Zach Zehnder's Blog, page 21
February 8, 2021
Why Forgiving Yourself Will Always Lead to a Dead End
Do you struggle to forgive yourself?
Even if you do, you can still be fully free!
The past few months I have been heavy into writing my next 40-day challenge called Forgiving Challenge. In doing research before writing, one of the questions I solicited feedback from my social media friends was in this question:
“Is it harder to forgive yourself or others. Explain.”
Almost unanimously, the results came back that it was harder to forgive themselves than to forgive others. As people explained their answers, much dialogue ensued. One of the responses really stuck out to me:
“Is forgiving yourself even a biblical principle? How important is self-forgiveness after all?”
A lot of the focus in this world is in our ability and need to forgive others. Especially in light of the racial injustice going on in our nation, many Christians are calling for reconciliation to take place. I’m in full agreement. Except for one major problem. If the majority of Christians are still struggling with forgiveness in their own lives, then how in the world, are they going to be able to forgive one another.
It’s always really hard to offer freedom to others when we are still speaking words of condemnation over ourselves.
For real reconciliation to happen, we need to bring two free parties, not two broken parties, to the table. So how does one become free? Is it through self-forgiveness?
Let’s explore three truths about self-forgiveness that will ultimately lead you to more freedom than you ever thought possible.
Self-forgiveness is biblical.My first response to big theological questions like “Is forgiving yourself even a biblical principle,” is to look at what Jesus said. But what about when Jesus never said anything?! Not only did Jesus never use the phrase “forgive myself” or “forgive yourself,” but nowhere in the Bible do we see these words together.
What do we see in the words of Jesus? All throughout the Gospels, Jesus is asking, calling, encouraging, and even commanding His followers to receive His forgiveness and also to forgive others. Here’s a few instances:
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says, we are to pray these words: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” In teaching the disciples, Jesus said: “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” In directly addressing Peter: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.What do we make of all of this?
Often times when Jesus speaks of forgiving others He makes the direct correlation to first receiving God’s forgiveness. It’s hard, if not impossible to forgive others without first receiving God’s forgiveness for ourselves. Forgiven people become forgiving people.
One time, Jesus summed up the greatest commandment to loving God with all that we have. Then he said the second greatest commandment is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Notice, Jesus didn’t say to love your neighbor at the expense of loving yourself. He said to love your neighbor as you love yourself. If the way you are “loving yourself” is by withholding forgiveness to yourself, then at best you will offer a broken-down, mediocre version of love to others.
The first step in truly loving your neighbor as yourself is to receive the grace of Jesus for yourself. If we struggle to forgive others, the root of it likely is that we struggle to grasp God’s forgiveness for ourselves.
Not only does Jesus call us to love our neighbors as ourselves, but He takes it a step a further: But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Jesus calls us to forgive “others,” to love our “neighbors,” and even to love our “enemies. But here’s the truth. You are in fact included in “others.” You are actually the closest “neighbor” you have. And for many, you are your own worst “enemy.”
Sometimes the other, the neighbor, and the enemy that most needs forgiveness is yourself.
Therefore, even though the phrase “forgive myself” is not found in the Bible, it is a biblical principle because Jesus is all about the total forgiveness of all of mankind, and you are included in that.
You cannot forgive yourself because you are still a sinner.If self-forgiveness is a biblical principle, then why can’t I forgive myself?
Even after having your sins wiped clean, fully paid, reconciled, and declared forgiven, we still live in a world where we miss the mark. We may claim to be following Jesus as our Lord, but sin is still lurking all around us, and, sadly, we still give into those temptations often. And one of the ways we still miss the mark today is when we refuse to issue forgiveness.
When you refuse to forgive anyone, including yourself, you are simply adding sin upon sin.
The two most common types of sin in unforgiveness are pride and unbelief.
Pride comes into the equation when you place yourself in a higher category than Jesus. The phrase often said “I know Jesus forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself,” is laced with pride. Do you really think that your own forgiveness is the ultimate forgiveness you can attain? Do you place your own declaration of forgiveness higher than Jesus’s declaration of forgiveness for you? Pride places you at a level you were never meant to be. You need to lower your estimation of yourself. Being able to forgive yourself is an important and valuable moment, but it is not near as important as the forgiveness that God’s one and only Son Jesus gives to you!
C.S. Lewis says, “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than him.”
Unbelief comes through statements like this: “Jesus might be able forgive someone like them, but He can’t forgive what I’ve done.” Do you think that your sin is in a special category of sins? Are their certain types of sin that Jesus didn’t pay for at the cross? The reality is that Jesus paid in full for all sins for all people for all time, including yours. Being unable to forgive your own sin is to express an unbelief in the sacrifice, death, and resurrection that brought about the total defeat of sin that Jesus won for all of us!
Have you done stupid things? Yes.
Did you let Jesus down? Yes.
If you are honest, did you even let yourself down? Yes.
Do you believe that Jesus has forgiven you? Yes or No?
Ask it again but make it personal this time:
Do I believe that Jesus has forgiven me? Yes or No?
If you do, then why are you still making yourself pay for your sin? Why are you rejecting God’s forgiveness over your life? Why are you buying into the lie that your sin(s) isn’t covered?
The real reason you can’t forgive yourself fully is because you are still involved in the process. And whenever you are involved, no offense, but it won’t be perfect. And that’s okay because God has enough grace to cover up your mess up.
Finding freedom in self-forgiveness will always lead to a dead end.We should always be generous in our efforts to speak God’s grace over our own lives. But, until Jesus comes back, while we can grow in the area of self-forgiveness, we will never fully, once-for-all-time master self-forgiveness. You can have good days, months, or seasons, but you might also have a day, month, or season that’s not so good.
Thankfully, this doesn’t stop you from being fully free in this world.
Your freedom isn’t based on what you do or don’t do, it’s based on what Jesus has already done!
Jesus has forgiven you. Your freedom does not come from self-forgiveness; an act that you do. Freedom comes from God’s forgiveness. Self-forgiveness is a noble pursuit but it ought never be the end goal or it will always lead to a dead end.
Don’t hear me wrong. You can improve. You can be more loving and gracious. Humility can start to overtake pride. Confidence and certainty can take over for unbelief and doubt. All of these things are possible. But when you have a bad moment of unforgiveness trust that even that moment is still covered by God’s grace. And keep moving.
It is God’s grace, not your perfection, that allows you to be free.
The great civil activist Maya Angelou was almost right when she said, “Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself.” Far more important than your forgiveness is God’s forgiveness for you. Forgiveness is the greatest gift that God can give you.
Whenever you place the emphasis on yourself for your own freedom you will never be free.
Self-forgiveness is a noble pursuit. An even nobler pursuit is God’s forgiveness, and the amazing thing about this pursuit is that it’s already done.
Romans 5:8: But God demonstrated His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Total freedom is available. It’s just not available through you. It’s available only through Jesus.
Give up on the idea of waiting to be free until you are able to fully, once-for-all-time forgive yourself. Stop beating yourself up by not being able to perfectly forgive yourself and simply receive this beautiful gift of grace God is wanting you to have today. When you are struggling to forgive yourself, cut yourself some slack. Give yourself some grace. Remind yourself that your freedom isn’t in your own forgiveness, but in God’s that has already been given to you. Trust that when you can’t fully forgive yourself, someone else already has. His name is Jesus, and ultimately, He is the one that came to offer a fully free, abundant life!
To go much deeper into the freedom that comes from God’s forgiveness, Forgiving Challenge will be launching worldwide in select churches on 10/10/21 this year! If your church is interested or wanting to be a part of the “First Wave” which will include many bonuses and specials email hello@redletterchallenge.com.
The post Why Forgiving Yourself Will Always Lead to a Dead End appeared first on Red Letter Challenge.
January 21, 2021
4 Communication Lessons Learned from Leading 125,000+ through a 40-Day Church Series
Over the course of the last 30 months, we’ve had the honor to lead more than 500 churches and 125,000 individuals through one of our church-wide 40-day challenges. On February 14th, we are having our single-largest launch day with more than 100 churches across the world kicking off one of our 40-day challenges. Through this blessing, we have learned many best practices. This blog is written to help the communication director maximize the impact that a 40-day church series can have in their church.
Here’s 4 tips:
Encourage and Support the Lead Pastor’s Public InvolvementThe lead pastor is integral to the success of a 40-day church series.
Many 40-day church series will also offer some sort combination of reading, homework, a challenge to complete, and/or a small group to enter into. We have found that the more the lead pastor is involved in the 40-day church series, the greater the overall results will be.
Leading up to the 40-day series, the lead pastor has the opportunity to be the best “marketing” approach for your church. His/her endorsement of the series as well as being able to articulate why this series is important for the church is the best marketing your church can do. Helping your pastor craft powerful statements that can be given through social media, blogs, during Sunday services, etc. will increase participation and engagement. The best statements will do one or both of the following:
Answer the why. Why is this important for me as an individual? Why is this important for our church?Help solve a problem. The reason we are doing this series is because this series will help you _________. This series will help our church ________.During the 40-day series, it’s important that the pastor is publicly participating in the series. If there is reading to finish, a challenge to complete, or a small group to participate in, it’s important in your communication that you are highlighting how the lead pastor is doing this. People in our churches will feel more apt to fully engage when they see the main leader giving it their best effort..
