetings. We also know these boundaries can’t be absolutely rigid, that they are general guidelines. But we believe the benefits of clear boundaries far outweigh the drawbacks. And by God’s grace, we have never faced a situation in which a staff member has ended up in a compromising relationship with someone on staff or with a church member.

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I have friends in ministry whom I respect who feel the boundaries our church has set are too strict and would not work in their church cultures. My counsel is that they think through what is appropriate for their contexts, but that they set clear boundaries that protect their leaders, congregational members, and the name of Jesus.

The Power of Accountability Along with meditating on Scripture and setting clear boundaries, wise leaders embrace accountability. This involves courage. It demands vulnerability. And it can save our lives. A church leader asked if I could do him a favor. He said, “When I travel, I stay in hotels . . . alone.” He was having a hard time making eye contact but pressed on. “I . . . well . . . I have been watching movies that a Christian leader should not watch. I don’t want to. I know it’s wrong. But I am having a hard time stopping.” I asked him, “How can I help you?” “Maybe, before I travel, I could tell you, and you could pray for me. Then when I get home, I could give you a report.” I told him I though he was very wise, and I committed to hold him accountable for two months. The next couple of trips, he resisted the temptation to watch inappropriate movies. When we hit the twomonth mark, I asked if he felt he needed me to be the one to keep him accountable over the long haul. “No, I have a couple of close guy friends who would be great at this. I just came to you first because I knew you would not look down on me.”

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understanding and harnessing our sexual desires the TV tend to put on I y, tr is in m for a ay of I usually ask n I finish a d l, he te w ho d a re ti in ry ttles st stay am ve d after the ba long. If I mu re o ti to r am fo I n ch he and wat be alone w ed advantage that I will not mes. The add ho in ay st roommate so to er ure, I like as enerally, I pref a foreign cult in am I n of ministry. G whe and get to h the people homes is that it w in fy g ti in en ay id st of le to ent talkities as possib e the time sp n u lik rt ot po n o op d y s man lps me cher ow many prea le, and this he kn op I pe . to em th er know e get clos ink it helps m them. ing. But I th ist, Sri Lanka ctively among fe ef e or Youth for Chr m r, r to ec ir D ministe o, d n — Ajith Ferna

The beauty of accountability is that we can tailor it to our needs. When we find a brother or sister we trust, we can ask them to keep us accountable in a very specific way. If our struggle is emotional attachment to someone in our ministry, we can have them pray for us and ask us if we are being careful to keep clear boundaries with this person. If our struggle is the hidden world of lust, we can invite an accountability partner to support us in prayer as well as ask us if we are keeping our thoughts heading in the right direction. If we are tempted with internet pornography, we can have a monthly report of all our internet activity sent to an accountability partner. Whatever

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ot hese a re n g roups. T rt o p s p u su stors a re g ro p of two pa ssip. T hey o g d n a ra I a m pa rt mpla in eeply, p y meet to co our lives d re at a th sh s p s, u g ro other’s face et in each where we g

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passionatel y, a nd ex te nd honest g roups, we accou ntab d iscussed il it y. In on internet p e of the the cha llen o rnog raphy. ges of stay A s we ex p ing pure in ressed avoiding th the world is v isua l ce of our min ss p o o d l, we decid subscribe to s a nd ed that each a n internet of us wou ld report ing ever y site w p rogra m th e access a n at keeps a d then sen one else in list of ds a month the group. ly report to some-

our need, a trusted friend who asks us the hard questions as well as encourages and prays for us is an amazing gift.

The Goodness of Sexuality Christians should have great sex lives. In the context of marriage, of course. God created male and female and declared them “very good.” The picture is compelling. A man and a woman in a beautiful garden — paradise! They were naked. They were not ashamed. God invited them to “be fruitful and multiply.” When God created men and women, he intended for them to experience sexual intimacy. It is a good gift. Christian leaders who want to honor Jesus need to embrace the goodness of God’s creative plan. We need to celebrate the wonder, mystery, and passion of godly sex. For too long we have abdicated the realm of sexuality to the world. No more! It is time for God’s people to recapture the world of sexuality. Married leaders should make their sexual lives a high priority. Single leaders should live in sexual purity but still bless and celebrate the goodness of sex when it is expressed in the covenant relationship of a married man and woman. There are far too many church leaders who have decided that their sex lives will never be life-giving, joyful parts of their marriages, and they have become

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places of hidden pain and silent anger. When a ministry couple fails to embrace the goodness of their sexual relationship, it creates a rift between the husband and wife where the enemy of our souls can drive a wedge, creating a breeding ground for sexual temptation and indiscretion. Most of the time, when a godly Christian man or woman begins crossing lines in the area of sexuality, it has to do with an emotional need. They feel far from their spouse. The rigors of ministry are taking a toll. The physical and emotional needs they carry deep inside begin to surface. Then someone comes along who will meet their emotional need. They are drawn to this person, first, because they “care about me.” Once the emotional link has been established, sexual temptation begins to grow. There is an amazing passage in Proverbs that addresses the goodness of sexuality, the call to fidelity, and the danger of sexual temptation. Read this passage closely. Catch the imagery of water as a picture of sexual intimacy: Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife? For a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths. — Proverbs 5:15 – 21

The writer of Proverbs gives a series of warnings in the early section of chapter five. He calls us to avoid sexual temptation, to stay

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far away from those who seek to draw us in. He goes on to talk about the wisdom of receiving discipline and listening to the wisdom of others. We are called to ferocious fidelity and warned of the dangers of adultery. Yet in the middle of this serious caution comes a celebration of intimacy and sexual fulfillment. All through the Bible there is a call for sexual celebration. Within the marriage covenant, there should be sexual blessing. Just as we are called to bless with our words, we are also called to bless with our bodies. Our genitalia, specifically, are to be fountains of overflowing blessing. The breasts, vagina, and penis are all part of the celebration of one-flesh intimacy. Romance and sexual intercourse are gifts from God to his people. There is a clear sense in Scripture that we are to satisfy our spouses with our bodies. Read the words closely, and for heaven’s sake, don’t be embarrassed! “May her breasts satisfy you always.” The passage could just as unashamedly say, “Let his penis satisfy you always.” I know some will blush when they read these words. Some in God’s family have relegated the realm of sexuality to a low place in life. They have missed the biblical reality that one-flesh sexual intimacy is a gift from their Creator. When our sexual relationship is one that satisfies and our “fountain” is blessed, it leads to captivating love. Christian couples who make their sexual lives a priority discover that the emotional and physical desires that God has placed deep in their souls are satisfied. When we drink deeply from the fountain of marital intimacy, we no longer need our waters to be scattered in the streets. When our sex lives are healthy, growing, passionate, fulfilling, the need to look elsewhere drops significantly. This is not to say that Christian leaders who have rich and fulfilling sexual relationships with their spouses won’t face temptation. This is also not to say that those who enter into an inappropriate sexual relationship can somehow blame their spouse for not meeting their needs. But nurturing healthy sexual, romantic, and intimate relationships with our spouses will meet many of the needs God has placed inside of us. When we sense deep satisfaction and fulfillment in our sexual lives, we are quicker to recognize the counterfeit offers of the enemy and turn them down.

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Discover the power of an examined life

Kevin Harney writes, “The vision of this book is to assist leaders as they discover the health, wisdom, and joy of living an examined life. It is also to give practical tools for selfexamination.” Sharing stories and wisdom from his years in ministry, Harney shows you how to maintain the most powerful tool in your leadership toolbox: YOU.

of Seismic Shifts and Finding a Church You Can Love and Loving the Church You’ve Found.

RELIGION / Christian Church / Leadership

US $16.99/UK £9.99/CAN $21.99 ISBN-10: 0-310-25943-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25943-5

Cover Design: Rob Monacelli This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovation series.

EAN

51699

9

780310 259435

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team of the campus ministry at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. He is author

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Life of a Heal th y

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Dyer, Indiana, and Central Wesleyan Church in Holland, Michigan. He is also on the teaching

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Kevin G. Harney is the Teaching Pastor and Evangelism Champion at Faith Church in

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In a sea of leadership books, this one stands out because it addresses the critical topic of the inner life of a leader. Kevin has been a friend and partner in ministry for many years. I know his track record as a leader. I encourage church leaders to read this book carefully and allow God to transform them on the inside so they can experience a lifetime of fruitful ministry on the outside. – Lee Strobel, author of The Case for the Real Jesus

leadership inside out t

The road forward is clearly marked. Leaders must decide to humbly and consistently examine their inner lives and identify areas of needed change and growth. Also, wise leaders commit to listen to the voices of those who will love them enough to speak the truth and point out problems and potential pitfalls.

ng

You can serve God and his people for a lifetime and do it with passion and joy. You do not have to become one of a growing number of leaders who have compromised their integrity, character, and ministry because they failed to lead an examined and accountable life.

ini

examined life

Exam

of an

leadership from the inside out

discover the power

kevin

harney

Contents Part 1 The Sticky Church Advantage. . . . . . . . . . 11 1. Sticky Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Why the front door is highly overrated • A parable lots of ­people know but not many understand • Why stickiness is so important • The ­purpose and format of this book

2. Who Are These Guys? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Why it might not matter if your church stinks at marketing • Small leaks, big messes and church growth • Come and see evangelism • The 80 percent factor • Scalability and Slow growth

3. How I Learned about the Importance and Power of Stickiness . . . . . . 23 Killing the dream — and why it was one of the best things I ever did • Tools or sheep? • Pastors who don’t like Chris­t ians • Why marketing too early can actually keep ­people away

4. Why Stickier Churches Are Healthier Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Why closing the back door can make the front door seem bigger • The tell-tale mark of a raving fan • The high price of bait and switch • How one seeker church made sure no one brought any seekers

Part 2 How Small Groups Change Everything . . . . 37 5. Velcroed for Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Why most of our discipleship models don’t work very well • How ­people grow • Velcroed for growth • Why the New Testament is absolutely silent about small groups

6. How Small Groups Change Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Critical mass — why it’s so important and what it takes to get there • The Holy man myth • The Holy place myth • Why empowerment needs a platform

7. Still More Ways That Small Groups Change Everything . . . . . . . . . 50 Why small groups make a church more honest and transparent • Why they always increase the level and practice of spiritual disciplines • The very best gift we can give a child — or teenager

8. Making the Message Memorable: How Sermon-Based Small Groups Made Me a Much Better Preacher. . . . . . . . . . . 55 A bunch of stuff that didn’t work and the one change that did • The simplest way to increase attention and note taking • Why my sermons are always worth talking about • Four stages of knowledge and why lots of ­people tend to bail out before they’re finished

6

Contents 9. Making the Message Accessible: How Sermon-Based Small Groups Made Us a Much Better Church. . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Reeling in the marginally interested • Why it doesn’t matter why ­someone joins a group • Why even the unmotivated will spend an hour preparing for their small group • Facilitators and teachers • The death of idiot questions

Part 3 Sermon-Based Small Groups . . . . . . . . . . 69 10. Why Some Groups Jell and Some Don’t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Why size matters • Comfort zones • The “me too” factor • The magic number when attendance becomes predictably sporadic • Getting the right ­people in the right group • The difference between Chris­t ian unity and close friendships • Schooling fish • Why ­people are like Legos • Why friendly ­people can leave new ­people feeling frustrated • New groups for new ­people • Why dividing to grow might not be such a good idea

11. Flies on the Wall: What Happens When a Sermon-Based Small Group Meets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Why there is no such thing as a “typical” sermon-based small group • Refreshments and personal updates • Why it’s vitally important that everyone answers their homework questions ahead of time • Three types of questions • Why silly questions can be important questions • Why you always want to look at some passages that weren’t mentioned in the sermon • Prayer • Freedom to digress • Worship • Ser­vice projects and socials

12. Overcoming the Time Crunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Why most of us have just two time slots to work with • The difference between selling out and adapting wisely • Why cutting the competition is so important • What Henry Ford taught me about small groups • Cutting too much too fast can be hazardous to your ministry • Hamstringing the competition • Making leadership manageable • Why summer breaks are essential for long term success

13. Determining Your Primary Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Determining your primary goal • What happens when everyone uses a different measuring rod • Alignment • What we can learn from Wall Street and LA Fitness • Making disciples • Staying healthy • The need for warmth • The dangers of mission creep • Measuring success

