Key Areas of Vision

Relationship over Religion

Our spiritual experience and practice must be more relational than it is vocational.  In other words, it must be more about who we are and what we are becoming in Jesus than it is about the things that we do so we can check the box on the list of religious activities that good Christians are supposed to be doing. It’s not that doing isn’t important.  But the things that we do, both individually as well as corporately as the church, must be the fruit of who we are and who we are becoming as we nurture our love relationship with Jesus.  Too often we try to define who we are by the Christian things that we do.  That’s inauthentic and insincere.  God has called us to be genuine followers. (Luke 10:38-42)

Organism over Organization

The Church is a living and breathing organism.  The Bible describes it as the Bride, and Jesus is the Bridegroom.  He paid the redemptive dowry when He shed his blood on the cross, and with that he is beautifying the Bride so that she is without spot or wrinkle.  Structure is important.  Being organized and orderly is desirable and necessary.  Excellence is a noble and reasonable expectation.  But sometimes process and program robs the church of its beauty as the Bride.  Simple weddings are often the loveliest.  Without question you’ll find less stress and strife associated with simple weddings than with complicated weddings.  The simple organic church that exists for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom is the most beautiful. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

Life Together over Attending Together

We go to the movies.  We go to the game.  We go out for dinner. We attend many things, and often with friends and family we love.  But an occasional night at the movies or at a ball game is not the same as living life together.  I’ve attended events with people that I could not say that I really live life with.  You have too, I am sure.  Unfortunately, church is often just another event that we attend.  With friends and family? Sure.  But we were never really intended to simply GO to church.  We are called and chosen to BE the church.  Not just on Sunday mornings, but engaged and on mission always.  Does it mean we can’t go anywhere or do anything without someone else that sits in our section of the sanctuary?  Of course, it doesn’t! But what it does mean is that we don’t simply start being the church at 9:45 on Sunday morning and stop being the church at 11:30. (Acts 2:42-47)

Pastoral Culture over Pastoral Staff

It’s incredible how many staff members are on the payrolls of some churches these days.  I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, necessarily. In fact, that might seem like a good thing.  How great to have a solid and capable pastor overseeing each and every facet of the ministry program.  It seems like church runs like a well-oiled machine.  But here’s the danger.  When the staff is doing all the lifting the congregation never increases in strength.  We see an incredibly well-oiled machine, but it doesn’t seem to be producing anything useful or valuable.  What sometimes results are churches with spiritual products to meet every felt need of their congregation. And where there are products, there are consumers.  What if instead of building a substantial pastoral staff to create and curate products for the consumers in the congregation, we focused our energy and efforts on the perpetuation of a pastoral culture in which the members of the Bride were encouraged and equipped to step up and meet the needs of each other and love each other in supernatural ways?  What if we acted like sheep and shepherds at the same time?  What if we truly engaged in spurring one another on toward love and good works rather than tasking the paid professionals with making sure that everybody was getting everything they asked for from the church? (Ephesians 4:1-16; Hebrews 10:19-25)

Community Engagement over Consumer Enlargement

What if everybody bought in to the mission and engaged in ways that allowed them to use the wonderful gifts they had been given?  What if the advancement of the Kingdom agenda was fluid and efficient because the fellowship was comprised of more engaged disciples and fewer consumers?  What if people stayed spiritually fit and healthy because of engagement rather than becoming morbidly obese spiritually as pew potatoes?  When we ARE the church instead just GOING TO church, we are engaged in the joyful work that God has called us all into. (1 Corinthians 12)

Application over Acquisition

Gaining Biblical knowledge is important.  Part of being a disciple is learning.  That’s what a disciple is.  He’s a learner.  The church should teach and preach the whole of the Bible, systematically, expositorily, and exegetically.  The truth of God’s Word is central.  Unfortunately, we sometimes get sucked into the vortex of knowledge for the sake of knowing.  But of what value is truth or knowledge acquired until it becomes truth or knowledge applied?  Solid theological understanding is important.  But theology is not some dusty and stale pursuit reserved for lifetime seminarians who need to get out more.  Theology (the study of God) is practical and applicable.  It’s for you and me, and we are intended to apply what we learn and know graciously. (James 1:22-27)

Multiplication and Division over Addition and Subtraction

Who knew church math was even a thing?  It’s important which mathematical strategy is adopted and applied.  For many churches today the numbers dictate everything.  We need bigger auditoriums, more campuses and multiple services at each.  Do what we must to pack ‘em in!  Seems like a great idea.  While there’s nothing wrong with large gatherings of worshippers per se, the numbers game can quickly cause us to prioritize the addition of bodies to the gathering over the Kingdom mandate of making true disciples.  And like we’ve talked about already, in order to increase the numbers, we’ll likely have to adopt and implement the kinds of strategies that satisfy consumers.  And when consumers become dissatisfied and find something that meets their felt needs better than what Church A offers, they tend quickly to leave for Church B.  When we think multiply and divide rather than add and subtract the goal becomes to make relational (think disciple) investments in one or two others who invest relationally in one or two others, who invest relationally in one or two others…. You get the idea.  One becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight, etc.  And instead of just adding on to the building or the programming, we branch out and plant new churches who are making disciples who will make more disciples.  That’s the division side of things.  We can grow numerically by adding, but we can grow the Kingdom exponentially by multiplying and dividing.  This is Great Commission living – being disciples who make disciples who make more disciples. (John 1:43-51; 2 Timothy 2:2)

Global Kingdom Investing over Traditional Support of Foreign Missions

The right church math helps us reach the world.  I am afraid that we have cheapened the idea of the global mission by applying labels like “foreign missions” and “missions support.”  What if rather than writing a token check every month to a dozen missionaries around the world, we committed to making a real kingdom investment in one or two with eyes toward the eternal dividends it would pay?  What if rather than just sending a little cash and a prayer we engaged globally?  What if we went?  What if we built relationships with others engaged in the Kingdom work in their own corner of the world?  What if we switched the strategy from taking the Americanized version of church to a completely different culture and determined to partner with someone or some organization indigenous to their own context?  Global Kingdom Investing requires more engagement than simply support for foreign missions.  We have been given a capital cache of God’s love, mercy, grace, and imputed righteousness along with a wide variety of gifts and material resources that we are to invest both here at home and all over the world that Jesus died to save.  (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8)