What Must I Do for God? (part 1)

Question: What must I do for God?
Answer: Nothing!

How does that answer sit with you? 

All right, let me qualify it just a bit. More precisely, nothing except trust and receive Him.

Does that sound any better to you?

Probably not, if you are anything like I have been for years. You see that answer and wonder if it cheapens grace. You wonder where is the Christian responsibility. You wonder if such a "shallow" view of faith can be real. Of course, we have more to do than just receive from Him, you contend. Of course, we have to obey. We must serve. We ought to do good works. We should produce fruit.

You may even complain and question, Who are these "low-standard, anything goes" Christians who expect God to do all the work? What kind of relationship works when only one side does all the giving and the other side does nothing but receive? That doesn't sound very fair, does it?

Am I right? Are those some of the thoughts going through your mind?

I recently tweeted a bunch of insights from Steve McVey's book, Grace Walk (1995), which stirred the pot a little. I believe this sentence from page 129 captures the purpose and main point of the whole book: "If contemporary Christians spent as much time developing loving intimacy with Christ as they spend in defining proper Christian behavior, the world would be a different place."


Take a minute to review some of the other statements from Grace Walk:

• "In the natural world, trying harder is commendable and often effective. But God's ways aren't our ways. Sometimes they seem to be opposite from ours. In the spiritual world, trying harder is detrimental."  (p. 17)

• "We sometimes try to live for Him when He wants to live His life through us."  (p. 37)

• "Resting in Christ is the sole responsibility of the Christian. Everything else flows out of that."  (p. 39)

• "The Christian life is not about Christ. It IS Christ!"  (p. 71)

• "Self-effort is the essence of legalism. It is pointless to pray for God to help you live for him. That may be your goal, but it isn't His."  (p. 89)

• "God's life just naturally flows out of Christians who are abiding in Him."  (p. 106)

• "God's will is not primarily a path, but a Person named Jesus Christ. As we abide in Him, it is impossible to miss the will of God."  (p. 145)

In the book, Steve McVey distinguished between a "changed" life and an "exchanged" life. It is one thing to believe that we have a life that God alters in some ways. It is quite another thing to wrestle with the Biblical teachings about dying to sin and self, and being "born again" to a new life guided by the Spirit. The clear message is that the Source of the new life is Jesus Christ. It is a different life. It is a divine life, though still expressed in a physical, imperfect body.

DeVern Fromke

This is a good time to introduce DeVern Fromke. He wrote a book 30 years prior to McVey's, called No Other Foundation. (I think the book is out of print, but you can find more info about Fromke and his other writings here.) I recently read this book and was struck by the following portion from a chapter entitled, "Why Does Humanity Exist?":

My concept of life had become distorted because I had been thinking, "There is love and faith and power and holiness in the Bible, and I'm sure God will kind of impart it to me somehow, so that I will become a loving person, a believing person, a powerful person." I could not see for the life of me but that I should become something.

This, then, was the first and greatest problem: a misunderstanding of what life is. I think we all start there. It is really a product of the fall: We interpret life as something that we live ourselves; so that even when we become born again of God's Spirit, and saved through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we still interpret life as something we are living right now. We have a job to do, a home to run, and so we seek to live a life in contact with God through Jesus Christ, so we can get assistance and guidance and leadership from Him.

I had to discover that this was not life at all, rather that life is a total reverse of it. Life is not an assistance or addition; it is a replacement. There is only one Person who really lives in the whole universe, and that is the living God Himself. He is the One who is the Three, who is self-giving love. He is the One who is the love of the universe. And we humans exist that we may be means by which He expresses Himself. Humanity itself exists to express Deity.

Hold on! It gets even better! He later adds:

So God created persons to express His own Person by them. The basic purpose of us human beings therefore should be to become the vessels that contain Him. That means our permanent habit has to become receptivity rather than activity.

...If you look at nature, you see that a tree does not produce one leaf by activity. Vegetation receives. It has sunlight and moisture poured on it. What it receives it uses, but activity is only a product of receptivity. Thus did I begin to learn the basic secret of life.


(To be continued...)

Working ON the System

Today, I have been going through past notes and materials from workshops and books over the years. It brings back memories of so many good people that I have learned from along the way. It is impossible to put into words the gratitude for the wisdom and guidance others have shared with me.