14. Entry Points and Escape Routes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 My first small group • The dreaded weasel factor • Entry ramps and escape routes • Why ten weeks is nearly magical • How groups grow deeper • What happens when life happens • What happens when it doesn’t • Aligning sermon series and small group schedules — why it’s no big deal

15. Why Dividing Groups Is a Dumb Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 What most church leaders think • Why those who are actually in a small group see it so differently • Small groups and steroids • Another look at Legos • What the military taught me about small groups • Mayberry in San Diego • Fresh blood • Hiving versus dividing

7

Sticky Church 16. Finding and Developing Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 What to look for • Who to avoid • The best fishing pools • The worst ­f ishing pools • Why you don’t want to ask for volunteers • How to scare off p ­ otential leaders

17. Training Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Why staff members and lay leaders see training so differently • ­Bite-sized training • Time shifting • Why turning down the intensity won’t harm your leaders or your groups — and why it might help • What every rookie needs to know • The one thing every veteran leader needs to know

18. Why Cho’s Model Didn’t Work in Your Church . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Why most of our small group models don’t work very well • The Korean connection • Coming to America • A nagging question, a surprising answer • Why my parents won’t walk into the Buddhist temple • Prayer Mountain, military coups, and powerful pastors • What a mobile ­society, extended families, Armenians, and mutts have in common — and what they don’t

19. Before You Start: Five Key Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 What a poorly aligned set of tires can teach about vision and ministry • Who are you trying to reach? • What are you trying to accomplish? • How do these two match up? • The funnel test • Mentoring, education, and apprenticeships • Speed modeling

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Appendixes 1. Writing Great Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 2. Sample Sermon Note Sheet and Study Questions. . . . . . . . . . . 153 3. Sample Growth Group Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 4. End of the Quarter Evaluation Form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 5. Leader Training Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 6. Leader Responsibilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 7. Host Responsibilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 8. A List of the New Testament “One Anothers”. . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Study Guide: Follow-up Questions for Each Chapter. . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

8

Chapter 4

Why Stickier Churches Are Healthier Churches

We’ve already seen that sticky churches have an advantage when it comes to discipleship. Shutting the back door gives them more time to grow ­people up to full maturity. But they also have an advantage when it comes to outreach. Ultimately, a church grows in one of two ways: It gets more ­people to come through the front door, or it stops losing ­people out the back door. While most churches give lip ser­v ice to the importance of both, in reality there’s usually a strong bias toward one or the other — and in most cases it’s not too hard to tell which one it is. Front-door churches tend to look for the newest and best ways to be noticed and bring ­people in. If you could be a fly on the wall at an evaluation meeting, you’d find most of the discussion centered on how many ­people came to the big event. Sticky churches might have great marketing and incredible programs, but if you could be a fly on the wall at their evaluation meeting, you’d find a different discussion. Instead of celebrating how many ­people came, the most important measurement would be how many came back. While many would assume that a church focused on bringing ­people in the front door would have an advantage when it comes to reaching the lost, that’s not necessarily true over the long haul. Churches that close

29

The Sticky Church Advantage the back door effectively do so by serving their congregations so well that the ­people don’t want to leave. And happy sheep are incurable word-ofmouth marketers. Whether it’s the fabulous food at our favorite restaurant, the excitement of a great movie, or the life-changing impact of a church ministry, most of us can’t help but tell others when we’ve been well served — and no one needs to tell us to do so.

First Visits As we saw earlier, there is a fundamental difference between someone whose first visit to a church is the result of a powerful marketing campaign or a special outreach program and someone whose first trip is the result of a friend’s invitation to a regular ser­v ice. ­People who come because of special marketing or programming walk in expecting (or hoping) to be wowed. And if they are, they come back expecting more of the same. But of course that’s not what they get, because special programs are — well, special. They might attract a lot of ­people; they might deeply touch everyone who comes. But in the end they fly in the face of one of the most basic laws of retention: Whatever you do to reach ­people you have to continue to do to keep them. Let’s think through the experience of an unchurched neighbor who decides to come to a special outreach event. Suppose he likes it well enough to come back the next week. When he does, the exceptional music, the props, the great speaker, or whatever else it was that duly impressed him will almost surely be gone. If it’s the weekend after Christmas or Easter, it’s likely that the senior pastor and all the folks who put it together will be gone also. After all, they’ll need a break. It’s not easy to put on such an extravaganza. Now compare that with the neighbor whose first visit is the result of a word-of-mouth invitation to a typical weekend ser­v ice. While he might not be as impressed or wowed by the initial show, he certainly won’t be as disappointed when he shows up a second time. There’s no bait and switch to overcome. If he liked the first visit well enough to come back a second time, he’s likely to come back a third and forth time as well. But that’s not all. A word-of-mouth church also has some significant advantages when it comes to evangelism, follow-up, and assimilation.

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Why Stickier Churches Are Healthier Churches

Natural Evangelism Perhaps the most common form of natural evangelism is what I like to call come-and-see evangelism. It takes place whenever someone shares a spiritual need or interest and we respond by inviting him or her to come to a Bible study, to attend a church ser­v ice, or just to hang out with some of our Chris­tian friends. It gives that person an opportunity to see Chris­t ian­ity and Chris­ tians up close and personal. It’s low-threat. There’s seldom any pressure. It lets spiritual window-shoppers move toward Jesus at a Spirit-led pace. It’s completely natural, not forced. Let’s face it: Most Chris­tians are pretty lame when it comes to closing the deal evangelistically. Whether it’s aggressive confrontational witnessing or low-key friendship evangelism, lots of us don’t know what to say or do when the questions get tough. Even when someone is obviously ready to step over the line and follow Jesus, many of us still stutter and stammer or shift into automatic pilot as we spout off a poorly memorized and highly canned response. I’m not saying that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I am saying that’s the way it is. Even those of us who are extroverts with lots of training in evangelism can get tongue-tied and sweaty palms. But a sticky church offers the perfect environment for come-and-see evangelism, because while every ser­v ice is designed to help Chris­t ians become better Chris­tians, it is always done in such a way that non-Chris­ tians can understand everything that’s said and takes place. That makes it much easier for even the most introverted and reserved among us to say with confidence when a friend or coworker expresses a spiritual interest or need, “Why don’t you just come and see?” Contrast that with the way many of our front-door churches approach evangelism. Though we might think that our special programs make it easier for members to reach out to their not-yet-Chris­t ian friends, our special outreach programs can actually put some obstacles in their way. The first is timing. High-powered front-door programs can have the unintended consequence of sending a message that some weekends and programs are for bringing guests — and the rest aren’t. Years ago my parents had some friends whom they hoped to reach for Christ. After numerous dinner conversations and plenty of time to watch how my folks lived and dealt with life’s thorny issues, the husband,

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The Sticky Church Advantage seemingly out of the blue, said that he and his wife would love to come to church sometime. Needless to say, my dad and mom were delighted. The Sunday ser­ vice started out with a great worship set. Then the smiley guy got up to give some commercials and take the offering right before the sermon, which, judging by its title on the bulletin, looked like a great one. So far, so good. Then it happened. Smiley guy began to wax eloquent about an upcoming outreach event that would be the perfect opportunity to bring an “unsaved” friend. Special flyers and brochures were available in the back to pick up and hand out. He then encouraged everyone to be sure they were praying for their lost friends. As he went on and on, my dad and mom slowly died. So did their “unsaved” friends, who had made the mistake of wanting to come to church a ­couple of weeks too soon. They never did come back. My parents learned an important lesson: Never bring friends who don’t know Jesus to the wrong ser­v ice. Though my folks no longer go to that church, I observed it long enough to see that lots of others got the same message. Special programs always brought in a large crowd. But no one seemed to notice how few returned or how well the entire congregation had been trained to hold back their invitations until the next big event. Now, here’s the irony. All this happened at a self-proclaimed “seeker church.” There is a second unintended obstacle that highly programmed frontdoor churches can put in the way of natural evangelism. If most of the ­people who come to Christ come as the result of a complex and highpowered event, it sends a subtle message that it takes lots of time, planning, and money to lead someone to Christ. And that tells the average Joe to hold off until we’ve scheduled the next great fishing party. That’s not to say that special-event evangelism doesn’t work or that those who come to Christ as a result never stick. But it seems to me that spiritual birth is a lot like physical birth. It’s much easier when it’s natural. Artificial insemination and other medical marvels can produce real children who grow up to have great lives, but it’s a rather inefficient way to replenish the next generation.

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Why Stickier Churches Are Healthier Churches

Natural Follow-Up Another area where a sticky church has an advantage is in following up on those who visit. After a big event, it’s hard to follow up if you don’t know who came. Most ­people who come as a result of an advertising campaign won’t readily give out their name and contact information. We’ve come to value privacy too much to do so. Even at weekend ser­v ices, a front-door church can have a harder time with follow-up. That’s because in any church with two or more ser­v ices, it’s hard to tell who is a guest and who just changed ser­v ices for the weekend. Since longtime members who switch ser­v ices don’t like to be asked if they’re visiting (try it; you’ll enjoy the dirty looks), most of us learn to treat anyone we don’t recognize as a regular we haven’t met or someone whose face we can’t remember. It’s different in a sticky church. Since it doesn’t place much emphasis on big front-door events, most guests are brought on the arm of a friend. Few come with only a postcard or brochure in hand. That makes follow-up natural and more likely to occur. Friends don’t need a follow-up program to remind them to ask, “How’d you like it? Any questions I can answer? Do you want to come again?” That’s what friends do. At North Coast we didn’t have (or need) an organized follow-up procedure until we were well past three thousand in weekend attendance. And we only needed it then because the small percentage of folks who came alone at that point added up to a large enough number that some were falling through the cracks.

Natural Assimilation Sticky churches have still another advantage. Since they fill the front door primarily with ­people who’ve come through word-of-mouth referrals, assimilation takes place naturally. Friends don’t have to be reminded to assimilate friends. They do so naturally — and enthusiastically. It’s also easier to assimilate when there’s no need to build a bridge between the bells and whistles of a big event and the more pedestrian programming of a weekend ser­v ice. Even if there is an occasional measure

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The Sticky Church Advantage of bait and switch, those who come by the word-of-mouth invitation of a friend will know what to expect. There’ll be no surprises. Instead of complex assimilation programs, a sticky church simply needs to provide plenty of ministry on-ramps to which members can easily connect the friends they’ve invited.

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As long as the front door is bigger than the back door - a church will think it is growing.

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Why Stickier Churches Are Healthier Churches

As long as the front door is bigger than the back door - a church will think it is growing.

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When the front door and the back door can’t be opened any wider - a church stops growing.

T HURCHES START OUT FAST AND THEN SUDDENLY FALL OUT) USCRIPT SUBMISSION 35

Does it matter how many people are coming through the front door if the back door is wide open? There are plenty of ways to get people to come to church. Keeping them there is another matter. Many of our churches seem more like teflon than velcro. So what will it take to make your church sticky? In Sticky Church, Larry Osborne shares proven strategies for closing the back door and keeping it shut, including a unique approach to sermonbased small groups. By using these groups to dig deeper into the weekend message, Osborne’s multisite congregation has grown from a small group to one of the larger churches in the country—all without any marketing.

Sticky Church tells the inspiring story of North Coast Church’s phenomenal word-of-mouth growth and offers practical tips for launching your own sermon-based small group ministry. Sticky Church is an ideal book for church leaders who want to start or retool their small group ministry—and velcro their congregation to the Bible and each other. Includes samples of sermon notes, study questions, and leadership training materials.

