Turn your life around

 Dr. Tim Clinton was one of my doctoral professors at Liberty Theological Seminary. He is a professor of counseling and pastoral care and the president of the American Association of Christian Counselors. The class I took under him focused on family care. About half-way through the first class day I asked if this material was offered in any other degree program than the DMin. He answered it was not, and I said that was a shame because I had learned more in two hours about ministering to families than I had learned in my entire life. I have since bought several of his books and found each of them very beneficial.

In Turn Your Life Around Clinton discusses about how our past can and does keep us from enjoying life to the fullest. We all know that life does not always turn out the way we had hoped. Marriages fail, people lose their jobs, the economy falters, illness takes over one's life, and the list goes on. At these transition points in a person's life they have to make some choices. Some will choose to rise above them and move forward with their lives. Others will fall into addictive behaviors that can have destructive consequences.

We have become an addictive society. We usually think of addictions that involve drugs, alcohol, sex,  pornography, gambling and the like. But in today's world people also can become addicted to technology, shopping (retail therapy), work, power, the pursuit of success and wealth, and this list goes on as well. Even religion and serving in a church can fall into this line-up of addictive behaviors. Clinton notes that each of these are often attempts to replace the God who disappointed us by allowing the bad things to come into our lives.

The good news is that anyone who finds themselves in this path of destructive behavior can be set free. This freedom, Clinton believes, can only come when we develop healthy attachments to God and to other people. Just because one is a Christian does not mean that he or she enjoys a healthy attachment to God. For many Christians, God is Someone they think about on Sunday mornings but seldom at any other time. What marriage would work if a spouse only thought about his or her partner one hour a week? That relationship would surely not survive, or, at least, it would not be the kind of relationship that would help one through difficult times. Clinton offers some helpful suggestions for how to grow in our attachment to God.

There's more good news. Clinton writes, "I should warn you that true transformation usually occurs in the middle of pain and life's adversities." True change in one's life is often found in the painful times in our lives. I don't know about you, but I do know this is true for me: I have grown much more during hard times than I ever did when everything was going well. 

The church as missionaries

 The church in North America, as we know it, is currently involved in a major transition. For the past two or three decades we have believed that we were still at the center of life for most people. That wasn't true, but we preferred to believe it was. As a result of our confusion, we were surprised that our numbers were decreasing as well as our impact on society. Many were challenging our mistaken beliefs by pointing out that the traditional church was dying, but many of us refused to listen. Our refusal to listen has resulted in approximately 100 churches in the US closing its doors every week.

We failed to recognize that God was calling His church to once again become missionaries into its community. America is no longer a Christian nation, if it ever was. We are a rapidly emerging pagan society (my favorite way of looking at our nation today) that desperately needs missionaries to proclaim the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that connects with our current generation.

This will require that we explore new ways of understanding the life of the church in today's postmodern world. We can no longer hide behind the walls of our "sanctuaries" singing our hymns and praying the same prayers we have prayed for years and believing we are doing the work of the Kingdom. I am convinced that in 2024 God is calling His church to become missionaries to the communities in which it serves. This means that today's church must reinvent itself.

First, we must stop thinking of ourselves as simply churches that gather once a week, listen to a sermon, sing a few songs and return home inspired to eat lunch. Churches today must begin to see themselves as mission stations placed in the midst of this rapidly emerging pagan society to proclaim the saving message of Jesus Christ. Likewise, church members can no longer be content to view themselves as just members of a church but to recognize that God has called them to be missionaries in their community. God has given them spiritual gifts that are to be used to minister to others, and every member of every church must begin to use those gifts as missionaries.

Secondly, we must recognize that the culture we are called to reach is often much different than the one in which we were raised. The music is different, the worldview is different, the beliefs about truth and morality are different, the way they pursue spirituality is different. We can complain about these differences or we can adjust how we minister to this younger generation in a way that recognizes these differences.

Throughout church history the music has undergone many changes. Most traditional churches that sing from their hymnbooks fail to recognize that some of those songs were quite controversial when they first appeared. Many traditional churches today want to protect traditional hymns from being replaced by more contemporary music and fail to realize that these traditional hymns were once viewed as a scandalous attempt to replace "true" Christian worship. That fact is that there are many great worship songs today that will speak much more to today's culture than the ones written in the 1800s found in our hymn books.

