Isaiah 58:11 – [As a church family we know that] The Lord will guide us always; He will satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen our frame.
[When we trust in the Lord’s strength and not our own, our church] will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
This past Saturday night our staff and their spouses gathered at the home of Dennis and Sheila Woofter for our greatly belated staff Christmas party. We learned several years ago that due to Redland’s busy Advent schedule it is best to wait until after Christmas to plan our annual staff get together, but then a busy January combined with a snow storm in February pushed our fellowship even further into 2006. In hindsight, we probably should have just called it a St. Patrick’s day party!
Well, when it came to planning the event we decided to make things simple. Everyone brought finger food to share and we made a fun meal together out of our individual contributions. To give you an idea of what I mean when I say “fun meal,” my plate had taquitos, meatballs, a mini-ham sandwich, chips, salsa, spinach dip, a couple Hershey’s Kisses, and some nuts. I washed it all down with a can of diet root beer. Doesn’t that sound fun to you!? Our plan was to fill our plates like this as often as we desired: eating with one hand while playing a board game together with the other.
Sheila had provided us with a great selection to choose from but we all quickly agreed on Taboo. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s kind of a super-duper version of Password. One person has a word that he or she’s trying to get his team to say and he also has a list of words he can’t use in his attempt to get them to say it. You get a point for guessing the word and lose a point if you use any of the words on the “taboo” list. We divided into two teams: husbands vs. wives and the game began. I’m glad to say the men easily won the first round and were only narrowly defeated in the second. And there was indeed an air of competition that night, friendly air, fun air, but competitive air nevertheless. I mean we each definitely wanted our side to win. When the score was close each team concentrated harder in the next round to pull ahead of the other side. We really wanted to win! And it was a great evening. As usual, our staff all really enjoyed being together.
I share all this to make the point that we all like to win in life. We all want to be successful in everything from board games to report cards to March Madness pools to careers, and the fact is our desire for victory even encompasses our attitude about our church. When it comes to our church’s ministry and mission, we want to be winners; we want to be successful. We want our church to be a great church.
This brings us to this morning’s topic because on this vision Sunday I want us to use the sermon time to answer this question: What does it take to make a church successful? What does it take to make a winning church, a great church? As I strive to be successful in answering, I’ll share with you some of the plans that our staff and church council have in mind for the coming year. I’ll share with you at least part of our “game plan” for ministry and mission for the next nine months or so. But before we do that let me preface my comments by reminding you that there is no such thing as a perfect church.
A local body of Christ really is like a living body, it’s more of an organism than an organization. It’s made up of living, but flawed, sinful people. So in spite of it’s best efforts it will blunder from time to time. There is no church that is 100% successful in everything it does. As one anonymous poet put it:
“I think that I shall never see, a church that’s all it ought to be; A church whose members never stray, beyond the straight and narrow way;
A church that has no empty pews; whose pastor never has the blues… A church whose deacons always “deak,” and none are proud and all are meek;
Where gossips never peddle lies, or make complaints or criticize; Where all are always sweet and kind, and all to other’s faults are blind.
Such perfect churches there may be, but none of them are known to me. But still I’ll work and pray and plan, to make our own the best we can.”
To use this poet’s words, what does it take to make a church the best it can be? I want to mention several things so here goes.
First, a successful church, a church whose members, “…work and pray and plan to make their own the best they can…” A truly great church…
(1) …focuses on spiritual growth.
It’s leaders are very intentional in their efforts to help church members grow to be more and more like Jesus. They do all they can to encourage each believer to “…grow up in every way into Him Who is the Head, even Christ….” The staff of great churches embrace this focus, this mind set, because they know that if we aren’t intentional about becoming more like Jesus, we will become more like the world.
