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How Do You Create a Culture of Multiplication in Your Church?

How Do You Create a Culture of Multiplication in Your Church?

This week, Exponential took a look at how church planting leaders are creating passionate cultures of multiplication in their churches. Here are the resources released this week:

• Passion for Multiplication: Writing Your Blueprint | podcast from Larry Walkemeyer | listen here
• Intentional Culture | video from Brian Zehr | watch here
• Fueling a Movement | podcast from Daniel Im | listen here
• Planting a Church with Open Hands | article from Chad Harrington | read here

10 Reasons Why Church Planting Is All the Rage

10 Reasons Why Church Planting Is All the Rage

By Chuck Lawless I’ve been a Christian for more than 40 years, and I’ve never seen the interest in church planting I see today. Here’s my assessment of why this interest is so strong.
1. Church planting seems easier than church revitalization. That assumption may or may not be correct, but more than one church planter has accepted the adage that “It’s easier to give birth to a baby than it is to raise the dead.”
2. Potential church planters have seen too much difficulty in established churches. Granted, there are healthy established churches; however, if the potential church planter has never seen one, he gravitates toward planting.
3. Young leaders have found some of their heroes in church planters. That’s much easier to do today, when planters can follow other church leaders via the Internet. Now, they can listen to sermons, podcasts and conferences that connect them with successful church planters.
4. Many seminary churches have church planting internships. I knew no church that had church planting internships when I was a seminary student 25 years ago. Today, I know several such churches just in Wake Forest (and in other seminary cities) that encourage and assist potential planters.
5. Leaders have recognized the simple need for more churches. Estimates state that 259 million North Americans are not believers, and more than 80 percent of our churches are plateaued or declining. Even if every congregation in North America were healthy, we would still need more churches.
6. Young leaders want more intimate fellowship. The younger generations want Christianity that is a life-on-life, eyeball-to-eyeball faith that assumes accountability and responsibility for each other. It is at least their perception that that’s harder to find in a larger established church.
7. Church planters are typically good at networking. Few young leaders want to lead on their own, facing battles without warriors by their side. Church planters tend to build strong networks among themselves, and that built-in support system is attractive to young leaders.
8. Bi-vocationalism is more accepted. While full-time service in the church is still the norm, intentional bi-vocationalism is increasingly accepted as a legitimate calling. That change is removing a stigma for church planters.
9. Young leaders want to go to pioneer areas. Sometimes those areas are overseas, but leaders are learning that much of North America is also unreached—especially in urban settings. Doing missions by planting churches on this continent is now an option.
10. God’s up to something. Even without these other reasons listed here, it’s hard to deny that God is doing something in raising up young leaders who desperately want to reach lost people and build biblically healthy churches. I don’t want to miss what God is doing.

9 Reasons We Struggle With Addictive Sin Patterns

By Chuck Lawless

“We can win these battles!”

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You know the pattern. You fall into some particular sin struggle, and it seems like that sin overtakes you. Nothing you do brings victory. Prayers seem fruitless. Temptation only grows stronger. Battle losses are common. This post looks at why we have these battles in the first place.
1. We don’t recognize the reality of spiritual warfare. We face a real enemy who wants to keep us in bondage (Eph 6:12). He’s vicious. He’s tenacious. If we don’t recognize this reality, we’re destined for defeat.
2. We love our sin. That’s hard to admit, but we must be real. We hang on to sin because we get something out of it. Whatever it is may be temporary, but it’s strong enough to draw us back again and again.
3. No one’s taught us how to overcome sin. I’m amazed by how few churches give practical guidance for breaking sin patterns. Our people wrestle every day, but our teaching is often only general (e.g., “You must stop”). We need specific, intentional application of the Word to know how to overcome sin.
4. We prefer hiddenness over confession. Confession is never easy. It’s embarrassing and painful at times. Sometimes it just seems easier to stay in the darkness than it is to confess our wrong to somebody else.
5. We have no one to talk to. We’re designed to be relational, but Christians are often notorious “lone rangers.” We don’t have enough strong, deep relationships with folks we trust, so we talk with nobody about our sin.
6. We assume we’re the only one dealing with this sin. Consumed by our hidden sin, we conclude that nobody else has struggled in the way we struggle—so nobody would understand. We battle, and lose, thinking our sin is unique.
7. We pull away from believers. Sin isolates people. It pulls us away from relationships and accountability. Disconnected believers almost always delve more deeply into their sin.
8. We convince ourselves that our sin “isn’t so bad.” That’s a dangerous step to take, but it’s easy to go there. Any time we weaken the gravity of our sin, we give ourselves permission to continue in it.
9. We’ve lost hope of breaking the pattern. After a while, we come to believe that we’ll never find victory over this sin. When we give up on God, we turn from the one hope we have and return to the sin that cannot satisfy. The cycle thus continues.
Here’s the good news, though: We can win these battles! Read this post to learn how to break these patterns, and start on the right track.

How to Grow Past Your Failures

By Rick Warren

“Successful ministers know how to turn every failure into a learning experience.”

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No one’s life is an unbroken chain of victories. We all experience setbacks, defeats, losses and failures. Consider the example of baseball—not even the greatest of players bats 1,000%. The same is true in ministry—we all make mistakes, even as we seek to serve God.
Since failure is something every one of us will, at some time, experience, one of the most important skills you can acquire is the ability to respond to it in a godly fashion. It has been my observation that successful ministers know how to turn every failure into a learning experience—creating a stepping stone for future success.
The first thing to do when you’re faced with any failure is to analyze why it happened. Although there may be a variety of reasons—many out of your control—here are five common causes of failure:

When you don’t plan ahead

As the old saying goes, “If you fail to plan, then you’re planning to fail.” Proverbs 27:12 says, “A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them” (LB). Moving your church toward greater growth and health requires a lot of planning. You not only need to plan how to attract new people to your church, but also what you’re going to do with them once they arrive: Are there enough seats to accommodate visitors? Is there adequate and safe childcare? How will they get plugged into a small group Bible study? Remember, Noah began building the Ark long before it started to rain!

When you think you’ve “arrived”

Remember the lesson of the whale: Just when you get to the top, and you start to blow—that’s when you get harpooned! Proverbs 18:18 says, “Pride leads to destruction and arrogance to downfall” (TEV). My friend John Maxwell once said, “When Jesus walked through New Testament times, people had trouble seeing him as God; when some pastors walk through their churches, people have trouble seeing them as human.”