Larry Osborne is lead pastor of North Coast Church in northern San Diego County, widely recognized as one of the most influential and innovative churches in America. Larry speaks extensively on the subject of leadership and developing healthy ministry teams and is the author of The Unity Factor and A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God. He holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Talbot Theological Seminary. Larry and his wife, Nancy, live in Oceanside, California. RELIGION / Christian Church / Growth

USD $16.99/CAD $17.99 ISBN 978-0-310-28508-3

Cover design: Rob Monacelli

51699 This book is part of the Leadership Network Innovations Series.

9

780310 285083

“Dave is asking the right questions while living out the right

the

answers. I couldn’t put this book down until I had finished it all.

monkey

He writes about our global and cultural context, which most Western Christians are oblivious to ... but not for long.” — Bob Roberts, pastor, NorthWood Church, author, The Multiplying Church

a

mandate for change and a manifesto for how

third-culture church. He is an in-demand speaker, innovative strategist, and cultural specialist with global experience in the arts, business, church, and community development. Dave is on the board of World Vision US. He’s also founder and chief visionary officer of Xealot, a strategic innovations group, creatively connecting resources religion / Christian Church / Leadership to leaders around the world. USD $16.99/CAD $17.99 ISBN 978-0-310-27602-9

Cover design: Rob Monacelli This book is part of the Leadership Network® Innovation Series.

and

and the

the

g ib b ons

Dave Gibbons is the founding pastor of Newsong, a multisite, international

monkey fish

fish

Looking at the global shifts rocking all of us, Dave Gibbons offers a third-culture way to being the church. Gibbons offers creative applications that can help any church of any kind anywhere make a difference in the world. The Monkey and the Fish will help you live out your mission in a bold, revolutionary way.

the

L I Q U I D

L E A D E R S H I P F O R

A

T H I R D - C U L T U R E

C H U R C H

d a ve g i bbons foreword by

j.j. brazil,

P u l i t z e r P r i z e Wi n n e r

Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7:

Liquid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Wardrobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Neighbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Liquid Bruce Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Three Questions That Become the Answers 109 cWoWs: Everyone Plays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Ripples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Becoming Third Culture: Practical Next Steps . . . . . . . . Appendix: On the Verge: An Interview with David Gibbons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The desire for safety stands against every noble human endeavor. — Tacitus, Roman philosopher

I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole. — Malcolm X

T

he rebellious, disrespectful, disillusioned, and demanding Prodigal Son is the focus of one of the most glorious moments in the Gospels. Yet the real highlight of that passage in Luke 15 is the radically gracious, generous, and forgiving father. I love that story because it’s Eastern in its cultural tone. Normally, an Eastern father would never run toward his son. The typical Eastern son, with head bowed, would be quick to demonstrate obeisance to his father. However, this father is different. This father runs and, in what is considered by many to be the most intimate portrait of love in the Bible, 31

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kisses his son over and over again. Most versions of the Bible don’t translate these repeated kisses. The kisses of the father. Kisses that entwine forgiveness, celebration, and blessing. The world longs for such kisses from the Father. No one should be in a better position to fulfill this longing than the church. Who can give a better kiss than the church? A kiss without strings attached. A supernatural kiss that can set captives free. A kiss that inspires prodigals to remember real love and to come back home. I sometimes think how sweet it would be if that were the reaction of every person, every family, every neighbor, every community, even every country, whenever they come into contact with those of us who follow Jesus, who make up the church. I think it could happen. I believe that today God is calling us in the church to become a different kind of movement, known for our kisses of compassion rather than our condemnations. I’m not sure there’s ever been a better opportunity for those of us in the church to do so. A historic coming together of many unusual forces are shaping today’s global village. Our world is marked by unprecedented degrees of multiculturalism, social advocacy, international collaboration and interdependence, and technology-driven outbreaks of freedom, unity, and community. They provide an intersection, a kairos moment, in which the church can shine. From its first moments, the church has held the promise of being an expression of God’s presence on this earth. No other entity has greater potential to bring about real and 32

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sustainable change for good, whether we’re talking about individual lives or the world at large. But something’s wrong. In North America, there has been a steady decline in church attendance, church giving, and church participation, a pattern we’ve already seen unfold in Europe, once the seat of Christianity’s global expansion. These are signs of a much larger problem: the erosion of the significance of the church in the public square and in people’s personal lives. In the spring of 2006, a national poll in America indicated that only 17 percent of Americans said going to church is essential for a life of faith. Altered States Around the world, things are changing fast these days, and in ways that seemed unthinkable only a few years ago. Just ask any of the people who attended a recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This annual gathering draws some of the most influential people in the world, including people from all fields — religion, politics, media, business, you name it. There was plenty of talk about novel business strategies and potential political partnerships. But people who are students of culture couldn’t help but notice that new topics and questions are looming large in the most important conversations taking place today. There are conversations about how China is upending the world economy and culture, and about how China is eclipsing the United States in so many ways. There are conversations about how grassroots social change around the globe — which is being fueled by the internet’s vast potential for helping people leap barriers 33

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of time, distance, and culture — is far outstripping institutional approaches to crises and problem-solving, whether the institution is political or religious or otherwise. There are conversations about how the world demands that business not only be good for profits but also be good for the planet and good for people. In business, it used to be that one bottom line — profit — separated the good from the bad. Now there are at least two bottom lines to attend to: profit and cause. This new reality, this new way of doing things, has huge ramifications for the thinking, methods, and game plans of for-profit organizations and business entities of all kinds. Many in the corporate and nonprofit domains are pretty sleep-deprived these days trying to figure out this new world we live in and what it means to be cause-oriented and socially conscious with their gains. This is in large part because they recognize the profitability of cause marketing. What does all of this have to do with those of us in the church? Well, just as the spheres of commerce and government are being fundamentally reshaped by globalism, so is the domain of the church. Again, it’s not new but a wake-up call to return to our roots, our calling as lovers of the marginalized. Globalism applies to the many colossal shifts occurring in the world today because of an intense interdependence that countries, cultures, and people are experiencing with one another. The world is shrinking. By the day, it seems. Distances that once took months to cover now take hours. People and cultures unknown to us, let alone ever personally encountered by us, are an integral part of the fabric of our lives. For example, experts have said that if you take out 34

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the undocumented worker in places like California, that will wreak havoc on our economy. People in politics and business, in education and the arts, people throughout all of our institutions, are finding it difficult to keep up with the way the world is changing, to understand what’s happening and why, and to adapt. I love the church. But the church historically has proven slow to embrace necessary change and to adapt to ethnic, sociological, and cultural shifts. It’s like we know we’re unhealthy but we don’t want to go to the doctor to take care of the problem. And I don’t think it has been any different with globalism. I’m concerned that with globalism, the nature and scope of the changes taking place in the world are so sweeping and the pace of change so unrelenting that we’re becoming increasingly out of touch with the reality of our sickness. At the risk of oversimplifying things, globalism truly is what historians call a disruptive force, because it’s making for a very different, new world: culturally, economically, socially, technologically, commercially, and politically. There are difficult, troubling aspects to this reshaping, but also wonderful possibilities. For instance, the collective threats posed worldwide by terrorism, pandemics, rogue military leaders, political and social corruption, environmental complexities, and racism are frightening and daunting. But I also see an unprecedented potential for creative international and cross-cultural collaboration because we are living in a cause-driven culture. It’s now hip to be advocates of justice and compassion. In fact, people everywhere are hungering 35

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for authentic spiritual conversations and opportunities to change the world. I look at the spiritual movements taking place in China, India, and Southeast Asia and they leave me breathless. Around the planet, there is an openness not only to doing good but to experiencing Jesus and his teachings, and it’s growing exponentially. The church has an amazing opportunity to become what God is hoping we will become. It’ll take the resculpting of our organizations and corporate culture, the incubation of new art forms, new languages and expressions, new symbols, flexible ways of being organized and led, and even a fuller explanation of what we know as the gospel. (See how one MIT graduate is reimagining the gospel. Search on these words: James Choung Story at http://youtube.com. The type of work James is doing is exactly the work that each generation must do.) We need creative forms, methods, and practices for sharing the truth we love and believe in that will work in the new world and with a new generation. We need fresh counterintuitive ways of leading — in practice and in philosophy. As I travel around the world and talk to people, I hear many of us in the church expressing similar concerns and longings. We’re looking for something that fits what we know to be intrinsically true. We’re hungry for it. We sense the urgency of it. Not one of us in the church has the answer, but I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by a group of young, multigenerational, multiethnic leaders and servants who have stumbled onto something that seems to have a lot of promise 36

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in the new world we all find ourselves in. It’s something we call third culture. And these leaders that I’m discovering in cities all over the world, including America, are what we call third-culture leaders. It’s something we in the group of churches we’ve launched feel pretty strongly about. We’ve seen an application of third-culture concepts ignite some beautiful things as we’ve put them into practice around the world. A third-culture church and a third-culture leader look at our global milieu and the church’s role in that milieu in a revolutionary way. The Third-Culture Mandate When we understand the powerful force of globalism — possibly the single most significant macro influence impacting the world today — we’ll understand how third-culture churches and third-culture leaders can help sustain and revitalize the church. When I use the term third-culture church, I’m referring to a beautiful yet sobering reality: whether we’re in Manhattan or Beijing or Sao Paulo, our credibility and the veracity of our initiatives will be measured by our third-culture lifestyles — hence the need to understand the third-culture mandate in light of the purposes of the church prioritized by Jesus himself when he was queried about the greatest commandment. Third culture illuminates the dramatic changes in the world today as well as the insular and exclusive nature of the church. Yet by pursuing what a third-culture church and its 37

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leaders might look like in principle and practice, we’ll be able to fulfill what Christ envisioned his church to be about. In what some people have called the First Great Commission, God told Abraham that he and his offspring would be a “blessing to all the nations.” That, I believe, is our charter, our call, for our churches to be a true blessing to all the nations. And the nations have never been more ready and eager for the church to offer the supernatural kiss of blessing it can offer. I hope to be able to show you why and how the world is craving a third-culture spirit from the church and third-culture leaders within the church. We’ll also discover together that third-culture thinking and practices can help the church not only have an impact globally but also reexamine how we do church and develop leaders to connect with our twentyfirst-century global village — a place that has gone through a hundred years of change in just the past decade. Defining Third Culture A working definition of third culture emerges from Genesis 12 and from the second greatest commandment: Third culture is the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort. From Genesis to Revelation you can track God’s relentless pursuit of blessing humanity in the midst of man’s rebellion. As you examine Genesis 1 – 12 again, you’ll discover that the first mention of the Great Commission isn’t in the book of Matthew but right here in Genesis 12, where God says that we are “blessed to be a blessing to the nations.” This blessing is revealed in 38

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the conclusion of the Bible in Revelation 5:9 – 14, where all the nations are gathered singing a new song. The hard work of this definition is the last phrase — “even in the midst of pain and discomfort.” It is contrary to our nature and culture to embrace pain, but it is the catalyst for helping people to see God. As this book unfolds, you’ll discover that third culture is not just a trend or a new thing but the heart of God. In fact, God is third culture. Third culture is not only about geography or skin color or language. For third-culture people, home is wherever Jesus is. Third culture is the bearing of pain to love those who are not like you. Third culture affirms one’s ethnic identity. One’s ethnicity is not ignored but celebrated! Third culture doesn’t dull the color of one’s culture. Third culture actually enhances a culture’s uniqueness while at the same time celebrating the synergy of its fusion with other cultures. Third culture artfully flows in and out of multiple cultures like water. Here’s another way of looking at it. First culture is the dominant homogeneous culture you live in. First culture tends to be more preservation-oriented, but that doesn’t mean people don’t take great risks. (For example, Asian immigrants often give up their status and wealth in their mother countries for the promise of better opportunities for their children in another country.) Second culture is the culture of those who aren’t quite comfortable with the first culture and often react to the first culture’s ways, maybe even rejecting their parents’ home culture. Third culture is being able to live in both first and second culture and even adopt 39

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an entirely different culture. Third culture is about adaptation, the both/and, not the either/or, mindset. It doesn’t eradicate color or lines but embraces and affirms who we are, regardless of differences in ethnicity, culture, or mindset. Third culture is the gift of being more cognizant of and more comfortable with the painful fusion and friction inherent in cultural intersections. Others have also done some profound thinking about diversity, multiculturalism, multiethnicity, multigenerationalism, and other important topics that need attention. The challenge, I think, is that the solutions offered are often at best cosmetic, such as admonitions to hire more people of color, do pulpit exchanges, or include more music styles on Sunday mornings. Such common cultural initiatives often fall short of true racial reconciliation and lack depth. Scars: Generating Breakthroughs Stephen “Cue” Jean-Marie is a rapper with a penchant for quoting Malcolm X. He grew up in the slums of the West Indies. Not long ago, he ended up at Newsong Church’s campus in Irvine, California, a place where some would never expect a person like Cue to show up, let alone take a leadership role. But he did show up. And not long after, he took on an extraordinary challenge. Members of the congregation and leaders at Newsong in Irvine wanted him to find the most marginalized community in Los Angeles, the kind of place that some people at Newsong would be uncomfortable to be in. We asked him to find a way for Newsong to make a difference in such a place. 40