Successful churches, “winning” churches understand that, as John Ortberg puts it, “Spiritual growth is not optional-it is normative.” It’s going to happen one way or another. You see, we are all in the process of being transformed spiritually, whether we want to be or not. Do you remember Paul’s words from Romans 12:1-2? He warned us, “Do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Implied in Paul’s admonition here is the fact that if we are not being transformed by God’s renewing power, then we are being conformed to those forces that are opposed to God. So the question is not if we are being influenced and formed spiritually, but by whom. God does want us to become sanctified. He wants us to grow spiritually. He wants us to become more and more like Him. In 1st Thessalonians 4:3 it says, “It is God’s will that you become holy…” but our Heavenly Father will not force this growth on us. It is our choice and if we don’t make this choice, if we aren’t intentional in our efforts to be transformed by God, then we have a spiritual adversary, the evil one, who will be more than happy to do the task his way.
Friends, we live in a fallen world, an un-holy world that is hostile to our sanctification. We live in an environment that deforms people, and pulls them away from God. It’s like a white blouse being washed with a load full of brand new red T-shirts. Unless something is done, that white blouse is going to be changed. It is the same with us as well because like that blouse we are so very impressionable. If we don’t choose to be influenced by God, if we don’t “…set our minds on things that are above,” then we will be influenced by the world.
And I don’t want to sound too critical but in my opinion many churches these days aren’t intentional enough when it comes to this basic principle of Kingdom work. They kind of put spiritual growth on the back burner. They take what they perceive to be a short-cut and focus instead on a kind of growth that is more obvious and more exciting namely, numerical growth. They make the mistake of gauging their success as a church by the world’s standards and before they know it they are more focused on crowds than Christ.
In his little book The Gospel According to Norton, the late Grady Nutt shares some wonderful insights, as he re-tells the stories of Jesus’ earthly ministry from the perspective of a fictional disciple named Norton. In chapter 6 of the diary of Norton’s experience as a first century follower of Jesus he says,
“It was a sunny, spring day. We were with Jesus on the southwest bank of the Sea of Galilee. I had been with Jesus and His disciples only a few weeks and I was absolutely overwhelmed by the crowds He had begun to attract. This was the largest crowd I had seen yet and I asked Peter how many people he thought might be here today but Peter said Jesus never counted multitudes. Then he scratched his beard and said, ‘Can’t you see it Norton? Stop wasting all that time and energy and effort keeping records on multitudes. Why if we did that, first thing you know we’d never get any good accomplished trying to make studies and reports on why the multitude was off ten percent last night!'”
Then Norton and Peter sit down and begin to grow spiritually as they listen to Jesus teach them the parable of the seed and the soil.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying numbers are a bad thing. They are one gauge of success but they certainly shouldn’t be the only gauge because numbers can be deceiving. They can make you appear to be growing spiritually when you really aren’t. If we focus solely on numbers we will miss the boat. If we’re not careful we’ll grow a congregation that is not successful because whereas the world would say it looks good, in actuality it is not good because it is a mile wide and an inch deep.
The way to grow a genuinely strong church, the way to grow an effective church, is to focus instead on developing disciples! That’s the key and that’s what winning churches aim at.
When I was a teenager I joined an all-girls bowling team. And to be completely honest my motivation for doing this had nothing to do with bowling. I just saw it as a chance to spend time with four girls. As the season went on, I did begin to want to be a better bowler. I wanted our team to do well. I wanted to do my share. One little basic bowling lesson that my female teammates taught me really helped. They told me not to aim at all the pins at the same time, but rather to focus my ball to hit at the space just to the right of the pin closest to me. I should aim for that “pocket.” They also showed me that the secret of hitting that pocket was to line my ball up with one of those little arrows that are on the lane just a few yards from where you release the ball. If I aimed at that arrow, not all ten pins, just that one arrow, I would knock more pins down.
It’s the same in church growth. We don’t aim at the crowds, we aim at Jesus. We focus on helping our members to become more and more like Him. That’s the “arrow” we aim at.
Do you remember the exact wording of the Great Commission? Jesus said,
“Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Did you notice how Jesus structured His commission? He kind of “sandwiched” evangelism with discipleship. Why would Jesus put it that way? Why emphasize discipleship? Why not say, “Go and baptize people in all nations, then disciple them and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you…?” I think it is because our Master knows that the best evangelists, the most effective soul-winners are mature disciples. Think of it: the closer we get to Jesus, the more we become like Him, the more our hearts will break for the lost and the better equipped we will be when it comes to answering a seeker’s questions such that we lead them to faith in our Lord. The better we each know Jesus the better we will be at introducing someone else to Him. So in the coming year, as in years past, one thing we are going to do here at Redland is to keep this focus on spiritual growth.