When you’re afraid to take necessary risks

The fear of failure can cause failure. We worry about what others will think of us if we fail, so we don’t even try. Fran Tarkenton says, “Fear sets you up to be a loser.” We fail to take advantage of golden opportunities. “Fear of man is a dangerous trap,” according to Proverbs 29:25 (LB). One way I encourage my staff to try new things is I tell them they are allowed to make one mistake a week, as long as it’s not the same mistake over and over!

When you give up too soon

Many times, success is just around the corner. The Prophet Daniel tells of a time when he prayed for days and days, never getting an answer to his requests before God. Then one day, in a vision, he sees a mighty angel.
“Do not be afraid, Daniel,” said the angel. “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.”
Although God heard Daniel’s prayer and dispatched an angel immediately, that angel was delayed 21 days due to a great spiritual battle: “Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come” (Daniel 10:12-14, NIV).
I’ve often thought, What would have happened if Daniel had stopped praying on the 10th day, or the 15th or the 20th?
We must always remember—the game is often won in the final seconds. If at first you don’t succeed—you’re normal! Keep on keeping on!

When you ignore God’s advice

The Bible is the owner’s manual on life. It’s filled with practical instructions and guidelines for work, home, finances, relationships and health. When we fail to follow these directions from God, we’re only asking for trouble. How many times have you run face first into failure simply because you ignored the Word of God? “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12, NIV).
If you’ve experienced failure in your ministry, here are some steps for starting over:

Accept responsibility for your own failure

If you’ve made a mistake—admit it! Welcome to the human race and don’t blame others. To blame is to “be-lame.” Losers love to blame—the economy, the boss, their spouse, their congregation, their deacons or even God for their misfortune. Taking responsibility frees you from a defensive posture and gives you the clear-headed vision necessary to determine what went wrong.
Back in 1974, the UCLA basketball team had an 88-game winning streak, and was leading Notre Dame in the 89th game by 11 points. But then they lost.
The headline on the next day read, “Coach Wooden says ‘Blame me!’”
Wooden was a winner; winners never blame others for a failure, and they never make excuses. “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance” (Proverbs 28:13, LB).

Recognize the benefits of failure

Thomas Edison, commenting on one of his many failed experiments, said, “Don’t call it a failure. Call it an education!” At the very least, failure shows you what doesn’t work.
Failure forces you to be more creative; you look for new ways to do things.
Failure prevents arrogance and egotism. If everything you did was a stunning success, no one could live with you!
Failure causes you to re-evaluate what’s important in life. Failure is one way God gets us to reflect on the direction of our lives.Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways” (Prov. 20:30, GN).
Ask God for wisdom to understand the cause for your failure. Ask, “Why did I fail? Is there any reason I might have set myself up to fail?”
There are many unconscious reasons we sometimes sabotage our own efforts:

• A fear of success: Success may mean handling more responsibility than you want to carry.
• A sense of guilt: If you feel you don’t deserve to succeed, you may have set yourself up to fail.
• An attitude of resentment: Some people fail as a way to get even with those who are pressuring them to succeed.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all” (James 1:5, NIV).

Forget the past and focus on the future

Your past is past! It’s water under the bridge. You can’t change it so you may as well stop worrying about it.
“Brothers and sisters, I can’t consider myself a winner yet. This is what I do: I don’t look back; I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14, GW).
We serve a God of second chances—failure is never final unless you let it be!

10 Hidden Secrets of Multisite Churches

10 Hidden Secrets of Multisite Churches

By Geoff Surratt When we started down the multisite road at Seacoast Church 15 years ago we had no idea what we were doing. There were no books on multisite and very few models to learn from. Today there are over 8,000 multisite churches across the country, dozens of multisite consultants and several books specifically written for churches considering becoming one church in multiple locations. Even with all of the available information, however, there are some hidden multisite secrets almost no on talks about. Here are my top 10:

1. Boring in-person preaching is lethally boring on video.

I have been told video teaching won’t work in the the Northeast, the Northwest, the West Coast, in England, in Europe and in India. Although I’ve seen successful video teaching examples in each of these contexts, what I’ve come to realize is that bad video teaching doesn’t work anywhere. When a church tells me video teaching won’t work in their context I often suspect the problem isn’t the video.

2. Multisite won’t make a stagnant church grow.

Many years ago Larry Osborne said, “Multisite isn’t an engine for growth, it is a response to growth.” A church that isn’t experiencing numerical growth almost never begins growing by launching a second campus. After the excitement settles down the church will be the same size it was before, but its expenses will be much higher.

3. Great preaching and great worship grow a campus.

No matter what model you pick, nothing grows a campus like great preaching and great music. Most campuses that struggle to grow are lacking in one or both of these areas. I’m not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing, its just a thing.

4. IMAG and video teaching are two completely different things.

Sometimes church will add IMAG (big screens in the auditorium to project video of what is going on on the stage) to “prepare the congregation for video teaching.” This is similar to buying a puppy to get ready to have a baby. Its just not the same.

5. Convincing people to leave a comfortable building to attend at a rundown middle school is really hard.

People don’t want to go to church in a school, theater or community center. They like a permanent building they don’t have to set up and tear down. It is a mistake to underestimate how hard it will be to convince people to switch from a worship center to a cafetorium.

6. Ministries on a large campus are different than ministries on a small campus.

It is very different to do children’s ministry for 500 kids than for 50 or five. Not everything that a larger church does scales well to a smaller context, so many ministries have to rethink their “non-negotiables.”

7. A campus pastor has two jobs: develop leaders and energize volunteers.

A campus pastor who can develop leaders and energize volunteers will grow a healthy campus; anything else a campus pastor focuses on is a distraction. If he can’t develop  leaders and energize volunteers, morale at his campus will suffer and he’ll constantly look to the mothership to bail him out.

8. Half of the people who help start a new campus eventually go back.

People who are fired up about starting something new, reaching a new part of a city or following a new leader get tired of setting up and tearing down. They miss their friends at the original campus. Their kids miss the shiny classrooms and great teachers. Campus pastors need to know that many of these pioneers will eventually migrate back, and that’s OK. The goal is to have enough new people from the community to more than make up the difference.

9. Adding new campuses is hardest on children’s ministry.

The most volunteer intensive ministry is always children’s ministry, and adding a new campus always means losing some of their best leaders. The children’s minister at the new campus has to instantly replicate what took years, even decades, to develop at the original site. Children’s ministry needs lots of TLC when new campuses are launched.

