Published October 20th, 2007 by Editor in Megachurches, Seeker Sensitive
Highlights from Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal’s blog: Why the most influential church in America now says “We made a mistake.”
Few would disagree that Willow Creek Community Church has been one of the most influential churches in America over the last thirty years. Willow, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that says: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry—church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage—has impacted every evangelical church in the country…
…Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”
…spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.
Editor’s note: Bill Hybels called this research “the wake up call” of his adult life. So it seems everything must change and it’s obvious that Brian McLaren will help lead the way for Willow Creek.
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I have just completed a book by Reggie McNeil called, “ The Present Future.” In the book, he issues somewhat of a prediction of the collapse, not of the church, but of the North American church culture. He says in the book that this church culture is on life support and will begin to fold as the WW2 generation dies and the remainder of the institutional loyalist die off. The point of his book is that we need to return to a missional model of ministry if we are going to recapture our effectiveness in reaching a postmodern world with the Gospel. In pondering this conclusion I was taken back to Acts 20 when Paul was speaking to the elders at Ephesus when he said, “ Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me.” I cannot help but wonder if this return to a missional position as churches will also require pastors to at least partially provide for themselves. Our church has just completed a stewardship emphasis to promote biblical stewardship and to prepare ourselves for what we know is coming in the future. Our church buildings are in desperate need of renovations and we are collecting commitment cards for this effort weekly. I have never looked at who gives and how much they give but I am smart enough to know that the bulk of our income comes from those drawing retirement. Honestly, I do not know what will happen to our church in 20 years if our stewardship does not change. We are stretched to our limits in our budget and we have huge building issues that must be addressed. I know we must do a better job of teaching financial management but I think pastors must also look at reality and be prepared for fulfilling God’s call even in financially desperate times. I pastor what would be considered a medium sized church. The medium sized churches that I know about face the same type struggles. We are stuck trying to keep the institutional ministries alive and we are struggling to maintain staff, all the while we are running at are below budget at all times. The bottom line is if this doesn’t change medium sized churches of 150-250 in worship will be forced to scale back institutional ministries or pull back staffing. That is why I have not supported anything but part time staffing for our size church until we break some barriers financially. The days of staffing a position and expecting that position to pay for itself might be over but I am sure there are exceptions.
I have been through college and 2 seminaries and I never had one professor or mentor ever tell me, “ Dwight do not be surprised if you must hold a secular job and pastor a church.” I think most young pastors out of seminary view the bi-vocational role as something for someone else but not for them. They view it as somehow failing. My church is blessed to support my family with a full time salary but I cannot say that I am positively sure that it will always be able to do that. For much of our churches history it was a part time church that shared a pastor with other churches. Our church might return to this model in the future or it might return to a bi-vocational situation in order to maintain ministry in the community. I hope our church grows in number and I pray that it will as we communicate the Gospel. However, how many people under the age of 40 will it take to replace the giving of those over the age of 65? Take some time to study the stats and you will be alarmed. What if our consumer-focused economy becomes so bankrupt that our church financial situation collapses? I have had several discussions with people in our community in the recent weeks that are completely consumed by debt to the point of going to check cashing agencies in order to keep their homes and put food on their table. The sad truth is that I would guess this is happening in the church as well. Are you willing to say, “ I will continue preaching the Word of God but I believe this church needs to allow me to provide for my own income”? Will churches be willing to say, “ We will accept that our pastor will not be able to be at the hospitals immediately as he was before but he is our spiritual leader and is leading us to reach a lost world even if we are not providing totally for his needs”?
Do not get me wrong, I am not wishing for or advocating this because I believe the pastor could be supported and should be supported by the local church on most occasions. However, I believe that the Bible also teaches that pastors are to look ahead and take responsibility for themselves and the direction of their church as Paul did in providing for himself when the situation deemed it necessary. If Reggie McNeil is right then the next generation of churches in North America must scale down their institution in order to ratchet up their missions. I cannot see how the pastor’s salary will not be affected. Are you willing to preach and provide for yourself and your family by working a secular job? Am I? Do you measure success in ministry by how much you make? Do I? It is definitely something to think about.
Filed under: opinion
Many have asked me, “Are you a Calvinist”? John Calvin was not a Baptist. My brother in law is a stringent PCA presby, he is a Calvinist. However, our Baptist roots show that we are indeed in agreement with much of what John Calvin said about God’s providence. It is time for us as Baptist to stop neglecting the doctrines of grace. I want to hear a Southern Baptist pastor preach on the blessing of being part of the elect some other place besides a seminary chapel. On the other hand, lets be biblically balanced. We should look closely again at the Scripture. I believe when we examine the Bible closely we will find that there are two truths that seem to be contradicting one another yet are mutually accepted by the writers of Scriptures.
1. God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never functions in such a way that human responsibility is curtailed, minimized or mitigated.
2. Human beings are morally responsible creatures-they significantly choose,rebel, believe, defy, make decisions, and they are rightly held accountable for such actions; but this characteristic never functions so as to make God absolutely contingent.
For more on this subject, study D.A. Carson’s work on this. In the Scriptures Samples that follow notice that both of these propositions are held to mutually true by the biblical writers. Notice that the Bible assumes and therefore teaches both of these truths.
Sample #1- Genesis 50:19-20
19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?20 “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Sample #2- Isaiah 10: 5-12
5 ¶ “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations.
8 For he says, ‘Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’”
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.” Sample # 3- John 6: 37-40
37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Sample #4 – Romans 9 & 10
14 ¶ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”
18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”
20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory…
Romans 10: 9-13
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 ¶ For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Final Text: Philippians 2:12-13
2 ¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. I ask you to take a long look at these and tell me what is most true biblically. I find these truths to be mysteriously compatible in such a way that I am most comfortable saying that, it is a mystery. God works to glorify Himself and do His good pleasure but man does not escape responsibility. Can you be happy trusting God and simply accepting that there are mysteries you cannot and will not understand this side of heaven? If both of these truths stated above are mutually accepted then there are some things that must be theologically accepted as well.1. God in his providence stands behind evil and good in different ways. Evil does not take place outside the bounds of God’s will however; he is not responsible for the evil.
2. God is always seen biblically as responsible for good in such a way that good is always a direct result of his sovereign action.
3. Human freedom cannot involve the power to contradict God’s sovereign acts. If that were so God would be contingent which the Bible does not teach.
4. Human freedom cannot be discussed without the reference to the fall. Jn. 8:34 tells us that we are slaves to sin. Real freedom only comes through Christ and it is the freedom to obey Christ not to contradict his will.
5. Our problem accepting these compatible truths comes from our problem accepting that God is both transcendent and personal. If we hold to the full nature of God we must accept that His actions are far more mysterious than we can fathom or label.