One of the items I found was an article written by David Langford entitled "Working on the System." One of his main contentions in the article is that "administrators must spend an increasing percentage of time working on the system, not in the system." This statement, in one sentence, is essentially the reason I desired to become an administrator. I saw an opportunity to work on the bigger processes that drive much of the work teachers do, and in turn much of what students experience on a daily basis.

I am reminded often to think systems. I am also reminded that the results we are getting are exactly what our systems are designed to produce. More importantly, I am reminded that these systems I talk about are made up of people. 

There are some simple facts about us. About people.

We have feelings. We have dreams. We have beliefs. We have perceptions. We have needs.

So, I want to take a minute to be clear that I wholeheartedly believe that we absolutely must address the systems within which we work. That is a critical point!

And...

I would like to be equally as clear that I do not intend to insult individuals within the system by pointing out concerns or outcomes of the system. To do so would miss the purpose of raising the concerns in the first place because it might fix blame on outliers rather than improve the process as a whole. Generally speaking, my blog is not about outliers. I feel like that would be a waste of most people's time, including mine.

I do intentionally use provocative language at times to stress the magnitude of some of the issues I write about. I will continue to do so. There has to be a sense of urgency and seriousness about our business of improving how we teach and raise and disciple the next generation, lest we fall prey to what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism." Some improvements require more than minor tweaks here and there to the system. I make no apologies for beating that drum.

I do, however, apologize for anything that I have said or written that gives the impression that I do not respect and admire teachers. Most teachers I know work very hard and care very much. I trust that those educators I have had the privilege to work with most directly know my heart. They know that there is, simultaneously, joy and dissatisfaction in my work at all times. 

Joy, because it is a sacred honor to be called to this kind of work. 
Dissatisfaction, because we can always do better. (Dissatisfaction, by the way, is the prerequisite to any great change that takes place, so there is no need to be scared of it.)

Our school district aims to think students first. A mentoring principal once told the audience at a leadership academy, "I tell my faculty that if there ever comes a time when there is a conflict between doing what is best for teachers and doing what is best for kids, then I will do what is best for kids."

What is best for kids is for all of us in education to continuously reflect on our practices and challenge ourselves to grow. I am the perfect example of why this is necessary. I still have a long way to go, but I am thankful that I am not the educator I was five or ten years ago. There have been countless changes to my practices over the years because of the encouragement and wisdom and honesty of those people that surround me, both those who agree and those who disagree with me. 

Thanks for helping me grow!

Don't you love those chocolate Easter bunnies!?! (Fair Product Feature: Chocolate)

My wife just returned from the grocery store with our first Fair Trade chocolate purchase. I had asked her to look for Divine Chocolate, but she could only find Green & Black's candy bars at HEB. (At least at that particular location on this particular day.) I asked her to get me a milk chocolate one, and here it is. (Side note: My wife is extraordinarily wonderful!)

I figure with the massive chocolate buying holiday of Easter coming soon, I would learn a little more about the chocolate industry's relationship to slave labor around the world. Now that I introduced this topic in my previous post, what do I practically do with this new information?

To be honest, the first thing I will probably do is just buy less chocolate. Period. Regardless of where the cocoa beans are harvested or how it is produced, less chocolate would be a generally good move to counter some of my other unhealthy eating habits that are beginning to take a toll on me.

But, as promised in my last post on this issue, here are ideas I am considering as I try to fight human trafficking and slavery while caving to the desires of my sweet tooth at the same time.

1. Honestly assess what it will mean to my checkbook. Below are the price comparisons my wife found at the store today. (Click on the company's names below and you will go to their human rights ethical production ratings from Free2Work.) Hershey's is able to sell their chocolate for about 1/3 of the price of fair trade chocolate producers. As you can see, the cost of maintaining and monitoring ethical supply chains, fair wages, and safe working conditions, free of child labor, are passed on to the consumer. That is you and me. Contrary to some people's thinking, we (the consumers) matter greatly in this process!




Green & Black's - $0.85 per ounce
Ghirardelli - $0.63 per ounce
Dove - $0.53 per ounce
Hershey's - $0.30 per ounce


2. Actively look for brands that are doing the BEST of ethical treatment of farmers and workers. Here are a few. (Keep in mind that I am new to this and there may be many others.)

Divine Chocolate

Green & Black's

Lily's Sweets

3. Send notes to companies who have historically been some of the WORST human rights' violators in the industry. Made in a Free World makes this easy to do with just a couple clicks of your mouse. This one hurts because these are some of my favorites.