10. Multisite impacts everything.

Unlike other ministries, multisite impacts everything a church does. Every budget decision and every ministry initiative is now viewed through the lens of how it impacts every campus. Multisite is always complicated.
I still am a strong believer in multisite as a means of multiplication in the Kingdom. I have seen the incredible synergy of one church in many locations, and in the right circumstances I have seen the explosive growth that follows. It is important, however, to go in with your eyes wide open to the hidden challenges.

How to Take the Lid Off Your Church

How to Take the Lid Off Your Church

By Joshua Reich In every leadership book or at every leadership conference, you hear the mantra “Leaders are readers,” or “Growing leaders grow churches,” or something to that effect. In his book The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber puts it another way: “The job of the leader is to know more than you do.”

If you aren’t careful, though, you can put a lid on your church and its potential for growth.

Now before you email me and tell me that Jesus grows the church, he does. Yes, the Holy Spirit can and will do what the Holy Spirit does, often even when we are trying to wreck things with our pride and sin.

At the same time, there are consistent things that churches that are growing, healthy and effective do that others do not. The same goes for their leaders.

I meet a lot of pastors who unknowingly are not allowing their churches to reach their full potential because they are not reaching their full potential. For a lead pastor, eventually your church will look like you, good or bad.

As we grow, I am seeing that I need to spend more and more time learning, stretching myself, getting alone with God trying to discern what is next and not getting comfortable in what we already “know.”

Here are a few questions I am constantly going through:

1. For Revolution to become twice the size we are now, what do I need to start doing? What do I need to stop doing? What things will keep us from getting there?
2. If we were twice the size we are now, what things would we do differently?
3. What things are we doing right now that need to be tweaked? What things need to go to a new level?
4. What new leaders do we need to raise up?
5. What leaders need to be challenged to go to a new level?

8 Reasons the Church Is the Greatest Force On Earth

By Pastor Rick Warren

The Church is the most magnificent concept ever created. It has survived persistent abuse, horrifying persecution, and widespread neglect. Yet despite its faults (due to our sinfulness), it is still God’s chosen instrument of blessing and has been for 2,000 years.
The Church will last for eternity, and because it is God’s instrument for ministry here on Earth, it is truly the greatest force on the face of the Earth. That’s why I believe tackling the world’s biggest problems – the giants of spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance – can only be done through the Church.
The Church has eight distinct advantages over the efforts of business and government:

1. The Church provides for the largest participation.

Most people have no idea how many Christians there are in the world: More than 2 billion people claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. That’s one third of the world’s population! The Church has about a billion more people than the entire nation of China.
For example, close to 100 million people in the United States went to church this past weekend. That’s more people than will attend sporting events in the United States throughout this year. The Church is the largest force for good in the world. Nothing else even comes close.

2. The Church provides for the widest distribution.

The Church is everywhere in the world. There are villages that have little else, but they do have a church. You could visit millions of villages around the world that don’t have a school, a clinic, a hospital, a fire department, or a post office. They don’t have any businesses. But they do have a church. The Church is more widely spread – more widely distributed – than any business franchise in the world.
Consider this: The Red Cross noted that 90 percent of the meals they served to victims of Hurricane Katrina were actually cooked by Southern Baptist churches. Many churches were able to jump into action faster than the government agencies or the Red Cross. Why? The Church is literally everywhere, and Christians who could provide help to the Gulf Coast communicated with Christians in need of help so relief could be sent immediately.

3. The Church provides the longest continuation.

The Church has been around for 2,000 years. We’re not a fly-by-night operation. The Church has a track record that spans centuries: Malicious leaders have tried to destroy it, hostile groups have persecuted it, and skeptics have scoffed at it. Nevertheless, God’s Church is bigger now than ever before in history.
Why? Because it’s the Church that Jesus established, and it is indestructible. The Bible calls the Church an unshakable kingdom. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “I will build my Church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it” (NLT). All the powers of hell – in other words, no hurricane, no earthquake, no tsunami, no famine, no pandemic, no army will ever conquer the Church established by Jesus Christ.

4. The Church provides the fastest expansion.

Did you know that every day 60,000 new people come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? By the end of today, thousands of new churches will be started throughout the world, and that will happen tomorrow and the next day and the next.
In one country that is closed to traditional Christian missions, more than 60,000 house churches have been started in one province by the work of lay people, no different from the people who fill your church sanctuary every weekend.
Why is fast expansion important? If you’ve got a problem that’s growing at a rapid rate, then you need a solution that will grow even more rapidly. For instance, HIV/AIDS is growing at an incredibly fast rate in the world. Yet thank God the Church is outgrowing the disease, so more and more believers can help minister to those with HIV/AIDS.
If we’re going to tackle global giants like poverty, disease, or illiteracy, then we must be part of something that’s growing faster than the problem. The Church is doing just that!

5. The Church provides the highest motivation.

Why do any of us do what we do in ministry? It’s not to make money, not to make a name for ourselves and not for duty to our nation. We do it out of love. Jesus stated it as the Great Commandment: Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. We wouldn’t do the hard work required to tackle these global giants for money, for fame, or for anything else. It just wouldn’t be worth it; we’d quit before the end.
We’re motivated to keep at the hard work of ministry because we love God, and our love for God compels us to love other people. It is love that never gives up; it is love that keeps moving forward despite the appearance of impossible odds; and it is love that outlasts any problem.

6. The Church provides the strongest authorization.

God authorized the Church to take on global giants, such as spiritual lostness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance. With God’s authorization, the outcome is guaranteed to be successful.
When you know that God has authorized you to do something, you don’t worry about failure because God doesn’t sponsor flops. If God says we’re going to do it, it’s going to happen. It is inevitable. In fact, the Bible teaches that God will give us his power to complete the task. This is God’s way – ordinary people empowered by his Spirit.

7. The Church provides the simplest administration.

The Church is organized in such a way that we can network faster and with less bureaucracy than most governmental agencies or even well-meaning charities. For instance, the organizational structure at Saddleback, which is based on the New Testament model, holds that every member is a minister. Each person in our church family is encouraged to use his or her own SHAPE (Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experiences) to do what God has called him or her to do. There is no bureaucracy or hierarchy. There isn’t a single committee, and the process doesn’t require a long list of approvals.
The old wineskin of command and control won’t work well in the 21st century. The organization of the future is the “network.” And there’s no better worldwide network than the Church, where every member is a minister and empowered to do what God wants done.
Consider it this way – tens of millions of Christians in millions of small groups that are part of churches around the world can take on the global giants with no other authority than that given from Jesus Christ. In other words, we have God’s permission and we have God’s command to do it. There is no need to seek permission from anyone else.