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This was no easy task — on so many levels. First, there’s Cue himself. His stature is intimidating. He’s a bodybuilder! He’s not a seminary-trained church leader. He was weaned on the streets, really. He has scars on his muscular forearms from being branded with hot spoons in his childhood, somebody’s sad idea of discipline. He’s an unlikely pastor. Then there’s the people. To put it mildly, people in urban Los Angeles and suburban Orange County can be somewhat uncomfortable with one another. Los Angeles is a sprawling ethnically diverse county of ten million people, some of whom live in some of the most impoverished, crime-ridden places in America. Orange County is akin to what you see on suburban prime-time reality shows (well, sort of), a place overflowing with wealth, excessive tastes, corporate executives, racial homogeneity, and a pretty manic pursuit of a lifestyle filled with ease and good fortune. When someone leaves one of these counties and crosses the border of the other, they can be met with an unspoken “good riddance.” And then there’s the challenge. How would Cue find a place in Los Angeles that would trust the intentions and methods of an Orange County megachurch? And would the Crenshaw community accept a legit urbanite and a man of the streets who had joined forces with a suburban megachurch? Even if Cue found such a place, what could a congregation in suburban Orange County possibly do that would be meaningful and valuable in a city radically different from Irvine? How could Cue persuade people in Orange County to embrace whatever cause and constituency he discovered? 41

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These barriers were just the beginning. But it’s the number and nature of the barriers, and the degree of unlikelihood involved in this mission, that make Cue’s effort so remarkable. Looking back at it now, it’s something that God himself had to be part of for it to work. Cue met the challenge by forming a partnership with what is arguably the most troubled school in Los Angeles, a community where the majority of the children come from single-parent homes, where in one recent week seven students were shot to death in suspected gang activity, where the high school recently lost its accreditation. Besides being committed to helping the high school regain its accreditation, the initiative Cue leads today employs sports, health education, the arts, wellness disciplines, mentoring, and whatever else might help to lift some of the burdens of the young people he deals with, and maybe even alter the trajectory of their lives. Every day, Cue peers into the eyes of kids who are suffering in the same way he once did. And they see him as someone who doesn’t need an explanation, who understands, who knows. The neighborhoods he spends his days in are busting at the seams with fatherless boys ill-equipped to do more than plant the seeds of another fatherless generation and with emotionally crippled girls settling for the crumbs of what passes for affection. Others drive through and around this area, but against some tall odds, Cue and his brothers and sisters in the Newsong community are living out what Mother Teresa gently instructed all of us to do: “If you cannot feed a hundred children, well then, feed one.” 42

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Cue and some of his crew of former gang members are sought-after partners by the schools in Crenshaw. Young people are clamoring to be part of their club. Lives are being changed. Now Cue has launched another ministry in Los Angeles called the Row, working with one of the most neglected people groups in Los Angeles: the homeless. Despite the noise of helicopters flying overhead and police cars whizzing by with their sirens going, they do church every Friday night on an open street corner with drug addicts and alcoholics and, believe it or not, suburbanites from Orange County. How did Cue pull this off? Was it simply the result of his innate leadership skills? Certainly that’s part of the explanation. But more intriguing is how Cue even ended up in the Newsong community. What attracted him to a community of ethnicities and cultures that are different from his? And how is it that he, not exactly prototypical leadership material for an American megachurch, came to be loved and empowered by Newsong to take on such a dangerous and meaningful mission? The answer to all these questions finds its home in Cue’s pain. Cue epitomizes a new breed of leader, a leader who leads from what I call the pain principle. This is one of several attributes that mark a third-culture leader and a thirdculture church. The pain principle grows out of two axioms: (1) For leaders, pain in life has a way of deconstructing us to our most genuine, humble, authentic selves. It’s part of the leader’s job description. (2) For most people, regardless of culture, it’s easier to connect with a leader’s pain and shortcomings and mistakes than her successes and triumphs. 43

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One of the things I’m learning as I encounter people around the world today is that leaders who understand the pain principle are the kind of leaders the world is thirsting for. What’s intriguing to me is that this is the kind of leader the church was full of in its earliest days. Paul, Rahab, Ruth, Moses, Joseph, and Jesus himself were all such leaders. The apostle Paul, one of the greatest followers of Jesus, had a story similar to Cue’s. He said, “From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus” (Gal. 6:17 NLT). Paul is basically saying, “I have the right to speak to you because of these scars, evidence of Christ in me.” Fuel the Fringe, Honor the Past The church is called to be a third-culture community. Third culture is about the two purposes of life for every Christfollower: loving God and loving your neighbor. Without question, there are a lot of effective strategies and fruitful ideas being used in the church and in ministry today. Third culture is not simply a strategy but the way we are to live. One may not be naturally third culture, but we are called to move toward this vision. It seems that more than ever the world is open to such leadership. I say this simply because we have experienced it in communities where we seriously pursued a third-culture lifestyle in diverse cultural contexts spanning several continents and saw how people gravitate toward this adaptive, liquid-type leader. Even the next US president is third culture. As of this writing, we don’t know whether the next president will be Obama or 44

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McCain, but both have third-culture characteristics from their past and present. Any Church, Any Size, Anywhere When my brother and I were teenagers, we were bottomless pits. We could consume massive quantities of food. My poor mom. She found really only one place she could take us that would satisfy us: the Royal Fork, an all-you-can-eat buffet where we ate for three to four hours at a sitting. I can still picture the luscious spread. For my brother and me, nothing was more glorious than checking out every nook and cranny of that steamy buffet table and then consuming everything in sight. Buffets were our little heaven on earth. Nothing brings people together like good food! That whole scene reminds me of a story in Luke 14 about another banquet that is jam-packed with prophetic power for us in the new millennium. Jesus tells the story of a great feast being prepared in the kingdom of God. The host of the banquet has worked feverishly and is enthusiastic about this feast. So he dispatches a servant to visit all of the people who were invited to the banquet to make sure they are coming. One by one, however, they all tell the servant they aren’t going to be able to attend. They’re busy attending to transactions and urgent matters. They appreciate the invitation but have to take a rain check. In response, the deeply disappointed host deploys his servant to go throughout the city to invite everyone he sees to the banquet — the homeless, the crippled, the lame, the 45

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poor, anyone he encounters. The servant lobs invitations to all comers, and before long, it’s clear the banquet tables are going to be filled after all with all manner of grateful, joyful people, people who are not too busy. Jesus quietly closes with the haunting admonition that not one of the people who were originally invited will taste the greatest buffet of all time. Like all of Jesus’ parables, there’s plenty of mystery in this story for us to burrow into. What did he mean by this sad, jarring story? Well, to me, there’s a message for us in the church today. As I travel to different nations, I see God’s beautiful sculpting hand creatively at work, as unmistakable as it is unobtrusive. Spectacular spiritual shifts are occurring. But I wonder if the church is sometimes too busy, too distracted, too inwardly focused to sense all that’s happening, all that could be, all that will be — with us or without us. Is it possible that we are so consumed with managing churches and ministries and organizations that we’re missing out on an international spiritual banquet like we’ve never seen before? Is it possible that the reality of the new world we’re living in gives the church an opportunity we’ve never had before, a chance for the church to be what we’ve always dreamed it could be? I believe the church is the embodiment of Jesus on this earth. Think about that. That means that there is no organization with greater potential to have an impact or to be a more potent force for good than a third-culture church that is unleashed. What other organization has that kind of reason for being? 46

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This all might sound pie-in-the-sky. That’s fine. But the God we serve and love has the widest idealistic streak of any of us. A baton is being passed today — in the world and in the church — and any church of any size in any place can accept that baton and run with it. God is raising up in our churches — and outside our churches, frankly — a new generation of prophets with voices and liquid leadership skills tailormade for our times. And I hope that none of us misses it. In writing this book, my hope is that we will sacrificially foster and prioritize next-generation thinking, next-generation methods, and next-generation leaders in the church so that the global movement Jesus began will be known first and foremost for sharing love without strings, healing, extravagant radical compassion, and radical reconciliation with the world so lovingly breathed into existence by our creator. Shaping What Could Be In addition to prayer and reflection on the state of the world these days, I’ve drawn from intentional experiential forays into nonprofit and for-profit work to better understand third-culture language and concepts, including my twenty years as a lead pastor developing churches both big and small, homogeneous and multicultural; from learning from some of the incredible leaders of churches and Christian movements and organizations in North America, the Far East, the United Kingdom, and India; from adventures as a board member with World Vision and as founder of Xealot, a nonprofit organization that seeks to help people living in marginalized communities; from involvement with 47

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two global cause-oriented for-profit ventures, one a financial trading house in California and the other a music label in Los Angeles; and from serving as a consultant and counselor for young artists, business leaders, and musicians on several continents. In my journeys, what’s becoming clear to me is that the more adaptive we are to the Holy Spirit and to diverse people groups and settings, the more we reflect who Jesus is and impact this new flat world. Author Thomas Friedman has become a bit of a prophetic voice in this regard in the area of culture, politics, and business. In his seminal book, The World Is Flat, he describes some of the forces at work that are creating the groundwork and necessity for a third-culture movement in the church: “Two aspects of culture have struck me as particularly relevant in the flat world. One is how outward your culture is: To what degree is it open to foreign influences and ideas? How well does it ‘glocalize’ (a term that combines the necessity of both local and global initiatives — it’s not a choice)? The other, more intangible, is how inward your culture is.”1 In other words, organizations with cultures that intentionally or unintentionally maintain an inward focus — a culture of exclusivity and a leeriness of and even suspicion toward differences and change — are in real trouble in this twenty-first-century global village of ours. Conversely, the more an organization’s culture naturally glocalizes — the more easily our local cultures can absorb and embrace foreign ideas and best practices and meld those with the best of our traditions and values — the greater the boon we will enjoy in the new world. 48

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This new reality is the sweet spot of third culture. Now, for all of the challenges before us, there’s great news for those of us who are privileged enough to be agents of the good news of God’s love. The urgent changes globalism is prompting the church to make, I believe, are what God himself would prescribe for us. I say this simply because of what I see in Scripture that reveals God’s impassioned, undeniable desire for the church’s role in the world. What begins in Genesis with a call for God’s people to be a blessing to all nations ends climactically in Revelation 7, where “all nations and tribes, all races and languages” are gathered together worshiping God. No matter how many times I read that passage, I never cease to feel lifted and emboldened to do whatever I can to help make that scene come to pass. I don’t think we can imagine the degree of the exquisite beauty that that moment described in Revelation will bring. But we get to see a sliver of it when, on rare moments in world events, we witness people laying aside their differences and coming together for good. There’s something about that kind of unity and reconciliation that moves us beyond words. Likewise, that portrait in Revelation — a depiction of the climactic reconciliation of God and the chief object of his love, humankind — lies at the core of the message, methodology, and motivation of third culture. If Friedman’s bestselling The World Is Flat is an inspiring call to a different mindset about the world for business, culture, and government, then I think there’s an urgent call for the church to do likewise. 49

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We have much to learn from the world. A recent example is the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It left many people in the world speechless. The scale and pageantry of the event were unprecedented. But beyond the amazing artistry of the event, one could feel that this was a coming out party for China and for Asia. Once known primarily for its illegal copying of products, Asia is increasingly known for its creativity. David Brooks, New York Times op-ed columnist, had an insightful take on this ceremony. He writes, “The world can be divided many ways — rich and poor, democratic and authoritarian — but one of the most striking is the divide between the societies with an individualistic mentality and the ones with a collectivist mentality.”2 Brooks then refers to a study by professor of psychology Richard Nesbitt in which Americans and Asians were shown individual pictures of a chicken, a cow, and hay. When they were asked which of the pictures go together, Americans typically picked the two animals. Asians typically picked the cow and the hay, since cows eat hay. Americans tend to see categories, whereas Asians are more likely to see relationships. That’s why doing business in Asia is about more than signing a contract; it’s about relationships of trust. Often the Western world focuses on privacy and individual rights, whereas the Asian world focuses more on collective harmony, collective society. Brooks writes, “People in [individualistic] societies tend to overvalue their own skills and overestimate their own importance to any group effort. People in collective societies tend to value harmony and duty. They tend to underestimate their own skills and 50

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are more self-effacing when describing their contributions to group efforts.” In a world in which the healthiest people tend to be in community and those prone to depression and suicide tend to be disconnected, we have much to learn from our “neighbors.” The real value of our growing relationship with nations such as China will probably be more relational and community oriented than economic. We’ll learn to look beyond categories and see relationships. That’s third culture.

