Evangelism and Assimilation into the Baptist Association

From Creation to Consummation the Story of God is about evangelism. As soon as sin enters the picture, God is looking for man to provide redemption and place him into kingdom service. As man experiences salvation and shares it with someone else he is engaged in evangelism.

Evangelism is seen in the life of the Patriarchs and the Prophets. Initially, Jesus called twelve men to bear the Good News of Salvation from God and Service to God. He poured His life into them and gave these disciples a commission: “Go into the entire world…” He taught them that the effectiveness of this global enterprise would be to mimic His servant spirit, stating: “Even the Son of Man, [came] to serve and give His life a ransom for many.”

Dr. Luke, a Gentile, wrote in the Book of Acts, three stories about conversion, portraying God’s unique desire for Global evangelization. God saves someone from the line of the three sons of Noah, seen in three chronological chapters -- Acts 8, 9, 10. These stories show there is a reciprocal dependence between God and us to do evangelism.

The Apostle Paul used the word “gospel” sixty-seven times in the thirteen epistles. His writing revealed his heart’s desire for people: “That I might by all means save some.” The actions of the great apostle are cog and wheel of the Christian’s task to perform evangelism.

Four times the Apostle Peter used the word “gospel” to show that man’s destiny hinges upon the preaching, hearing, receiving, and living out this eternal message.

Why is evangelism necessary? It is necessary because of sin and eternity. Evangelism is necessary because of the Atonement of Christ, or else He died in vain, and because every man has faith, which will either be misplaced in something or placed perfectly and effectively in the Lord Jesus Christ. Evangelism is the key to helping man find hope.

Christian faith is a doing faith. It is not simply, believing something, but, believing something that makes a difference, first in me then in someone else through me. The Christian faith must be conserved in the ones converted. How? By assimilation into the church. This is “A MUST!”

Jesus said, “I am the Vine and you are the Branches.” That is assimilation. Jesus called Himself Head of a Body, and referred to His disciples as the “parts” of His body. That is assimilation.

There is a cost to this work of assimilation - time, energy and resources. Time must be spent with the new convert to teach the fundamentals of the faith and show him how to live the Christian life. Emotional energy has to be expended to weep with them and laugh with them. Many new converts make a decision in crisis, which does not end by becoming Christian. So the soul winner must be willing to share the burden. This means meeting physical needs and other needs which demand our own resources. Bags of groceries, clothes for the body and even for a new job, a car to begin that new job, hospital bills for a new baby rescued from an abortion mill, and other such things are costly if we do personal evangelism.

Many barriers are erected which prevent new converts from being assimilated: lack of discipleship; laziness; having a jealous spirit; the size of the church; age – both youth and seniority; prematurity; geography; mindsets; duty or requirements.

Assimilation into the church is one thing; assimilation into the world (vineyard) is another. It is essential to get the new Christian merged into the Body of Christ, functioning with Spiritual gifts and serving Christ alongside fellow believers. It is also essential to get the new Christian to merge his life into the world, into the market place and be a witness to others. Herein is the value of the Baptist Association.

One great challenge to doing this is materialism. The new Christian has to deal with the issue of who owns what and who controls what. The Lordship of Christ must be taught for effective assimilation into the world. A second challenge is lack of prayer. Many a new Christian fails to realize the need for dependence upon God for ALL that is done for Him. They must be taught that prayer is the power supply and preparation for being assimilated into the body and into the world.

And Jesus said, “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.”

Dr. Ben Chandler, Associational Missionary
St.Clair Baptist Association
Ashville, AL

An Urgent Plea to Listen

It's a good thing that Jesus led by example. Where did we lose the ability to follow His model in evangelism. His example for evangelism was through relationships and not a three point sermon and a fancy poem. Don't misunderstand me, I am certified and trained in a variety of witnessing tools but none of those tools are very helpful without a relationship to "lost" people. Sometime we are motivated by a self-imposed quota for souls. How many have I won? We think of every possible way to share Jesus, when Jesus shared Himself by being himself in relationships.

I wonder what people outside of the church and Christian relationships think about all of our methods and approaches? Could this woman represent what they think?

bobby gilstrap, Director of Missions
Huron & Southeastern Baptist Associations
Michigan

Missionary Directions Today

Message Delivered at the
2009 National Convocation on Associations
by David Smith, Director of Missions
Austin Baptist Association, Texas

In the fall of ‘99, while serving on the DOM search committee for the Austin Baptist Association, I was captured by the impact that an Association could have on a geographical area. That realization and the amazing opportunity for Kingdom expansion is what excited me to accept the role of Director of Missions.

One of the men I invited to prayer with me, for God’s direction, described this position as God giving me the opportunity to paint on a larger canvas. My translation of this pictorial image was that I would continue doing what God had commanded me to do, namely the Great Commission (making disciples), but in this role I would involve myself on a larger scale.

So, the question becomes, how does disciple making become the core of what I do in giving leadership to my association? And, what does disciple-making look like from the view of a DOM?
While the Great-Commission of Christ should stand at the foundation of every believer, church, and Christian entity, today I invite you to look back at a text that pre-figures the Great Commission.

In Luke’s gospel, we see Jesus first sending out the 12 (Ch. 9), and in Ch. 10 we read that he commissioned another 70. Luke 10:1-9 (NAS)

1Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. 2And He was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. 3"Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4"Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. 5"Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.' 6"If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7"Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. 8"Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'

So, why another group, and why 70?

The OT background is clearly Genesis 10-11. In these chapters, we read of the 70 nations that represent “the world” at that time. Luke is pointing out Jesus’ intention for the worldwide (gentile) mission.

A second reference to 70 chosen is in Numbers 11:16-17 Moses is commanded by God to select 70 men, in whom God would pour His spirit. These men would help Moses carry his role in leading the children of Israel.

We don’t have to decide which of the two backgrounds works here. Luke probably intended both. Jesus as the second Moses is calling a new taskforce of laborers whom he appoints to share His responsibilities.

Jesus’ canvas now expands to more than Israel, He is prefiguring a worldwide horizon, and in that sense, this text prepares us for the Great Commission.