As the communication director, what can you do? Show support to your lead pastor and be proactive with him/her by sitting down and game planning what it looks like to promote the series well and also publicly share his/her involvement in the 40-day church series. Ideas could be a weekly or daily video, email devotion, social media posts, etc.
Establish Buy-In from All the Key Leaders Ahead of TimeFor a church series to have maximum impact it needs to be front and center in all capacities. What I mean by this is make the 40-day series “the thing” for the 40 days. Do not mix and match other ideas, events, small groups, or sermon series in.
I recommend a 4-tier approach:
Make the 40-day series your sermon series/weekend experience for all ages.Encourage every individual in the church to grab a book to participate in the daily readings (in our cases, also to participate in the daily challenge).Encourage those individuals to also meet collectively during the week for small groups.Ensure that the kids ministry and student ministry are also heavily involved and using the material(s) for their ministries.When the entire church is involved, the energy and excitement is palpable and the results are maximized.
In reality, we’ve found that sometimes it’s hard to get the entire church and key leaders to buy-in.
We have ran into many churches who want to use our challenges, but not in their entirety. Some will encourage their church family to do the readings, but won’t want to use the 40-day series as the weekend sermon series. Oftentimes, the kids or student ministry leaders will already be tied to their normal curriculum and will be hesitant to change. Many churches have some small group leaders who only want to teach what they want to teach.
Working ahead of time ensuring buy-in from all the key leaders is incredibly important. Quite simply, the larger your church is, the more lead-in time you will likely need.
While we create a 40-day church challenge that we promote as “turnkey” we have found best practices to begin establishing buy in at least one month out for a church of 200 attendees or under and likely 2-6 months out for churches that are over 200 attendees on a weekend. Our team has created checklists that we would be happy to provide you with to help ensure you are strategically getting the buy-in needed from the entire church. Email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com.
Help Craft a Clear and Generous Promotion and Distribution StrategyA 4-5-week promotion and distribution time before launching a 40-day church series is ideal. By promoting and distributing it for several weeks, it allows you to get this initiative in front of everyone who considers themselves a faithful member of your church family.
As we mentioned above, the best promotion we have seen is when key leaders, especially the lead pastor, gets involved. Creating content on social media, Sunday announcements, emails, etc. that can answer why this series will be helpful and what problems this series will answer is the direction your promotion should move in.
As great as digital marketing is, surprisingly, we also find that an old-fashioned method is very effective. Sending an invite card through the mail noting your kickoff day, important dates coming up in the 40-day series, and ways for people to participate is integral on this invite card.
As important as promotion is, we have found distribution to be as important.
Create as many entry points as possible for people in your church to participate. As you promote it you should also be distributing your books. Do not ask people to sign up today and get materials late. Rather, when promoting it, be ready to distribute the books. Distributing your books for churches that meet onsite is a no-brainer. During coronavirus times, crafting a simple Google Form or page on your website and offering designated pickup times or a place to have the book delivered is a great strategy that many are implementing. I also encourage the larger churches that have decent size staffs to make those designated pickup times fun. This may be the first time you are seeing or re-engaging with someone in your church family for many months. Create a great new first impression and use this time wisely.
The most common strategy of distribution is a shared cost suggested donation method. It’s an investment to purchase a 40-day church challenge or series. We have seen 50% more participation in churches that are able to offer books at a $5-$10 price point than those churches that try to hard sell them in the $15-$20 price point range.
My favorite method of distribution that has seen the best results is when a church gives the books away for FREE. Typically, the leadership will see this as an evangelistic tool and they will give away the resources. For more on this idea as well as the promotion/distribution plan, check out this video.
Plan to Grow Your Social Media PresenceDo you want to see more than 400% increase in reach and engagement in social media in just 40 days!? That’s typically what churches that have used our 40-day challenges have seen. Here’s three strategies to see this kind of growth:
Using hashtags is important.We provide one hashtag in our original workbook #RedLetterChallenge and that hashtag ties your church in with thousands of others. This will automatically put your eyeballs on your church. In addition to using the hashtag we provide, we also suggest creating your own unique hashtag to go along with it. Hashtags allow people quickly to see the magnitude of what is happening in one place.
Create unique material daily with a call-to-action.This sounds daunting. However, if you’ve done well on the above steps, this will be much easier. When the lead pastor, along with the entire church is fully bought in, they can help you create unique material each day. You simply need to come up with the plan and delegate clearly.
The unique material that you create doesn’t have to be the most fully produced and polished. It simply has to be real and authentic. We highly encourage video. Sharing testimonies and stories of God at work in the 40-day church series is always highly engaging.
In one of the most successful 40-day church challenges we ever launched, the Lead Pastor decided to post a daily video to go alongside of the challenges. The quality of the videos wasn’t great, but it was good enough. It was amazing to see his church rally behind him and celebrate with him in his strengths, but also resonate with him in his weaknesses. His vulnerability and authenticity brought far more engagement to his church during these 40 days. He had some incredibly hard news come upon him during these 40 days and because he was in a rhythm of posting daily videos, he ended up receiving support from others while he was inspiring thousands of people despite his hardship.
As you are posting unique content, to maximize engagement, consider any of the following: ask a question, issue a challenge, provide a prize, etc. Simply by asking people to respond you will see increased engagement.
For tips on creating digital content, I love Carey Nieuwhof’s article here, especially points 5-7.
Use pre-made graphics that are provided.When looking for a 40-day church series to implement, look for one that already has some pre-made graphics. We provide a graphics package for FREE with our 40-day challenges so that the communication director or graphics designer never has to start from scratch. In fact, we encourage them to use our materials because it not only ensures that their graphics are going to look excellent, but it also helps our brand stay on point. By using pre-made graphics, typically it’ll save you hours as you simply insert your logo or key dates onto something that’s ready to go in just minutes! This time saved will help you with the above point in having the time available to help create the unique content that will increase social media engagement.
I hope those 4 tips are helpful for you. To all the communication directors out there, thank you for what you do. It truly does matter. If our team can be helpful or if you are looking for a powerful 40-day church-wide challenge, we’d love the honor to work with you and challenge everyone in your church to be greater followers of Jesus. We have two resources available currently. You can learn about Red Letter Challenge and Being Challenge by clicking on their links. If you have more questions on why a 40-day series could work for your church, we’ve created a series of 10 short videos here that will be helpful for you. God bless you!
The post 4 Communication Lessons Learned from Leading 125,000+ through a 40-Day Church Series appeared first on Red Letter Challenge.
January 19, 2021
Launching the Largest Worldwide 40-Day Challenge on February 14th – Is Your Church in Yet?
Over the past 30 months our team has led more than 130,000 individuals and 500 churches through a 40-day challenge to help them ultimately become greater followers of Jesus. In spite of the complicated Covid times we are experiencing, we are getting ready on February 14th to launch the single largest 40-day challenge season we’ve ever experienced.
In this upcoming season we have churches from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong participating! Amazingly, more than 25 churches from the New York City area are banding together as well!
In this blog, I want to share with you 5 reasons why the season known as Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter) is the perfect time to launch a 40-day challenge. Also, at the end, if you’d like to be “in” I’ll give you the timeline we have perfected over the past couple of Lenten seasons and some next steps that you will need to act upon quickly.
Why are so many churches jumping on board now? Here’s 5 reasons:
Our 40-Day Challenges Fit Perfectly into the Church Calendar Before Easter!Many churches across the world celebrate a season called Lent prior to Easter Sunday. Lent is 40 days plus the Sundays…therefore, it leads perfectly to the grand celebration of Easter! The ultimate purpose of Lent is to prepare our hearts for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In each of our 40-day challenges, Red Letter Challenge and Being Challenge, the final targets that we challenge our readers with in both challenges is to “go and share the Good News.” Sharing the Good News of Jesus can often times come with an invitation to attend church as a next step. The Easter celebration is the perfect next step that so many in your community need to hear!
2. Our 40-Day Challenges Bring Unity by Focusing on Jesus!Lent is ultimately a season where we look to Jesus to remember what He’s done for us and the life that He’s given to us. Our 40-day challenges examine His words, His habits, and His life, and present them in a simple-to understand, but challenging way that will produce results.
Our belief is that the best way to follow Jesus is simply to follow Jesus. There are many good and great answers on how to be a disciple of Jesus, but simply looking to Jesus is still the best answer! Never before has there been more information on what a disciple of Jesus is, but never before has there been more confusion on how to practically daily live out our faith.
In light of all things 2020, many of our churches have become more complicated to lead. Many churches have and still are experiencing physical distancing and added division. When division abounds, it is imperative to look for resources that will bring back unity. Nothing unifies like Jesus. The number one word we have heard from pastors who have completed one of our 40-day challenges during coronavirus as a church is “unity.” Author and speaker Carey Nieuwhof said this about our resources: “How do you find common ground in a deeply divided culture? Zach Zehnder’s focus on the words and habits of Jesus have unified churches and people in a deeply needed way. Taking your church through a 40-day challenge might be the best thing you can do right now. Culture divides. Christ unites.”