8. The Church provides for God’s conclusion.

Since we believe the Bible is God’s Word, we already know the end of history. Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, “The good news about God’s Kingdom will be preached in all the world to every nation, and then the end will come” (NCV). It is inevitable and unavoidable.
When you consider these eight advantages, think about the exponential explosion of ministry when millions upon millions of small groups in millions upon millions of churches organize in such a way that each person can do their part in attacking the five global giants.
What do you think could happen if God’s people prayed against these global giants, prepared for action against these giants, and then moved through faith to tackle these giants?
We may look at these problems and think, “These are too big! How could we possibly solve them?”
But with God, nothing is impossible – and if we all work together as his Church, we’ll see these giants falls just as Goliath fell when faced with David’s obedience to God.
Pastor, it is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility to lead a local church. God wouldn’t have placed you where you are if he didn’t believe you could handle the task before you. You play a vital role in tackling these global giants. It is my privilege to co-labor with you.

6 Ways to Create a Culture of Innovation in Your Church

By Rick Warren

Creativity matters in ministry. It matters because God is creative.

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Creativity matters in ministry. It matters because God is creative. He’s the most creative being in the entire universe. It only makes sense that we serve God with our creatively.
How do you develop a culture of innovation in your church?
You need a theology of innovation. We are most like our creator when we’re creative. God wired us to be creative. Children are very creative. They are born creative. It’s normal. We get the creativity kicked out of us as time goes by. We learn to be afraid. But a theology of innovation always reminds us that God intends us to be creative.
You need a creative atmosphere. There are certain environments I can be very creative in, and certain environments where I can’t. At Saddleback, we’ve never had a boardroom or the big boardroom-style table that comes with that. We have recliners. Meetings don’t start at Saddleback until we kick our feet up. It’s when I get in a totally prone position that I can be the most creative and can discover what God would have us do.
You need to stay playful. Playfulness stimulates creativity. When you get people laughing, you get the endorphins going. Creativity is often putting together two exactly opposite ideas, which is often ludicrous or seemingly stupid. It just makes people laugh. When people start to laugh, I know creativity is coming. When they’re serious, we’re not going to get creative.
You need the freedom to fail. Innovation means not being afraid to fail. There’s no such thing as failure at Saddleback. We experiment. Sometimes we guess. It’s trial and error. But I give my staff the freedom and flexibility to fail. You’re never a failure at Saddleback until you stop trying. We’ve done more things that didn’t work than did. I want all of my staff members to make at least one mistake a week. If they aren’t making mistakes, they aren’t trying!
You need to think big! You foster innovation by setting goals that are so big that you are bound to fail unless God bails you out. We did this before we started 40 Days of Purpose back in 2002. We had been planning to start 300 new small groups through the campaign. That would have been a big deal. But God told me, “Add a zero. Start 3,000 small groups.” But we didn’t have 3,000 small group leaders. So we innovated. We came up with a brand new way to do small groups, as we focused on finding “hosts” instead of leaders.
You must do something that matters. My friend, Erwin McManus, once told me, “The reality is that if you’re not trying to accomplish something meaningful, you’re not really being pressed into the creative process.” We don’t innovate at Saddleback to be cool. We innovate because we want to reach people with the good news about Jesus. The why determines what we do.

The Gospel Is Spreading Rapidly in This Staunchly Buddhist Area of Asia

Megan Briggs

This area is known as the “Water Tower” of Asia and a stronghold of Buddhism, but could it soon be known for its eager acceptance of the gospel?

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Over 200,000 people have heard the gospel and decided to follow Jesus in Tibet, according to church leaders in that region. This profound move of Christ in the staunchly Buddhist area follows closely on the heels of the horrific earthquakes that hit the Tibet/Nepal region last year.
Joe Handley, the president of the Christian organization Asian Access, which works in this region, says “the church has been at the forefront of providing hope and healing in their communities. They haven’t seen Buddhists, Hindus or other religious groups helping in the midst of the rubble. Rather, week after week, it is the followers of Jesus who have proven the test of time, sacrificed their own lives to serve and been the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Handley also brings attention to a particular Tibetan Buddhist lama who gave his life to Christ, became a pastor and has inspired a reported 62 other Buddhist monks to follow Christ as well. This man’s conversion experience, as recounted by Mission Network News, is incredible.

For nearly 30 years this man’s duties involved preparing dead bodies for the next life (reincarnation). But he often wondered if the work he was doing was really helping anyone. After his wife became seriously ill and he tried curing her with traditional Buddhist magic, he began questioning the power of Buddhist traditions as nothing he did seemed to help. The man’s daughter began hanging out with some girls from the Children’s Christian home and perceived a difference in these girls compared with her other friends. After going to church herself, the daughter asked her father to bring her mother to see if they could help.
The man refused repeatedly, but finally became so desperate he went to the church and brought his wife. According to the article, by the time they returned home from the church service, his wife was miraculously recovered. The experience moved the man to accept Jesus and become a Christian.
Although the man will most likely be “under extreme threat” because of his past and his conversion, he is determined to spread the gospel and help start other churches. As he told Handley, his vision is to plant churches all throughout this region.
This story comes to us amidst other rumblings of powerful movements of Christ in this area of Asia, particularly in Nepal, which has become one of the fastest-growing Christian populations in the world, according to World Christian Database. Tibet, which is technically under the headship of the People’s Republic of China, shares a border with Nepal as well as its spiritual atmosphere, which has been described as dark by many missionaries who have spent any time there.
There are a couple pertinent lessons for the American church from this encouraging report of so many coming to Christ in this region and this former lama’s testimony.

We shouldn’t hesitate to offer aid

Whether it’s refugees coming to the States or helping other nations recover from natural disasters, we should seek opportunity to come to the aid of those in need. Handley largely attributes this massive move to Christ to the efforts of Christians coming to the region and displaying the love of Christ as they help the people recover from the natural disasters of last year. This looks like practicing the first part of true religion to me, which is explained in James 1:27 as “visit[ing] the widows and orphans in their affliction.”

We shouldn’t hesitate to pray for the sick

The lama’s wife was healed after attending the church, and while the report doesn’t say, perhaps someone prayed for her while she was there. Sometimes it’s difficult to pray for the sick, but we shouldn’t miss any opportunity to pray in faith, which the Bible tells us “will save the one who is sick” (James 5:15).
Let us not shrink back; let us not grow weary of doing good. Even if we don’t see the fruit right away, we know God is working in those who do not yet know him, and we don’t always know which encounter will convince someone to believe the gospel and receive salvation. Praise God for the mighty work he is doing in Tibet and around the world.