Any time a missionary enters a new mission field, he or she must adapt themselves to that culture. That is not compromise; it is a simple acceptance that they have entered a new culture. They must learn to eat new food, listen to the music preferences of the people, learn new languages, identify the cultural practices of the people and learn how to best present the Gospel to this mission field in light of what they have learned.

The church in North American can do no less if we are to be faithful to our calling to reach this current generation.

Training for bivocational ministers

 About the second or third month of my time as a Regional Minister in our Region our Executive Minister notified me that we had a training program for lay leaders, and it was part of my portfolio responsibilities. He further said, "It's broke, fix it."

I scheduled a meeting with the committee that oversaw that program and soon learned why it was broken. After a couple more meetings we determined it was broken beyond repair and needed to be replaced with something new. Some of the people left the original committee, and I was able to bring new people on board. After several months we developed the Church Leadership Institute, a two-year program of study for anyone in a church leadership position. We set a date for starting the program, and decided if we had 10 people register we would consider it a success. That first class began with 30 people registered!

When the first group neared the end of their two-year program they kept asking, "What's next?" We went back to the drawing board and designed another year of classes making 15 classes total if someone wanted to complete all three years.

Although the program was originally designed for church lay leaders, we found many of our bivocational pastors began taking the classes as well. In fact, for those who completed all three years we awarded them a Diploma in Pastoral Ministries. Many of the bivocational pastors in our region received their training through our CLI program. We even had the occasional bivocational pastor from adjacent states attend our program driving three hours each way to attend classes. By any measure, CLI was a tremendous success for our region. But, it has ended.

Our region has entered into a partnership with Kairos University-Sioux Falls Seminary to provide leadership training for our pastors and lay leaders. A former colleague of mine is the dean of this program so I know it will be highly successful. I don't know why the region made the decision to switch from CLI to this opportunity, but I know it was done for the right reasons.

It's been an interesting few months since learning that CLI, which was such an important part of my ministry when I served as a Resource Minister, was being replaced. While I know all things come to an end and need to be replaced by something better, I also know how it feels when changes are made in a church that makes the current members uncomfortable. I'm currently serving as a Transitional Pastor in a church that needs to make a number of changes. I know exactly how some of that congregation will feel when changes are made because I know what I felt seeing CLI ended.

I want to make something very clear. All things must come to an end. CLI served its purpose for its time, but when something better came along it was right to make the change. For anyone invested in something, that change can be hard. We pastors who want to come in and change things need to understand that. We sometimes complain that people are being difficult when we try to make needed changes; we need to understand they are not being difficult, they are hurting. Something meaningful has been taken from them. While they may understand the need for the change, that doesn't make it any less painful.

The good news is that our region continues to provide training for its bivocational ministers and lay leaders. While I have not talked to anyone from the region, I assume this is open to anyone who wants to enroll in this training. I could encourage you to check out that web page for the American Baptist Churches of Indiana and Kentucky to learn more about the program. There are also a number of schools such as Campbellsville University that also offers an educational program for bivocational ministers. 

When I began as a bivocational pastor in 1981 these types of training opportunities were very limited. Now that many of these are online, there is no reason that every bivocational pastor doesn't take advantage of the oppotunties.

Don't rest on your success

 I recently read a quote from John Maxwell that said "Don't rest on the best - build on the best." That is a powerful thought for every church leader. Several years ago a small church completed a building project that exceeded what many outside that church thought possible. It was a great accomplishment. At the dedication service they were challenged to celebrate their achievement today, but tomorrow they needed to discern a fresh vision from God. It appears they did not as they have remained stuck ever since. Had they built on the momentum they had from completing the building project there is no telling what else they could have accomplished.

Go into many smaller churches in the area in which I live and you might find a wall covered with pictures from the past of large crowds who attended church homecomings or other special events. One has to wonder how that many people could have fit in that small building. Now, there may be no more than two or three dozen people attending the worship service. Those pictures are a reminder of the glory days of the church. They are something to celebrate, but those days are long past. They are no more than a memory to a handful of people. Rather than building on those best days of the church, they remain stuck in the present circumstances of being in a dying church that long ago ceased to have the impact it once had.