Our 40-day challenges bring unity not only because they focus on Jesus, but also because we have materials for every age group, even kids. Our belief is that kids not only have what it takes to follow Jesus, but they can be, and many already are incredible followers of Jesus already. Not only can you unify every age group, unify your weekend worship experiences with both digital and in person, but you also will feel the unity during the week as well Monday-Saturday as your people are reading and challenging themselves together.
3. Our 40-Day Challenges Bring Opportunity for Self-Examination!In Lent, not only are we taught to look to Jesus and remember what He’s done for us, but we are also taught to examine ourselves. In light of what Jesus did, we look at our own lives and remember why Jesus had to sacrifice His life for us in the first place. We needed the death and resurrection of Jesus to fully pay for our own sins.
In self-examination we confess our sin in order to receive His grace. It is His grace and His kindness that leads us ultimately to life change. It is not out of obligation, but rather through His grace that we are compelled to want to be the greatest followers of Jesus that we can be. By looking at Jesus first and foremost, we ensure that following after Him comes from the right motive. We do not desire to follow Jesus well because we have to, we do it because we want to. We do it in response to how good our God has been to each one of us.
The challenges lend time each day for self-examination. The workbooks are written in a way for people to write, journal, draw, and scribble their thoughts. It also has weekly small group materials (videos and study guides) so that individuals can come together, learn, and grow with one another.
4. Our 40-Day Challenges Inspire Action!At the root of it, disciples are both hearers and doers of God’s Word. While many discipleship resources thrive in helping us be better “hearers” we have seen incredible results by simply challenging people to take what they “hear” and “do” something about it. It’s this rhythm of hearing and doing that we believe is imperative for all followers of Jesus to get right.
In the Lenten season, traditionally, many churchgoers practice “giving up” something or fasting for Lent. But I’ve noticed, as good as that practice can be, if you don’t replace it or “pick up” something new most will go right back to what they’ve done in the past. If you give up soda for 40 days, that’s great, but what about after the 40 days are over? Pop another Coke bottle?
Is that really the life change that pastors want for their people? Red Letter Challenge and Being Challenge encourage people to “pick up” the habit of putting Christ’s words and habits into practice and I simply don’t believe there is anything more valuable.
At the root of it, disciples are both hearers and doers of God’s Word. While many discipleship resources thrive in helping us be better “hearers” we have seen incredible results by simply challenging people to take what they “hear” and “do” something about it. It’s this rhythm of hearing and doing that we believe is imperative for all followers of Jesus to “pick up.”
5. Our 40-Day Challenges are Turnkey for Your Whole Staff!Easter is the biggest and greatest celebration of the church year! By implementing a 40-day turnkey challenge to your church prior to Easter, this will allow you and your staff the opportunity to go all-in on your Easter celebration. It’s easy to go all-in on your Easter experience, when you know you will have the extra time because you’ve got the 40 days leading up to this BIG day done for you already.
Included in our 40-day challenges are all of these materials for FREE: Small Group Guides, Small Group Videos, Sermon Manuscripts, Sermon Videos, Weekly Kids Curriculum, Graphics Package, etc. We’ve tried to make this as turnkey as possible so that you can not only have the confidence of a great 40-day experience but also so that you can put full effort into strategic celebration Sundays like Easter.
Bonus Reason: It’s always fun to be a part of something BIG.Join a movement with literally thousands of others across the world and let’s see what God will do as we take His words and habits into a world that so desperately needs more Jesus!
Next Steps: Timeline, How to Join, and Where to Learn More?We’d love for your church to be a part of this worldwide 40-day challenge launch. After a few years of studying best practices, we recommend kicking off your 2021 Lenten 40-day challenge by preaching the introduction to the series on Sunday, February 14th. You would then start Day 1 readings on Tuesday, February 16th. By starting Day 1 readings on February 16th, you will end Day 40 on Saturday, March 27th, and can then either choose to use Sunday, March 28th to recap, share stories, forecast vision of continuing to put Jesus’ words into practice, etc. or do regular Palm Sunday services leading into your Easter celebration the next Sunday, April 4th.
In order to have the best 40-day experience it’s important to get materials to you as quickly as possible. Therefore, we have a small window left to do this well. We are offering an incentive to sign up by January 22nd so that we can ensure you have the ample time to promote and distribute your materials. Email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com for more information.
Finally, if you still have questions on how to implement, how to launch small groups with these challenges, how to include kids and student ministry, promotion, distribution, we have a series of short videos at this link to help.
And if you already have plans for Lent or a 40-day challenge fits better into your calendar in a different season, do not fret! A couple of other really great strategic times to launch a 40-day challenge are the 40 Days after Easter Sunday and in the Fall.
I want to see your congregation thrive and I believe this has the opportunity to be the best Lent season of all time. Let’s not just give up something, let’s pick up the words and habits of Jesus.
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January 15, 2021
Reopening Christianity Question 5: Pastor, Are You Helping Others Follow Jesus as their Lord?
Today’s Blog is part 6 of a 6-part Blog Series called “Reopening Christianity: 5 Questions Every Pastor Must Answer.” This series is intended to challenge pastors by asking five challenging questions that will help spur their churches to become greater collective expressions of Jesus Christ. Miss prior blogs or want to read the next ones in this series? Find them here. Questions 1-5 go live January 11-15, 2021.
Question 5: Pastor, Are You Helping Others Follow Jesus as their Lord?Here’s what I’m convinced is the perennial problem with American Christianity: Christians in America are content with God being their Savior, but uncomfortable with Him being their Lord.
In the King James Version, which is the most widely used translation of the Bible in America, the word Savior appears 37 times. The word Lord appears more than 7000 times. I wonder if God isn’t trying to tell us something with those numbers.
Many American Christians have settled for a relationship with Jesus where He is their Savior but not truly their Lord. We like the benefits, especially eternally, that Jesus as Savior brings, but would prefer to continue to pursue comfort in the things of this world. Until we live first and foremost for Jesus and Jesus alone, we will continue to be a poor, confusing representation of Jesus in this world.
At the root of it all is that in this world there are things that compete for the place where God is meant to reside, your heart. The deeper we look into the Bible, we may balk at and deem ourselves superior to the Israelite people who crafted idols out of materials, but in reality, we do the very same things. We craft idols and pursue other than Jesus and wonder why we aren’t making the impact that we ought to be making. Some of us as pastors can even make the church we serve an idol in our lives.
So, pastor, who or what are you most in love with? Who, or what, resides in the throne room of your heart? Anytime anyone or anything replaces Jesus as our ultimate pursuit in this world, we will always woefully fall short.
Americans have been sold a lie called the “American Dream.” We believe that when we work hard, pull our bootstraps up, and climb to the top that we will then be happy. I see nothing wrong with hard work and high aspirations, and the freedom to pursue our goals is something we should celebrate. But underlying this dream is an incredibly dangerous assumption. David Platt, in his book Radical, says: “The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American Dream is that our greatest asset is our own ability.”
Our country has experienced much success over the past decades, and so it’s easy to look to ourselves and trust in our own ability. At the end of the American Dream is that we would “be recognized by others for what we really are.” The goal of the American Dream is to make much of ourselves.
This couldn’t be further from the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel has different priorities. The Gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in His power. In the Gospel, God confronts us with our utter inability to accomplish anything of value apart from Him. We cannot even come to faith; we are dry, dead bones, without God Himself breathing new life into us. The goal of the Gospel is to make much of God, not to make much of ourselves.
In direct contradiction to the American dream, God actually delights in exalting our inability. All of us as pastors can relate to this. We simply don’t have the time, the energy, the skillset, and the power to do all that He has entrusted to us to do. He puts us in situations that are way too big for ourselves, puts us in situations we are unqualified and unworthy to hold, situations where we come face to face with our need for Him, and He shows up time and time again. He does this not for us to get the glory, but so that He would receive all the glory.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran theologian struggling to follow Christ in the midst of Nazi rule, penned one of the great Christian books of all time, The Cost of Discipleship. The theme of this book is summarized in one sentence: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
When we follow Jesus as Lord, we give up the right to call our own shots. He calls them for us. It’s not an easy lifestyle that Jesus offers to us. It comes with cost and with sacrifice. But, friends, it is worth it. Die to yourself and switch away from selfie view and place your gaze on someone most worthy. His name is Jesus Christ.
And the opportunity is right here, right now. In the midst of a crazy world-turned-upside-down global pandemic year, the time is now. How will you respond? I hope you respond like Elisha.
Read the story from 1 Kings, chapter 19:
“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”
Elisha was a man working his fields by driving the last pair of oxen. By all accounts, he was a pretty successful guy. The fact that he had 12 pair of oxen and that he was driving the last pair was an indication that he had quite a bit of worldly wealth and position. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Elijah, the most powerful, faith-filled prophet of his day, came by and threw his cloak around Elisha.