10 Times You Don’t Need a Leader

By Ron Edmondson

“Sometimes organizations, churches, corporate worlds—should simply send the leaders home.”

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I talk a lot about leadership. A mentor of mine says everything rises and falls on leadership. (I know he’s repeating someone else, but to me—he says it.) I have an advanced degree in leadership. I believe it’s an important subject—for organizations and the church.

But, here’s the truth: You don’t always need a leader.
Sometimes organizations, churches, corporate worlds—should simply send the leaders home. They don’t want and don’t need them.
I once interviewed for a position I really wanted. I was so excited about the opportunity and really—even to this day—believe I could have done some incredible things with this company. (This position was in the business world—not the ministry world.) I would have basically run a company for owners who were retiring. It was between me and another person. The other person was an operation manager. I was in a senior leadership position, where we had experienced explosive growth and change in recent years. The bottom line in the decision process was whether the owners wanted someone to maintain the business as they were leaving it—or someone who would take the business to something new—hopefully (at least I felt we could), somewhere beyond where it had ever been. They opted to leave things as they were. I understood and admitted I wasn’t a good fit for them.
No hard feelings—maybe some initial disappointment, but I understood. They didn’t need a leader.

Here are 10 times you don’t need a leader:

You don’t need a leader if there is no risk involved.
You don’t need a leader to maintain status quo.
You don’t need a leader if it doesn’t involve change.
You don’t need a leader if you already have all the answers.
You don’t need a leader if every outcome is predetermined.
You don’t need a leader to manage current systems.
You don’t need a leader to keep things the way they’ve always been done.
You don’t need a leader if the structure, or tradition, or popular opinion, has already dictated the decision.
You don’t need a leader to give everyone what they want.
You don’t need a leader if “safe” is what you’re looking to achieve.
We need leaders—lots of them, in my opinion—but there’s no sense recruiting a leader unless you need one. The best time to determine this is on the front end, before the person is recruited to do the job.
I give this advice frequently now to churches seeking a new pastor. I’ve given it to business owners who are seeking to fill an internal position. I’ve shared it with nonprofits who are looking for board members or key volunteers. Sometimes knowing what you are seeking helps eliminate frustration—from both parties—in the future.

5 Surprising Characteristics of Churches That Are Actually Reaching the Next Generation

By Carey Nieuwhof

Everyone talks about reaching the next generation of young adults. But what really makes a church effective in reaching the next generation?

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Everyone talks about reaching the next generation of young adults.
But what really makes a church effective in reaching the next generation?
I’ve visited a few churches this year that are doing a fantastic job at reaching 18-30 year olds—a vastly under-represented demographic in most churches.
I took notes at all the churches. They all shared surprising characteristics, even though they are incredibly diverse.
The surprise (at least for me)?
It wasn’t their model that made them effective. The churches I studied have different models.
It wasn’t their denomination. One was Roman Catholic and attracting tons of young families. Others were cutting edge conservative evangelical church plants.
It wasn’t their facility. Some were portable. Some were permanent.
In many ways, these churches are bending the rule book established by the megachurches of the ’90s and 2000s.
Here are five things I’ve seen in churches that are killing it with people in their 20s and 30s:
1. Passion over Polish
If you attend enough conferences, you can think that you need polish to pull off effective ministry. Another $50,000 in lights or sound and you’ll be good.
The effective churches I’ve visited and seen recently by no means had the best lights, stage or production. Some had almost no stage and no lights, while others had a pretty decent package, but not nearly the level you see at some churches.
What did they all have in common? Passion.
When it comes to reaching the next generation, passion beats polish.
It’s not that polish is bad, but I think it’s increasingly trumped by a raw authenticity that exudes from leaders who will do whatever it takes to reach people with the Gospel.
Smaller facilities and stage sets were more than compensated for by preachers, worship leaders and team members who exuded passion for the mission.
2. Jesus over God
This may seem either self-evident or trivial, but I believe it’s neither; the churches that were packed with young adults talk about Jesus more than they talk about God.
Of course, Jesus is God and God is Jesus.
But God can mean many things in our post-Christian culture. Jesus is far more specific.
I’ve noticed that churches that talk about Jesus and the Holy Spirit are having a greater impact on young adults than churches who talk about God.
3. Progress over Facilities
Several of the churches I’ve visited this year are multisite. And they don’t have massive facilities from which to launch new locations.
Next Level Church in New Hampshire is reaching almost 3,000 people over six locations. Their largest facility is a 14,000-square-foot campus that’s a converted auto repair shop. They’ve done a fantastic job remodelling it, but they’ve done it on a dime and it only seats 400 people. They’re reaching almost 3,000 people out of that space across six locations.
It’s not the 10 million-dollar facility you’d think you need to have to reach 3,000 people, but that’s not what Joshua Gagnon, their lead pastor, is focused on. (By the way, I was recently a guest on Josh’s leadership podcast. Perhaps my favourite interview I’ve given. Raw and so real.)
Josh’s passionate, can-do, no-excuses attitude is in part what’s led them to become one of the 10 fastest growing churches in America.
Ditto for National Community Church in D.C. They’re doing a superb job reaching young adults with very small permanent facilities. And they’re adding an eighth location without first building out the space they already have.
Impressive.
4. Risk over Certainty
All of the churches I know that are doing a great job with young adults take risks. Big risks.
They’re either at odds with their denomination (I’ve seen a few of these) or are launching locations where no one else would dare plant a church.
They’re figuring out how to accommodate parking and even children’s ministry after they’ve made the decision to open or move. They just want to see the kingdom advance.
And the young adults they’re reaching seem fine with the uncertainty. They just want more space and more locations to invite their friends to.
Lesson? If you’ve got growth and momentum but you’re waiting for certainty before you determine what’s next, you might be waiting too long.
Just act.
5. Mission over Money
The question for many churches is this: Does mission follow money, or does money follow mission?
Great question.
The churches I know that are doing a great job with young adults would say ‘money follows mission.’
Do the mission well, and money shows up.
In fact, if you lead with the mission first, everything else shows up: people, money and the resources you need.
Too many churches wait for the day when they have the money to realize their mission.
Realize your mission, and you’ll have the money you need.
What Do You See?
What do you see in churches that are reaching the next generation?
If you want more, listen to my interview with Geoff Surratt on his forthcoming book on churches that reach millennials. His findings (while in beta) are fascinating.

Free eBook: “Restoring Your City with Missional Communities” from Verge Network

Looking for a practical guide for restoring your city with missional communities?