We are going to use sermons and anthems and Awana and Fuel and Wednesday night Bible study and Sunday school and C. S. Lewis Institutes, and Ladies’ Bible Study and Men’s Bible Study and every discipleship tool at our disposal to encourage one another to become more and more like Jesus. We’re doing this because this is Jesus’ command. We’re doing this because this is the arrow to aim for if we want to grow a church that does it’s part to win this world for Jesus. If you’re not involved in discipleship at Redland then this year change that. Come to worship, come to where the “crowd” hangs out. But also get involved in some sort of small group Bible study, like Sunday School for example.
One thing we are doing to help equip our leadership for this vital task is to take a team to the Baptist Conference Center in Glorietta, New Mexico this summer. Fifteen of us will be attending their annual Sunday School week and we’ll be going to worship services and break-out conferences designed to help us keep this focus as a church.
(2) A second thing that a “winning church” does is this-it embraces its unique calling.
I’ve been in the ministry now for 29 years and in that time I’ve served on staff in seven different churches and one thing I have learned is that every church is unique. Every church is different. The reason every church is unique is because every church has a unique ministry.
Don’t get me wrong. Every church has the same basic tasks: Worship, Outreach, Discipleship, Fellowship, and Ministry, but every church has a unique way of fulfilling those God-given tasks. …a way that reflects the unique mission field that God has given them. As Paul reminds us in 1st Corinthians 12:4ff,
“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries but the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God Who works all things in all persons.”
You know, one of my “heroes” is Bill Hybels, senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. I mean, I really admire Bill Hybels. I’ve read most of his books. You should know that because I quote him all the time. I’ve heard Hybels speak at several conferences. In fact, every time I did God has brought me to tears convicting me of things I needed to do differently-things I needed to learn to fulfill my calling as an under-shepherd of His people. In fact, I would say that one of the main tools my Heavenly Father has used to shape me into the pastor that I am today is Bill Hybels.
I remember meeting him two years ago when Jim Main and I flew up to Chicago to see a pre-screening of The Passion Of The Christ that Willow Creek sponsored. We were walking through their darkened auditorium trying to find a seat and I looked to my right and there he was, my hero-Bill Hybels. I know I looked like a goof but I couldn’t help myself. On an impulse I reached out and shook his hand and thanked him for hosting the event. And I love what God has used Hybels to do at Willow. They have a huge campus-where thousands attend every week. They pretty much invented the “seeker service” idea. God has used that church to do so much. Another one of my heros, Lee Strobel, became a Christian there. John Ortberg was one of their teaching pastors. I mean it’s a winning church!
But one thing Hybels has said repeatedly is this: “Don’t go out and copy what we do at Willow. This has worked for us because its what our community needed but yours is probably different. Learn from us. Get ideas that you can adapt from us…but don’t copy us.”
Well, score another one for Bill Hybels because he is right! A winning church, a successful church doesn’t simply duplicate the ministry of another church. Instead, its members prayerfully shape their church’s ministry according to the unique needs of their community because all communities are unique.
Think of it this way. What would happen if an army that had won a battle in Antarctica using dog sleds and heavy winter uniforms and snow skis and ice-gripping boots and snowmobiles…. what if this army tried to use the same equipment and tactics while engaged in a war in the mountains of Ecuador? It wouldn’t work would it!? Well the same is true of a local church. To succeed, to do their part in fulfilling their unique assignment in the Great Commission, they must tailor their ministry to meet the needs of their community, their particular unique, “…Jerusalem and Judea.” This is the principle that Paul was talking about in 1st Corinthians 9:22 when he said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”
Now-let’s review a few of the unique aspects of our mission field here at Redland.