Placing a prophetic cloak around someone was like a king giving his scepter to his son. It was a divine calling. Elijah was offering Elisha a job. It wasn’t as if Elisha was looking for a new job. The Bible doesn’t tell us that he had done anything of note to be put in this position. But all of a sudden, he had a choice to make. He could stay with the oxen and keep plowing the farm, or he could follow the man that in the chapter before was calling down fire from heaven and had just won a battle single-handedly against 850 false prophets.
Invitations like this don’t come by too often.
Elisha responded that he first wanted to say good-bye to his parents. Following Jesus as your Lord often times can lead to painful separation from the things of the world and sometimes even from our own flesh and blood, but there is joy in recompense that outweighs the cost. Elisha would miss his family, and they would miss him.
While animal sacrifice was a common thing in his day, burning the plows to cook the meat was anything but normal. Why would he do this?
I can understand the value in feeding everyone. But to take the instruments of your livelihood and use them for fire so you can grill the oxen is irresponsible, shortsighted, and over the top. If God called you to quit your business, you wouldn’t burn your building to the ground.
God didn’t put this story in the Bible to teach us how to best steward our farming equipment.
It’s a picture of total devotion.
Elisha was proclaiming through his actions in that moment that nothing from his past, not even the good things, will hinder him from truly following after God in the future. He had nowhere back to run to if things didn’t work out. He was fully devoted.
I know that during my ministry there have been times where I have pursued Jesus with one foot in, but also keeping one hand on the door handle just in case. How about you?
Elisha knew this invitation was too good to pass up. He knew there would be danger that would come his way. He knew it would require sacrifice. But he knew it was worth it.
Living a life of purpose and meaning has costs, but it’s always worth it. Elisha would have to pay those costs. In fact, there’s biblical record of years of following after Elijah where he didn’t do anything of note. But at the proper time, after following faithfully, amazingly Elisha performed twice as many miracles as Elijah.
Many people never get to truly experience the joy of following Jesus because they don’t leave good enough behind. Jesus is better than you, and He’s better than anything of this world.
And much like Elijah called Elisha, Jesus had a habit of going around with an invitation, “Come, follow me.” He did it with Peter, James, and John on the shore. He did it with a tax collector named Matthew.
And He’s doing it for you today. Even though we have failed and misrepresented Him, the invitation is still there today.
Following Jesus is not a burden but the single greatest opportunity of our lifetimes.
The great theologian Dallas Willard said, “The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples—students, apprentices, practitioners—of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from Him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.
As you pastor your church are you inviting people into a life of following after Jesus?
What I have noticed in the church of the past is that many times pastors would preach and give some sort of invitation to believe in Jesus. But when you look at the life of Jesus, the invitation Jesus gave far more often than “Believe in me” was instead “Follow me.” As pastors, we have the opportunity leading our church in the future to call people to a greater call than believing in Jesus, and that is to follow after Him.
It’s important for the church of the future that we not only call people to follow Jesus as their Lord, but to give them really practical targets to hit in their pursuit to follow Jesus.
If we can, just for a moment, give people a true, real glimpse of Jesus, how the world might change! Let’s help our people “burn the plows” of this world and follow Jesus whole-heartedly in the future.
Pastor, are you helping others truly follow Jesus as their Lord?
For more on this, here’s a video I did for a digital conference helping pastors understand how to go beyond intention and leading with precision in the future.
While these blogs are written specifically for pastors and church leaders, we have an ebook Reopening Christianity and small group resources available for individuals at your church right here. Many small groups and churches have found this to be a powerful small group or church-wide study. To inquire about using this as a sermon series and for bulk rates on the ebook, email hello@redletterchallenge.com.
Platt, David. Radical. Multnomah, 2012, p. 46.
Ibid, p. 14.
“Dallas Willard Quotes.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/367611-the-greatest-issue-facing-the-world-today-with-all-its#:~:text=%E2%9CThe%20greatest%20issue%20facing%20the%20world%20today%2C%20with%20all%20its,Kingdom%20of%20the%20Heavens%20into. Web. 6 November 2020.
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January 14, 2021
Reopening Christianity Question 4: Pastor, Is Is Your Church Known for what You are For or Against?
Today’s Blog is part 5 of a 6-part Blog Series called “Reopening Christianity: 5 Questions Every Pastor Must Answer.” This series is intended to challenge pastors by asking five challenging questions that will help spur their churches to become greater collective expressions of Jesus Christ. Miss prior blogs or want to read the next ones in this series? Find them here. Questions 1-5 go live January 11-15, 2021.
Question 4: Pastor, Is Your Church Known For What You Are For Or Against?Christians are not known for the same words as Jesus. Judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, political, out-of-touch, prejudiced, and bigoted are all words that get tossed around to describe Christians by non-Christians.
Why this matters for us as pastors is because we lead churches, and churches are filled with Christians.
In the last question, I challenged you to take the Good News of Jesus along with the unique gifts He’s put inside of you to others and to do it now! However, it is tough to do a good job of spreading the Good News if we don’t have a good reputation. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” If we have the message that they need but there is an inherent lack of trust, they may never truly receive it.
We have to change our reputation. What is your church’s reputation?
The first thing you might do when you hear what words describe Christians is refute the feelings of those that label Christians, or your church, a certain way. You might feel that they are wrong. Perhaps you point them to all of the good deeds that Christians do. Then you might go through your list that Christians are the first in line and most helpful in disaster relief, they’ve brought clean water to so many villages, and have been working on prison reform for decades. You might point to hostile media characterizations and think that that’s why the non-Christians say those ugly things about us. You might even think about all of the great things your church, filled with Christians, has done for your city. But hold on a minute.
Barna Research found that more than half of the respondents that had used those harsh words to describe Christians based it on personal experiences with Christians.
And let’s state the obvious: if 65% of Americans claim to be Christian, then out of the 215 million of us, there are going to be a few crazy ones who twist the Word of God and live a poor representation of Jesus. And there might even be a few of those crazy ones that inhabit the walls of your church! You might even be able to name a few right away!
But in reality, we are all sinful, broken, and messy people. That includes me and that includes you. We have to admit that we don’t always do things right, and we also don’t always do everything that we should do. It is easy for us to jump to judging others. Because we tie ourselves to a particular moral standard, to a higher level of obedience, when we see others not following suit it’s easy to lash out in judgment.
Jesus came to bring both grace and truth, but many Christians, and churches, skip the grace and go right to the truth. As we reopen Christianity, we have an opportunity to be known for what we are for and not what we are against. And what we are for is Jesus and His redemption for all people, no matter what race, age, gender, or spiritual qualifications they may or may not possess.
In the midst of a pandemic that shut the world down, racial injustice and systemic oppression reared its ugly head again, and it caused great division. Perhaps the greatest invitation we have to flip our reputation lies in our ability to be a part of the current day injustices that are before us.
Astonishingly, Barna Research did more polls in the midst of all of the racial tension of 2020, and found that the percentage of practicing Christians nearly doubled from 17% to 30% that are unmotivated or not at all motivated to be a part of the solution when it comes to racial reconciliation.
This is so sad that a people group is crying out, and we who have received God’s grace cannot extend grace to those who are hurting. The truth is that God has acted on our behalf while we were still sinners, and very plainly tells us that we are called to act as well. Many Christians take the lead from their pastors, and so each of us has to examine, how am I leading? Am I doing everything that I can be doing when it comes to battling injustices?
As pastors we need to plead with our people to intervene and step into the injustices in our world. The problems of this world, whether the people in your church struggle with them or not, become the problems that your church must get involved in. We have a God who stepped down into our stories and made us right and has now given us the ministry of reconciliation.
The challenge we face in this world as Christians is that we are called to stand up against injustice and at the same time to stand up for Jesus. We cannot escape this world. The “cancel culture” mindset that has become popular is something that Christians must avoid at all costs. It shows no grace and only judgment. And yet, at the same time, we cannot embrace everything in this world. The world is beautiful, but it is messy, sinful, and broken.
How do you, then, operate with both grace and truth? It comes by spending time in relationship with God.
A Christian research company found that those who were most likely to spread the Good News had a regular practice of confession in their lives. Those most willing to talk about and spread the Good News of Jesus started with an understanding that they are the one most in need of God’s grace.
I’ve written more on the benefits of daily confession here.
Sadly, many times it is easier for pastors to give grace away to others but not spend time themselves receiving God’s grace. For pastors to properly lead with grace they must regularly receive it themselves. While others may look up to you and place you on a pedestal, you know the truth about yourself. Just like everyone else you need God’s grace to help make you whole again.
It’s when we come from that place, that we ourselves were broken until Christ made us whole, that we can truly be the light in the darkness that Jesus is asking us to be. Rather than leading with judgment and what we are against, we must lead with grace just like Jesus did for you and for me.
We are called to stand in the middle. And in the middle, we Pray, Listen, Educate, Act, Speak, and Expect. And even though the middle is typically messy, we know that the mess is where God always does His best work.
Pastor, are you known for what you are for or what you are against?
For more action steps, I have previously laid out a step-by-step guide to battling injustice and pursuing reconciliation using the simple acronym “Please.”