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Free eBook

Download and share this free eBook with your church community.
From Verge Network, “Looking for a practical guide for restoring your city with missional communities? Inside Restoring Your City With Missional Communities, leading thinkers and practitioners will simplify the “why” and “how” of reaching your neighborhoods and communities with missional communities. Contributors include Brad Watson, Todd Engstrom, Logan Gentry, Doug Paul and Jon Dansby.“

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Church Marketing Is Sleazy + 5 Other Myths That Hold Back Your Church

Church Marketing Is Sleazy + 5 Other Myths That Hold Back Your Church

By Rich Birch At some point, most church leaders think about how they are going to use marketing to reach their community. They’re ready to make an impact in their city or town and wonder if there is a way to leverage better communications to reach the people close to them. These leaders may be influenced by a number of misconceptions about church marketing that pervade the thinking of pastors and church leaders today.
Do any of the following myths about church marketing impact your church? Like always, we would love to hear from you about what you’re learning as a church leader!
• If You Preach It…They Will Come. The belief that if you simply offer compelling weekend service experiences, people will tell their friends and those friends will show up is an easy trap to fall into. Although at its core every church needs to offer quality experiences, we also need to communicate the features and benefits of our churches to the communities we serve. In fact, many leaders need to think as much about how they market and communicate what is happening at their church as they think about what they’re actually doing. In the same way that artisans wish they just could make their art and not have to find people to purchase it, we can fall into the false notion of believing that our quality experiences are enough on their own.
• Good Marketing Grows Churches. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is a belief that only marketing tactics can grow a church. Good communication accentuates what is already happening at your church. The reason churches grow is because of a series of complex factors working together to build positive momentum. Marketing is one factor, but it’s not the only thing that drives church growth. Good marketing will attract crowds, but you need to have systems and a community that will receive those people and care for them well. Doing a good job of marketing is the beginning of church growth, but it’s not the only contributor to it.
• The Silver Bullet Theory. We are all susceptible to the belief that the latest marketing tactic or shiny object will cause our churches to grow. We may see another church do a great job with Facebook ads, so we put all our time, effort and energy into this one approach…only to find that it doesn’t bring about the change that we want. We might hear about a specific church and how they saw results from a certain tactic—and believe if we just apply that one tactic, our church will grow too. But there isn’t just one marketing tactic or channel that will cause your church to grow. We need to employ a wide variety of methods to get our message out to the broader community. The issue is getting the mix of communication approaches correct so that we reach the intended people.
• It’s Sleazy. Let’s be honest for a moment: Some of us believe that marketing is “beneath” what we are called to do as church leaders and pastors. We think that attracting people to our services, events and programs is akin to the sleazy used car salesman on the local cable channel with the gold chains around his neck. This just isn’t true. Why did the New Testament writers use the broadest available language of the day rather than their regional dialect? They did this so that the maximum number of people in their culture would be impacted with the message of Jesus. When Paul stood on Mars Hill and challenged the thinkers of his day about the unknown God, he was attempting to attract their thinking and attention to the message of Jesus. People are busy and it’s our job to break through the noise and get them thinking about what it is that our churches have to say to them.
• Offline Communications Are Dead. Direct mail, Yellow Pages, billboards, newspaper advertising…all of these represent waning forms of communication. It’s easy to question their effectiveness but don’t be fooled. Many of these channels are still useful ways to get in front of people. They may not be as effective as digital forms of communication, but because of their waning impact, you can sometimes leverage these channels in an extremely cost-effective manner. Take direct mail as an example. People only receive bills and junk mail at home. When your church sends mail to the community, it serves as a change from what usually arrives. In a fully digital era, the novelty of direct mail has increased while the cost of sending it has decreased.
• We Don’t Do Marketing. There’s a group of church leaders that mistakenly believe that their churches aren’t involved in marketing. The reality is that all churches market to their communities…some just do it well while others do it poorly. If your church has a sign in front of it, or even the name that you call yourself, then you are marketing to the people around you. At its core marketing is how you position what you do to the community around you so that they will engage with your church. Stop thinking that you don’t market and start engaging in what it would look like to do it well in your community.

Rich serves as Operations Pastor at Liquid Church in the Manhattan facing suburbs of New Jersey. He blogs at UnSeminary.com and is a sought after speaker and consultant on multisite, pastoral productivity and communications.
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How Should We Really Prepare Church Planters?

The Church has a problem: most of its future leaders are being prepared in ways that don’t work and for ministries that don’t exist.

Ways that Don’t Work

My (Chris’s) first call out of seminary was to be a bivocational church planter. For more than five years, I worked part-time at an independent café in the neighborhood where our church would grow. I’ll never forget my conversations with cafe coworkers in my first few nights on the job.
They had no interest in the number of books I’d read or papers I’d written, nor in my well-nuanced theological opinions on all the burning issues of our day. But they had stories to tell, stories of God’s surprising presence (and sometimes seeming absence) in their lives. Night after night, while washing dishes and cleaning the espresso machine, these new friends challenged me with stories and questions that mattered to their real lives, but which couldn’t be answered by books on my shelves.
I was stunned to realize that the greatest tools I needed for that kind of ministry weren’t my Bible commentaries or my theological library. What I needed was a posture of attentiveness – the desire and ability to recognize when God was speaking into and through those conversations.
While I loved every minute of my seminary education – and fully believe that theological education is necessary for leaders in the Church – I soon realized that my formation had been intellectually top-heavy. The education I had received in my Master of Divinity degree – appropriately rigorous and rich in its academic work – had neglected to teach me either to pray or to notice what God was doing in the neighborhood around me. I could translate Greek, untangle Barth, and describe ancient heresies, but anything that wasn’t bound between the covers of a book remained a mystery to me.
I suspect I’m not alone.

Ministries that Don’t Exist

The context of the Church in North America is radically changing. In a post-Christendom world, future leaders of the Church are more likely to work multiple jobs than to preach from a pulpit of a tall-steeple congregation. Ministry is (thankfully) becoming less confined to the walls of the Church and more Christian leaders are serving in other neighborhood spaces where God has sent them, often next to people who wouldn’t ordinarily go anywhere near a church.