My advice for any church that is stuck and uncertain what to do is to begin seeking a vision from God. From that vision, identify some goals that will help you achieve the vision. If your church has not enjoyed much success lately I encourage you to set some small goals at first. Help the congregation get some wins under their belt. Celebrate those wins! I've often said we Baptists don't celebrate enough. Celebrate, but then begin to set a new goal, one that will stretch you just a little bit more. When that goal is reached, celebrate some more. Continue to repeat the cycle. Suddenly, you will find that you are achieving more than you possibly might have thought possible. Let every victory stretch you and your congregation a little more, and every time you achieve something, build upon that.

Will every goal be reached? No. Will you enjoy success every time you set out to do something? No, and that's OK. I would rather fail occasionally trying to accomplish something for God that sit around doing nothing but complain about how great it was in the "good old days." Failure gives us an opportunity to learn. Just as we should build on our successes, we should also build upon our failures.

I firmly believe that unless a church gives up and decides to remain in the rut, that the best days of every church are yet to be lived. The church belongs to God, and it is the instrument He has chosen to use to further His kingdom here on earth. It might look like the church is in trouble today, but I will tell you that the world has yet to see what God is going to do through His church. If you want your church to be greatly used by God, don't rest on your successes but build upon them. If you do, you will be amazed at how God will use your church.

The post-pandemic church

 Nobody really knew what to do when Covid began to spread like wildfire. Hospitals around the world were overflowing with patients. Morgues were set up in refrigerated trucks due to the many deaths attributed to the virus. First, we were told that masks were not helpful in stopping the spread of Covid; later they became mandatory to enter a public building. Businesses were shut down, and some never reopened. The CDC changed its recommendations so many times that many people quit listening to them. Nursing home residents died with no family present due to the strict restrictions in place that prohibited family visiting their loved ones. People were quarantined in their homes requiring family members to leave groceries near the front door so their loved ones could get them without exposing anyone to Covid. Not only were businesses forced to close their doors, so were churches and many other public institutions.

Because of Covid many pastors found themselves almost overnight becoming televangelists. Churches that had no media presence scrambled to create a Facebook page or a Youtube account so a worship service, or at least a sermon, could be viewed by the congregation. Some pastors hoped the crisis would soon be over, not only to spare more people the impact of Covid, but so the church could return to normal. Normal never happened, nor are we likely to ever return to a pre-Covid normal. What we must do is to adjust to a new normal.

Thom Ranier wrote a wonderful little book titled The Post-Quarantine Church that lists six challenges and opportunities for the church post-Covid. Among the helpful thoughts he presents is a discussion that churches are now dealing with three groups of people. He calls them the digital-only, the digitally transitioning and the dual citizens.

The digital-only are those folks that will never return to in-person worship services. Some are physically unable to do so; others remain fearful of Covid. I recently spoke to someone who remains concerned about Covid, especially since it seems to have re-introduced itself although in a milder form. I know people who continue to wear masks in public even though it is now admitted that the masks never did protect anyone from Covid. If churches desire to include these folks in their worship services, they will have to continue to provide an online presence.

The digitally-transitioning continue to connect to the church primarily through social media. They may be a part of a small group, but they typically do not attend in-person worship services. However, they are open to doing so in the future. It is necessary to keep them connected to the church until they decide it's safe to return to live services.

Dual-citizens are connected to the church both through the media and through attending live worship services. The church may find that these folks are not regular in attending in-person worship services, but they are faithful in viewing those services online. I served one church as their Transitional Pastor  that offered the service live online and later downloaded it to their FB page. One member was a truck driver who often found himself on the other side of the country on Sunday mornings. Every time that happened he watched the service on his smart phone and faithfully attended the service when he was home. He stayed connected to the church through social media.

The challenge for the church is how will it relate to each of these groups? If the church does not have a digital presence, it will be unable to relate to any of these groups. The reality is that some people will never return to in-person worship services but will be faithful in watching those services online. Will your church choose to ignore those persons?

