Transforming Church

Whose Church is it anyway?
There is an inflection point in the continuum of the Christian walk. As we walk deeper into the scriptures, into prayer and meditation, into the marks of discipleship, we gain more and more insight into the mind of Christ. There is a point of maturity in the Christian walk when one realizes, "It's not about me, it's not about what I want, not about what makes me comfortable, it's about God. This is not my church, it’s God’s church." Too often, people see spirituality as a place, the sanctuary on Sunday morning, not as a journey that goes on every day, in every place we inhabit, our work, our homes, our relationships, our community.

The illusion of keeping people happy.
Sadly, many churches persist in the folly of making everyone happy. It's an impossible task, leading to simmering conflict with no real way to express or deal with it. In such places, the preferred mode of dealing with conflict is to avoid it, to sweep it under the rug. In reality, no one ends up satisfied in such a church, because we all have our own wants, our likes and dislikes. Whether it is worship style, how often communion is offered, who visits in the hospital, or whether to allow the youth group to hold a carwash, we can find ways to disagree. When a church organizes itself around people’s wants (as opposed to their needs), a consumer church emerges.

Bill Easum likes to say that in the absence of clarity of mission, vision and values, churches operate in a fog. And, in a fog, you will always have foghorns, people who will sound off when you veer from what they consider the right path. Easum says it only takes two or three foghorns, or one on staff, to lock up a church, and keep it from moving forward in a healthy manner. In the lack of a clear vision establishing boundaries, any direction is OK. Without such a framework, the good people of Christ wander off in all directions. Moving forward in any particular direction is like herding cats.

How do we choose our church leaders?
Several years ago, after I had created much pain in the wake of my attempts, as a layman without support from the pulpit, to create transformation in my mid-sized church, I attended another Easum workshop. I asked him this question: “Where does Transformation start? I’m pretty sure I started in the wrong place.” Bill told me something I have shared with every church I have consulted with, “Transformation starts with spiritual leadership, it’s the only place it can start.”

What is the spiritual temperature of the leadership at your church? Most churches I’ve consulted with don’t have any written expectations that would guide the selection of the church council. Sure there are procedures describing nominating committees and such, but not a set of norms and expectations for leaders. The counsel I give is that nominating committees should follow one principle: Seek leaders, those whose advice others listen to and will follow, but only those who are growing spiritually and willing to personally commit to the marks of discipleship.

First multiply Disciples, then multiply Leaders, then multiply churches
At the Exponential church planting conference last year, I heard from Ed Setzer and others this simple but profound statement. I had never thought of it like this before. Once I heard it, I wondered why is this not obvious to us? When we skip the step of making disciples, and begin by multiplying leaders what is the result? We end up with a membership church, not a discipleship community. And, if the formal leadership, the council, is not personally engaged in growing their relationship with God through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, meditation, reading the Bible, living out life in a small group, how can we expect them to hear the still, small voice of God and act accordingly?

So, even where the pastor is a visionary leader, and casts a Spirit-led vision, will it resonate with the leaders if they are not closely in touch with the Spirit themselves? How long will leaders continue to cast a vision of discipleship if it doesn’t move the leaders? You can preach discipleship week after week from the pulpit, but if the leaders aren’t buying it, the rest of the congregation is off the hook. We lay leaders sit out in the pews saying to ourselves, “When the leaders start showing they are serious about this discipleship stuff, then maybe I’ll listen.” Dan Southerland said years ago in his book, Transitioning, “If you think you are leading, look around and see if anyone is following. If not, you’re just taking a walk in the woods.”

Dan also illustrates the danger of getting too far ahead of the flock. “The difference between a leader and a martyr is two steps,” he says, “A leader stays one step ahead of the people, a martyr gets three steps ahead, and gets shot in the back.” So, if the pastor is unable to influence the council leadership to commit to discipleship, moving too far down that road alone is risky business. (See the article on this topic, Are you Windfirm?)

God is my pilot
When we choose discipleship, we turn over the wheel to God. The calling on my life took twenty-five years to emerge. I felt God calling me to something more in life soon after I was baptized in my late twenties. Being a good Lutheran, I did not spend much time in prayer or the word, so the call never became clear. After I sold my business and moved into my decompression phase, I journeyed deeper into prayer and meditation. I had spent some years clarifying my gifts, my values, and where my experiences were leading. When I began to pray this prayer, “God, if you have a plan for my life, you must have given me the gifts, passions and life experiences to carry it forward, so, what are you trying to call forth from my gifts and experiences?”

God’s faint path begins with the first step.
As I began praying that prayer, shapes began to form in the mist. They were not distinct, and I could not even see how the shapes related to each other. “Is this it, God, is this the path?” I’d ask, and hear nothing. Not until I took a step forward towards the shapes in the mist did I get confirmation I was on the right path.

As I moved towards the shape, more clarity appeared, and after some time, even the relationships between the shapes started to become clear. It was like working a jigsaw puzzle. At first there are all these shapes, and they are not connected. As you begin to work the puzzle, slowly a full picture emerges, not all at one time, but piece by piece. That’s what my life has been like with God as the pilot (not that I don’t grab the wheel from time to time).

Now I’m beginning to understand the scripture that says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” And my life has been more rewarding than anything I ever experienced in my successful career, living in the peace of Christ, even during the dark times when the storm winds blow.

So, leaders, if you want to move beyond a membership church, if you want to move off the plateau, the work starts within the hearts and minds of you and your fellow leaders. As we quote Gandhi on the home page, “We must be the change we seek.” It’s always easy to look outside ourselves for the problem. It’s the changing neighborhood, the declining population, or any of a thousand different excuses. The real solution lies within, listening deeply for the still, small voice of God, awakening our souls to a spiritual journey, and yes, letting go of the wheel, and letting God be the pilot.