How would we segment the world today? There are now at least 194 recognized countries. 6,912 languages spoken. 16,351 people groups. (Of those people groups 6,641 are considered unreached)

As DOM’s, Disciplers Of Many - How do we cast a vision for our Associations to join in the task of Discipling an entire world?

1. By seeing the largeness of the harvest.

If anyone is in a position to see the harvest, we are that person. We have been called upon to paint on a larger canvas than one local church. What is the reach of our Association of churches?

This agricultural image is used to show urgency.

What does your vision of the horizon include? Do you see the harvest? Is it large? Jesus saw it larger than the disciples realized it.

The University of Texas has a motto – “What starts in Texas changes the world” How tragic if a state University were to have a greater vision for changing the world than we do.

How are you presenting the vision of lostness to the churches in your area?

In Austin, it has been estimated that 90 - 95% of the population does not attend church.

Of the 1.2 million people, living in Austin, only 1.727% or 20,730 people attended a Southern Baptist Church last year. (170 SBC churches)

Catching a vision for discipling our Associations would translate into transformed lives, strengthened churches, and new church plants or simply the advancement of the Great Commission.

2. By praying ...

a. For more workers: Interestingly, Jesus told them not only to see the harvest, but also to see the workers: they are few

Even though this is the second sending, of “another 70”, the laborers are still not enough. Why didn’t Jesus just send more?

The reason Jesus didn’t send more is because he was building his Kingdom on reproduction. The disciples He sent would disciple the next generation of disciples

All of a sudden, these rookie laborers are entrusted to ask for more laborers. It is not simply about praying for more, but it’s about an attitude of responsibility.

And instead of praying for an easier job, they are to pray for more laborers to join them. It is not a call for more spectators to pray for more laborers… those that are doing are to pray.

b. For a missionary mindset. We can encourage missionary thinking in our churches, which will impact our cities, our states, and our world.

Missionaries take the church to the city instead of asking the city to come to the church. They incarnate the gospel. Make it real, tangible, like Jesus. They get on common cultural ground and ask everyday questions in order to offer concrete, gospel answers.

The missionary thinker asks several questions:

• What is it like to be an Austenite and not to believe in Jesus?
• Where is our city broken and how can the gospel address the need?

I get the sense that if praying to God for more laborers would indeed be the burden of our hearts, we would have greater effectiveness in helping others see the lostness of our cities, and the opportunities for harvest.

c. For a capital "K" Kingdom mindset

When our churches begin to see themselves as part of a larger body of believers they can then really begin to engage an area for transformation.

I think it important and timely to point out that the association does not exist to keep the churches “engaged” with “the association”. We exist to help churches be “engaged” in the harvest.

One of the ways we accomplish this engagement is to create an environment where the churches work together. The Associational staff or leadership works to facilitate this network.

The churches of the ABA work together on 3 distinct fronts.

1. In the area of church strengthening, we encourage the churches to take active ownership in growing one another. We empower the churches to do the training.

For example, a church requests training for their children’s workers. We ask the requesting church to host the training and we will bring in children’s leaders from sister churches (who are excelling in this area) to provide the training. In this case, we brought in Bannockburn Baptist church that has an outstanding Children’s program. In turn, the host church will open its doors to any church needing help in this area.

2. In the area of church planting. We have said that every participating church will partner to plant a new church every 3 years. This might mean that a larger church provides a bigger portion in the area of financial resources but that a smaller church might provide prayer support or help with smaller ticket items.

We have even had smaller churches, like Skyview Baptist, that have so catch the vision that they have deeded their church building back to the Association as a incubator for new church starts. The original group though small continues to meet but have agreed to move to a smaller area like a fellowship hall to allow the largest group meeting to have the sanctuary and the prime time. This is our Legacy Church plan. At the newly named Skyview Ministry Center, we now have four congregations meeting rather than just one.

3. Finally, we as an Association have said that we want to be about City transformation. This means that we will partner with other Kingdom minded, Evangelical churches to see Austin changed for the cause of Christ.

As a result of the issues faced with the Katrina Hurricane, the city of Austin has asked that the Faith Based Community take on the role of directing the 88 shelters in Austin. Because of the geographical distribution of churches they felt we might be the best equipped to handle future catastrophes. Thru prayer, God lead Daniel Geraci, a member of a non-denominational church in the city to lead what we have established as the Austin Disaster Relief Network. ADRN. It is made up of over 100 participating churches whose primary task is to serve the city and refugees in the event of a natural disaster. Taking on this challenge has put the Faith Based community in the Command and control center. We believe that we can reach a city through service. (This seems right in line with the Lk. 10 sending)

3. By being in the harvest ourselves.

We can only help others do it, if we are doing ourselves. We need to be out into the harvest, doing the job ourselves, and not simply directing it. We can’t be on the sidelines and just cheer others do to it.

This point was driven home to me one evening after one of our monthly pastors meetings.

We have a large population of homeless people that “live” around our office. We have made it a practice to offer food, assistance, and bus passes to help these individuals. This is our way of participating in the Great Commandment to Love and up until recently was about the extent of our ministry to the homeless.

There seemed to be something missing. If I were to lead by example, how could I engage my world? The place where I spent a great deal of my day? How could I be a part of discipleship in this setting? So I began praying that the Lord would show me who I was to engage. Realizing that I had an unreached people group at my doorstep, I began to develop relationships with these people. I have begun to know them by name.

One evening after a very busy day and one that I might add was pretty successful from the “I have done my DOM job well” perspective. I encountered Richard standing in the middle of Harmon Street, which is right next to our office, with a can of government issued chicken. He was asking if I had a can opener that he could borrow. Somewhat frustrated I turned to go back in the building that I had just locked, to honor his request.

From the back door to the middle of the workroom, a matter of feet, I sensed the Lord saying that if I missed this opportunity to serve Richard that this would be the defining moment of my day. That all the DOM stuff that I had done would be for naught if I missed this opportunity. With tears in my eyes, I apologized to Richard for not immediately serving him. I called Julie to let her know I would be home a little later and then I encouraged him to invite his friend Trudy to dinner. I microwaved some of the leftovers of our Executive Board meeting earlier that day and I can tell you that the impact of that one event has impacted my role as a DOM.