Ministry is (thankfully) becoming less confined to the walls of the Church

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In Pittsburgh, a historic Catholic church houses The Church Brew Works, where local small-batch beers are served in a space punctuated with symbols of the holy. One enters the restaurant through heavy wooden doors and steps into an arched, high-ceiling sanctuary with light streaming through stained-glass windows. Bulk tanks extend across the altar, backlit for effect. Nestled into a side chapel and surrounded by high tables, the bar hums with quiet energy.
Such spaces are commonplace. While they reflect, perhaps, a broad yearning in North America for the holy and spiritual experience, they also provide anecdotal evidence for what Robert Putnam and David Campbell describe in American Grace as the rise of the “nones.” Religious affiliations are shifting in North America away from institutional or traditional expressions; we live in what Stuart Murray and others call “Post-Christendom.”
Whatever we call it, the experience of congregations feels a lot like The Church Brew Works. Declining numbers and budgets make congregational programs and buildings unsustainable, leaving church leaders doling out diminishing services to stave off the closing of the congregation and the selling of the building.
But this narrative of decline does not adequately describe the North American church. Yes, it is difficult, but God is also renewing communities of Christ across North America, sending us back into our neighborhoods to discover missional forms of church. For this reason, Patrick Keifert calls this “our new missional era.” The problem for our congregations and seminaries, however, is that we might lament “post-Christendom,” but we remain tethered to Christendom modes of ministry. We struggle to prepare leaders for our “new missional era.”

We might lament “post-Christendom,” but we remain tethered to Christendom modes of ministry

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Who are Our Future Leaders in Ministry?

When Diane Anderson heard the call to start a new ministry for the prostitutes who worked the street outside her church, she didn’t move away to seminary for three years. Instead this school social worker and elder in her church walked outside with a bucket of chicken wings and offered to pray for the women with whom she shared the food. That ministry has become Faith Works: Wings and a Prayer, a ministry that offers spiritual and physical nourishment for those who once didn’t feel welcome in a traditional church.

Women and men like Diane – the people who will successfully help the Church discover new ways to engage our world – are already living in such missional ways that they can’t pack up and move across the country for three years. How should the elder leading a new worshiping community in their local context receive more training? What would you tell the leader of a new monastic community committed to stability about where to receive more education? These people are already following the Spirit’s guidance and investing in relationships and places which they cannot faithfully leave and which provide the perfect crucibles in which to be formed for ministry.
And they are doing hard work. As much as receiving education, these leaders need to take a retreat to restore their spiritual, mental, and physical health. Too many Christian leaders are operating from a place that Ruth Haley Barton describes as “dangerously tired.” These leaders desire intellectual formation, but they also desire refreshment for their souls. What if they could find both in the same place?

What if leaders could find intellectual formation and rest for the soul in the same place?

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So, How Should We Really Prepare Church Planters?

We need a new kind of formation for our post-Christendom world. It needs to be theologically robust without being top-heavy. And it needs to form church planters and other missional pioneers holistically while letting them remain in their existing ministry contexts. It needs a strong spiritual foundation that trains them to listen to the Holy Spirit and teaches them to care for their own souls.
The Anglican missionary bishop and theologian John V. Taylor wrote, “The main concern of any missionary training should be to help people to become more receptive to the revelations of God.” In other words, preparation for missional ministry should help you listen to, recognize, notice, and attend to what God’s up to in a given time and place. To do that well, you need to be well-practiced in praying, listening, and in risking naming what God is doing.

Where is This Kind of Formation Happening?

Because all mission and ministry is contextual, the Church needs multiple models of formation and education for our changing ministry context. Thankfully, ways of preparing leaders that are closer to how we really ought to form missional pioneers are springing up around the country: The Academy for Missional Wisdom, the V3 Movement Learning Cohorts, and Bridges.
At Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, we’ve even developed a new Graduate Certificate in Church Planting and Revitalization that uses a hybrid format that combines online learning with in-person intensives to let people learn through the program without having to pick up and move to Pittsburgh. We want the students to all have ministry contexts where they’re embedded, practicing what they’re learning throughout the program, and we designed the program to help students grow attentiveness and discernment.

A Graduate Certificate in Church Planting and Revitalization: Seminary Education Without Relocation

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The stakes are high. How we form future leaders of the Church will inform the shape the Church takes in our context. Will the Church of the future be unwieldy and stolid because our methods of formation haven’t caught up? Or will the Church of the future be flexible, adaptive, nimble – freely following the Spirit’s guidance as we participate in mission?

Scott Hagley (PhD. Luther Seminary) came to serve as Associate Professor of Missiology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary from Vancouver, BC, where he both served a local congregation and with Forge Canada as an advisor to denominations seeking to plant or revitalize churches. Christopher Brown is a founding co-pastor of The Upper Room Presbyterian Church and the first Church Planting Initiative Coordinator at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Abandoning Christ’s Gospel

By John MacArthur

“The call to Calvary must be recognized for what it is: a call to discipleship under the lordship of Jesus Christ.”