4. Keep learning. Due to different standards and numerous organizations associated with Fair Trade, this subject is already complicated to begin with. What makes it worse is how secretive and even deceptive some companies are when it comes to their business practices. For example, some of the bigger companies in this industry may "spin" things to appear generous, ethical, and compassionate. It is becoming popular for companies to make donations toward causes or public announcements about efforts to clean their supply chains by 2020 (or whatever year they pick). 

The good news is that companies are feeling the pressure to even take these steps, whether they are genuine or not. That means public perception about these issues is growing and businesses are starting to consider their "image" in a social justice way like never before. The bad news is that "lip service" might take the place of real action for the sake of profit in the short-term. With all this in mind, I will just have to continue to do my research.

5. Encourage my church-attending friends and pastors to be conscious of the brands they use to fill Easter eggs and baskets this year. I hope that many of them will consider the companies like those mentioned in #2 above.

This may be one more reason why we should take a step back and seriously look at our "Christian" Easter celebrations. I am not going to be that old, crotchety guy that gets on a soapbox, but I can't help but wonder how many distractions we have introduced as we mix Good Friday and Resurrection with hidden eggs and magic bunnies. (Yes, I am hypocrite. My daughter will probably go to an Easter egg hunt this year like she has in the past. I may be having a personal crisis of conscience. Well, maybe more on that at another time. For now, let's just focus on ending child slave labor.)

Jesus Manifesto (Book Review)

Jesus Manifesto (Thomas Nelson, 2010), written by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola is an exceptional book. I could bring up little details here and there that make this book great, but I will just sum it up by saying that this book contains the information I would want passed on to my children. That is about the best endorsement I could give any book!

The section on "The Two Trees" is especially enlightening, one of those "worth the price of the book" pieces of writing. The authors point out that Christians go astray when we try to live by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil instead of the Tree of Life as God intended.

The following three statements from different parts of the book combine to form what I see as the whole point of the book. "The center and circumference of the Christian life is none other than the person of Christ" (p. 1 - opening line). "In all religions and philosophies of the world, a follower can follow the teachings of its founder without having a relationship with that founder. But not so with Jesus Christ" (p. 82). "What the Father was to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is to you. He's your indwelling Lord" (p. 128).

I recommend this book for anyone exploring Christianity. It is filled with great quotes and insights. More importantly, it gets to the heart of the issue and distinguishes following Jesus from the Christian religion. Religion is not the aim. Jesus brings abundant life, and religion cannot compare with that.

Somebody's "Emerson" (aka. Why I am Becoming a Modern-day Abolitionist")

Recently, my family and friends surprised me with a birthday celebration. Boy, they got me good! I never saw it coming!

In addition to the event itself, another surprise was the collection of donations toward a personal interest I had of trying to raise enough money for a slave rescue operation with International Justice Mission (IJM). Due to their generosity, I needed to find a way to organize these efforts so I could track funds and progress toward the $5000 goal. So, I went to the IJM website and started a FreedomMaker campaign called Somebody's "Emerson". (You can check it out here.)

My daughter was naturally curious about the name, "Somebody's 'Emerson'." So, I explained to her the reason I am becoming a modern-day abolitionist. Here is what I told her.

"Every night I get the honor of tucking you in at night and praying with you. Many times, we read together and talk about our day and laugh. I look around your room and I see stuffed animals that you can hold in a comfortable bed, a nightlight, a dresser full of clothes, and shelves covered with books.

Emerson with her daddy

"You are my Emerson. You have a lot of nice things and are protected in a home with a family that loves you. Your mommy and daddy get to kiss and hug you and tuck you in safely each night.

"But did you know there are children like you all over the world, and there are some of them that don't get to be in safe homes at night? Some of them don't get to sleep in comfortable beds. They don't have even one stuffed animal to hold on to. They are hurt by people stronger than them. They are told lies. And the worst part is that they don't have a mommy or daddy they can go to for help. Some of these precious kids don't have someone to hold them and love them and do what is best for them.

"If you, my Emerson, were ever in a situation like that, I sure do wish someone would do something to help you. And if that is what I would want someone else to do for my Emerson, then it is right and good for us to do something to help someone else's "Emerson".

Every hurting, exploited or trafficked child is "Somebody's Emerson"!