P – Pray
L – Listen
E – Educate
A – Act
S – Speak
E – Expect
While these blogs are written specifically for pastors and church leaders, we have an eBook Reopening Christianity and small group resources available for individuals at your church right here. Many small groups and churches have found this to be a powerful small group or church-wide study. To inquire about using this as a sermon series and for bulk rates on the ebook, email hello@redletterchallenge.com.
“A New Generation Expresses Its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity.” https://www.barna.com/research/a-new-generation-expresses-its-skepticism-and-frustration-with-christianity/. 21 September 2017. Web. 6 November 2020.
Im, Daniel. “Input vs. Output Goals for Discipleship. https://www.danielim.com/2017/08/15/input-vs-output-goals-discipleship/. 15 August 2017. Web. 6 November 2020.
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January 13, 2021
Reopening Christianity Question 3: Pastor, Are You Playing Offense or Defense?
Today’s Blog is part 4 of a 6-part Blog Series called “Reopening Christianity: 5 Questions Every Pastor Must Answer.” This series is intended to challenge pastors by asking five challenging questions that will help spur their churches to become greater collective expressions of Jesus Christ. Miss prior blogs or want to read the next ones in this series? Find them at this link. Questions 1-5 go live January 11-15, 2021.
Question 3: Pastor, Are you Playing Offense or Defense?As a huge football fan, it is so easy to be an armchair quarterback, especially when your favorite football team is the Cleveland Browns. There’s just a lot to question! An armchair quarterback is someone who doesn’t participate in the action but still makes judgments about it. I’ve never played football, so the fact that I would have really strong opinions about the way in which a football team should be run is a little bit ridiculous.
But one of the things that I can’t stand as a fan is when a football team is ahead, rather than continuing with the game plan and the strategy that allowed them to get ahead in the first place, they change to a far less aggressive strategy. On defense, many teams when they are ahead will shrink back into what’s known as a “prevent defense.” The idea is to prevent the offense from making the really big play. They will allow the offense to make little plays and move the ball down the field. A major aim of the prevent defense is to let the clock run out.
The problem with this is that by allowing a lot of these little plays, the offense more easily finds themselves in scoring range.
And I don’t know if it’s just me and the games that I watch, but it feels like the prevent defense doesn’t work. Famous football coach and icon John Madden once said, “The only thing the prevent defense does is prevent you from winning.” My guess is we could go back and forth on the merit of this defense strategy in football, but as we look to reopen Christianity, I believe that churches as a whole have been playing too much prevent defense.
Collectively the church has been losing ground. Not only are numbers declining in all aspects of Christianity, but we are quickly losing our voice and influence. Crisis becomes an accelerator and our collective lack or urgency, our collective taking the foot off of the pedal, was greatly exposed in 2020. How is this possible not only with the Good News of Jesus in us but also His Spirit inside of us? What can we do?
The reason we cannot simply play defense and let status quo happen is because God’s been too good to us. We don’t do things and accomplish things in this world because we have to, but because we want to.
There are two main reasons that churches struggle to play offense well:
We don’t know how to play offense.It’s one thing to know we are called to contribute, which is what the last question reminded us of, but it’s another to know how to contribute. I have heard it said that less than 10% of the people that sit in our churches know their spiritual gifts. As pastors and church leaders, we need to continue to preach and teach on how to practically help our people discover their gifts and use their gifts.
We can get better at this from an individual expression, but also collectively as well. God has designed the church to be His expression in this world. And not all churches ought to look the same. Just as we need to help our people discover their God-given gifts, it would be wise to look at the leadership of the church and the community to which you are called to find what your collective expression, or gifts, are.
There have been many books written on what types of churches are best, but in my humble opinion, I believe that all types of churches are needed. We need house churches (especially in a world filled with online church) and we need small churches and we need megachurches. We need charismatic churches and we need traditional, liturgical churches. We need them all. God is in them all. Let’s stop spending our time fighting about what types and styles of church are needed, and realize that God has created all of us as pastors and leaders differently. The goal is to match the gifts of your church to the community in which you are called. Some communities need a different type or style of church than other communities.
But no matter what type or style or size of church you become, it is the church’s job to be the expression of Jesus in this world. Use whatever creative, innovative or old-fashioned ways that are relevant to the culture that we live in. But use them strategically and wisely, because the time is now. And truthfully, rather than finding time arguing over which type, or style of church is best, or in the future, about whether online church is “real” or not, let’s appreciate one another and our differences and admit that we need each other for God to bring His kingdom work to fruition here.
2. We lose urgency.2020 has shown that whatever control any of us thought we’ve had has been completely bogus. The world shut down over a virus that no one could physically see. Businesses closed, jobs were lost, loved ones sick, and many of us were quarantined. Whatever semblance or thought of control we had was gone.
We are not in control. God has an ultimate plan. His desire is that all would be saved. And He reminds us in Scripture over and over again that He will be coming back for us. When? Many have tried to guess, and many have failed. But Jesus says it’s soon. There’s an urgency to which 2020 has brought. If Jesus is really God, and if He really is coming back, and if I’m truly not in control, then I cannot wait any longer. I’ve got to go now.
Hockey is a sport I know even less about than football. But I’m intrigued by the strategy of pulling the goalie. When a team is losing near the end of the game, they will pull their goalie from their own net to go on attack mode. They get an advantage with an extra player. The goalie stops playing defense and the team focuses all of their energy on offense. There’s urgency. The time is short.
We have to live with a sense of urgency. Sometimes in the name of prosperity and comfort and progress, we’ve taken our eyes off of the fact that Jesus is returning and that we are ultimately citizens in heaven. In a world filled with very impressive earthly kingdoms, it’s hard to keep our eyes on the eternal kingdom.
When we live with a sense of urgency and a Kingdom perspective, we will not sit back and just let status quo happen. We will pull the goalie and think strategically about how we can be the best offense in the time that’s left. It’s time for Christians and the church to be filled with people playing offense.
So pastor, what strategic ways are you planning to play offense this year?
Here are the wrong defensive questions that many churches are asking right now:
When can we meet again?Will we meet our budget?How can the government get us out of this?When the early church faced persecution in the book of Acts, N.T. Wright’s latest book God and the Pandemic shows us that rather than the church looking to their own interests, simply playing defense, they asked three questions that formed their offensive strategy:
Who will be at risk?How can we help?Who should we send?What questions are you and your team asking? Why this is utterly important, right here, and right now is because of this simple fact: One result of 2020 is that the mission field in America and the world has never been as large as it is right now. The amount of unchurched people that we are called to reach with the Good News of Jesus just skyrocketed. This is the great opportunity that is open and available to all churches, but will be won by the churches who pull the goalie and stop playing prevent defense.
As we think about contribution and playing offense, many of us will want to just jump up and move. It’s important to remember though that our greatest offense we will play in this world is not through our actions, but God working through us. Anytime I try to play offense on my own strength, eventually I fall short.
The truth is that God can do more in one second than any of us can do in an entire lifetime.
And while we are called to use our gifts in this world, there is a spiritual battle going on in this world right now. The greatest weapons of offense that we have are God’s Word and prayer.
Many people want to change the world by the things that they do, but your greatest offense you can bring and contribution you can make is not something that you do, but someone that you can bring. His name is Jesus. Rather than putting all of our emphasis on doing great things for God, let’s place even more emphasis on simply being with Him and allowing His presence and His power to work through us.
One final point when it comes to playing offense. We have been armed and equipped with God’s power inside of us. And when God is for us, who can be against us? In the economy of God, even the weapons that have been formed to be used against us, in the hands of our God are powerful weapons of offense for us.
Let’s not wait any longer. Let’s play some offense.
Besides, offense is more fun anyway.
So pastor, are you playing offense or defense?
Question 4 goes live tomorrow, January 14th, 2021!
While these blogs are written specifically for pastors and church leaders, we have an eBook Reopening Christianity and small group resources available for individuals at your church right here. Many small groups and churches have found this to be a powerful small group or church-wide study. To inquire about using this as a sermon series and for bulk rates on the ebook, email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com.
Bannister, Andy. “N.T. Wright: The Pandemic Should Make us Humble—and Relentlessly Practical.” https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/july-web-only/god-pandemic-nt-wright-coronavirus-aftermath.html. 3 August 2020. Web. 2 January 2021.
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January 11, 2021
Reopening Christianity Question 2: Pastor, Are You Creating Consumers or Contributors?
Today’s Blog is part 3 of a 6-part Blog Series called “Reopening Christianity: 5 Questions Every Pastor Must Answer.” This series is intended to challenge pastors by asking five challenging questions that will help spur their churches to become greater collective expressions of Jesus Christ. Miss prior blogs or want to read the next ones in this series? Go to this link here. Questions 1-5 go live January 11-15, 2021.
Question 2: Pastor, Are you Creating Contributors or Consumers?In the typical church about 80% of the work gets done by about 20% of the people. In addition, about 80% of the giving comes from about 20% of the top givers.
Crazily, I have come to find out that this 80/20 thing is actually a thing. There is something apparently known as the 80/20 rule, or the law of the vital few, and it’s called the Pareto Principle. Amazingly, it shows up in a lot of places to be quite accurate.
Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who noted the 80/20 connection in his home country. He noticed about 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. This same phenomenon, he found out, is true in much of the world. But not just with land. In 1992, the UN Development Program Report found that the richest 20% in the world own 82.7% of the world’s income.
In the US, the top 20% pay 80%+ of the federal income taxes.
In computer science, Microsoft noted that by fixing the top 20% of the most-reported bugs, 80% of the related errors and crashes in a given system would be eliminated. 80% of a certain piece of software can be written in 20% of the total time.
In occupational health and safety, 20% of the hazards cause 80% of the injuries. Even with viruses, something we all became too familiar with in 2020, 20% of infected individuals are responsible for 80% of transmissions.
As we look to reopen Christianity, it is important to realize that every one of us plays a part. We cannot settle for 20%, or even 80% of our people involved in our church, but have to challenge all of the people God entrusts to us to contribute. Why?
Because collectively, we cannot be the greatest expression of Jesus without being the fullest expression of who Jesus calls us to be.
We become the fullest expression of Jesus when every person does their part.
The apostle Paul expresses the picture of the church and each person doing their part in Ephesians 4:15-16:
It is through the church that every Christian can truly contribute to a mission that’s larger than themselves.
If our goal in life is to glorify Jesus and represent Him to the best of our ability in this world, and we accomplish this through the church, then this fact is true: if only 20% of people are doing the work, then we are simply being 20% of the church that we could be. Our church hasn’t become the full expression of Jesus that it could be until all Christians are using their gifts, talents, and resources for the unity and mission of the church.
Are you including and inviting each and every person in your church to use their God-given gifts for the sake of God’s church?
Sadly, in many of our church chairs or pews, live a lot of unfulfilled, purposeless people. In the last question, we mentioned that 70% of the people in our country do not enjoy their work or career. They aren’t experiencing fulfillment. Another often quoted statistic says that 98% of people die with unfulfilled dreams, and that the biggest regret that people have is not something they’ve done but something they’ve failed to do. Purposeless and unfulfilling lives was the old normal, even for a country that is supposedly filled with a majority of Christians.
In John 4, there’s a little-known section of verses in a very well-known story that are key for us to look at.
Jesus and His disciples had been traveling all day, and they stop at a well just outside of a city. His disciples go into the city to look for food while Jesus stays sitting at the well. As Jesus is sitting there, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water from the well. (Samaritans and Jews didn’t get along. Samaritans were Jewish people who married foreigners. Because of this, Jews called them half-breeds.) Jesus has a conversation with this woman, and He ends up leading her to faith in Him as the Messiah. Jesus ends His conversation with her right as the disciples return. She runs into the city to spread the word, and here’s the conversation that takes place.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
The disciples are confused. It’s a Sunday. Did Jesus get Chick-fil-A on a Sunday? How did He do that?! What?!
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work”.
Jesus is saying, “When others are consuming and thinking, ‘Fill me, fill me, fill me,’ what nourishes Me is when I pour into the lives of others.” Jesus was declaring that He was there to do the work that God sent Him to do. The disciples were more worried about consuming, but Jesus was more worried about contributing. Jesus felt more revitalized, more rejuvenated, more filled when He was serving others and leading them to faith in Him.
When we talk about people serving at church, we need to remind the people that God brings to our churches that they ultimately will not find fulfillment through only consuming.
Don’t hear me wrong. It’s extremely important that we point people to every day consumption of God’s Word and daily spiritual keystone habits. Speaking of which, here’s a great 40-day challenge to help people instill the five keystone habits of Jesus. But ultimately, what brings great fulfillment is when we contribute to a greater cause.
So here’s the truth:
While the church needs each and every person to help it become the fullest, greatest expression of Jesus, each and every person in this world needs the church because it provides them with the opportunity to serve others and experience fulfillment.
In the midst of this pandemic, the big question that has arisen is what to make of the online church movement and how to participate (or not) in it. My answer to this is that the Internet isn’t slowing down, and so our response online should definitely, collectively, be more and not less.
But no matter if people are worshipping in person, online, or both, through all of our preaching, small groups, etc. it’s imperative that we not only give people opportunity to consume God’s Word but very practical ways for them to take next steps and contribute.
We cannot just cater to consumers. We must equip our people to be contributors. The greatest growth in my faith has not been when I’ve learned something, but rather, when I’ve put what I’ve learned about God to practice. Making space for the Holy Spirit to do His great work through us isn’t possible when we don’t get to work.
It’s one thing to preach an effective message that gets people to nod their heads in agreement. It’s another thing to have them not only agree, but to commit to taking a practical next step in their faith. To lead the church of the future into reopening Christianity, let us focus much energy on clear, practical next steps that moves each person to their next step of faith.
So pastor, are you creating consumers or contributors?
Question 3 goes live tomorrow, January 13th, 2021.
Two ways our team can help:
My life goal is to challenge people to become greater followers of Jesus. Remember, Jesus said that His followers are hearers and doers of the Word. The greatest followers of Jesus are those that both hear and do His Word. Our 40-day challenges (Red Letter Challenge and Being Challenge) have proven results to mobilize your whole church to be hearers and doers of God’s Word. If you’ve never experienced one of these 40-day challenges for yourself, and would like to, email us here.
While these blogs are written specifically for pastors and church leaders, we have an eBook Reopening Christianity and small group resources available for individuals at your church right here. Many small groups and churches have found this to be a powerful small group or church-wide study. To inquire about using this as a sermon series and for bulk rates on the ebook, email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com.
Wikipedia. “Pareto Principle.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle. Web. 6 November 2020.
Gantz, Lior. “Why 98% of People Die Without Fulfilling Their Dreams.” https://www.wealthresearchgroup.com/why-98-of-people-die-without-fulfilling-their-dreams/. 17 July 2016. Web. 6 November 2020.
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Reopening Christianity Question 1: Pastor, Are You Moving Forward or Backward?
Today’s Blog is part 2 of a 6-part Blog Series called “Reopening Christianity: 5 Questions Every Pastor Must Answer.” This series is intended to challenge pastors by asking five challenging questions that will help spur their churches to become greater collective expressions of Jesus Christ. Miss prior blogs or want to read the next ones in this series? Go to this link here. Parts 2-6 go live January 11-15, 2021.
Question 1: Am I moving forward or going backward?Our first challenging question that every pastor must answer as we reopen Christianity is “Am I moving forward or going backward?”
The early days of the pandemic were filled with emotions. For the first time, our church doors were closed for worship for an extended period of time. It was sad. Imagining and then not being able to have the big Easter celebration that we had already planned for was extremely difficult.
On top of this, overnight we were forced to lead through a global pandemic. Not one Seminary class prepared us for this. Frantically, and rightly so, we made change after change, plan after plan. Plans we felt good about and had prayed, talked, and strategized about on Monday were already considered worthless by the time we woke up on Tuesday.
I can’t tell you how many times in the early days of the pandemic in 2020 I heard the phrase, “When will we go back to normal? When will things go back to the way it was? When will church return to what it was?” I can’t tell you how many times in the early days that I felt or thought those questions.
But in May and June, after reality had set in, I began actually getting excited thinking about unchartered territory for the church and its future. I began thinking more about our churches moving forward than going backward. That lead to me writing my most popular blog of 2020 entitled “10 Bold Predictions About the Future Church in America” that at its core was meant to help pastors think about the future of the church.
For some reason, likely our comfort with the predictability of the past, it’s easy to crave what was. But what was, especially when it comes to our churches, was at best a mediocre, broken-down version of Jesus.
Why do we want to go back to the way it was?
As Christians, we have been a shadow at best of who Christ has called us to be. The fastest growing religion in our country for the past few decades now is the “Nones.” This isn’t the Catholic nuns, but the “N-O-N-E-S,” choosing “none” for religious affiliation or “no religion.” Even with this sobering statistic, most Americans still mark themselves as “Christian.” The majority of those that mark Christian only nominally adhere to Him at best. From the outside, there has been little to no distinguishable difference between a Christian and a non-Christian.
The book Discipleshift records these sobering statistics:
Divorce rates among Christians are about the same as non-Christians.Christian men regularly view pornography as often as non-Christian men.Christians are more than twice as likely to have racist attitudes as non-Christians.Only about 6% of evangelical Christians tithe, meaning give 10% of their income.Domestic violence, drug, and alcohol abuse, and most other problems are as prevalent among Christians as among non-Christians.Is that what we want to go back to?
Even with potentially the greatest economy in the history of the world, depression, anxiety, and mental health issues have all been skyrocketing.
These are pre-pandemic statistics that predictably are all on the rise:
UC-San Diego says 3 out of 4 Americans were lonely.The average American, Evite says, hadn’t made a new friend in the last five years.CareerBuilder says that 78% of people were living paycheck to paycheck.Gallup says that 70% of people were unhappy in their careers.The resources we so richly have in America cannot be the god of our spiritual lives. The only God worthy of our spiritual souls is the author of all of those resources in the first place.
All of this research leads me to this conclusion: Many of us would prefer the predictability of the past over the uncertainty of the future, even if the past wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
We aren’t the first group of people that just wanted to go back to the way it was and we won’t be the last.