First, it’s transient. Most people work for Uncle Sam in some way and so a big chunk of our community is in and out of here every three to four years. This is a high turn over area. Natives are rare! We keep real estate agents busy here. I had Sheila check and in the last twelve months we have lost about 40 members to job transfer, and in the same time period we’ve gained about 60. And that’s pretty much the was it is every year. Our net growth is slow because of the high turnover rate in our county. In fact I think we might ought to install a revolving door.
Now this can be discouraging. I mean, I hate to make friends that stick closer than a brother just to see them move away-but that is what our community is like. And God has gifted us to deal with this. He’s helped those of us who form the unchanging core of RBC to learn how to minister under these circumstances. We’ve learned how to welcome people and get them involved. We’ve learned how to quickly “read” people and discern their giftedness. We’ve also learned how to say good-bye and pray for them as they go on to their next assignment.
You know, personally I can see the providence of God in the fact that my “home” church is the First Southern Baptist Church of Dover, Delaware. That’s where I was discipled. First Southern is a church where the majority of it’s members are Air Force affiliated, assigned to the huge MAC base there. That’s where I grew up physically and spiritually. So all my life I saw friends come and go come and go and I hated that but now I can look back and see that God used that time to prepare me for this ministry here at Redland. He’s done that with all of us because, as Bill Wehunt put it, we are a “way station church,” and that’s not a bad thing. We’re just doing what God has called us to do.
But that’s not all we can say about our community. It’s also a place where people are incredibly busy, mainly because it’s expensive to live here which means usually both mom and dad have to work. And so, as I’ve told you before, the residents of our unique mission field are looking for ways to be together as a family in the little time that they do have. This aspect of our community/mission field is why our county rec program is so huge. I mean families are drawn to anything that gives them an opportunity to be together. And our county rec department can’t keep up with this because there is just not enough gym space to go around. Carl Gruel brought me a copy of the February 8th issue of The Gazette. The front page article told of the Olney Boys and Girls Club’s plans to build a gym and affordable housing but of their inability to do so because of permitting problems. Listen to this quote from Olney Boys and Girls Club Chairman Daniel Dionisio: In the article he says,
“The severe lack of gym space is not only a problem in the Olney area, but in most of the county. The lack of gym space is reaching epidemic level .when 8-year-olds are forced to play games until 9 at night during the week and young teams cannot even find gym times to practice before games.”
Do you see God’s providence at work in this article? I do! It tells me that we are building this gym at the right time because there’s not enough gym space so it will give us a unique tool to minister to the families who live the hectic lifestyle of our area. They’ll say, “You know, county rec is full-but Redland Baptist has their own gym and a league called Upwards Basketball and their practices are at a decent time!” Or dads will say, “We can’t find a gym to use for pick up ball but Redland Baptist has an open night." I mean there are tons of ways we will be able to use this gym to reach people-and not just transient “Uncle Sam people,” but the permanent residents of our county as well.
We are breaking ground in September and I urge you right now to think of how you can be involved. You could be an Upwards coach or volunteer to staff the gym one night a week. To help you in this decision I’ve asked Doug Grote, the minister of Recreation at Cool Spring Baptist Church in Richmond to fill our pulpit on April 2. Doug’s church has a gym that they have used very effectively for fellowship, discipleship, outreach, ministry, and even worship-and Doug is coming to share some ideas with us. In fact, he asked one of his members to let him video tape his testimony to use in his message and the man said, “I’ll do better than that. I’ll come with you.” Others in his church were so excited about sharing what God is doing with their gym that now five of them are coming with Doug to help him with his message on April 2. After that AM worship service Doug and his crew will meet with our Recreation Committee to share with them. If you’re not on the committee and want to come let me know!
Another thing that is unique about our area is the high cost of housing. Habitat for Humanity is building 26 town homes in Burtonsville to help meet this need. In fact, one of our own members will be receiving one of those homes. So, as we did in past years when it came to building the two Habitat houses in Poolesville we will help! Once they get permits and break ground, our own C. C. Day will serve as the point man and organize teams of Redland Volunteers.
And then another unique aspect of our mission field is the fact that we have a huge multi-ethnic population-thousands of people who don’t know how to speak English. Our own Jim Burke is willing to start and head up an E.S.L. -English as a Second language ministry. If you’re interested in finding out more about that, speak to him.
