I would like to thank those who involved in the preparation of the Christmas Celebration Dinner last night. Your assistance, thoughtful ideas and generosity are greatly appreciated. I trust that the Holy Spirit will make use of every opportunity to inspire His people. We are so blessed to be part of what God is doing in our generation. Let us continue to Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All and keep advancing His Kingdom. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. May we learn to live together and share the joy and harmony God intended for all of His people at Christmas time and throughout the year.
From the monthly archives:
December 2008
Folks – please take a moment to respond to this survey for mosaic if you haven’t already.
I get inspired by reading the article “Mission Shift or Drift” from the recent Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/fall/7.23.html. The article is the analysis of the survey done by Leadership in May 2008 asking nearly 700 evangelical pastors how their perceptions of the gospel and mission currently compare with their understanding a decade ago. The results clearly indicate that pastors’ attitudes and beliefs are shifting. As a member of Mosaic community, I am pleased to share this article with you and hope that you will get inspired too. The followings are the highlight:
· The Christian life has to be demonstrated, not just explained.
Whatever the particular cause for the shift in these pastors’ ideas regarding the gospel and mission, five changes are gaining momentum in congregations all across the country:
Affirming the whole gospel
Not looking to a megachurch model
Focusing on making disciples
Encouraging a missional mindset as a means of spiritual formation
Establishing partnerships to advance the gospel.
- From proclamation to demonstration
A consistent theme emerging from the survey is the belief that previous descriptions of the gospel were incomplete. “We have emphasized that you pray a prayer and you’re saved, to our detriment,” says Platt. “Matthew 7 haunts me. To many the Lord will say, ‘I don’t know you.’ I want people to know the gospel fully, that the reality of what happens at the point of conversion is the beginning of a process in which we experience the fruit of Christ in us.”
- From mega to mini
In 2007, the Willow Creek Association released a study entitled “REVEAL: Where are You?” a survey of more than 400 churches representing hundreds of thousands of church attendees. The findings were surprising enough that even the Wall Street Journal took notice. Dale Buss wrote:
“This shift constitutes a megadevelopment in the world of megachurches. For over 30 years, Willow Creek grew explosively thanks to its obliqueness toward Sabbath-day orthodoxy and quickly became the standard-bearer of a powerful new movement in evangelical Christianity. Thousands of churches sprang up in its wake and grew the same way. But recent market research showed Willow Creek’s leadership that some great weaknesses lay beneath the surface even while average weekend attendance had grown to 23,000 people. . . . . .
- From programs to people
Another shift is the growing emphasis on spiritual maturity, not just conversions. Pastors surveyed are pouring more energy into disciple-making even at the expense of programs previously considered sacred cows. For The Church at Brook Hills’ Platt, disciple-making is at the core of the church’s vision.
“We are trying to take everything we’ve been doing and focus on one thing, which is to make disciples of all nations,” he said. For example, the church recently cut its long-established Vacation Bible School program, and instead . . . .
- From Sunday to everyday
Compared to ten years ago, today’s pastors say they increasingly see disciple-making and meaningfully engaging the world as not merely ancillary expressions of faith, but . . . .
- From competition to cooperation
Another shift evident in the Leadership survey is the growing belief that partnerships are a critical means by which churches can reach their communities with the gospel. At Grays’s church in Atlanta, partnerships abound with numerous other Christian and secular entities.
“We partner with Bank of America to feed the homeless each month. We partner with other churches every month to do a House of Prayer, and in fact before we even planted the church, every person in the Atlanta phone book had been prayed for by ourselves and our partner churches,” Grays said.
“Our partners get as much if not more than what they put in,” Grays explains. “One of our partner churches is giving us $1,000 a month for the next three years, as they want to use us as an avenue for their people to be mobilized for missional activity. Their people come and help us in the city, then they go back to their churches and spread their new excitement for serving.”
- Caution ahead
Pastors interviewed for this article expressed notes of warning that we not be too reactionary in our opinions, resulting in healthy shifts becoming unhealthy overcorrections. For example, Jonathan Leeman, director of communications for 9Marks.org, an organization that helps churches develop biblical models of ministry, believes that a number of caveats need to be made before determining whether these shifts are good.. . . .
Perhaps the greatest challenge for today’s pastors comes in the form of a congregation that does not understand or support the leader’s changing perspective. The Leadership survey discovered that many pastors see a gap between their understanding of the gospel and church’s mission and the congregation’s view of the gospel and mission. We should expect leaders to be a few steps ahead of their people on these matters, but . . . .
There are similar changes have happened in the community of Mosaic if you are aware of it. It is important for us to participate in this spiritual movement which the Holy Spirit has inspired the pastors and church leaders in our generation. We should also be aware of the unhealthy overcorrections mentioned above. Basically, I trust God is actually doing in churches no matter they are large and small, attractional and missional. What do you think?