There was a time in the Old Testament when God’s people themselves struggled to understand their present and future. They were still pining and thinking about the past. In the book of Exodus, the first 14 chapters describe how God miraculously rescues the Israelites out of Egypt. The Israelites see God move through mighty plagues, the Passover Angel, and even the parting of the Red Sea. They have a front row seat to seeing miracle after miracle of God.
And yet by the time we get to the end of Exodus 15, we see the people of God, who are not even thirty days removed from the slavery they had experienced in Egypt, complaining. They complain about what they nostalgically miss in Egypt. They are ready to go back into slavery to regain what they had in the past. In their flawed memory of the past, they look to their time in Egypt through rose-colored glasses.
What shocks me is how far off their nostalgia led them. They describe their past situation like they were living like kings. They even claimed to sit around pots of meat and eat all that they wanted, even though the reality is they were enslaved and deeply oppressed for more than four centuries. As this systemic oppression increased, the Pharaoh of their day had issued a decree that killed their baby boys. They were also forced as slaves to produce a larger quota even though the king had taken their supplies. They were suffering greatly.
Not only were they misremembering the past, but they were so blinded by the past that they couldn’t see God’s miracles in their present. God was still miraculously providing for them. Every single day, He was providing manna and quail from heaven to eat and giving them water from rocks.
Unfortunately, their flawed view of the past led to a misplaced hope in their future as well. Their hope should have been in the Promised Land described as “flowing with milk and honey.” Instead, their hope was to return to the “pots of meat” which never even existed for them.
How could they displace the God of salvation for the nostalgia of their slavery?
It’s a real question in the book of Exodus, but they did it, and they did it extravagantly.
In reality, it’s what we do, too. It’s why many of us cling to the past.
As pastors, as comfortable as the past may have been to you, if the situation and statistics that I described to you are somewhat true in your context, I must plead with you, “Do not go back to the way things were.”
I realize that in the midst of the pandemic a lot of our methods were changed. And that’s okay. A church that is married to its methods in a constantly changing world will soon be divorced from any real meaning or impact in the future.
While our God never changes, our methods must adapt.
Pastor, I do know that there are single great expressions of individual Christians, and even churches, that have existed pre-pandemic, even amongst the sobering statistics. There have been some lights that have shone brightly, but collectively, we have to do a better job. There may be some ministries and methods that you have done in the past that you will also do in the future. There may be things of your past that you repurpose in a new way in the future.
But rather than giving you best practices for how to adapt your methods, the first baseline question you need to ask for your church is this, “Am I going to lead my church forward or am I going to simply go back to what was?”
I love what Moses said when He was interceding on behalf of these unfaithful Israelites:
If we are hoping to move forward on our own strength, it’s worthless. Our point in moving forward is not to glorify our name or to have a better church than anyone else, but rather to point people to the very Good News of Jesus and to remind them that even in the uncertain wilderness, there is a Promised Land for all of us, too. But none of it even matters if God Himself is not with us. It’s important for us to repent and let go of the times we have tried to tread forward on our own strength and invite God into our moving forward. Here’s how God responds:
Here’s the great news about our God: Whenever we cry out to Him for His presence, He always responds with grace. He did this with the Israelites and He’ll do it with us.
I have heard from many pastors that they didn’t sign up for all of this. You didn’t know you’d have to lead God’s church through a global pandemic. I get it. But pastor, you did actually sign up to lead God’s church in difficult times. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy. Here’s specific lies he’s been shouting at pastors that I’m sure you’ve heard. God called you, He anointed you, and He still has His Spirit living inside of you. He never promises you that today won’t have trouble, but He does promise you that in the midst of the trouble, He’ll be right there with you to guide you, love you, and care for you.
Today is the day to call out to Him, and declare that you will faithfully move your church forward.
Just as He provided a second chance to the Israelites to move forward with His presence, so, too, does he provide all of our churches with a second chance to follow Him today!
Pastor, are you moving forward or going backward?
Question Number 2 comes out tomorrow, January 12th, 2021.
While these blogs are written specifically for pastors and church leaders, we have an eBook Reopening Christianity and small group resources available for individuals at your church right here. Many small groups and churches have found this to be a powerful small group or church-wide study. To inquire about using this as a sermon series and for bulk rates on the ebook, email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com.
Putman, Jim, et al. DiscipleShift. Zondervan, 2013, p. Multiple.
Fikes, Bradley J. “3 out of 4 Americans are lonely, UCSD study says.” https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/biotech/sd-me-wisdom-reduces-loneliness-20181218-story.html. 18 Dec 2018. Web. 6 November 2020.
Renner, Bob. “Survey: Average American Hasn’t Made a Friend—In 5 Years!” https://www.studyfinds.org/survey-average-american-hasnt-made-new-friend-in-5-years/. 9 October 2019. Web. 6 November 2020.
‘Living Paycheck to Paycheck is a Way of Life for Majority of U.S. Workers, According to New CareerBuilder Survey.” http://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-08-24-Living-Paycheck-to-Paycheck-is-a-Way-of-Life-for-Majority-of-U-S-Workers-According-to-New-CareerBuilder-Survey. 2017 Aug 24. Web. 6 November 2020.
Taylor, Victoria. “Unhappy in America: Nearly 70% of U.S. Employees are miserable at work, study finds.” https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/majority-u-s-workers-not-engaged-job-gallup-poll-article-1.2094990. 28 January 2015. Web. 6 November 2020.
The post Reopening Christianity Question 1: Pastor, Are You Moving Forward or Backward? appeared first on Red Letter Challenge.
January 6, 2021
Reopening Christianity: The Single Greatest Opportunity for Pastors in 2021
As pastors, we’ve heard it countless times last year: “Every obstacle represents an opportunity.”
If that is true, then collectively, I don’t know that I’ve ever lived through a year that has presented more “opportunities,” or as I like to call them “obstatunities.”
Though, if we are honest with one another, 2020 was the year that collectively the Big “C” Capital “C” Church, with all of its collective Christians, missed. The middle of crises, obstacles, and storms ought to be the very best time to shine the light of Christ. Collectively, our lights should have never burned brighter than in 2020. Instead, 30+% of “Christians” ran for the hills, and the leadership of the Capital “C” Church collectively was decimated emotionally and mentally.
It didn’t have to be this way.
Thankfully, we have a God who gives us second chances.
And despite everything that happened in 2020, if anything, the year pointed out that the “Christianity” that had formed our nation was at best a shadow, broken-down version.
I know the intent behind the phrase that says “We are a post-Christian nation” but statistically that’s inaccurate.
Pew Research says that in 2019, 65% of Americans still claim to be Christians. That’s nearly 2 out of every 3 people. We do not have a problem identifying as a Christian. We have a problem actually living up to our calling as Christians. Many have received Jesus as their Savior, but few live as if He is really their Lord. We need a new brand of Christians that not only live with hope for the future because Jesus is Savior, but live like He is their Lord today. In other words, we need Christians to actually be greater followers — or disciples — of Jesus.
What is the single greatest opportunity before us in 2021: We have a chance to reopen Christianity!
What if we could reopen Christianity?How would we reopen? What would we look like? What would we do? Could we start by acknowledging that we have gone far away from who the God in the Bible has called us to be? Can we use this time to refocus and come out a stronger representation of who Jesus is?
In a world filled with many good and great answers, Jesus Christ is the best answer. And if we could lead our people and not only give them, but invite them into the opportunity to experience who Jesus really is, the world would truly change.
Even though 2020 has produced many obstacles, it has also brought an incredible opportunity for us to examine thoroughly what it truly means to be Christian.
I’ve written an eBook called Reopening Christianity, along with small group materials as well. This could very easily be done as a church-wide sermon series as well. it goes live January 11th and you can join the wait list by emailing us at hello@redletterchallenge.com. If you are a pastor and you would like a free copy of the eBook just email us hello@redletterchallenge.com and we’ll hook you up as well! In this study, I challenge every Christian to answer five questions that will help shape and form the brand of Christianity that we move forward with.
Here are the five questions we tackle in Reopening Christianity:Am I moving forward or backward?Am I a contributor or consumer?Am I playing offense or defense?Am I known for what I am for or against?Am I willing to follow Jesus as my Lord?While the book is primarily focused on the individuals you are serving in your churches and communities, my heart is truly to help pastors succeed in challenging their people to become greater followers of Jesus. As a result, I wanted to celebrate the launch of this material by giving away a 6-part blog series (today’s introduction with five fresh blogs coming out January 11th-15th) specifically asking pastors the same questions above. We will look at these questions as it pertains to leading the church in which you serve. To make sure you are on our e-list to have this content hit your inboxes, subscribe here.
In this time where there is still great uncertainty in our world, I am certain the world needs a far greater expression of Jesus Christ.
2020 has been a year filled with debates on reopening strategies. This has been true for businesses, schools, universities, sports programs, and even churches.
Why is now the single greatest opportunity?Simply because the mission field has never been as big as it is right now.
Our collective church numbers have been on decline for decades, but 2020 accelerated this trend at warp speed.