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Listen to today’s typical gospel presentation. You will hear sinners entreated with such phrases as “accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior”; “ask Jesus into your heart”; “invite Christ into your life”; or “make a decision for Christ.” You may be so accustomed to hearing those phrases that it will surprise you to learn that none of them is based on biblical terminology. They are the products of a diluted gospel. It is not the gospel according to Jesus.
The gospel Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow Him in submissive obedience, not just a plea to make a decision or pray a prayer. Jesus’ message liberated people from the bondage of their sin while it confronted and condemned hypocrisy. It was an offer of eternal life and forgiveness for repentant sinners, but at the same time it was a rebuke to outwardly religious people whose lives were devoid of true righteousness. It put sinners on notice that they must turn from sin and embrace God’s righteousness. It was in every sense good news, yet it was anything but easy-believism.
Our Lord’s words about eternal life were invariably accompanied by warnings to those who might be tempted to take salvation lightly. He taught that the cost of following Him is high, that the way is narrow and few find it. He said many who call Him Lord will be forbidden from entering the kingdom of heaven (cf. Matthew 7:13–23).
Present-day evangelicalism, by and large, ignores those warnings. The prevailing view of what constitutes saving faith continues to grow broader and more shallow, while the portrayal of Christ in preaching and witnessing becomes fuzzy. Anyone who claims to be a Christian can find evangelicals willing to accept a profession of faith, whether or not the person’s behavior shows any evidence of commitment to Christ.
Proof of Spiritual Life
One segment of evangelicalism even propounds the doctrine that conversion to Christ involves “no spiritual commitment whatsoever.” ^[1] Those who hold this view of the gospel teach that Scripture promises salvation to anyone who simply believes the facts about Christ and claims eternal life. There need be no turning from sin, no resulting change in lifestyle, no commitment—not even a willingness to yield to Christ’s lordship. Those things, they say, amount to human works, which corrupt grace and have nothing to do with faith.
The fallout of such thinking is a deficient doctrine of salvation. It is justification without sanctification, and its impact on the church has been catastrophic. The community of professing believers is populated with people who have bought into a system that encourages shallow and ineffectual faith. Many sincerely believe they are saved, but their lives are utterly barren of any verifying fruit.
Jesus gave this sobering warning:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21–23, emphasis added).
Clearly no past experience—not even prophesying, casting out demons, or doing signs and wonders—can be viewed as evidence of salvation apart from a life of obedience.
Our Lord was not speaking about an isolated group of fringe followers. There will be “many” on that day who will stand before Him, stunned to learn they are not included in the kingdom. I fear that multitudes who now fill church pews in the mainstream of the evangelical movement will be among those turned away because they did not do the will of the Father.
Contemporary Christians have been conditioned to believe that because they recited a prayer, signed on a dotted line, walked an aisle or had some other experience, they are saved and should never question their salvation. I have attended evangelism training seminars where counselors were taught to tell “converts” that any doubt about their salvation is satanic and should be dismissed. It is a widely held misconception that anyone who questions whether he or she is saved is challenging the integrity of God’s Word.
What misguided thinking that is! Scripture encourages us to examine ourselves to determine if we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). Peter wrote, “Be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you” (2 Peter 1:10). It is right to examine our lives and evaluate the fruit we bear, for “each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44).
The Bible teaches clearly that the evidence of God’s work in a life is the inevitable fruit of transformed behavior (1 John 3:10). Faith that does not result in righteous living is dead and cannot save (James 2:14–17). Professing Christians utterly lacking the fruit of true righteousness will find no biblical basis for assurance of salvation (1 John 2:4).
Real salvation is not only justification. It cannot be isolated from regeneration, sanctification and ultimately glorification. Salvation is the work of God through which we are “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29; cf. 13:11). Genuine assurance comes from seeing the Holy Spirit’s transforming work in one’s life, not from clinging to the memory of some experience.
Wrongly Dividing the Word
Yet there are those who would have us believe that the norm for salvation is to accept Jesus as Savior without submitting to Him as Lord. They make the incredible claim that any other teaching amounts to a false gospel “because it subtly adds works to the clear and simple condition set forth in the Word of God.” ^[2] They have tagged the view they oppose “lordship salvation.”
Lordship salvation, defined by one who labels it heresy, is “the view that for salvation a person must trust Jesus Christ as his Savior from sin and must also commit himself to Christ as Lord of his life, submitting to His sovereign authority.” ^[3]
It is astonishing that anyone would characterize that truth as unbiblical or heretical, but a growing chorus of voices is echoing the charge. The implication is that acknowledging Christ’s lordship is a human work. That mistaken notion is backed by volumes of literature that speaks of people “making Jesus Christ Lord of their lives.” ^[4]
We do not “make” Christ Lord; He is Lord! Those who will not receive Him as Lord are guilty of rejecting Him. “Faith” that rejects His sovereign authority is really unbelief. Conversely, acknowledging His lordship is no more a human work than repentance (cf. 2 Timothy 2:25) or faith itself (cf. Ephesians 2:8–9). In fact, surrender to Christ is an important aspect of divinely produced saving faith, not something added to faith.
The two clearest statements on the way of salvation in all of Scripture both emphasize Jesus’ lordship: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31); and “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Peter’s sermon at Pentecost concluded with this declaration: “Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36, emphasis added). No promise of salvation is ever extended to those who refuse to accede to Christ’s lordship. Thus there is no salvation except “lordship” salvation.
Opponents of lordship salvation have gone to great lengths to make the claim that “Lord” in those verses does not mean “Master” but is a reference to His deity. ^[5] Even if that contention is granted, it simply affirms that those who come to Christ for salvation must acknowledge that He is God. The implications of that are even more demanding than if “Lord” only meant “Master”!
The fact is, “Lord” does mean “God” in all those verses. More precisely, it means “God who rules,” and that only bolsters the arguments for lordship salvation. No one who comes for salvation with genuine faith, sincerely believing that Jesus is the eternal, almighty, sovereign God, will willfully reject His authority. True faith is not lip service. Our Lord Himself pronounced condemnation on those who worshiped Him with their lips but not with their lives (Matthew 15:7–9). He does not become anyone’s Savior until that person receives Him for who He is—Lord of all (Acts 10:36).
A.W. Tozer said:
The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command. He will not divide His offices. You cannot believe on a half-Christ. We take Him for what He is—the anointed Saviour and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of all lords! He would not be Who He is if He saved us and called us and chose us without the understanding that He can also guide and control our lives. ^[6]
Faith and True Discipleship
Those who teach that obedience and submission are extraneous to saving faith are forced to make a firm but unbiblical distinction between salvation and discipleship. This dichotomy, like that of the carnal/spiritual Christian, sets up two classes of Christians: believers only and true disciples. Most who hold this position discard the evangelistic intent of virtually every recorded invitation of Jesus, saying those apply to discipleship, not to salvation. ^[7] One writer says of this view, “No distinction is more vital to theology, more basic to a correct understanding of the New Testament, or more relevant to every believer’s life and witness.” ^[8]
On the contrary, no distinction has done so much to undermine the authority of Jesus’ message. Are we to believe that when Jesus told the multitudes to deny themselves (Luke 14:26), to take up a cross (v. 27), and to forsake all and follow Him (v. 33), His words had no meaning whatsoever for the unsaved people in the crowd? How could that be true of One who said He came not to call the righteous but sinners (Matthew 9:13)?
James M. Boice, in his book Christ’s Call to Discipleship, writes with insight about the salvation/discipleship dichotomy, which he frankly describes as “defective theology”:
This theology separates faith from discipleship and grace from obedience. It teaches that Jesus can be received as one’s Savior without being received as one’s Lord.
This is a common defect in times of prosperity. In days of hardship, particularly persecution, those who are in the process of becoming Christians count the cost of discipleship carefully before taking up the cross of the Nazarene. Preachers do not beguile them with false promises of an easy life or indulgence of sins. But in good times, the cost does not seem so high, and people take the name of Christ without undergoing the radical transformation of life that true conversion implies. ^[9]
The call to Calvary must be recognized for what it is: a call to discipleship under the lordship of Jesus Christ. To respond to that call is to become a believer. Anything less is simply unbelief.
The gospel according to Jesus explicitly and unequivocally rules out easy-believism. To make all of our Lord’s difficult demands apply only to a higher class of Christians blunts the force of His entire message. It makes room for a cheap and meaningless faith—a faith that has absolutely no effect on the fleshly life of sin. That is not saving faith.