Since we have shifted from just being a hand out to the needy, we have found a new sense of purpose. Others come by and drink coffee and request prayer. We even have a barber come buy and cut everyone’s hair. We have seen a few folks confess Jesus and we hope to disciple them to be fully functioning followers of Jesus.

We are just content with making disciples and we haven’t given much thought to what we would do with all these folks in terms of having them congregate in a larger group. We feel that we need one of their own to lead them in this next step.

About a month or so ago the Lord brought Myron our way. A homeless man with a very obvious relationship with the Lord. Could he be the pastor of this new group? It is too early to tell. What form will this new church be? There won’t be any big offerings! But the Lord will lead us at that point. He told us to make disciples He will take care of the rest.

Often when asked, we DOM’s offer a “can opener,” when we could respond with a meal.

As DOMs, we have a unique position to help churches realize the largeness of the harvest and all its opportunities. But unless this is the burden of our hearts and of our prayers, we will not get far, because only the Lord of the Harvest sends them out.

4. By trusting that the Lord will provide

Did you notice that the Lord told them what they should leave behind? Jesus doesn’t tell them what to take, but what not to take: purse (moneybag), traveling bag (luggage), and footwear. Why? In order to learn to depend on the Lord of the harvest.

I know that all of us find ourselves wondering how we will fund our Association. Our Churches our strapped and it is easy for them to cut us a little. The state conventions are strapped and it’s easy to cut us. We can bemoan the fact that we are not in the CP mix. But men we need to trust that the Lord will provide. That He will resource what is at His very heart. And those whose hearts are completely His. And if we will be faithful to serve His bride, the church He will meet our needs. “But my God will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
In the parable of the Feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was not interested in what they needed. Jesus is never at a loss for what is need. (The disciples had spent the day calculating what it would cost when they should have been listening to Jesus.) When they tell him what he already knows – that it is getting late and the people are hungry. He tells them to feed the people. When they say they can’t He asks them, What do you have?

What do we have? All we need, we have Jesus?

This “Harvest” business is not just a test of obedience, but also a test of dependence on the Lord: trusting that the Lord of the Harvest will provide.

Beyond the Boundaries

Through the years, I have often found myself drawn to a particular passage of Scripture for a period of time. One that is currently n my mind is from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (The Message):

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have oluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of
people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

As the culture changes around the doorstep of our churches are we becoming servants to those outside the doors. How are we as associations helping the churches and pastors we work with to become all things to all men? Have we entered the world of other cultures? Are we becoming servants to those who are different and least expects it in order to share the gospel with them? Are we assisting our churches in how to reach outside of themselves to touch the lives of the various cultures around us? And, I am not talking only about people with a different skin color or different native language.

Some days I make it through the day and realize that my contact with that wide range of people has been very limited. The challenge is for me – I want to enter the world of those different and sometimes in my attempt to speak “their language” I fall flat on my face. But, I get up and I try again another day.

One of the churches I work with, for the last two summers, has done Grace (Baptist Church) in the park. They have done some evenings and some mornings. When the service is over then the grill comes out and the inflatable bouncer and obstacle course goes up. As a result, they are crossing the cultural boundaries. We see cowboy churches and motorcycle churches. In the coming year, lets help our churches cross the boundaries in an attempt to lead others into a God-saved life!

Jim Pratt
Area Missionary, Siouxland Association
South Dakota

An Environment for Kingdom Results

An environment for Kingdom results is one of the most important and difficult environments to create in an Association. With the pressures on pastors and church leaders to be focused on their churches and the needs of their members Kingdom-thinking is often pushed to the back burner in the mind and lives of these leaders. The tyranny of the urgent keeps many pastors running from one emergency to another. This accounts for the lack of planning and engagement in Kingdom focused ministry in many churches. It also means that most churches are going to need a change of mindset at the basic level to begin to focus on Kingdom expansion and extension.

So, how do you change the culture to enable churches to look beyond themselves? What are the key issues that must be addressed to begin this change? Finally, what are the steps an association can take to help create this culture of Kingdom focused results? Along the way, I will attempt to address some of the primary barriers and negotiating this difficult terrain.

Some guru of change has made the observation that we can be forced to change what we do for a period of time, but if we do not change the way we think about an issue we will eventually revert to our old actions. No area of church life is more susceptible to this truth than Kingdom focus. Most churches are under the impression that they are the Kingdom of God and therefore anything they do is automatically Kingdom focused. On the one hand, this attitude should contain a considerable amount of truth. On the other hand, most congregations spend the greatest amount of their time, talent, and treasure on work that has a direct and immediate impact on activities inside the walls of the church with the congregation as the focus. This is not a bad thing until the congregation reaches the point where they are maintaining their own comfort and institution ahead of all other needs. Church buildings, staffing, and other fixed expenses absorb the attention of most budgets, and therefore most of the resources of the churches.

The obvious initial strategy here is to begin to pray and ask God to soften the hearts and open the eyes of pastors and key church leaders in the area of Kingdom concern for the work of the Great Commission. Prayer times at Pastor’s fellowships, meetings etc. focused on the task of reaching the world and letting God keep the scorecard can begin this process in changing thinking. Introducing specific opportunities for service through newsletters and the use of the established mission seasons can also be very beneficial to help church leaders see the greater Kingdom purpose for their church’s ministry.

Helping a church think critically about the needs of its community and the world balanced with their own needs is the issue. Some churches are committed to such a debt load and such a saturated budget that they literally cannot assist another ministry with financial means. In many ways that is good because that leaves only the issue of time and talent. A congregation with even one person who is passionate about missional activity can make a huge difference in the involvement of that church in Kingdom activity. Looking at the community can reveal opportunities next door, down the block, across town, in a neighboring community, or around the world or …?

My observations are however, that distance for many churches with regard to their first missional partnership may be a good thing. The distance needs not be great enough to cause concern that the people of the church would have considerable difficulty getting there; however, in many churches I have noted a tendency to go out of their geographical area on their first Kingdom partnership. There remains in us enough catholocism to make most churches think of their church field as geographically defined and therefore if anyone in their area is to be reached they should come directly into the church. The obvious blind spot here is the diversity that exists within the claimed field of most churches in America be they rural or urban.