While it’s difficult for many of us to lead churches and compare our current numbers to what they were just one year ago, let us remember that all throughout the Bible, God shines brightest when the odds are stacked against Him.
If you need just a little bit of uplifting today, a little bit of hope, I would encourage you to read Judges chapter 7. It was in this chapter that 32000 men stood up for the Israelites to fight against the Midianite people. Yet, God had different plans. Listen to His words to Gideon:
God whittled 32000 men into a remnant of just 300 men. These 300, through the power of God inside of them, went and destroyed the rival Midianite camp. This is simply what God does: He takes a group of people that are incapable and powerless to win and invites them into a victory that they otherwise would have never experienced. God doesn’t get nervous when it appears He’s lost a little battle. God doesn’t bite His fingernails at the world’s unexpected twists and turns come at us. He remains in full control seated on His throne.
God always wins the final battle which is the ultimate renown of His name.
Elijah went 1 against 850 on Mount Carmel.The widow turned a jar of oil into a lifetime’s supply of it.David used a sling and a stone to destroy Goliath.Jesus used 5 loaves of bread and two fish to feed thousands.Jesus saved the world by becoming a baby.I believe the devil had a good laugh when Christ breathed His last after saying the word “tetelestai” (meaning “it is finished”) on the cross.
But the only thing that was finished on the cross Jesus hung on was the full payment of our sins. Death could not destroy Jesus. And not only that, but God used the weapon that was meant to kill Him to ultimately bring freedom to all of us. Our God will always have the last laugh.
2020 is “Tetelestai.” The devil probably had a pretty good laugh in 2020 watching so many so-called “Christians” give up on their faith and run to the corners of the earth to self-preserve. And while it can be deflating and discouraging to compare your current numbers to numbers of old, there is another way to look at them. And here it is: 2020 has stacked the odds against us like never before, and it’s because of that fact that we are perfectly positioned to see God move mightily.
The only thing that I see is the enemy presenting the single greatest opportunity for us to shine the light of Jesus in this world that we’ve ever had.
Pastor, collectively we may be smaller in number. Your church may be smaller in number. But we serve a God who has resurrecting power not only in Him, but in those that follow Him. You and your church are perfectly positioned for God to have maximum impact in this world. Not for our glory. But for His and His alone.
Let’s reopen Christianity and show the world how great our God truly is!
Pastor, are you ready to reopen Christianity?
While these blogs are written specifically for pastors and church leaders, we have an ebook Reopening Christianity and small group resources available for individuals at your church coming out January 11th! This will be a powerful small group or church-wide study. To inquire about using this as a sermon series and for bulk rates on the ebook, email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com.
“In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace.” https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/. 17 October 2019. Web. 6 November 2020.
The post Reopening Christianity: The Single Greatest Opportunity for Pastors in 2021 appeared first on Red Letter Challenge.
The Single Greatest Opportunity for Pastors in 2021
As pastors, we’ve heard it countless times last year: “Every obstacle represents an opportunity.”
If that is true, then collectively, I don’t know that I’ve ever lived through a year that has presented more “opportunities,” or as I like to call them “obstatunities.”
Though, if we are honest with one another, 2020 was the year that collectively the Big “C” Capital “C” Church, with all of its collective Christians, missed. The middle of crises, obstacles, and storms ought to be the very best time to shine the light of Christ. Collectively, our lights should have never burned brighter than in 2020. Instead, 30+% of “Christians” ran for the hills, and the leadership of the Capital “C” Church collectively was decimated emotionally and mentally.
It didn’t have to be this way.
Thankfully, we have a God who gives us second chances.
And despite everything that happened in 2020, if anything, the year pointed out that the “Christianity” that had formed our nation was at best a shadow, broken-down version.
I know the intent behind the phrase that says “We are a post-Christian nation” but statistically that’s inaccurate.
Pew Research says that in 2019, 65% of Americans still claim to be Christians. That’s nearly 2 out of every 3 people. We do not have a problem identifying as a Christian. We have a problem actually living up to our calling as Christians. Many have received Jesus as their Savior, but few live as if He is really their Lord. We need a new brand of Christians that not only live with hope for the future because Jesus is Savior, but live like He is their Lord today. In other words, we need Christians to actually be greater followers — or disciples — of Jesus.
What is the single greatest opportunity before us in 2021: We have a chance to reopen Christianity!
What if we could reopen Christianity?
How would we reopen? What would we look like? What would we do? Could we start by acknowledging that we have gone far away from who the God in the Bible has called us to be? Can we use this time to refocus and come out a stronger representation of who Jesus is?
In a world filled with many good and great answers, Jesus Christ is the best answer. And if we could lead our people and not only give them, but invite them into the opportunity to experience who Jesus really is, the world would truly change.
Even though 2020 has produced many obstacles, it has also brought an incredible opportunity for us to examine thoroughly what it truly means to be Christian.
I’ve written an eBook called Reopening Christianity, along with small group materials as well. This could very easily be done as a church-wide sermon series as well. it goes live January 11th and you can join the wait list by emailing us at hello@redletterchallenge.com. If you are a pastor and you would like a free copy of the eBook just email us hello@redletterchallenge.com and we’ll hook you up as well! In this study, I challenge every Christian to answer five questions that will help shape and form the brand of Christianity that we move forward with.
Here are the five questions we tackle in Reopening Christianity:
Am I moving forward or backward?
Am I a contributor or consumer?
Am I playing offense or defense?
Am I known for what I am for or against?
Am I willing to follow Jesus as my Lord?
While the book is primarily focused on the individuals you are serving in your churches and communities, my heart is truly to help pastors succeed in challenging their people to become greater followers of Jesus. As a result, I wanted to celebrate the launch of this material by giving away a 6-part blog series (today’s introduction with five fresh blogs coming out January 11th-15th) specifically asking pastors the same questions above. We will look at these questions as it pertains to leading the church in which you serve. To make sure you are on our e-list to have this content hit your inboxes, subscribe here.
In this time where there is still great uncertainty in our world, I am certain the world needs a far greater expression of Jesus Christ.
2020 has been a year filled with debates on reopening strategies. This has been true for businesses, schools, universities, sports programs, and even churches.
Why is now the single greatest opportunity?
Simply because the mission field has never been as big as it is right now.
Our collective church numbers have been on decline for decades, but 2020 accelerated this trend at warp speed.
While it’s difficult for many of us to lead churches and compare our current numbers to what they were just one year ago, let us remember that all throughout the Bible, God shines brightest when the odds are stacked against Him.
If you need just a little bit of uplifting today, a little bit of hope, I would encourage you to read Judges chapter 7. It was in this chapter that 32000 men stood up for the Israelites to fight against the Midianite people. Yet, God had different plans. Listen to His words to Gideon:
God whittled 32000 men into a remnant of just 300 men. These 300, through the power of God inside of them, went and destroyed the rival Midianite camp. This is simply what God does: He takes a group of people that are incapable and powerless to win and invites them into a victory that they otherwise would have never experienced. God doesn’t get nervous when it appears He’s lost a little battle. God doesn’t bite His fingernails at the world’s unexpected twists and turns come at us. He remains in full control seated on His throne.
God always wins the final battle which is the ultimate renown of His name.
Elijah went 1 against 850 on Mount Carmel.
The widow turned a jar of oil into a lifetime’s supply of it.
David used a sling and a stone to destroy Goliath.
Jesus used 5 loaves of bread and two fish to feed thousands.
Jesus saved the world by becoming a baby.
I believe the devil had a good laugh when Christ breathed His last after saying the word “tetelestai” (meaning “it is finished”) on the cross.
But the only thing that was finished on the cross Jesus hung on was the full payment of our sins. Death could not destroy Jesus. And not only that, but God used the weapon that was meant to kill Him to ultimately bring freedom to all of us. Our God will always have the last laugh.
2020 is “Tetelestai.” The devil probably had a pretty good laugh in 2020 watching so many so-called “Christians” give up on their faith and run to the corners of the earth to self-preserve. And while it can be deflating and discouraging to compare your current numbers to numbers of old, there is another way to look at them. And here it is: 2020 has stacked the odds against us like never before, and it’s because of that fact that we are perfectly positioned to see God move mightily.
The only thing that I see is the enemy presenting the single greatest opportunity for us to shine the light of Jesus in this world that we’ve ever had.
Pastor, collectively we may be smaller in number. Your church may be smaller in number. But we serve a God who has resurrecting power not only in Him, but in those that follow Him. You and your church are perfectly positioned for God to have maximum impact in this world. Not for our glory. But for His and His alone.
Let’s reopen Christianity and show the world how great our God truly is!
Pastor, are you ready to reopen Christianity?
While these blogs are written specifically for pastors and church leaders, we have an ebook Reopening Christianity and small group resources available for individuals at your church coming out January 11th! This will be a powerful small group or church-wide study. To inquire about using this as a sermon series and for bulk rates on the ebook, email us at hello@redletterchallenge.com.
“In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace.” https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/. 17 October 2019. Web. 6 November 2020.
The post The Single Greatest Opportunity for Pastors in 2021 appeared first on Red Letter Challenge.