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“Dave is asking the right questions while living out the right

the

answers. I couldn’t put this book down until I had finished it all.

monkey

He writes about our global and cultural context, which most Western Christians are oblivious to ... but not for long.” — Bob Roberts, pastor, NorthWood Church, author, The Multiplying Church

a

mandate for change and a manifesto for how

third-culture church. He is an in-demand speaker, innovative strategist, and cultural specialist with global experience in the arts, business, church, and community development. Dave is on the board of World Vision US. He’s also founder and chief visionary officer of Xealot, a strategic innovations group, creatively connecting resources religion / Christian Church / Leadership to leaders around the world. USD $16.99/CAD $17.99 ISBN 978-0-310-27602-9

Cover design: Rob Monacelli This book is part of the Leadership Network® Innovation Series.

and

and the

the

g ib b ons

Dave Gibbons is the founding pastor of Newsong, a multisite, international

monkey fish

fish

Looking at the global shifts rocking all of us, Dave Gibbons offers a third-culture way to being the church. Gibbons offers creative applications that can help any church of any kind anywhere make a difference in the world. The Monkey and the Fish will help you live out your mission in a bold, revolutionary way.

the

L I Q U I D

L E A D E R S H I P F O R

A

T H I R D - C U L T U R E

C H U R C H

d a ve g i bbons foreword by

j.j. brazil,

P u l i t z e r P r i z e Wi n n e r

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T

his is the new equation for church development—a new equation with eternal results.

Rather than the corporate, complex megachurch model of the past, church innovator Dave Browning embraced Deliberate Simplicity. The result was an expanding multisite church empowered for maximum impact. As part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series, Deliberate Simplicity is a guide for church leaders seeking new strategies for more effective ministry.

deliberate simplicit y

Less is mo r e . An d m o r e i s b et t er .

deliberate

“Einstein noted once that any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex, but that it takes a touch of genius ... to move in the opposite direction. Drawing deeply from the living witness of Christ the King Community Church, Dave ... gives us not only a highly informative text on a critical subject, but also an inspiring one.”

simplicit y

— Alan Hirsch, author of The Forgotten Ways

International (CTK), a nondenominational multisite church with locations in twelve states and seven countries. It is named among Outreach magazine’s America’s Most Innovative Churches. Dave lives in Burlington, Washington, with his wife RELIGION / Christian Church / Leadership and three children.

browning

DAVE BROWNING is the founding pastor of Christ the King Community Church,

How the Church Does More by Doing Less

USD $16.99/CAD $17.99 ISBN 978-0-310-28567-0

Cover design: Rob Monacelli This book is part of the Leadership Network® Innovation Series.

dave browning

CONTENTS

Preface

.....................................9

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Introduction to a New Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1.Minimality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 2.Intentionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 3.Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 4.Multility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 5.Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149 6.Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173 Conclusion: It’s an Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Appendix 1: Seven Ways Less Can Be More . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Appendix 2: Twenty-five Reasons to Be Multisite . . . . . . . . . 207 Appendix 3: Organic Site Development Process . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Appendix 4: Short and Sweet: The One-Hour Service . . . . . . 229 Appendix 5: Differences: What Makes CTK Different . . . . . . 245 Author Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Notes

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

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INTRODUCTION TO A NEW EQUATION

<=–×+∞ A NEW EQUATION Imagine with me for a minute . . . a church . . . but not your typical church. A church where the main thing is the main thing. A church where people convene primarily in homes and secondarily in public spaces for worship services. A church where the ministry is carried out by ordinary people, and it is the pastor’s job to identify, deploy, train, and support these ministers. A church that is warm and accepting of both the churched and the unchurched. A church that sees hundreds of converts baptized each year. A church that numbers tens of thousands but convenes in thousands of small groups and scores of small worship centers. A church that has no geographical limits but spreads from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, town to town, county to county, state to state, and country to country. A church that is not just multilocation but also multiethnic and multinational. What if this church were intentionally structured to reach an unlimited number of people in an unlimited number of places? What if this church were more like a movement than a ministry? Do you have this picture in your mind? For me it’s not too difficult to imagine. I’ve been living inside this picture for the last few years. 15

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Christ the King Community Church held its first worship ser vice on Sunday evening, April 4, 1999, in Mount Vernon, Washington. In May of that year, CTK began to hold morning ser vices, going to two ser vices in September and three ser vices the following February. During its first year, Christ the King of Skagit Valley grew at a rate of 12 percent a month to an average of over 500 people per week, with a high attendance of 763. By the end of CTK’s first year, thirty-eight small groups were convening weekly in Jesus’ name for friendship, growth, encouragement, and outreach. From 2000 to 2004, CTK established hundreds of small groups throughout the region, with worship centers located in ten cities, in four counties. In 2004, Outreach Magazine recognized CTK as one of the fastest-growing churches in America. In 2005, CTK began to expand across the country and around the world. We are now poised to go as far as relationships will take us (a current list of locations can be found online at www.ctkonline.com). CTK has experienced extraordinary results by keeping it simple. Church growth in the seventies, eighties, and nineties was defined by the megachurch. As researcher George Barna says, “We live in an era of hyperbole. Everything is supersized, global, mega-this, and biggest-ever-that. Even the religious community has succumbed to the world’s infatuation with size. The pinnacle of church success is to become a megachurch.” Megachurches have proven they are able to reach thousands of people with burgeoning budgets, sprawling campuses, huge payroll, and extensive programming. Large churches have demonstrated for the past three decades that more can be more. Deliberate Simplicity is a new equation for church development. It says less can also be more. This represents a paradigm shift. When the paradigm shifts, the rules change. In baseball, for example, the foul lines are part of the paradigm. If the ball lands on one side of the line, it’s a fair ball. If it lands on the other side of

16

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A N E W E Q U AT I O N

the line, it’s a foul ball. If the ball is hit over the fence, it’s a home run. If it lands short of the fence, it’s playable. What accounts for these differences? The paradigm. A paradigm is a set of rules that tell you how to play the game in order to be successful. When I say that Deliberate Simplicity is a new paradigm for the church, I’m saying the lines have been moved from where you might expect to find them in a traditional church. “Traditional church” may sound pejorative. Here we mean simply a church defined by its locale, programs, facility, or denomination. If you hear someone say, • “I attend the (color or architecture) church at the corner of Maple and Division” • “My family has been members of the (Denomination) Church for generations” • “I really like the productions they do over at the (First Something) Church” • “Have you seen the new education wing the (big church in town) built?” they are probably talking about a traditional church. In the Deliberately Simple church, the rules are: “Less is more, and more is better.” Success within these lines boils down to six factors, presented here in the form of an equation: < = – × + {dec56}. Factor

Symbol

Objective

Question

Minimality

<

Keep it simple.

What

Intentionality

=

Keep it missional.

Why

Reality

–

Keep it real.

How

17

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Multility

×

Keep it cellular.

Where

Velocity

+

Keep it moving.

When

Scalability

∞

Keep it expanding.

How Far

The main ideas of Deliberate Simplicity are outlined in six sections. The first three (minimality, intentionality, reality) explain how less is more. The last three (multility, velocity, scalability) expand on how more is better. The modular approach I have taken to writing about Deliberate Simplicity mirrors the modular approach we have taken in ministry. Each of the six chapters can stand on its own but is also part of a greater whole. The differences between a Deliberately Simple church and a traditional church need to be discussed, because when you are in the middle of a paradigm, it is sometimes hard to imagine any other paradigm. Upside Down Map Co. of Derby, England, recently teamed up with Map Link Inc. of Santa Barbara, California, to print a road map of California with north and south reversed to make map reading easier for drivers heading south. Why didn’t I think of that? Probably because I was stuck in a paradigm that says a map always has to be laid out with N pointing up. When you get out of the box, you can see new possibilities. Fifty years ago a church “map” invariably involved a church with a steeple, a seminary-trained minister in a three-piece suit or robe, a pew-filled sanctuary, hymnals, an organist, and a sermon delivered from behind a wooden pulpit. Today, if you participate in a Deliberately Simple church, you will most likely meet in a rented auditorium, sit on a stackable chair, sing along with projected lyrics and a rock band, and hear conversational teaching by a bivocational pastor in blue jeans sitting on a stool. 18

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Church growth expert Peter Wagner speculates that the number of churches that are out of the box now exceeds the amount of churches in the largest Protestant denomination, which has around forty thousand churches nationwide. Donald Miller, professor at the University of California at Berkeley, outlines twelve characteristics of the “New Paradigm Church”: 1. They were started after the mid-1960s. 2. The majority of the congregation members were born after 1945. 3. Seminary training of clergy is optional. 4. Worship is contemporary. 5. Lay leadership is highly valued. 6. They have extensive small group ministries. 7. Clergy and congregants usually dress informally. 8. Tolerance of different personal styles is prized. 9. Pastors tend to be understated, humble, and self-revealing. 10. Bodily, rather than mere cognitive, participation in worship is the norm. 11. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are affirmed. 12. Bible-centered teaching predominates over topical sermonizing.1

Of the twelve chara cteris tics, which three do you believ e have specia l impor tance ? The church has always undergone change, reformation, and revolution. But today the major reforms taking place in the church are in the area of methodology rather than message, in practice more than theology. According to church growth expert Peter

19

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Wagner, “The radical change in the sixteenth century was largely theological. The current reformation is not so much a reformation of faith (the essential theological principles of the Reformation are intact), but a reformation of practice.” Yet for the church — which often institutionalizes its practices — reforms in methodology can prove every bit as epic as reforms in theology. Fortunately, the significant changes that used to take decades, if not centuries, for the church to embrace are now happening in months and years. One of the chief practical advantages of the Deliberately Simple paradigm is the speed at which gains can be achieved. If the goal is to build Christ’s kingdom and see spiritual transformation happen on a massive scale, then the traditional church is not going to get it done. We are winning some battles but losing the war. In the United States, for instance, while megachurches are getting bigger and bigger, the culture is becoming more and more secular. In the Two-Thirds World, to which the “bigger is better” paradigm has been exported, the monetary requirements of building buildings and supporting pastors has been stifling and stalling the church. Only middle- to upper-class communities (or ministries supported from the outside) can pay the bill for the properties and staff they “need.” Instead of focusing on outreach, the church spends excessive energy focusing on the money it feels it requires to do outreach. Deliberately Simple churches are finding that the way to effect dramatic change is to change the rules. When you change the rules, you automatically change the roles and results.