Teaming up with another church who is already involved in Kingdom focused ministry is another way to activate the passionate in a congregation without placing undue stress on the rest of the system. Sending one or two people on a mission event can get the seed planted in any congregation that given time can take firm root and help change the thinking of the church to be more positive with regard Kingdom kinds of ministry. When a few have gotten the vision, others will follow in time. Remember the effort here is to be a catalyst for the change of the mindset of the congregation.

Promoting these mission partnerships in an association can pay great dividends in Kingdom results. After prayer there is no more important vehicle for Kingdom focused ministry than telling the stories of churches that are making an impact through Kingdom partnerships. Helping churches see the possibilities by telling their stories through associational news letters, recognizing those congregations in annual meetings for their work, and personally encouraging churches to network with active Kingdom focused congregations will create a climate that moves churches to look outside their walls.

Being consistently supportive of missional activity within and outside the area of the association is your best tool as a Director of Missions or associational missionary to move your churches toward a Kingdom focused climate. Allowing God time to work in the hearts and lives of the pastors and key leaders takes patience and commitment. Modeling missional focus in the association by attempting to keep some partnerships going at the associational level can also engage church leaders in initial Kingdom activities. Undergirding all these actions with prayer will help your association turn the corner in missional Kingdom action. Stay with it! Climate change is slow. Be committed for the long haul! Trust God!

Tell the people! You can do this!

Eddie Miller, DoM
Sierra Baptist Association
Western Nevada

A Virtual Missionary

On March 1, 2007, Roger Stacy became the Director of Missions for the Gibson Baptist Association. Having previously served as a missionary with IMB to Brazil and Ukraine, he brought a passion and desire to see that nation of Brazil evangelized.

As a part of developing a strategy for reaching a population segment which includes the Slavic speaking people group, Roger met with Terry Sharp, State and Association Relations Director, International Mission Board. Terry shared the vision and concept of becoming a virtual missionary association (strategy coordinator association). From that conversation and with Terry’s help, Roger shared the vision with his mission team and with the Executive Board of the association. At the annual meeting of the association in October 2007, the association officially voted to become a virtual missionary association.

Roger began working with Phil Kesler, mission strategist for Brazil. A team traveled to Brazil in November of 2007 to do research and practice the principles of a virtual missionary. Phil Kesler visited the Gibson Baptist Association in December and trained volunteers in how to be virtual missionaries and work within the Churches Multiplying Churches strategy for Brazil.

The Association has developed a Masterplan for simple church starts in the southern part of Brazil in the state of Paraná. Their critical path has been presented and approved as well. According to Phil Kesler, the Gibson Baptist Association is the first group to submit a volunteer request in all of Brazil for the new Churches Multiplying Churches strategy for Brazil.

Terry W. Sharp
Director, State and Association Relations
International Mission Board,SBC
(804) 219-1939
http://dom.imb.org/

The Church of the Future

During the summer of 1964, while on tour with a youth choir, I had the opportunity to see what was for me the most modern design for a church sanctuary I had ever seen. It was a Presbyterian church in north Georgia. I thought the design looked like a space ship. It was very contemporary to say the least. I imagined that churches of the future would look like that. Boy was I wrong! I have yet to see a church that even resembles that architectural design.

What will the church of the future look like? I am not talking, however, about buildings and architecture. I am talking about the living, breathing, dynamic church of Jesus Christ. I affirm what Holy Scripture teaches—that Jesus established the church and the “gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” It is His Church. His Church is not composed of four walls and a roof. Neither is it composed of boards and committees, programs and activities. Today that is what most of us tend to think, because these have defined “church” in our lifetimes. But, in reality, the Church of our Lord consists of those who have responded to his call to salvation, and the call to be instruments of reconciliation, a light to the nations, and a blessing to others as they labor to fulfill the mission the Lord has given. What we have done is we have taken what we believed to be the Church and conformed it into our Church, complete with all the services, activities and membership requirements that we believed were necessary to be a “church,” adopting the corporate or educational model. Now we are experiencing difficulty getting people into this “church culture,” resulting in a significant percentage decline in church participation, membership, and contributions. All this is occurring in “church culture” while the broader culture professes a greater eagerness for spirituality. Somewhere there is a great disconnect. That is not to say the church has been totally ineffective, but rather is saying that we have reached a type of saturation point with our current church culture. Where does that leave us as we seek to chart a course for the future? Hear the words of God spoken through Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isa. 43:19 (RSV) What will the church of the future look like?

The church of the future will focus more on Jesus. People may be turned off to church, but they are not turned off to Jesus. The church of the future will focus on connecting people to Jesus. Like the Apostle Paul, whose burning passion was to “know Christ,” the church will lead people to Jesus, to live in relationship with Him, to KNOW Him. The church of the past has done an excellent job teaching ABOUT God, ABOUT Jesus. As a result, many of our members know all ABOUT God and His Son, Jesus. But, are they living in an intimate relationship with Him? What have we learned about relating to God, about loving God will all our heart, soul, mind, and strength?

The church of the future will be a church on mission, or missional--focused on connecting people with Christ and with His mission. It will focus more on connecting people with each other and with their culture/world than on gathering them from their world. The church will realize her job is to change the world from her front porch. She will be passionately involved in living out her mission. Mission will be the essence of who she is.

The church of the future will reconnect or connect with its community. The focus will move from revitalizing churches to rebuilding communities. Gone is the luxury of the protective fortress. To survive, the church must move outside the walls and into the streets. I love The Message paraphrase of John 1:14, “And the word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” Jesus connected with people wherever he went. The church of the future will focus on what she is doing as she goes into all the world.

The church of the future will connect with the world. Artificial boundaries of cities, states, neighborhoods, and nations will fall as the church engages in her world mission. Creative relationships, partnerships, and meaningful associations will develop between Christians on different continents, in different cities, and between different denominations. The focus will be on the common good we can achieve by working together.