So, a winning church, a great church, focuses on spiritual growth. It embraces its unique mission field calling
(3) and third, it gives priority to children.
Winning churches do this because they know that most people accept Christ when they are children; before they reach the age of 15. I mean the fact is since the days of R. G. Lee statistics have shown that the older a person gets without becoming a Christian, the less likely they are to do so. In childlike faith, most of us make our decision to follow Jesus when we are young. Winning churches also give priority to children because they realize that giving our little ones a Christian worldview is essential when it comes to countering the negative influence of this fallen world.
Now, we’ve talked about this principle of church health frequently in years past, but we need regular reminders. And this morning I thought a good way for us to be reminded would be for you to hear from our own director of children’s ministry, Jennifer Crocker. Due to the demands of her job Jennifer is often not able to come to worship, so we’ve video-taped an interview with her.
VIDEO
Now, I must say, I am so impressed with our children. Those little clips from Sunday School showing the kids learning about the time Jesus stilled the storm and about Lazarus, well they show how fun, how rewarding working with kids can be. This week as I visited with Brian Keen prior to his surgery, his step-dad, Darrel Butler told me that recently he fulfilled a life-long dream and parachuted out of an airplane. He said, “Mark it was exciting; plummeting toward the earth at 125 mph. But do you know what thought hit me as I floated to the ground? It hit me that this is fun, this is a thrill, but teaching Sunday school is better. It’s more exciting. It’s more fulfilling.” And he is right! So make your life insurance agent and your pastor happy at the same time by skipping the sky-diving and consider working with our children. It is one of life’s greatest thrills!
Last Sunday night Sue and I spoke at the Awana council time and it was a blast! We talked to them about Jesus power and, as we did, little Paul Owen said that this reminded him of his little sister’s memory verse from Mark’s gospel where it talks about Jesus stilling the storm and says, “Even the wind and waves obey Him.” Someone as young a Paul made that connection so Darrel is right! Nothing comes close to being as fulfilling as seeing minds like Paul’s grab on to spiritual truth! I mean, we grown-ups can sit in our Sunday school chairs like bumps on a log, but kids are alive and inquisitive and especially open to the Gospel and because of that it is so fun to work with them. If you think God may be calling you to this exciting ministry then talk to Jennifer.
Now, I know our teens don’t like being called children, but another part of this aspect of a winning church is a commitment to their spiritual nurture. Here at Redland we know this so we are working very hard to find a replacement for Steve; a minister of students. But another thing our teens need desperately right now is physical space. They’ve been using the house next door for about 12 years and it is in need of a great deal of work. So in June, our interim youth minister, Danielle Houser, and her adult volunteers have planned a four day at-home mission trip during which time our youth will fix-up this space. They’ll be doing dry-wall. They’ll be painting inside and outside-including that rusty barn roof. They’ll be installing a walking path and doing landscaping-tons of stuff. They’re calling this project: “Home Make Over-Soul Edition.” Stay tuned for more details but I encourage you to contact Danielle and volunteer to give time helping them with this project.
(4) This brings us to a fourth quality of “winning” churches. They are actively involved in missions.
Successful, spiritually healthy churches believe in being on mission both at home and abroad. They don’t just give to missions, they go on missions. Now, one thing we often forget here at Redland, since we do so many mission trips all over the world, is that we are on mission here at RBC, 365, 24-7-every moment of every day of the year. I mean, every time a Bible is opened in an adult Sunday School class; every time a child listens to a Bible story; every time one of our choirs or our orchestra presents special music or a cantata; every time a sermon is delivered; every time a PIE card is written; every time a youth worker talks to a hurting teen; every time one of you witnesses to a neighbor or a co-worker; every time you help in the MANNA food bank; in each of these times as a church we are on mission, we are obeying our Lord’s command to be His witnesses.
These examples of “regular day in and day out Redland ministry” are just as valid Great Commission work as a team going to Kenya or Romania or Mexico or New Hampshire or Ohio. And, as you can see if you look at our church calendar, there are tons of opportunities, even weekly, for you to be involved in fulfilling the Great Commission here at Redland. But, let me draw attention to two of them.
