How is the Church affected by the Economy

I've heard a lot lately about how the economy is affecting the church. Some say that the dark day of the economy will inevitably lead to dark financial days for the church. Others say that otherwise. I had the privilege of hearing Ed Stetzer speak at a conference last week. He noted research done by Texas Tech university which state that the economy and church growth are counter-cyclical. What that means is that when the economy is strong, church attendance/growth is down, and when the economy is weak (like now) that church attendance/growth increases. If found this to be fascinating information. When I had some time to think about this, what Stetzer said fell right in line with what I heard Jon Randles say a couple of weeks ago, when people are in crisis, they are looking for something to hold on to. People are looking for hope. Hope was a key word in this last election. The reason that churches grow, or swell (whichever the case may be), is because, by and large, people see the church as an institution that offers hope. This, for the most part, is true. What we as the church must understand is that we must not only represent hope, but we must share the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. I saw a bumper sticker that was left over from the last election. It said: go Hope? Right below it was an Obama/Biden sticker. As I thought about that question, got hope, I answered, unequivocally, YES!! What we as the church and our nation must understand is the hope does not come in the form of an elected official. Hope come is Jesus Christ alone (Colossians 1:27)! People are looking for a safe harbor to anchor their lives in these times of turmoil and crisis. The question is: Is the church ready to be the safe harbor? As the church, we must be ready, willing and able to welcome in hurting people. For too long we have cloistered ourselves in the holy huddle that has become the church. When Jesus established the church, He did it upon the truth of His identity, not the identity that we try to create for ourselves. The church must get back to lifting high the name of Jesus. Jesus said that He will draw all men unto himself when He is lifted up (John 12:32). We must get back to lifting the name of Jesus to this world. That is what they really need. Are we in need of stimulus? Yes, but not a financial one. We are in need of a spiritual stimulus. The church needs to be stimulated to return to it's roots, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. Our nation needs a stimulus in that they are in desperate need of Jesus. When these two stimuli come together, we could possibly see the next Great Awakening. God is ready for His church to be His church. He is calling His church to get out from behind our desks, from behind the doors of our house and into the world to meet people and introduce them to Christ. Who do you need to introduce to Christ today?

Performance or Passion

Why do we do the things we do? Is it because we are truly passionate about it or because we are performing for those around us? Let us not be people who are so caught up in the performance of things that we lose our passion.

Incarnational Living

I heard a message today by Jonathan Hewett about the need for incarnational evangelism. This got me thinking about an even more foundational need in the life of the church today -- incarnational living. I don't think we can have incarnational evangelism until we are living an incarnational life. Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11about Christ coming to earth and the things that He endured. Before our witnessing style or strategy becomes incarnational, our very lives must become like that of Christ. The church is called the body of Christ. When I look at my own body, the first thing is see is my flesh. The incarnation was about God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Today we, as the body of Christ, the church, are to be Jesus in the flesh. The life that Christ has given us through salvation must be so evident in our daily lives, in our flesh. Incarnational living is about being Jesus with skin on, as a friend of mine put it one time. That idea is rooted in the old saying that we might be the only Jesus some people ever see. What strikes me about this quote is how we might be misrepresenting Jesus by not living incarnationally. When Jesus came to earth, He emptied Himself of all of His heavenly glory and came in the form of a man. He came as a servant. The Savior came as a Servant. God, put on flesh, to serve His creation and provide for them salvation by suffering in the very flesh he donned. He came to serve by being the sacrifice that would take away the sin of the world. He gave His very life so that you and I could have the opportunity for forgiveness and salvation. It is that attitude that is at the heart of incarnational living. That whole idea of sacrifice. So often any more, we as Christians, are more concerned with how we will benefit or be served as opposed to what we are willing to give up for the glory of the King. Incarnational living is so radically different that anything that is being seen in the church today. Incarnational living, a life of submission and sacrifice, is what crashing into life is all about.

Jon Randles @ Engage XP Belton

I had intentions of having this posted last week, but life happens. Anyway, here are the notes from Jon's message on Monday night. It was powerful. Enjoy!

There are two things that have to happen for a person to be saved. First, they are to realize that there is a problem. Second, they have to understand that Jesus is the only answer. We can get people to come together to sing or study the Bible, but we can't get them together to go witness. Pluralism is growing and so much that some "Christians" believe that Jesus is one of the ways to get to heaven. The church growth movement has robbed the church of changed lives Evangelism and discipleship have taken a back seat to self help. People are beginning to understand that there is a problem. When people are scared they call out for moral absolutes. We are back at a moment in time when it is easy to win people to Christ because they are longing and ready for change. This must be coupled with men and women who are not afraid about sharing Jesus Christ. What would happen if you made the decision to no longer be afraid to share the gospel? The new generation will find a god if we don't introduce them to Christ. We can't win a championship for Christ unless we do the hard stuff. Can we not celebrate the unity that there needs to be change and use that as a platform to introduce them to real change, who is Jesus? The power of God (Acts 2:41) falls on the ones who are desperate. That's why lost people won't listen to us, because we are not desperate enough for Christ. We are too desperate for ourselves and it pushes lost people away. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). It was not the masses who changed the world. The masses become the mob when they are not pleased. It's the inner circle who changed things.