The church of the future will be a loving church, exemplifying in action the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beyond all else, she will be known for unconditional love for all people. After all, that is what characterized Jesus.

Thankfully, some expressions of the church of the future are in existence today. The sad part of the reality is that these expressions are too few. To have a greater impact on our world, we need more churches of the future-TODAY!

Ken May, DoM
Montgomery Baptist Association
Alabama

Seven Vital Signs of a Healthy Church

What is a healthy church? That’s a critical question for which all of my church friends seem to be trying to answer. For my business-minded, chart loving friends the answer to this question is a growth equation: new members + more money + better facilities = a healthy church. My post-modern, flip-flops and t-shirt wearing friends often give a soulful answer saying a healthy church can’t be defined, only experienced in a community of authentic discipleship. My white shirt, navy suit, traditional friends often define a healthy church by belief in the inerrancy of Scripture, sound doctrine, missions, and evangelism. And my purpose driven Hawaiian shirt and horn-rimmed glasses wearing friends might define it as balanced approach to missions, evangelism, discipleship, worship, and fellowship. So with all of these varying thoughts on the matter, I thought why don’t I take a shot at defining a healthy church as well. Hence, with no further ado, here are Lash’s ...

Seven Vital Signs of a Healthy Church

High Sense of Purpose—A church must know its reason for existence and have a clear process for biblically leading people from spiritual lostness to spiritual maturity.

Effective Evangelism—A church must see its community as a mission field and develop ways to contextually communicate the gospel to the people living in the community.

Acceptance of Change—A church must be creative, understanding the changing needs of people and meeting people at their point of need.

Leadership that Empowers—Church leaders must be servant leaders helping others identify spiritual gifts and empowering them to use these gifts in ministry.

Transforming Worship—True worship brings glory to God and leads to change. Each time the church gathers for worship the primary goal is to encounter God and His truth which leads to transformed lives.

Help with Life—A healthy sense of community is built through healthy, caring relationships. Church leaders must be consumed with leading people to live out Jesus’ Great Commandment: to love one another.

Yes to God—Healthy churches diligently seek God’s answers and direction through faithful prayer and study of His Word always bending our will and our beliefs to God’s.

Dr. Lash Banks, DoM

Grayson Baptist Association

Sherman, Texas

Stop the Merry-Go-Round!

Stop the merry-go-round and let me get off! Or, at least, slow it down. Do you ever get that way? It seems that summer activities begin earlier and earlier and from the middle of May until the middle of September is a never-ending cycle of activities. I would imagine your life is that way also.

In June, we got home from the Southern Baptist Convention on Monday, to begin Powerplant on Friday, with a couple meetings in between. What a blessing!! After the first night on a cot, before the Powerplant teams came in, I knew I was getting too old for this! As we welcomed teams from Georgia, Nebraska, Minnesota, and yes, even our own association into Sioux Falls I was again struck by the cooperation that we as Southern Baptists share! Here were my brothers and sisters coming to help us start new churches. Even the NAMB staff was almost young enough to be my grandchildren but there was a connection of all being on the same team! And, when I found out that this staff of young people did much of their own work after everyone else was in bed, I found my own little corner so I could get some sleep!

The future is bright! Our two speakers for the event were great. They related well to the teens that had come to serve. The maturity and commitment of the staff that NAMB sent was impressive. Despite last minute changes in assignments, some poor turnouts, and less than ideal conditions for sleeping and showering I did not hear any complaining or murmuring.

Out of this week, we assisted a mission who had recently moved into their own building in a new neighborhood, and two new church starts. In one of those, we saw 15 professions of faith (we had been laying a foundation for two years with activities in the area). We laid groundwork in the other two areas with various servant evangelism activities, VBS, block parties and a grill out.

Thank you, fellow Southern Baptists, for your commitment to helping one another. Thank you for your support of NAMB who does Powerplant but also supports many of us in the “new work” areas (No, this is not a paid advertisement!).

Even though I am still on the merry-go-round I am excited about next summer’s Powerplant (maybe by then I will have caught up on sleep). Bring it on!

Jim Pratt, Area Missionary
Siouxland Association of Southern Baptists
Yankton, SD 57078

Livestock 4 Missions

One cow + one rancher = an interesting way to fund missionaries. Three years ago in the Western Kansas Baptist Association, Director of Missions Randy Caddell and missionary Tim Huffman came up with a business model where cows could help fulfill the Great Commission. They call it Livestock 4 Missions (L4M), and the results have been moooving to say the least.

Here’s how:
A Sunday School class, a church, or individual buys a mother cow. Randy finds a rancher willing to care for her. As she calves (gives birth), they’re sold and the money is used for missions. When the "mama cow" is sold at auction (after about seven years), that money is paid toward another mother. As the mother cow continues to produce calves, the funds grow. Rural churches in western Kansas multiplied their missions dollars and now fund new church planters and missionaries in Kansas and Nebraska.

"If a Sunday School class or a church wants to put $1,000 toward missions and see that money multiply, they can buy a cow and we’ll place it," says Randy.

During its lifetime, a mama cow can produce about $5,000 in calves and, when sold at auction, fetch about $800. During the last three years, the association has placed more than 20 mama cows.

Here’s how you can get involved raising cattle for missions: HELP BUY A COW. Giving to Livestock 4 Missions is an investment almost guaranteed to grow. Often Sunday School classes, small or other groups within the church will join with other groups to buy a cow or contribute toward buying a cow. If you don’t own a cattle-raising farm, this is an excellent first step toward helping with this ministry.

HELP PLACE A COW. If you or someone you know is in the cattle raising business, you can help make space available for a missions cow. A rancher willing to do this invests in feeding and upkeep of the cow alongside his other livestock. This is the motor keeping Livestock 4 Missions working.

PRAY FOR THIS MINISTRY. The business model for Livestock 4 Missions relies upon the generosity of people to buy the cattle but more important on the ranchers who raise them. Pray for ranchers who are willing to give a little extra time and money to make this a self-sustaining mode of missions.

Are you interested in this unique missions opportunity? Visit Western Kansas Baptist Association on the web at http://www.blogger.com/www.westernkansasbaptist.com or call 620-275-7223.