Lead by example

 Several years ago our denomination had a capital funds campaign to raise money to increase our mission presence around the world. I was chosen to be one who would contact a certain number of churches and encourage them to support this effort. We were trained and had monthly meetings to determine our progress. If I remember correctly, I had about a dozen churches and only had a couple who refused to participate. (That's not bad for Baptist churches!)

After the campaign started we had one of our monthly meetings, and the national coordinator was asking each of us to share how we were progressing. Most of us gave a fairly positive report, but one said that not a single church he had was willing to support the effort. The coordinator asked how much money the church he pastored was giving, and he replied they would not support it. The coordinator then asked how much he personally was giving, and the man admitted he wasn't giving anything either. The coordinator then explained to him, and to all  of us, that if this pastor gave anything, his church would be on record as a participating church, but if he wasn't personally willing to support the effort he should not expect any of his churches to support it either. The room was very quiet! My report came after his, and I was glad to report that nearly all of my churches had pledged to support the campaign.

When the campaign was first announced each church received a recommended goal to consider. Our goal was rather high for our church, but I asked our church to adopt it. We did so, and when the final figures came in we had surpassed that goal nearly four times! I was so proud of my people!!

When one accepts a position of leadership, he or she takes on major responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is that we are expected to lead by example. The pastor I mentioned above failed to do that. I do not know his reasons, but because he was not committed to the campaign, none of the churches that had been assigned to him felt any need to support it either.

I was tickled when I heard that at a finance committee meeting in our church when they were discussing my salary one of the members of the committee remarked that, "Whatever we give Dennis we know we're going to get 10 percent of it back." She was right. Every Sunday when the offering was taken I placed our check in the plate rather than letting my wife do it. I wanted the congregation to see that we were doing exactly what I was teaching when I spoke about stewardship.

Shortly before I left that church to accept another ministry position we began building an addition to the building. I was there every Saturday to help with the work. I am the first to admit that I am not very skilled at building anything, but I am a good go-fer. For me, it was important that I be there doing what I could even if was just sweeping up the dust. I never want to ask anyone to do something I won't do. We had very talented men and women willing to help build this addition, and I wanted to be there to help anyway I could.

We lead by example.

Supporting mission work

 When I began serving a small, rural church as their bivocational minister I soon learned they did not have a lot of money. Their budget was very small, and they weren't meeting it. But one thing I learned surprised me: they gave 10 percent of their offering to our denomination's mission fund to support mission work around the world. I was not only surprised; I was elated. One of my firm beliefs is that God supports churches that supports missions. Even when money was tight, we tithed our offering to the denomination's mission work.

God did bless us financially, and a few years later I asked the congregation to consider increasing that support to 15 percent of our offering. We would do it one percent a year over five years so it would not be such a big jump at one time. They agreed to do that, and when I finally left that church to begin serving in a judicatory role that little church of 55 people was giving over $12,000.00 a year to mission work plus we were supporting all four of the special mission offerings our denomination had. In fact, a year after I left, the church gave $14,000.00 to mission work while building a $200,000.00 addition to the building without borrowing a dime! Before you decide that this church must have consisted of a few wealthy people let me assure you that was not the case. The majority of our congregation were retired or blue collar workers. Few had a college education. To my knowledge there was no one in the congregation that would be called wealthy.

I might add that we also supported local mission work. We gave money each quarter to the Salvation Army for their food pantry. That made more sense than us trying to offer a food pantry where we were located. As I told the congregation, I will be comfortable recommending people to the SA food pantry if we are helping support it. We also made a quarterly contribution to the local youth shelter which provided a place for troubled youth rather than sending them to jail. We saw that as an important local ministry.

If a church is going to teach tithing, it must model tithing. I can think of no better way to do that than to support those who serve in mission fields around the world and the US. While our denomination still takes mission offerings, it also requires our missionaries to raise their own support. Many churches now support individual missionaries which makes a lot of sense. When they come home on furlough they are available to speak to those churches who are supporting them. That can make an important connection between the missionary and the supporting churches.

As I close, I am going to challenge you. If the small church I served can tithe its offerings each week to their denomination's mission work, so can every church. Does yours? Are you teaching your people to tithe but not tithing what your church is receiving every week? Our missionaries deserve our support, and I would encourage you to provide it. Remember, God blesses those churches who honors missions.