Grades Gotta Go! (Part 2: "100 Degrees of Separation")

The first issue with most current grading systems is the 100-point scale. 
A couple problems contribute to the inappropriate use of the 100-point scale.
One is how we use it to calculate percentage grades. The other is the disproportionate weight that zeros have on grades.

First, this blog post raises the concern of calculating percentages to determine students' averages. Consider the problems described and whether you agree or disagree with them.


Second, Rick Wormeli does a fabulous job of breaking down a number of the difficulties with the 100-point scale and, in particular, giving zeros on this scale. 





If you are a parent, then what questions does this make you want to ask?

If you are a teacher, how would you respond to the claims made in Rob Eberts' blog and Rick Wormeli's video? 


One final thought about taking on the 100-point scale. It may seem impossible to address something so embedded in our assessment practices. The 100-point scale is easily accepted as part of our educational system by parents, teachers, and students alike. Why mess with a "good" thing?

Consider this. If it such a good practice, then why it is abandoned by both "ends" of most educational institutions? None of the schools where I live use it when children are starting out in preschool or early elementary grade levels. On the other end, college students have used 4, 5, or 6-point scales for years. I realize those numbers are sometimes nothing more than conversions from a 100-point scale, but I wonder what the original intent was for doing it that way.

We could argue that it is used all over the world, but that's not true. Denmark is an example of a nation that uses a 13-point scale. Belgium, France, Portugal, Peru, and Venezuela are a handful of countries that use a 20-point scale. Even states in the U.S. are beginning to introduce legislation and policies regarding the communication of student progress on different scales.

I am not arguing that we should model our education programs or policies after any of these nations or even our own American university system, which is fraught with its own problems. The point is to show that there is nothing sacred about the 100-point scale. It is flawed and we can do better for our kids!

As I write this blog, the Winter Olympics are going on in Sochi, Russia. At least maybe the 100-point scale is all they use there. Oh, wait, that's right...oops!

Baby Step: In Case You Ever Have to Make That Call

Admittedly, this post is not all that romantic for being posted right after Valentine's Day. But hey, just be glad I am not writing about all the forced labor that was probably used to produce most of the chocolate we ate on Valentine's Day!

What I do want to share quickly is one of the "baby steps" anyone can take to help make a difference. Simply enter the National Human Trafficking Hotline phone number into your contacts. That way you will always have it if you ever need it. Then, hope you will never need it.

It only takes a few seconds. Above is a screen shot of my phone. 

The number is 888-373-7888.

Kids in the Kingdom

Since the point of this blog is to explore ways to impact the next generation by radically reforming the institutions of public education and the organized church, the main question that I hope to keep always before me is, What is best for kids?

To answer this question, we need to consider children as whole people that have spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, and social dimensions. You can check out my "Faith Like a Child" series on this blog to see what the Bible says about the spiritual capacity of children.

Here are those posts:
Faith Like a Child (part 1)
Faith Like a Child (part 2)
Faith Like a Child (part 3)
Faith Like a Child (part 4)
Faith Like a Child (part 5)
Faith Like a Child (part 6)
Faith Like a Child (part 7)

It is important to us that disciples of all ages can fully participate in the mission. Therefore, it is critical that children understand the essentials of our practices without "watering down" their meaning and power.

A child does not receive a "junior-sized" Holy Spirit, but the Bible teaches that children have tremendous spiritual insight and often receive profound Kingdom truths more easily than adults. Simultaneously, a child's human development requires that the gospel is presented in its simplest form in terms of the language and imagery we use. Therefore, we process our core practices in "kid-friendly" terms because we want to pass on essential truths to the next generation form the earliest moments possible.

Here are the child-friendly, essential truths of our mission (what we call our "Cores for Kids"):

• Jesus teaches us that praying helps us get close to God!
• Jesus teaches us that we can worship God by doing good everywhere we go!
• Jesus teaches us that baptism is a way we can show we want to follow Him with our whole heart!
• Jesus teaches us to obey Him and be like Him by loving God and others!

Human Trafficking 101 Resource

Another resource full of information related to modern day slavery and human trafficking (aka. Trafficking in Persons) comes from our own government. There are numerous resources to help you learn about these issues here.

Check out the Human Trafficking Awareness Training. I have gone through this presentation. It is informative, yet basic. Should be required education for all adults.

Learn how you can help.

I'm proud to be an American...where at least I know I'm FREE!

Free 2 Work Resource

Free2Work - The Story behind the barcode from New Creation Collective on Vimeo.