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Reprinted by permission of On Mission Magazine (c) 2008

Why Plant New Churches?

One of the questions that I frequently encounter is, "Why should churches plant new churches instead of strengthening the ones that already exist?" You can imagine the crazy looks that I get when, in response, I begin talking about the golden arches. No, not the golden arches of heaven (although I think that's actually golden streets anyway). I'm not even referring to the golden arches of the new Cowboy Stadium. I'm talking about McDonalds; specifically the part of their sign that reads "billions and billions served." Think about that for a moment, that's a lot of beef, and it's all been served in just 60 years. Ironically, five years (1953) into their history, there were only four restaurants in the chain. It wasn't until entrepreneur Ray Croc came on board in 1954 that things started booming. From 1954-1972 the chain grew from 4 restaurants to 2200. In my lifetime they've added another 29,000 locations. For years the sign kept count of how many had been served, changing with every five billions customers, until today the sign simply reads "billions and billions." Basically, it grew so large and so rapidly that they lost count.

Okay, where am I going with this? Well, this rapid, massive expansion was accomplished by sticking to a simple mission, maintaining high standards in their existing locations, and aggressively establishing new locations in promising areas. As we think about the task of world evangelization it is a rather daunting challenge. According to the International Mission Board there are approximately 6.6 billion people alive today with a projected increase to 8.9 billion by 2050. Though 33% of the world considers themselves "Christian," only 10% of the world embraces the idea of salvation by grace through Christ alone. Meaning that there are about 6 billion individuals in the world today to whom we need to bring the gospel near. Daunting? Yes. Overwhelming? Yes. Bigger than just you? Yes. Bigger than just your church? Yes. . . . . . Impossible? NOPE.

I can envision a day 60 years from now when we can rejoice in the reality of billions and billions of lives who have been eternally changed by the grace of God. But for this to happen, we must expand our thinking to understand that it is crucial that the church you attend to be healthy and growing, but it is also crucial that the other existing like-minded churches in your community, nation, and world are healthy and growing as well. Why? Because growing, healthy churches are able to work together to establish new churches in your community, nation, and world. The answer to the question of "Why plant new churches instead of strengthening existing ones?" is not an either/or answer; it's both/and. Our existing churches must not lose sight of our Great Commission. Our existing churches must work together devoted to seeing healthy, growing churches. And, our existing churches must see the need, embrace the vision, and be about the work of starting new churches. Because the reality of "billions and billions" worshiping the God of the universe in every language and land is achievable in our lifetime.

Dr. Lash Banks, DoM
Grayson Baptist Association
Sherman, Texas

Reaching the Lost through the Association

This is the Church Field! As a young preacher, as I was being shown the community of my new and first pastorate, this is what I had explained to me was my area of responsibility as the new pastor. The people on the East side of the road back to the church, which was about 3 miles, was my field of visitation. The people on the West side of the road were not my responsibility and I need not worry about them. My reply was the question, “Then the people on the West side of the road could go to Hell”? This certainly did not start my new pastorate on the right foot. However, some of this mentality still prevails today.

We either have imaginary church fields, or have a caste system within the church, or only visit people of a culture that would fit in our churches. In response to this mentality, I believe, according to the Scriptures, our field is the world and God doesn’t see caste systems, or cultural barriers, but a world that needs Christ.

There are some who don’t have the above problems but are busy doing their own thing, so they miss the obvious, that we can do so much more together than we can by ourselves. This is not just in giving to missions, but it's all about going out together and doing missions.

In order to accomplish this, we first must recognize that the most important issue is not our differences in preferences, but reaching the lost. When I speak of differences, I am not speaking of Bible Doctrine. The Bible clearly teaches that unless we are agreed, we cannot walk together. This does not include preferences about worship styles, and church names. The world is not interested in any of these things. The world needs the Truth about Salvation! If we Baptists cannot come together with a burning desire to reach the lost, we have failed in our efforts to establish a testimony of how Christ is the Prince of Peace. Again, I am not talking about bringing and mixing with groups that teach false doctrines.

How can all of this be overcome and do the Scriptures teach that we should work together? I believe it does. In 1 Cor. 16:1, Paul identifies a geographical area as Galatia and places several churches in Galatia in a group. While this scripture was for Biblical instructions on giving, the application can be found of joining the churches together.
They had the same location, the same instructions and admonitions as a group.

Once we can see the need, then we can come together in a joint effort to reach our area for Christ. When so many of our churches are struggling to survive, what a glorious opportunity for sister churches to come in and help them with their visitation efforts. Several years ago, God burdened my heart about the association I was pastoring in at that time. As Evangelism Director, I had led the association in setting up a tent at one of our large South Georgia festivals, Mule Day. As we gave out over 5,000 tracts, God spoke to my heart about the need of not only reaching those passing through South Georgia, but reaching out to the lost already there.

I knew that the church I was pastor of did not have the man power to cover the whole Association. I recruited some other pastors, who had a burden for souls, and we began to pray for God’s leadership and for God to raise up an army of people to cover our Association with the gospel. In a matter of months, God had given us a plan to accomplish this great feat.

In 7 months, we were able to train over 600 people on how to knock on doors and with all 25 churches participating were able to place the gospel in over 7400 homes. Many souls were saved and many brought back to the churches that had drifted away. This has since been duplicated in another association and the association I am now the DOM, we are beginning this effort called “Operation Total Contact.” This testimony is not about me, but about our Lord waiting for us to get together and obey the great commission. Anything this big is bigger than any man or group of men and women. This is a God thing. On two different occasions I saw over 400 Baptists from the Association out on a Saturday morning knocking on doors. Praise the Lord!

If we sit back and listen to the objections, and look at the obstacles, we will never see the opportunity that lies before us of how TOGETHER, as an association, we can join together and do what one church will never do. It is not how small we are in number, but how big our God is in his actions. If we will step forward in faith, he will roll back the waters. Remember, the waters of Jordon did not roll back till the priests had placed their feet in the water up to the ankles. Once they committed themselves to crossing over, God took care of everything else.