I think the time has passed when we have to wait for the church to mobilize. If the church is going to mobilize then it must start with an "inner circle". It must start with a committed few who are passionate and desperate for Christ. In the old song "Pass It On" there is a line that says, "It only takes a spark to get a fire going." The inner circle must be the spark to get the fires of witnessing going in the church. If only a small group of passionate followers would get to the hard work of witnessing then this world could be change, not by the work of the people but by the power of God's Spirit. This is picture of crashing into life. Crash On!!

Enjoying the Joy of the Lord

On Monday I got the opportunity to hear Randel Everett, the executive director of the BGCT, speak at the Engage XP conference in Belton. Here are the notes that I took from his message. Granted there is some of my own commentary mixed in, but the ideas came from Randel.

How do we come together as congregations and enjoy the joy of the Lord? It seems that when we come together anymore, it is more like business as usual, as mundane. It could be said that it is lifeless. It is lifeless people who have been gathered with the purpose of winning a lifeless people to Christ. In Luke 15 Jesus shares three significant stories. The joy of serving Christ is seeing the transformation in the lives of people by the power of Christ. Until we see life change, we will not experience the power of Christ or the joy of Jesus. If we would just understand Jesus' purpose, to seek and save, and His message, and do it, then we would experience the joy of Christ. Jesus says that He came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19). In the parable of the lost son, we, the church, are the older brother. That son was invited to the celebration but it is not said if he joins the party. We have been invited to the joy of life transformation and celebrating life transformation. Will we accept the invitation? There is great rejoicing over one sinner who is saved. Is this happening among the church today? Is there celebration when one person comes to Christ? The church is faster to question genuine life change than to join in the celebration and join in growing this person in their new life. Just like the older brother, we become jealous over people coming to faith in Christ because the attention is no longer on us. Like a child, we reason that even negative attention is still attention. Can we not celebrate when someone passes from death to life? Would we not cancel the funeral if the dead person were raised to life? Of course we would!! Jesus spent His time among the dead. He spent His time amount those who were in need of salvation. People who needed real life that comes through genuine faith. Those people of "faith" looked down their nose at Jesus for this. We need to say, as the church, that Jesus' ministry is our ministry -- to seek and to save the lost. The difference is that Jesus cared about people, His sheep, and the church, the bride of Christ, does not. When we make our mission the same as Jesus, we will begin to care about people again. The key to Jesus' parables in Luke 15 is that the lost were sought out. There is diligence involved in the search. Are we searching diligently for the downcast sheep of our churches? Most of the downcast sheep in our churches are downcast for a reason. They are in need of someone to come and help them get back on their feet.

What a challenging message. This is what is at the heart of crashing into life. It is doing those things that are so radically different from the norm. That what Jesus did, and that is what Jesus calls his followers to do...crash into life.

Engage XP

So I spent they day yesterday with Alan Putnam, my youth pastor, at the Engage XP Regional Evangelism Conference in Belton. Wow! is all I can say. Hopefully over the next few posts I will capture just some of the great, challenging and compelling things I heard during this great conference. Let me just interject here...I am not a conference kind of guy. They are usually a waste of time because they tell you stuff you already know and bring nothing fresh to the table. This is part of the reason I was so blown away by Engage XP. Not only was there relevant and challenging teaching, but the breakout offerings were great. I also got to see some guys that I haven't got see in a while. The Justin Cofield Band led worship. I met Justin a couple of years ago when he led worship for our D-Now. These guys are truly gifted musicians who long to lead people in worship. I also got to see Scott Veneble again. Scott and I went to Africa together on mission about four years ago. Scott is currently doing a great work in the emergent community in Denton. I also made some new contacts like Charlie Johnson. Charlie is, or maybe I should say was, the evangelism and discipleship minister at FBC Belton. He was, meaning that he resigned the day before so that he and his wife could pursue a future career in missions. I also got to hear some great messages on the importance of witnessing. The day opened with Randel Everett. Randel is the executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He has a heart for witnessing and discipleship and is the spearhead behind Texas Hope 2010. The day ended with Jon Randles, who is the director of evangelism for the BGCT. All in all is was a great day. I'll be filling you in on some specifics over the next few posts. All of things are brought to you to keep you crashing into life.