Traditional

Deliberately Simple

Goal

Improvement

Redefinition

Focus

Behaviors and Rules

Attitudes and Roles

20

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A N E W E Q U AT I O N

Risk

Low

High

Result

Minor Gains

Major Gains

Speed

Slow

Fast

Sometimes the paradigm you’re working with does more harm than good. For instance, the prevailing medical theory used to be bloodletting. Now it’s germ theory. What if hospitals had done TQM (total quality management) on bloodletting? They would have been doing the wrong thing even better. If the paradigm doesn’t work, executing the paradigm better actually makes things worse. You climb the ladder only to find that it’s leaning against the wrong wall. While I agree with the axiom that says, “No model is perfect; some are useful,” there is a growing sense that the megachurch ladder may be leaning against the wrong wall. In fact, the situation may be more dire than that. In his book Revolution, researcher George Barna speaks to a growing angst regarding the institutional church. His research indicates that there may be as many as twenty million spiritual revolutionaries who no longer view the church as the locus for their spiritual experience. Church consultant Reggie McNeal states that “a growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith.” When decidedly different, more useful answers to questions start to appear, you are seeing the beginnings of a new paradigm. With momentum, these new rules become a paradigm shift. The Deliberately Simple church appears to be in the same place in its development as the United States of America prior to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. We have a dream. We have a new land in which to live out that dream. We have principles that are guiding us. We are experiencing newfound freedom living 21

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by these principles. To facilitate further expansion, we have to do what the Founding Fathers did. We have to put our hearts on parchment. As Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theological tenets to the church door in Wittenberg, today we are posting this practical thesis in big, bold letters: DELIBERATE SIMPLICITY. The word Deliberate says that we want to be intentional about what we try to do and how we try to do it. de•lib•er•ate adj: carefully thought out and done intentionally By definition, deliberate speaks to design (“thought out”) as well as drive (“done intentionally”). A deliberate church thinks through the outcomes it wants to achieve, lets form follow function, and takes responsibility for results. Simplicity describes the manner in which the Deliberately Simple church intends to carry out its mission: simply. By simple we mean: sim•ple adj sim•pler, sim•plest 1: easy to understand, deal with, use, etc.: a simple matter; simple tools 2: plain; not elaborate or artificial: a simple style 3: unadorned; not ornate or luxurious: a simple gown 4: unaffected; unassuming; modest: a simple manner 5: not complicated: a simple design 6: single; not complex or compound 7: occurring or considered alone; mere; bare: the simple truth; a simple fac. 8: free from deceit or guile; sincere; unconditional: a frank, simple answer 9: common or ordinary: a simple soldier 10: unpretentious; fundamental: a simple way of life 11: humble or lowly: simple folk syn 1: Clear, intelligible, understandable, unmistakable, lucid 2: Plain, natural, unembellished, neat 3: Unpretentious In the book of Acts, we find the first-century church meeting in homes and gathering in public spaces for assembly. The early church was not about religion but about relationships . . . lov22

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Looki ng at the above defin itions , how do you feel about the words simple and churc h going toget her? ing God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. It was that simple. Deliberate Simplicity inquires, “Can’t we go back to that?”

THE BANE OF COMPLEXITY Complexity has been a prevailing trend in modernity, but people are not wired for it naturally. One of the reasons your phone number has seven digits is that Alexander Graham Bell conducted studies that indicated that retention fell off dramatically beyond seven numbers. Psychologist George Miller wrote a famous paper in the 1950s entitled “The Magic Number Seven Plus or Minus Two.” Miller’s studies showed that people can handle only about seven pieces of information at any one time in their short-term memory. Studies are showing that we get bogged down when we have too many “open circuits.” Educators are finding that when it comes to the brain, less is more. Parents who overstimulate their young children are missing the point. Author John Bauer, in The Myth of the First Three Years, says it is not about having more synaptic connections. It’s about capitalizing on the strongest connections. In fact, many billions of connections will be shut down naturally so you are freed up to exploit the ones that remain. Biologically, losing connections is the point, not gaining them. When I was a kid in Alaska, we had only three or four television channels (yes, and I really do have stories about walking to school in the snow too). With so few channels, I pretty much had 23

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the programming memorized for the entire week. Those days are long gone. Today there are so many channels, so many programs, so many publications, so many websites, that we will all feel hopelessly behind unless we are deliberate about our simplicity. Absorbing all the data is impossible. The sooner we filter the channels, the better. People are growing to not just desire simplicity but demand it. An anonymous email comes to Google (a leading search engine on the internet) on an ongoing basis. Every time, the email contains only a two-digit number. It took the folks at Google a while to figure out what the author was communicating. He was giving them feedback on the number of words on Google’s homepage. When the number started to go up, say to fifty, he would get agitated and send them an email. Now Google finds his emails helpful, because his feedback has disciplined them to not introduce too much complexity on their homepage. The email is like a scale for words. In contrast, rival web portal Yahoo! has over five hundred words on its homepage. Its model of “ministry” is more akin to the modern megachurch — providing a multitude of links and options for its users. Yahoo! is about everything, so it is forgivable to think that it may stand for nothing. . . . Google is a classic example of succeeding through focus and execution. Yahoo!’s model, by comparison, is anything but classic. The company’s offerings are so broad that it isn’t considered the go-to site for any particular service or feature. — Michael Malone Both Yahoo! and Google are successful in attracting visitors to their sites (119 million per month and 72 million per month, respectively) and have strong revenue ($3.2 billion and $2.7 billion). But while Yahoo! is proving that more can be more, Google is proving that less can be more. Google’s style in advertising is 24

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minimalist. Yet the little text-only ads on Google outperform the flashy, full-page banners on Yahoo! While the “less is more” approach hasn’t received much play in the church, it has been catching on for a while in business. For instance, In-N-Out Burger, a California-based chain of 175 burger joints, has a business model similar to Google’s. It is Deliberate Simplicity applied to food ser vice. The company draws lunchtime crowds with its few offerings. It sells burgers — single or double — fries, sodas, and shakes. That’s it. Cheese is one of the few options. By contrast, McDonald’s has added thirty-seven items to its core menu since 1955. Warehouse retailer Costco takes a deliberately simple approach. They offer fewer choices in larger packaging. That means some customers may pass up purchases because the gallon jar of mayonnaise is too big or the brand isn’t their favorite. But the benefits far exceed the lost sales. Stocking fewer items streamlines distribution and hastens inventory turns — and nine out of ten customers are perfectly happy with the mayonnaise. Costco’s warehouses are spartan (concrete floors, fluorescent lighting, etc.). Their pricing displays are understated (paper in a plastic sleeve). They stock less than 10 percent of the items of a typical Wal-Mart. They are very selective in what they choose to offer. Yet Costco is doing just fine, and WalMart is trying to emulate their success with their Sam’s Clubs. In office supplies, Deliberate Simplicity is the difference between Staples and Office Depot. Staples wants to make it easy. They feature “the easy button” in their promotions. Their goal is to make it easy for you to get in and get out quickly. Office Depot wants you to stay around and shop. Trader Joe’s is a specialty grocery retailer that has become a cultural phenomenon by keeping it simple. Len Lewis, in his book The Trader Joe’s Adventure, says, Because Trader Joe’s has mastered operational disciplines that elude even the most sophisticated retailers, many retail industry experts say the chain defies any neat description 25

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or standard categorization. By all rights, the very things that make it successful should be a recipe for disaster. Its average store is only about half the size of even the smallest neighborhood supermarket these days. Each location only carries about 2,500 items, compared to an average of 25,000 at conventional supermarkets. And instead of large, easy-to-access locations, most are housed in relatively small, older strip shopping centers with limited parking. . . . [Yet by] being different, Trader Joe’s has built itself into a business with annual sales of $2.6 million, or $1300 per square foot, which is about twice the supermarket industry average. . . . From the beginning, the company’s guiding principle was to offer a limited number of items at extremely low prices in barebones stores.2

C you add one more delibe rately simple Can co ny to the ones menti oned? compa USA Today recently ran a front-page cover story heralding “our national craving for all things simple.” We’ve got cell phones, pagers, Palm Pilots, and iPods. But a recent poll found that nearly one in five Americans are seriously seeking alternatives to their hectic daily lives. The desire for simplicity is an age-old yearning that is being exacerbated by “technological progress.” If you don’t believe this, try counting the money the Chicken Soup for the Soul books have made, or looking into the resurgence of National Public Radio. We live in a world much akin to the first century. The acids of modernity have eaten away our sophistication, and we are stripped down to the nakedness of simplicity. — Jess Moody 26

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Simplicity works better than complication partly because it mitigates the impact of Murphy’s Law. U.S. Air Force Captain Edward Murphy said in 1949, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Mathematicians have now come up with factors that increase the likelihood of Murphy’s Law coming into play, like urgency, complexity, importance, and skill. From running different scenarios, they found that to increase the odds of disaster, all you need to do is combine two of the above elements. For instance, try to avoid doing anything complex when you’re in a rush. Or, as we have espoused in Deliberate Simplicity, when you have something important to do, keep the process simple. The more complexity in the system, the more likely that implementation will fail. Some churches are living examples of this. Why are things always going wrong? Murphy’s Law, amplified by complexity. The law of complexity says that the level of complexity is equal to the square of the number of different steps in a task. We were 1-2 and we were running forty-seven plays on offense. I cut that to thirteen and we won four in a row. — Lou Holtz, Football Coach One of the things that made Wendy’s better was putting a limit on the number of ideas we would implement. — Dave Thomas, Founder of Wendy’s Eric Bende spent eighteen months off the power grid with the Minimites — a group who decided to go without telephones, running water, refrigeration, or electricity. He wrote about his experiences in Better Off: Pulling the Plug on Technology. His conclusion was not that technology is a problem but that letting technology dominate our lives is. Bende advises, “When in doubt, use less technology.” One of the questions that takes the church back to basics is, how would we do church if we didn’t have electricity? Your answer will undoubtedly push you back to the essence of the church and 27

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away from the artificiality of modernity. I like Matthew 10:9 – 10 in The Message: “Don’t think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don’t need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment.” Like Henry David Thoreau, I believe that “technology has become an improved means to an unimproved end.” One of our CTK pastors encourages the people in his worship center to occasionally fast from technology (no phones, TV, lights, etc.) for personal health. Most of our CTK worship centers utilize an overhead projector to show song lyrics, instead of computer-driven PowerPoint. Why? It’s relatively inexpensive to get set up with a projector. It’s relatively simple to prepare and execute. Anyone can operate the equipment. It is a low-tech, simple solution. We’re not trying to dazzle people with pixels. We’re not trying to impress them into the kingdom of God. We’re attempting to love them in. For the most part, the service order you’ll find at a CTK worship center consists of two parts: uninterrupted worship and very clear, lucid teaching, with no bells or whistles. Technology doesn’t always work for us like we think it does. Sometimes technology is a waste of time. A study of boardroom decision-making determined that the same decision would have been made whether or not there was a fancy PowerPoint presentation. While computers can be very helpful (particularly to speed up and automate laborious processes), they also give us the capability to play solitaire, send instant messages, fiddle with fonts or monkey around with layout, all of which is dissipated waste. Sometimes technology works against you by making things more difficult instead of less. Jim Collins, in Good to Great, uses the conflict in Vietnam as a case in point. Technology cannot turn a good enterprise into a great one, nor by itself prevent disaster. History teaches this lesson repeatedly. Consider the United State’s debacle in Vietnam. The United States had the most technologically advanced fighting force the world has ever known. Super 28

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jet fighters. Helicopter gunships. Advanced weapons. Computers. Sophisticated communications. Miles of high-tech border sensors. Indeed, the reliance on technology created a false sense of invulnerability. The Americans lacked, not technology, but a simple and coherent concept for the war on which to attach that technology. It lurched back and forth across a variety of ineffective strategies, never getting the upper hand. Meanwhile, the technologically inferior North Vietnamese forces adhered to a simple, coherent concept: a guerrilla war of attrition, aimed at methodically wearing down public support for the war at home. What little technology the North Vietnamese did employ, such as the AK-47 rifle (much more reliable and easier to maintain in the field than the complicated M-16), linked directly to that simple concept. And in the end, as you know, the United States — despite all its technological sophistication — did not succeed in Vietnam.3 The current war on terrorism is taking us back to a “less is more” approach. On September 11, 2001, a tiny band of Internet-savvy fundamentalists humbled the world’s only superpower. It turned out that the FBI, the CIA, a kiloton of tanks, and an ocean of aircraft carriers and nuclear subs were no match for passionate focus, coordinated communication, and a few $3.19 box cutters. The terrorist conceived the ultimate “virtual organization” — fast, wily, flexible, determined. And then, despite numerous slip-ups, said terrorists trumped the bureaucratic behemoths lined up against them. — Tom Peters, Re-imagine Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, discussing the search for Osama Bin Ladin, 29

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asked rhetorically, “Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?” Obviously, to find individuals hiding in caves, the strategy will have to be much more pedestrian. Deliberate Simplicity is a “boots on the ground” approach to the church’s mission. We believe that if we can get God’s people to simply love God and love people, the church cannot be stopped.