Let me challenge you as an association, think not of the problems in the way, but of the promises God has given to us if we will but go. “Lo, I with you always”!

Your servant in the Lord,

Ken Cloud, DOM
Bowen Baptist Association
Bainbridge, Georgia

What Kind of Church are you Building Today

"According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay that that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." I Corinthians 3:10-11 NKJV

It has been said that the "day of the institutional church is over!" I totally agree. The un-churched are not coming to our churches today. Attractional ministry is no longer effective. If we are going to be the people of God we must take the church out to the community where the people are! Where is the focus in the churches of your association? A missional church is focused outside of itself on mission, rather than on itself in a maintenance mode. I've found that maintenance focused churches are declining churches whereas missional churches are growing, vibrant congregations. A brief look at the New Testament church confirms that the early disciples were focused on being and doing. Today's society reflects the same challenges of the first century when Christianity was first introduced to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. New Testament churches today must direct their attention to changing the culture of our age rather than conforming to the culture around us. I would encourage any church to ask themselves, "What kind of church are we building today?" What kind of churches do you have in your Association? What does God want to do in you and your association? Consider the following contrast:

Mission Minded Church vs. Missional Church

• Religious ceremonies vs. Relationships
• Go to church vs. See themselves "as the church"
• Isolated from the world vs. Engaged in the world'
• Focus on maintenance vs. Focused on missions
• Activities vs. Accomplishing God's mission
• Sending and supporting vs. Being and doing
• Representative vs. Participative
• Mission is one expression of its ministry vs. Missions in the essence of our existence
• Teach people to know vs. Teach people to obey
• Explaining vs. Experiencing
• Worship is to entertain people vs. Worship is to exalt God
• Connecting people to the church vs. Changing the culture of our world
• Spend time at the church vs. Spend time getting to know lost
• Holding on vs. Forging ahead
• Design events for members vs. Design activities to connect
• Enlargement vs. Extension
• Retaining members vs. Releasing members to replace them with people outside the church
• Size vs. Sending and serving
• Mega Church vs. Multiplying church
• Compete vs. Cooperate
• Survive vs. Thrive
• Faithful team vs. Flexible team
• Not content to know about God vs. They hunger to know God

References:

• Milfred Minatrea, Shaped by God's Heart The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches
• David Putman & Ed Stetzer, Breaking the Missional Code Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community

Dr. Larry Cheek, Associational Missionary
Stone Mountain Baptist Association
Conyers, GA * 770-483-2776
lcheek@stonemountainbaptistassociation.org

Leadership Development

Church starting is one of the principle focuses of Tarrant Baptist Association. As such, we have aggressively established a goal of establishing 500 new churches by 2012. Along the way, we have discovered that one of our biggest challenges is finding existing congregations to sponsor these new congregations. There seems to be two major reasons for this. They are leadership and money. We are trying to aggressively address these two issues that are constantly cropping up in our conversations with the existing congregations. The leadership issue, in turn, manifests itself basically in two ways. First, churches are afraid that they are going to have to give up their best and most active leaders to the new church. The converse is that they don't think they have any leaders who can step in to take these outgoing leaders' places. Unfortunately, the leadership and money issues stem from the fact that the vast majority of our churches are in survival mode. They are dying and grasping at everything, holding on for dear life in order to stave off the inevitable in just a few more years.

Therefore, if we are serious about starting all of these churches here and establishing a strong foundation to launch new churches around the country and the world, we are going to have to strengthen our existing congregations. In an effort to help our churches, we have begun several initiatives. The first is ServantsEdge. This program, developed in Houston under Jim Herrington as Young leaders, grew into LeadersEdge and we have brought it to North Texas as ServantsEdge. It is a two-year process of placing pastors (now open to other staff and lay leaders as well) in intentional learning peer accountability groups led by a mentor/coach with four retreats and monthly peer meetings. Each retreat focuses on a different dynamic. Those in week one focus on personal transformation (becoming a changed agent before being a change agent). Week two focuses on congregational transformation (moving the focus from membership to discipleship). Week three focuses on community transformation (how can my church impact its community). And week four focuses on world transformation (moving my church from its community to Kingdom focus). Several significant outcomes have become apparent. One, the churches whose pastors have gone through the process are growing and developing the focus we are working on. Two, the pastors have a support group to help them and even those pastors who have moved away from Tarrant are continuing to plug in. Three, strong men's groups are beginning to develop in some of the churches with strong lay leadership. Four, two of our graduates are meeting with fellow pastors from their community across denominational lines to bring them into the process so that they can form a united effort to focus on the lostness of their community. And fifth, most of our new church-sponsoring churches are led by graduates of ServantsEdge.

We are working on several new areas with ServantsEdge. First, we are requiring that all of our new church planters go through the process. This is giving them a wider basis of support. Two, we have opened up the parameters in timing and have the capability of doing it in Spanish, although at this time these do not seem to be priorities. Finally, we are contracting with a nationally recognized coaching trainer to help us develop the mentor/coaches that lead each of the peer groups. We feel that this is a skill set that is invaluable to them as they address the needs of the peer group but also as they lead their congregations in developing a stronger discipleship program.

If you are interested in learning more about ServantsEdge or the coaching training please contact Becky Biser at 817-927-1911 x 222 or by dropping her an email at becky@tarrantbaptist.org.

Thomas L. Law, III
Executive Director
Tarrant Baptist Association
Ft. Worth, Texas

What Believers Can Learn From The Secular World

During a time when statistics reveal that the established church is making little impact on our culture, we need to take some time to examine how we "operate" as the witnesses that God has called to be to our world. The fact of the matter is – so many people that are lost have a negative view of who we are. I heard a couple of statements within the past few weeks that have pierced my heart and caused me to ponder a few things.

The first statement was made by a layperson in our association. Concerned about relationships she was aware of in Baptist life that seem to have "soured," she made a statement and then asked a question in the conversation. She stated, "We Baptists believe that when we accept Christ as personal Savior, He dwells within us." Then she said, "Well---if Christ dwells in me and Christ dwells within you, why are so many of us arguing with each other and acting so unchristian towards one another?" - a question worth pondering.