First, this year Charlie Brinkman and out Outreach Committee have planned several Servant Evangelism events like washing all the windows at the Red Mill Shopping Center. They’ve even got T-shirts to wear when they do this. The idea is for us to serve our community in practical ways that demonstrate the love of Christ.
And then second, we are also planning a mission trip to help the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina. This summer we’ll begin a three-year partnership with Gates Avenue Fellowship Church in Long Beach, Mississippi. Our trip is July 29-August 5 and Bob Michael will be planning this trip. Their church building is one mile from the gulf and their pastor, Brian Basarge, is eager for our help. Many of their members were re-located after the hurricane and they have not returned. So they are hurting for leadership and that’s a problem because there is still a hurting community that they need our help in ministering to it and that’s why we are going. When we go we’ll do Vacation Bible School in the tent city set up by FEMA. We’ll do prayer walks. We’ll do construction on the church and homes in their neighborhood. We’ll also put this church in our budget next year. Brian tells me that, unlike most communities in Mississippi, evangelical Christian work in Long Beach is rare. He calls his church, “…a hole in the Bible belt.” I believe God has called us to help fill that whole. In two weeks, Dale and Nancy Pursell and I will go to Long Beach on a fact-finding trip to make plans for this summer’s trip.
Now, before I go any further, let me remind you that whether it’s inviting a lost person to a cantata or participating in servant evangelism, or going to Mississippi, in each of these examples, effective evangelism always comes down to relationships. Statistics show that 80% of people who come to faith in Christ do so because a friend led them to Jesus. And to be a winning church, to do our part at completing the great commission, we all need to embrace this mind set. We need to intentionally develop friendships with lost people, so that we can introduce them to our Savior. We’ve calendared tons of events that you can use in relational evangelism.
Okay, to review, a winning church focuses on spiritual growth; it embraces its unique calling; it prioritizes ministry to children; it is actively involved in missions.
…and then there is one more thing I must mention…
(5) A winning church works to protect and preserve a healthy fellowship.
Successful churches obey the command in Ephesians 4:3 and, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” They strive to get their one-anothering right in that they, honor one another, encourage one another, bear one another’s burdens-and even admonish one another in love when needed. They refuse to gossip or slander one another. They do all they can to preserve healthy relationships in their church family, relationships they can draw strength from. You see, they have found that being a part of a loving church family, having friends that stick closer than a brother, is an anchor to hold on to when it comes to the storms of life. And,as I told you last fall, another reason they do this is because they know that all people are hungry for authentic relationships. The members of “winning churches” know that if our community sees that we enjoy healthy relationships, if they see that we get our one-anothering right, well, they will naturally want to be a part of us. Our healthy church fellowship really is a key ingredient when it comes to effective evangelism because it gives us an opportunity to introduce lost people to Jesus, as we tell them that the source of our community is our common union with Him. Let’s put it this way, the better we are at truly loving one another, the closer we are as a church family, the more power we will have as a church when it comes to leading lost people to Jesus.
This morning I want us to close our sermon time with the ordinance Jesus gave us to remind us of the source of our community; our common relationship with Jesus Christ, a personal relationship with the only Son of God made possible by His death on the cross.
As we come now to partake in this memorial meal, let me invite all Christians present to partake with us. Even if you are not a member of this church. If you are a Christian, if you are His, this is Yours.
COMMUNION
Decide soon how you will be involved in the tasks God has called us to. Do this because another trait of successful churches is a high level of involvement by its members. The more each of us use our spiritual gifts for the common good of this church, the more we will be able to do for God.
If you are our guest and you are looking for a church home then you came on the right Sunday because you have heard exactly what God is calling us to do. You’ve also heard our philosophy as to how to do church and, if after hearing all this, you feel God leading you to join us, then we invite you to walk forward during our closing hymn and move your membership here.
Others of you attending this morning may not be Christians and you are seeking purpose and meaning in life. That is only found in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We invite you to make that decision this morning and to share it with us. Won’t you come as we sing?
Let’s all respond right now as God leads.