THE COMPLICATED CHURCH In the absence of Deliberate Simplicity, churches can easily become complicated, either in message (theologically) or in method (organizationally). I’ve experienced both the complication that comes from too many doctrines and the complication that comes from too many programs. I was raised in a traditional church — a church that was decidedly denominational and conservative. The particular denomination in which I grew up had emerged from the theological conflicts of the early twentieth century, when liberalism began to challenge the inerrancy of Scripture. As believers were separating from this heresy and apostasy, a particular group of churches decided to practice second-degree separation — to extricate themselves not only from heretics but also from anyone who did not separate from heretics. This quest for extreme purity, while well-meaning, spawned a culture of guilt-by-association, suspicion, judgmentalism, and legalism. Over the decades, more issues surfaced, more lines were drawn, and more doctrines were articulated. By the time I arrived on the scene, seemingly everything was worth fighting for. Even the smallest biblical point was magnified to rival the virgin birth of Christ in seriousness. Looking back now, it was significantly harder to get into that church than into heaven. I spent my spiritually formative years wondering if I measured up. As I came into adulthood, and into my first ministry, I experienced another form of complication, the “program model” of ministry. My first pastorate was in a hyperactive church. This 30

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church, though in a rural setting, had weekly ser vices Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights, an age-graded Sunday school from the cradle to the grave, weekly youth meetings, a midweek children’s club program, several choirs and music groups, three banquets each year, an annual missions conference, an annual revival, weekly men’s and women’s meetings, monthly deacons’ meetings, quarterly and annual congregational meetings, and two annual retreats. How did the church do all this? The answer was another layer of complication. The church had been in existence for forty years and had collected quite an assortment of committees. There was the kitchen committee, the benevolence committee, the missions committee, the men’s ministry committee — over thirty committees in all! Just managing these committees was a full-time job. Needless to say, most of everyone’s energy went into supporting and maintaining the organizational infrastructure. Complication is the bane of a large organization. Many churches today are overfeatured and unnecessarily complex. The complexity is strangling their ability to grow.

What examp les of compl icatio n have you obser ved in the churc h?

Each epoch of church history has introduced its own layers of complexity. The medieval church introduced hierarchical control, the reformed church introduced theological correctness, the corporate church introduced programmatic complexity. It doesn’t really matter how we got here. We got here. To the extent that today’s church has become political, institutional,

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or programmatic, we are making it more complicated than it needs to be.

SIMPLE DELIBERATELY Complexity causes people to yearn for simple, profound ideas that can be readily related to diverse situations. Deliberate Simplicity delivers these ideas to the church. We are not espousing simplicity because we haven’t yet figured out how to be complicated. We are simple by design. We believe that simplicity is a preferable way to go about things. That’s not to say that simplicity is necessarily an easier way to go about things. Simplicity requires a lot of prayer, thought, hard work, and discipline. The paradox of simplicity has been called Meyer’s Law: It is a simple task to make things complex, but a complex task to make them simple. Think about the things in your life that you enjoy because of their simplicity. I think of my Honda Civic, for instance. Why isn’t everything designed to be this simple? The answer is, because it’s easier to be complicated than it is to be simple. Simple takes much more time and attention. Anybody can be complicated, but simplicity is a gift. ’Tis a gift to be simple. ’Tis a gift to be free. ’Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be. — Shaker Hymn Bob Buford has achieved success in business and ministry. When he mentors young leaders, he often asks, “What is it that you intentionally do not do that fuels your success?” The concept is pretty simple but by no means obvious. As Jim Collins points out in his book Good to Great, “Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever-expanding ‘to do’ lists, trying to build momentum by doing, doing, doing — and doing more. And it 32

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rarely works. Those who built the good-to-great companies, however, made as much use of ‘stop doing’ lists as ‘to do’ lists. They displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous junk.” That’s the clarion call of Deliberate Simplicity: to unplug the extraneous. As Al Ries discusses in his book Focal Point, there are only four different things you can do to improve the quality of your life and work: 1. You can do more of certain things. You can do more of the things that are of greater value to you and bring you greater rewards and satisfaction. 2. You can do less of certain things. You can deliberately decide to reduce activities or behaviors that are not as helpful as other activities. 3. You can start to do things you are not doing at all today. You can make new choices, learn new skills, begin new projects or activities, or change the entire focus of your work or personal life. 4. You can stop doing certain things altogether. You can stand back and evaluate your life with new eyes. You can then decide to discontinue activities and behaviors that are no longer consistent with what you want and where you want to go.

Which of these four choice s is most diffi cult? Which is least diffi cult? While the traditional church tends to choose doors 1 and 3, the Deliberately Simple church looks at what is behind doors 2 and 4. By doing less of certain things, and stopping other 33

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things altogether, energy and resources can be reinvested in the few things really worth doing. By not being so broad, we can go deeper. The mascot for Deliberate Simplicity is the paper clip. The paper clip provides maximum functionality from minimal means. The first bent-wire paper clip was patented by Samuel B. Fay in 1867. It was originally intended primarily for attaching tickets to fabric, although the patent recognized that it could be used to attach paper items together. Now every year 10,000 tons of steel go into making paper clips. A few years back, during a slowdown in the economy, Lloyd’s Bank of London decided to find out what happens to all these paper clips. Lloyd’s tracked a batch of 100,000 paper clips within its bank. Here is what they found: 25,000 were simply lost in the shuffle, swept up or vacuumed into oblivion; 19,413 served as card game chips; 14,163 were twisted and made useless during phone conversations; 7,200 were used as hooks for belts, suspenders, or bras; 5,434 were used to pick teeth or scratch ears; 5,308 were used as nail cleaners; 3,196 were used as pipe cleaners. The remaining 20,286, or about 20 percent, were used for their intended purpose of clipping papers together. Just because something is designed to be simple doesn’t mean it will fulfill its intended purpose. This is why we have to be deliberate.

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T

his is the new equation for church development—a new equation with eternal results.

Rather than the corporate, complex megachurch model of the past, church innovator Dave Browning embraced Deliberate Simplicity. The result was an expanding multisite church empowered for maximum impact. As part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series, Deliberate Simplicity is a guide for church leaders seeking new strategies for more effective ministry.

deliberate simplicit y

Less is mo r e . An d m o r e i s b et t er .

deliberate

“Einstein noted once that any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex, but that it takes a touch of genius ... to move in the opposite direction. Drawing deeply from the living witness of Christ the King Community Church, Dave ... gives us not only a highly informative text on a critical subject, but also an inspiring one.”

simplicit y

— Alan Hirsch, author of The Forgotten Ways

International (CTK), a nondenominational multisite church with locations in twelve states and seven countries. It is named among Outreach magazine’s America’s Most Innovative Churches. Dave lives in Burlington, Washington, with his wife RELIGION / Christian Church / Leadership and three children.

browning

DAVE BROWNING is the founding pastor of Christ the King Community Church,

How the Church Does More by Doing Less

USD $16.99/CAD $17.99 ISBN 978-0-310-28567-0

Cover design: Rob Monacelli This book is part of the Leadership Network® Innovation Series.

dave browning

Servolution is a must-read. it is inspirational. it is practical. and it has the potential to revolutionize your life.

— mark batterson

national community church

SERVOLUTION STARTING A CHURCH REVOLUTION THROUGH SERVING Healing Place Church passionately follows Jesus’ example of serving others. From this relentless pursuit of ways to bless the hurting in Jesus’ name come some amazing stories that demonstrate practical strategies for living a mission of loving and embracing all members of society. Each chapter includes practical suggestions and resources for use in any church. Be encouraged by the testimony of how God’s Spirit can empower and bless your ministry through a simple passion to serve others. Wherever you are and whatever your gifts, you can play a vital role in a revolution of serving others with the love and mercy of Christ— a Servolution.

Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This multisite congregation has grown to over seven thousand attendees in several countries. Dino also cofounded the Association of Related Churches, which has planted sixty-three churches across the country, and Go Global Missions, a group designed to develop missionaries and connect missions organizations. He and his wife, DeLynn, and their three children live in Baton Rouge. Religion / Christian Church / General

USD $16.99 ISBN 978-0-310-28763-6

Cover design: Rob Monacelli This book is part of the Leadership Network® Innovation Series.

RIZZO

Dino Rizzo is the founding and lead pastor of Healing Place

DINO RIZZO foreword by

craig groesChel

CONTENTS Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Introduction: We Can’t Let This One Get Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

1. The Beginning of a Servolution: Forty-Five Tons of Tea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2. Strategic Servolution: Rat Bait and Cheetah-Print Nightgowns . . . . . . . . . 28

3. The Culture of Serving: An Unexpected Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4. Servolution Is All about Jesus: Four Walls and a Slave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

5. Hurricane Katrina: The Day the Levees Broke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

6. Servolution Top Ten: A Lesson from Ben and Jerry’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

7. The Fabric of a Servolution: A Towel and a Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

8. Unlocking the Nee d: There’s a Great Treasure Inside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

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9. Staying on Course: A Speech, a Spotlight, and a Season . . . . . . . . . . . 102

10. The Cost of a Servolution: More Than Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

11. No Excuses: 165,000 Easter Eggs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

12. Servolution Street: The Neighborhood Where Jesus Lives . . . . . . . . . . 131

13. Keep Your Serve Alive: Avoiding Compassion Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

14. Never Serve Alone: Where’s My High Five? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Conclusion: Picking Up the Towel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Appendix 1: Servolution Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Appendix 2: Servolution Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

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CHAPTER 2

STRATEGIC SERVOLUTION Rat Bait an d CheetahPrint Nightgowns We were experiencing the amazing privilege of being a part of changing people’s lives simply by meeting their needs. We were like a kid who’d been allowed to have just one taste of the world’s best ice cream1 and was overwhelmingly determined to go back for more. A passion for serving others was burning in all of our hearts. We had been doing what we could find to do, whatever opportunities God gave us no matter how small they seemed. Don’t forget the principle of God’s kingdom: those who are faithful with the little things will be given much. We didn’t know it, but our servolution was getting ready to explode. It started with a chain reaction that ignited when our sound system fried. We needed a new system, but still being a very young church, we didn’t have the budget to just go out and buy one. So we decided to hold a big garage sale to raise the funds. We asked people to donate items for the sale, and soon our parking lot was filled with our congregation’s gently used, throwaway valuables. There were toasters, couches, pogo sticks, 8-track players, ceramic roosters, Ginsu knife sets, and other as-seen-on-TV treasures. I’m pretty sure there was even one of those Flowbee haircutting things.2 Just hours before the sale, I received a call from a man who wanted to give an offering to pay for the new sound system. How cool! The need for a new sound system was met and we hadn’t even sold one item yet!

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But now we had all this stuff sitting in the parking lot. Since it was all ready anyway, we decided to go ahead with the sale, thinking maybe we would be able to buy some new microphones and instruments as well. Now, let me remind you my intent here is not to offer a formula for starting a servolution. So much of the servolution journey for us has been going with the flow, and taking advantage of the unexpected turns that we didn’t see coming but God had been preparing us for. What happened on the day of the garage sale was unplanned and accidental. But looking back, it is easy to see that it was clearly God’s plan for us all along. We started the sale early in the morning, complete with food, drinks, and other concessions. I was looking forward to meeting all the new people who would drive onto our small campus that day. I was also looking forward to helping them fill their trunks with great garage-sale treasures. What I didn’t expect was all the haggling that was about to begin. It wasn’t long before I was no longer happy to see any of these new people. After about the fifteenth lady who tried to haggle me down to a quarter for a mauve and country-blue wind chime marked at fifty cents, I had finally had it. I walked over to one of the volunteers and said, “I can’t take this haggling anymore! So I have an idea. Let’s just give everything away — food, drinks, everything. What do you think? Can we pull it off?” I knew it could create a crazy out-of-control scene to do it without a decent plan, so I sent her off to devise a riot-free strategy.

I walked over to one of the volunteers and said, “I can’t take this haggling anymore! So I have an idea. Let’s just give everything away — food, drinks, everything.” Ten minutes later, her team had thought of the perfect plan. When people came up, we told them they had a certain limit they could take for free: up to five items or up to a particular sum. Not only did we give everything away, but we made a great impression on the community. Plus, we did it all without my winding up on the

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S E R V O LUT I O N front page of the local newspaper for yelling at a little old lady who was simply trying to get a better deal on a goofy wind chime. Here’s what happened as a result of that day: everyone was excited about coming to a garage sale expecting to pay but leaving with a bag of free merchandise. Word of mouth spread quickly that there was a church giving stuff away, and one guy even called the radio station to tell them about “this crazy church doing a garage sale giving everything away!” In addition, our people were having a blast hosting this first-ever free garage sale. It was a revolutionary concept, and it was refreshing to our community. The volunteers loved seeing the expressions of excitement and intrigue on people’s faces as they got to bless them and could not wait to do it again. The chain reaction of our servolution continued as people from our community began to see church in a whole new light and started showing up to services because they wanted to be a part of it. Jesus kicked off chain reactions all the time when he healed the sick and spoke into people’s lives. For example, in Mark 1, the Bible says that one man who Jesus healed “went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.” One act of kindness tipped the first domino that tipped another, and in the end, people came from everywhere to meet Jesus.