One of the things I will occasionally be using this blog for is to highlight or promote resources associated with ending slavery and human trafficking in the world today. I think this purpose fits perfectly with the overall theme of my blog of finding ways to see "how much greater" we can make the world for the next generation that comes after us. So, in reflecting on the world I want my children to grow up in and what I believe is dear to the heart of Jesus, I cannot think of a better cause to which we can put our time and energy and money.

Today, I start with the Free2Work app (see image below) and website (at this link). You can scan any product while you are at the store and get quick background information.

Great Church Programs...Oh, and Jesus too!

(This is a quick follow-up to yesterday's post about our "Mission in a Minute".)

One thing that is intentional about how I share our mission is how quickly I bring up the name Jesus. The mission is founded on the belief that if more people acted like Jesus and let Jesus love others through them, then the world would be a much greater place (tying in with the overall theme of my blog). Simply, if we want to raise healthy children, build better communities, change people's lives, etc., then start obsessing over Jesus.

Our mission forces me to define what a disciple is right away, which brings up another reference to Jesus. The whole point of everything we are about has to be Jesus. Otherwise, we become focused on man-made systems that have the power to save no one.

This is a paradigm shift for many churchgoers. What I have noticed about many folks in traditional churches (and I was this way myself) is that they are good at telling people about their church programs, but not as good at telling people about Jesus. The conversation usually includes phrases like these:

• You should come check out the children's ministry at our church.
• You should hear our pastor preach. He uses videos and props and doesn't make it boring.
• There is a rock band coming to our youth group service this weekend. Want to come?

Again, there is nothing wrong with any of these things...unless they replace Jesus. This doesn't happen intentionally, of course. No churchgoer is going to say that Jesus is not important to them. However, I have experienced the subtle, gradual way Jesus can be pushed aside in the name of "outreach" or "worship" or "ministry" or "stewardship". Heck, I have been the one doing the pushing before. 

To be fair, I should confess that this can be just as big a problem in simple church or house church settings. I still struggle with it. I wonder how I can still have the King of kings and Lord of all be an afterthought.

Here is a challenge for you. Set a timer for one minute and begin to list and describe all the wonderful things you know and love about your church. Then, reset the timer and list and describe all the wonderful things you know and love about Jesus. See if you run out of time or have time left over in each situation.

Remember, the answer in the New Testament was never to go to church, but it was always go to Jesus!

(Note: Strangely, one of the tags you don't find for my blog posts is Jesus. That is because I hope that He is somehow influencing or embedded in every post.)

What Needs to Change About Education

(I was wrong. I actually do have one more post for this year.)

What the organized Church and public education have in common is that there are several shifts that need to take place in both institutions to most radically and substantially bring about a "much greater" environment for the young people within them. 

Throughout this blog, I have written about some of the shifts needed in organized Christianity in our part of the world. Things like...

• From Emphasis on big events one day a week to Emphasis on making disciples 24/7
• From Measuring seating capacity to draw crowds to Measuring sending capacity to serve others
• From Professional pastors (staff-driven leadership) to Reproducible practices (where every member functions)
• From Publicizing what we are Against to Promoting what we are FOR
• From Ministry (works) done for Jesus to Ministry (miracles) done BY Jesus
• From "GO TO church" (as in a place and time) to BE the church (as an identity)

But what about our schools? Are there fundamental shifts that could make dramatic change for the better in education? I believe there are. Here are a few, in my opinion.

• From Giving grades (that generally offer no information on how to improve) to Providing feedback (that feeds forward to further learning)
• From Time as the constant (prescribed scope and sequence for all students) to Learning as the constant (asynchronous, self-paced)
• From Focus on teaching to Focus on learning
• From Career orientation to Calling orientation (more to come on this in a future post, but you can get a glimpse of this shift here thanks to the work of Adam Saenz) 

This is clearly not meant to be an exhaustive list, but these are examples of the biggest "bang for your buck" transitions that we can make in public schools. The only disclaimer is that they are not easy.

I Will Have Less Slaves Working for Me Next Year

For my 100th Tweet and my last blog of 2013, I have some bad news and some good news.

While I try to keep my radical reform focus in my Monday blogs on Education topics, and in Wednesday blogs on Church topics, I also try to reflect in other posts about how there is something else that needs to be reformed: me. To say the least, I am a work in progress.

