Marcus Lynn’s adventures in life and ministry
NBC has rejected the following commercial to air during the Super Bowl for being “too political.” Apparently PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) commericals are OK but any commercials endorsing ethical treatment for pre-born babies is not. Who figured?
Check out part I of this post if you want to know what I think of “Renew Your Congregation” by William T. McConnell. Or skip doing that and just read some of the quotes below and comment if you feel led.
Looking out for Mr. Cranky. Hasn’t every church had something proposed and found that a vast majority of the people, if not excited about the proposal, are at least willing to give it a try? Then someone begins to complain. They complain and gather a couple more complainers into their corner. Suddenly, a perfectly good ministry is stopped in tis tracks because a vocal minority is against it. The i rules because we don’t want to make anyone angry (20).
These guardians have several methods of controlling the direction of the church. As must as we hate to face it, many of these methods are unhealthy. Acceptance of such behavior by others in the church is why many church systems are dysfunctional. These behaviors are unhealthy: temper tantrums, threats to withhold financial support, leaving the church and trying to influence as many as possible to come with them, gathering allies and attacking (usually just verbally) those who disagree with them, and demanding that the pastor resign. Such behavior must not be tolerated. It must be confronted and named. In fact, willingness to confront negative, unhealthy behavior in the church is a sign of leadership (21).
Sometimes some people need to leave. If you plan to have everyone in the church get excited about the idea of the church being revitalized and transformed, but you don’t plan to really do anything until everyone gets on board with the plan, forget it (23-24).
Conflict is mentioned often in this book because it always accompanies transformation. Some conflict surround every change…and I’m not convinced that’s all bad (24-25).
Jay Dozier, another DOC pastor, says, “Any change will cause conflict with humans. Given 100 people, any change will make some of ‘em stinkin’ mad. And when they get mad, they will attack their leadership. And at that point, the response is not to ameliorate, but to stand even firmer. If anything, the leaders of the church must understand themselves as conflict initiators. If we’re looking for church transformation, then I presume that something needs to be changed (27).
If we are really paying attention, we start to realize that the church exists, not to meet my needs and the needs of my family, but to reach out to those who don’t know God and to help connect them to God. It begins to dawn on us that church is not primarily for us (31).
As difficult as it is for some, we must decide that church is not all about taking care of me and mine, but is about reaching others with the message of Christ. A sure sign that a church is dying is the presence of conflict over the personal preferences of the members. And a sure sign a church is healthy is the presence of large numbers of members excited about doing ministry and missions (50).
Which are we?
After reading Malachi 1:6-14, here’s a few things I’ve learned:
September 27, 2003
Florida Gators at Kentucky Wildcats football
In my first full season as a new UK football fan I was excited about the possibilities of Rich Brooks as the new coach. The previous year was a good one for the Cats (by their standards) at 7-5, but Coach Guy Morriss left for Baylor. In that season, UK lost a heart-breaker to the LSU Tigers on a last play Hail Mary after fans had gone on to the field and players had dumped Gatorado on Coach Morriss. Embarrassing! And another classic UK loss. LSU fans still call it the “Bluegrass Miracle” and it is below this post from youtube if you want to re-live the nightmare.
But 2003 was a new season with new hopes and dreams. Unfortunately when the Gators came to town UK found themselves 2-2. I got to go to the game at the last minute and expected a huge Florida drubbing. But as the 3rd quarter was half way through the scoreboard said 14-3….KENTUCKY. And they had just intercepted the ball in their own Red Zone to stop a huge Gator drive. I remember calling my wife on the phone, “You’ve got to turn the game on. Their finally going to win the big one. If they can keep playing like they have been then we should win this one!” As I completed that last sentence, Jared Lorenzen, the 6′4 nearly 300 pound QB was pressured out of the pocket and made an ill-advised pass into double coverage. The Gators intercepted the ball and ran it back in for a TD. 14-10.
On the ensuing kick-off, Derek Abney, UK’s all-time kick returner proceeded to run it back for a touchdown. Crowd going crazy! …FLAG! Called back.
I don’t remember much more after that other than to say that the final score was 24-21 Florida and Kentucky had lost another heart breaker. Kentucky wound up 4-8 on the year.
Soon, you’ll hear about the game that turned around the UK karma, hopefully for good.
Do I take Colossians 3:23-24 seriously? It says,
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Are there times when I “coast?”
Finished reading William T. McConnell’s book Renew Your Congregation: Healing the sick, raising the dead. I have read numerous books on renewing a church. How does McConnell’s book rank with others? Let me just say he didn’t add anything to what I already know. But what makes this book good reading are his great stories and the fact that he’s a fellow Disciples of Christ pastor like me. I can tell he knows the issues at stake for a church like our’s (FCC). I also like it because he wrote what I had already been thinking. There is no “magic bullet” to renew a church. There are several things that churches need to consider and he talks about his experience with those. His brief book doesn’t have a “5 step program to church renewal” but he does give us his insight on to how God worked at his congregation to bring it about. I’m not sure I can get through this in 1 post but here’s the start of some of his quotes.
The question is not whether we “want” to grow…most church people will say that. The question was whether we would be willing to make the changes necessary in order to grow and that it would take us at least a year to figure that out (3).
Would the above describe FCC? Why or why not?
The most difficult part of the process of transforming and revitalizing a church is developing an environment of prayer and staying on track. The revitalization process begins (and ends) with prayer (12).
During one of our periods of struggle in revitalizing the church I serve, someone suggested that we have a vote on whether to keep the pastor or to ask me to go. My take on that was, if I lost the vote I would have to pack up my family and belongings and move to a new town and start a new life. So, I suggested that we have the vote. If the vote was for me to stay, then everyone who voted against me would have to pack up their families and things and move to a new town and start a new life. After all, fair is fair. With such an illuminating thought, it was decided to not have the vote (18-19).
Jason Kotecki said, “Jesus must have been fun, or children would not have hung around him.” We need to get over taking ourselves so seriously. Take the kingdom of God seriously? Yes. Take ourselves seriously? No. Committed Christians should be the happiest people in the world, and people should flock to us to enjoy the joy (19).
Somehow we have developed the idea that, as Christians, we must be nice and that being nice means putting up with other people’s poor behavior (19).
We’ll continue this thought in a few days as we look at Mr. Cranky Christian. Any thoughts so far?
I’m a proud American. And I’m not big on illegal immigration. But I am big on legal immigration. Either way, if you’re an American WASP, don’t be arrogant. Check out this brain:
If you don’t see the problem with this, email me!
No leader accomplishes anything of lasting value without taking risks.
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