GIVE IT AWAY Our chain reaction continued after the radio station tagged us as “the church that gives stuff away” and we received a call from a local businessman whose company deals in pest-control supplies. He had a couple of extra pallets of rat bait in his warehouse and wanted to know if we wanted to give it away. Give away rat bait? I thought. But before I knew it, I heard myself saying, “Sure, why not? Thanks!” still a little unclear of what I was getting us into. We had one faithful volunteer named Mark Stermer3 who always showed up to church on his days off, driving his full-sized

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pickup truck. As soon as he arrived, we set out for the warehouse and filled the bed of his truck with the two pallets of rat bait. Now, you may not know this, but rat bait isn’t exactly featherweight, and Mark’s truck nearly dragged the ground under the load. We started by taking some to the church because to be honest, we needed rat bait at the church just as much as anyone else did. We had lots of church mice then, and we still do now. Then we began an outreach that would have put the Pied Piper out of business. We visited neighborhoods, trailer parks, businesses, a few bayous, going from door to door offering free rat bait. We’d say, “Hey, we’re from Healing Place Church. Someone gave us this rat bait for free, and we just wanted to bless you with some if you need it.” It took a long, long time to give away all that bait, but we did it. Those who needed it were excited to take some. Those who didn’t need it were still given a good impression about the heart of this local church. Every single one of the volunteers was fired up! We found that the more we gave stuff away, the more stuff we found ourselves being given to give away. How cool is that? Who would have thought that distributing those two palettes of rat bait was just the beginning of a whole lot more free commodity distribution?

We found that the more we gave stuff away, the more stuff we found ourselves being given to give away. We have a friend4 who at the time was working for a ministry that served as a huge pantry for inner cities all over the country. He had connections providing him with truckloads of a wide variety of goods: pretty much anything you could typically pick up at Wal-Mart. He heard about all the giveaways we were doing, so he called and asked if we would want to distribute truckloads of these items as they came available. I thought, Well, if we can give away rat bait, certainly we can give away food and everyday household items. He took us at our word and shortly sent us a semitruck of bananas. Have you ever considered

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S E R V O LUT I O N how many bunches of bananas can fit inside a semi? I’ve counted. A semitruck can hold, exactly, a whole bunch. We filled our cars with bananas and took them to people who needed food, but even after hours of this, there were still more bananas to give away. We called all our friends and asked them to come and fill their cars so they could distribute some. There were still more bananas to give away. I started to think maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all, since the idea of a semitruck sitting for a couple of days in Louisiana heat would not be a pretty sight (or smell). So we did something that for its time was innovative. At the spur of the moment, we called as many other churches and organizations as we knew and asked them to take some of the bananas in order to get them into the hands of people who needed a blessing. Finally, we unloaded a jungle’s worth of bananas, and a lot of people in our community got their recommended daily allowance of potassium that day. As successful as this outreach was, we decided if we were going to continue with these giveaway projects and grow to be able to handle even larger amounts of goods, we needed to have a plan: 1. We organized. We needed the giveaways to be focused and orderly, not random and sloppy. We weren’t going to randomly throw free things at people as they happened to go by and have the stuff end up in the garbage. We wanted to target the areas and groups of people who would benefit the most from these goods. 2. We included others. We knew the value of having healthy relationships with other churches and organizations, and we learned very quickly that including them in our plans for these giveaways was a great way to start relationships with many of them. So we developed a list of contact people from various places whom we could call when we needed help with the distribution. 3. We gave with no strings attached. The goal of our servolution has always been to demonstrate the love of Jesus, not

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to make people feel like they now owed it to us to come to a service. Don’t get me wrong, we tried our best to be sure to tell them where we were from so they would know that ultimately it was God who was blessing them. But regardless of whether they ever walked into our church, we wanted them to understand that both God and our church loved and believed in them.

The goal of our servolution has always been to demonstrate the love of Jesus, not to make people feel like they now owed it to us to come to a service. So the trucks kept coming. We started to get two or three trucks delivered every week. The more we did it, the more strategic we became. The first time we received a call about a truckload of Snapple beverages being delivered to us, we knew just what to do. By the time the semi pulled up to the church, our parking lot was filled with the cars of not only our volunteers but also the leadership of many other churches and groups — all of them ready and waiting to load-and-go. Cars, pickups, minivans, and even passenger vans were lined up, making the church look like a drive-through Snapple warehouse. That summer, we gave away two hundred and fifty thousand bottles of Snapple and over forty tons of bananas. And the best part about it all was that no one worried about who got the credit. We didn’t insist that anyone who took stuff from us come to church the next weekend. We didn’t require any of the other organizations who helped distribute stuff mention our church as they gave it away. It was all just about helping others. It was the body of Christ in Baton Rouge working together to bless people. Another important goal we had was for our entire congregation to be connected with what was going on. So when the trucks came in, we often unloaded the boxes of merchandise and stored them inside our auditorium. This way, people couldn’t miss them

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S E R V O LUT I O N whenever they walked into the church. There were stacks of boxes ten feet high lining the walls of the sanctuary. I thought the people needed to see everything that was going on. At the end of a service I told the people, “You see all those boxes? We’re going to be giving all of that away this week and we need your help with the outreach. But if you have a need today, pick up whatever you need in the back; we’ve got some people ready to serve you. And while you’re getting what you need, be sure to sign up for the outreach this weekend. Come back and help us give to others who are also in need.” It was a cool kind of crazy thing to get to do. The trucks contained just about everything you could imagine. We would open up the back and sometimes there were forty pallets of forty different items: Guess jeans, cookies, Right Guard deodorant, Listerine mouthwash, screwdrivers, chocolate Easter bunnies, toys, purses, shoes, socks — seriously, everything you could imagine. With a list like that, we knew we needed to be creative to determine the most strategic locations to target so nothing would go wasted. “Screwdrivers? Let’s go to a vocational school. Jeans? Let’s go to some high schools. Toys? Let’s go to the children’s ward at a hospital.” There was only one time that we opened a box and the contents left us all speechless. We were emptying a truck, and when we got to the final box, I saw it was huge and barely holding together. After quite a struggle, we finally maneuvered it into the sanctuary. I was standing with about seven or eight of our ladies when I pulled on the top flap and one side of the box fell open. Animal-print satin spilled everywhere. Everyone burst out laughing. This was a box of cheetah-print nightwear! My mind started racing. Whoa! What are we going to do with this? We’ve got to get rid of this before Sunday; God’s gonna kill us with this in the house! One lady said, “We can’t give that out.” Another said, “Why not? It’s free. I’m sure somebody needs it.” So several of our ladies sorted through the collection of animalprint pajamas in all sizes. Then we took a team downtown, set up eight-foot tables, knocked on doors in nearby neighborhoods,

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and handed out fliers. Ladies began to emerge, and the area soon looked like Wal-Mart on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving. In a matter of moments, every stitch of the nightwear was gone. Let’s just say there were a lot of smiles from the precious ladies we got to bless that special day! For years afterward, DeLynn and I would run into some of these ladies and their eyes would light up and they’d say, “You’re that crazy pastor who gave me that cheetahprint nightgown!” And if her husband was with her, invariably I’d get the “Ooh yeah” smile and head nod from him. We were all having so much fun as a church. Working together to unload semitrucks, handing out bottles of Snapple, and going door to door delivering free food to the poor — all in the standard Louisiana 150 percent humidity. But the heat mattered little to us because of the thrill of meeting the needs of people who were so grateful to be remembered. Everyone was involved because of their passion to serve others, and that generated an energy that was contagious. When people discover the blessing of serving together, you’ve got the makings of a servolution. The more we as a church bonded in this common mission, the more others wanted to come and be part of the excitement. The church was growing so rapidly that in less than two years, we had outgrown our facility. We had been faithful with a little, and now God was entrusting us with much. Our services were going great, every Sunday we had visitors, and new people actually came back for a second service, and a third, and a fourth. Most important, the culture of our church was becoming deeply rooted in the hearts of all our members. We knew God had blessed us with a mandate to be a healing place for a hurting world, and our servolution was causing us to grow at a pace none of us could have predicted. Thank you, Jesus!

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SERVOLUTION STRATEGY As our servolution grew, so did the importance of being strategic in our outreach. But the reverse was also true — the more strategic we became, the more our servolution grew. Planning, being prepared to handle growth, and learning where to focus your energy and resources are crucial to being a good steward of the blessing God sends your way. 1. The motive for service. When we give with no strings attached, it shows that our love is authentic, motivated not by our needs but by meeting the needs of others. What is the motivation for your service? 2. Unused resources. If HPC can give away rat bait, it proves that you can give away almost anything. What resources does your church or someone in your church have that they may be willing to offer? What are the resources you have in your church that are not being used? What talents, gifts, and resources can you begin giving away? 3. Church partnerships. Working with other churches is an essential part of strategic servolution. What are some of the churches and ministries that you might partner with in service?

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Servolution is a must-read. it is inspirational. it is practical. and it has the potential to revolutionize your life.

— mark batterson

national community church

SERVOLUTION STARTING A CHURCH REVOLUTION THROUGH SERVING Healing Place Church passionately follows Jesus’ example of serving others. From this relentless pursuit of ways to bless the hurting in Jesus’ name come some amazing stories that demonstrate practical strategies for living a mission of loving and embracing all members of society. Each chapter includes practical suggestions and resources for use in any church. Be encouraged by the testimony of how God’s Spirit can empower and bless your ministry through a simple passion to serve others. Wherever you are and whatever your gifts, you can play a vital role in a revolution of serving others with the love and mercy of Christ— a Servolution.

Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This multisite congregation has grown to over seven thousand attendees in several countries. Dino also cofounded the Association of Related Churches, which has planted sixty-three churches across the country, and Go Global Missions, a group designed to develop missionaries and connect missions organizations. He and his wife, DeLynn, and their three children live in Baton Rouge. Religion / Christian Church / General

USD $16.99 ISBN 978-0-310-28763-6

Cover design: Rob Monacelli This book is part of the Leadership Network® Innovation Series.

RIZZO

Dino Rizzo is the founding and lead pastor of Healing Place

DINO RIZZO foreword by

craig groesChel

Series: Leadership Network Innovation Series Title: A Multi-Site Church Roadtrip Subtitle: Exploring the New Normal Author: Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird What is the rapidly expanding multisite church movement all about? Experience the revolution for yourself and see why it has become the “new normal” for growing churches. A Multi-Site Church Roadtrip takes pastors, church leaders, and anyone who is interested on a tour of multisite churches across America to see how those churches are handling the opportunities and challenges raised by this dynamic organizational model. Travel with tour guides Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird, authors of The Multi-Site Church Revolution, and enjoy engaging and humorous on-site narratives that show you the creative ways churches of all kinds are expanding their impact through multiple locations. Hear the inside stories and learn about the latest developments. Find out firsthand how the churches in this book are broadening their options for evangelism, service, and outreach—while making better use of their ministry funds. Since each church on this tour is unique, you won’t find a cookie-cutter approach to ministry. Instead, you’ll gain some practical tools you can use to explore a multi-site direction at your own church. Coming October 2009 Softcover  •  978-0-310-29394-1

real stories  |  innovative ideas transferrable truths “How can church leaders fulfill their calling and help their churches experience vitality?” One way is by learning from those that have gone before them, church leaders who are successfully navigating the ever-changing streams of spiritual renewal in modern society. In partnership with Leadership Network, Zondervan presents the Leadership Network Innovation Series. These books are real stories, about real leaders, in real churches doing real ministry – the ups and downs and the practical helps for doing innovative and culture changing ministry. Each story features transferable principles and provides guidance on how the reader can apply these principles within their own ministry context.

2009 Releases

new

Fall 2009

Other Innovation Series Titles Available Now!

www.Zondervan.com/lnis [email protected] ISBN 978-0-310-32539-0