Part of my reformation takes place as I learn new things, some of which are disturbing and challenging. Right now (and for some time), I am a little overwhelmed by what I am learning about the modern day slave trade. To be honest, up until a few years ago, I didn't even know slavery still existed on any kind of large scale. In reality, most estimates say there are about 27 million slaves worldwide. Go here to see a world map that breaks down slavery stats across the globe.

The bad news is that many women and children are trafficked across borders, including our own, for the commercial sex trade. More bad news is that forced labor exists in many places to produce items consumed here. Even more bad news is that the amount of exploitation and abuse of these slaves is enormous. It is almost too much to take in. It is easy to feel that there is nothing I could do to make a difference.

BUT...there is good news! There are organizations and ministries working hard on behalf of those enslaved. These groups are getting smarter and more efficient. Churches are beginning to collaborate to counter this problem like never before. Individuals are networking with businesses, law enforcement, and each other to educate people, leverage resources, and promote peace and freedom. I was privileged to attend my first Allies Against Slavery meeting here in Austin earlier this month. I can promise you there are great people making sacrifices to help others.

I personally cannot think of anything else that could be more to the heart of Jesus than setting people free. So, as terrible as the current state of affairs is, I am hopeful that we can make a difference. I believe we can lift people out of devastation and introduce them to a joyful future. I am confident that I will have less slaves working for me in 2014.

What I Am Against

In addition to the two previous posts, I do want to concede that it is perfectly all right to follow Jesus and still be against some things. So, here is our list of what we want to prevent or eliminate. We don't want to be associated with any of these characteristics, although many religious organizations often are.

(In no particular order)
condemnation
lust
hate
despair
deception
judgement
rage
brokenness
greed
hostility
discouragement
sin
injustice
strife
exploitation
evil
death
envy
abuse
discord
hypocrisy
jealousy
bondage
shame
arrogance

What I Stand For

As a follow up to my previous post, here is the answer to the question, "What do we stand for?" (Recently, our simple church group did this exercise of brainstorming the things that we want to promote and be known for, things that we would associate with Jesus. The list below is what we came up with.)

hope
wisdom
wholeness
patience
respect
justice
encouragement
gentleness
grace
honor
mercy
beauty
self-control
faithfulness
freedom
truth
love
righteousness
peace
kindness
dignity
purity
goodness
unity
life
joy
reconciliation
courage
integrity
trust
humility
faith
healing
compassion

What would your list look like?

Click on image to see the list in another format.

Measuring Success - Baptism

Metric #4: Altar Calls vs. Baptisms

When it came time at the end of each year to submit the pastoral report to the district where I served, one of the blanks I struggled to fill in the most was the number of new church members marked by “professions of faith.” I don't mean to come across as though "altar calls" and "invitations" should be abandoned. There is a time and place for them. Presenting the gospel and being honest about who Jesus is, then praying with someone to accept Him, is nothing to take lightly and it can be a glorious thing. However, it should also be noted that the concept of the "sinner's prayer" has actually only been around for the last couple centuries. Altar calls and invitations were not the modus operandi for "winning souls" in the New Testament. We can make claims about their efficacy in our cultural context, but let's not boast that they are biblical or how things must be done. It's simply not true.

There was, interestingly enough, a very specific method used over and over again. Jesus Himself explicitly taught, modeled, and commanded that it be carried out by His disciples. Of course, I am referring to baptism!

 

Somehow we have lost sight (I know I have) of the significance of baptizing people. In fact, the Great Commission directs us to baptize people as part of the process of making disciples, yet think about how many denominations and churches actually have rules in place that discourage, or worse prohibit, ordinary (non-clergy) believers from performing that very act! Truthfully, baptisms should be carried out by all kinds of Christians!

There is nothing fancy about this metric. If you, as an individual or group, are not participating in baptisms, then there is probably very little to your claim that you are making disciples. I want to note two things as I conclude this point. First, this is definitely a "lagging indicator" for my involvement with the simple church. I have yet to baptize anyone and the people I often meet with haven't either. This is a confession that I need to do better at embracing this shift in thinking and acting as the church. Second, I want to be clear that I am not saying that a person must be baptized to be saved. Getting wet doesn't make one holy. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there is some kind of connection between salvation and the powerful symbol of baptism. To dismiss that reality is to our own detriment.

What would changing the scorecard in this area look like in your context?

What are our children and youth learning about baptism from us?

 

Measuring Success - Making Disciples

Metric #3: Building Churches vs. Making Disciples

Most of my "professional ministry" was spent learning about the process of building, or planting, churches. There is a lot that goes into launching a new congregation. It is often time-consuming and very expensive. Interestingly, for all our training on how to build churches, the Bible never orders us to build a single church. In fact, Jesus declares that He will build His own church! When we get into the church-building business, we usurp the Messiah's authority and things can get ugly very quickly. We are not meant to build a church, but simply BE the church (ekklesia - "called out ones") that He builds. Furthermore, it wouldn't hurt for us to read the multiple occasions in the Bible in which God explicitly says He will not reside in a house or temple made by human hands. We do people, especially children, a disservice sometimes when we teach that there is a certain way to speak and act in "the house of the Lord." Theologically speaking, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit! WE are the church. The Church is a WHO, not a WHAT. It is our identity as Christ-followers, not something separate from us.

 

So, if we are not meant to be driven to build or plant churches (which is language still used in the Simple Church, by the way), then do we have another mandate? Yes, we do! The Great Commission tells us that Jesus directs His disciples to "go and make disciples." Making disciples does not necessarily entail planting a church (although it can). Making disciples involves planting Jesus in the lives of others. Another way of looking at this is to think of planting the seeds of the gospel in the different situations that present themselves. Making disciples is usually much more relational and relevant than church planting endeavors, and it is often much messier and more raw, too. Making disciples usually depends much more on God's direction and intervention than church planting, which is sadly often reduced to human planning and man-made strategies.

The question before the simple church in considering this measure, is, "What is a disciple?" We must wrestle with what it means to be a disciple, and how to reproduce our faith in those around us. One thing to keep in mind with this metric is that while a churchgoer can be a disciple, it should not be assumed that one automatically equates with the other.

What will changing the scorecard with this measure look like in your context?

What are the ramifications for children if the church shifts its focus in this area?

 

Measuring Success - Sending Capacity

Metric #1 - Seating Capacity vs. Sending Capacity

 

Conventional church structures are largely measured with one question: How many people are coming to our stuff? In other words, seating capacity is a priority. The aim is to fill seats, or pews, and use that metric to determine effectiveness. If a church can say it is "drawing a crowd" and have the numbers to back it up, then it is viewed as successful. Over the last decade, I have been to more than enough conferences, retreats, and seminars to know this absolutely is the case. Church growth models and methods have become an industry unto themselves in recent years in our part of the world (as can be seen by some of the hyperlinks I've included within these posts). Making a congregation larger, by whatever means necessary, has become the prime directive of many church leaders. I have been personally entrenched in this mindset before.

To change the scorecard to what we believe is a much healthier metric, we attempt to measure our effectiveness by our sending capacity instead of our seating capacity. Now, rather than counting how many people are coming, the key indicator is how many people are GOING. The church is meant to be missional, on the move; a living, breathing organism. Therefore, the church is people - followers of Jesus - that are influencing the world in which they live. A critical shift, then, is to move from judging ourselves by how often we are taking people out of their natural contexts, such as work, home, school, the marketplace, etc. so that they can have "church" experiences; and move to judging ourselves by how effectively we are equipping one another to minister and serve IN their natural contexts, like at their job, in their marriage, on their campus, with their neighbor, and other arenas of life. Wouldn’t this be a more common sense, real life approach?

 

 

How can we consider the questions that need to be asked to keep an active, "going", missional practice at the forefront. While many conventional churches work to avoid what are called "growth barriers" (those obstacles to certain levels of congregation size), simple churches are most effective when they are working to overcome "impact barriers" (obstacles that interfere with missional living in various real-life contexts). We want to address what it is that is preventing us from making an impact in our community and in our ordinary, everyday lives.

It is also important to realize that bigger is not always better, and 'mega' is not always the ideal. The truth is that Jesus usually had much more intimate interactions with people. The early churches that we know of in the New Testament met in homes mostly. Clearly, there is a connection between 2 or 3 (or 12 or a household) and spiritual growth. In other words, my argument is that a group of 4-5 believers that are effectively serving in their world and living out their faith on mission is far more effective and biblical than a church of 400-500 attendees that are doing little more than showing up for services. In the words of Amy Grant's recent song, sometimes there are other things "better than a Hallelujah."

What would a new scorecard in this area look like in your context?

What would shifting from “seating capacity” to “sending capacity” as a priority mean in terms of how we disciple our children and youth?