Later that week I heard a renowned preacher on a local radio station detailing an account whereby a member of his church (who happened to be an attorney) came to him concerned that he had been witnessing to another local attorney when that attorney asked the name of his church. Hearing the name of the church he stated, "Well there's no way I could ever attend that church. The most dishonest attorney in town is a member there." The pastor went own to discuss how many times our personal witness is made more difficult by the negative witness of persons before us that claim to love Christ.

Yesterday one of my pastors shared an incident this past Sunday. He carried a prospective youth pastor out for lunch after church at a local fast food. A well-known member of another church was in line in front of him. When she received her order, her hamburger was not cooked as ordered. The young lady behind the counter was overly apologetic, worked diligently to correct the problem – always courteous to the woman. Nevertheless, the woman – still dressed in her "Sunday best" became irate, disrespectful, and unwilling to accept any apology the young lady gave her. When she walked away with her "proper" order, the young lady stated to another employee – "you can sure tell she's been in church." Her actions had spoken so loudly that anything she would say about Christ – and anything the next person in line (even if he was a pastor or youth pastor that loved the Lord) would say about Christ would not be heard. We need to be aware that we are hurting the cause of Christ in a world that desperately needs to experience Christ.

A few weeks ago I read a post on my son's blog -- his blogsite is meditationsonthelaw.wordpress.com. The title of that particular blog was "Macs and Christianity." A couple of weeks later he wrote a sequel to that blog and I thought it was pretty good. They both speak well to the above examples so I thought I would share them with you - I think he hits the "nail on the head." We - as people who say we are burdened for those around us that are lost, simply do very little to demonstrate that we really care. I think he writes pretty well--of course, I am his father.

"I have recently decided to join the throng in buying a Mac computer. I have been greatly impressed with what people have told me about the Mac and what I've seen the Mac do. Another thing that really impressed me was the customer service I received when I visited the Mac store two nights ago.

The girl that helped me talked with me for well over thirty minutes. She didn't push the most expensive product down my throat. She didn't try to convince me to buy accessories I didn't need. The store was packed with people, yet she didn't try and rush me at all. She wasn't sure if she would make the sale (she didn't), but she gave me her full attention. One thing that really impressed me was that she asked me a lot about my job, schooling and what exactly I was studying. She was trying to help me get the best computer for what I needed.

I know she's trained to do this, but it was a refreshing experience. I do plan on looking for her when I do buy a Mac (hopefully later this week). But, the thing is when I walked out of the Apple Store I wondered, "Do we Christians invest even thirty minutes into someone's life? Do we do it with such attention and care as she did?" It was just a thought that crossed my mind and challenged me. What do you think?"

As Baptists we are "trained to" share Christ with those that are lost and minister in His name to the people around us in need. YET- unlike the young lady trying to sell my son a new computer, we still do not take the time to "close the sell." When was the last time you took 30 minutes to get to know the people around you and offer them the hope for their lives that only Christ can bring? Perhaps we need to take a trip to the closest computer store for some motivation.

His second post reads this way: "I went back to the Mac store two days ago so that I could pick up an adapter for a presentation I was giving at my job yesterday. When I walked in the store I remembered one of the guys who worked with me to sell me the computer. It was the day that he was training and now he was on his own.

When he saw me he said, "How are you enjoying the switch to Mac?" He had remembered that I bought a Mac and he had remembered that I was switching from PC to Mac at that time. He helped me with my purchase and I was on my way quickly.

But, there was something else that caught my attention in the store. There was a lady who was returning an item. It was made by (some company, which will remain nameless…but not Apple). It was an armband that would carry an IPod while working out. It had broken; this was the third one she had bought. She couldn't verify that she had bought it from a Mac store and she was getting pretty upset about it all.

The Apple employee that was working with her was very patient with her. He was telling her she needed to contact (said company) since their product had malfunctioned three times. She didn't like that answer because she thought she wasn't going to get any money back. The employee perceived this, because she did not state it, and told her, "I don't want you to pay anymore money for this product. All I'm saying is that you probably need to notify (said company) of their product malfunction." He was patient with her all the way.

Many people in retail would probably not put up with that. But, this guy was patient. Again, this models the type of behavior I have seen from Apple itself. And of course, I wondered, do we as Christians do this?

Would we take the time to really pay attention to someone and be able to remember them a month later? I know I usually don't. My memory is horrible. But also, how many of us would work patiently with someone who was getting irate with us. At some point, we would demand our rights, wouldn't we? Maybe this is an over-generalization. But, I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on the good service I have received from Apple.

Now, if they can do that with a product that may last me 5 years, how should we be when offering the gospel in word and deed?"

I think there is a LOT we can learn from the secular world. If we paid genuine attention to the needs of people that cross our paths every day, then maybe we would have a more positive impact on our world. Perhaps we just need to stop and think – every day we either are a good or a negative witness for the cause of Christ.

Often times I am asked by member churches, "Which evangelism program do you think would work in our church?" Of course, they are asking about The Net, FAITH, EE, Roman Road, Friends Evangelism, etc. Generally, I answer – "any thing you stick with." Perhaps I also need to relate the importance of looking like a Christian at times when it is not visitation night.

I know when people read these blogs, they are looking for practical and/or associational counsel. I am so burdened that we are not being the church God has called us to be to our world. If we are called to be Great Commandment/Great Commission churches, we must show the character of Christ to those around us in "lifestyle evangelism."

Dougald McLaurin, Associational Missionary
Tar River Baptist Association
North Carolina

Associational Role in Evangelism

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE CONTEMPORARY BAPTIST ASSOCIATION IN FOSTERING EVANGELISM?

As associations begin to move away from the old programming model (offering programs for churches to participate in as a primary focus of associations-i.e. promoting fellowship and missions), to more of a resourcing model (resourcing the vision of the churches in fulfilling the Great Commission), what is the role the association is to play in fostering evangelism?

Are we to beat the drum for evangelism (cheerleader and motivator/guilt purveyor), partner with churches in creative evangelistic events, provide training for ministry evangelism, or try to help churches contextualize their evangelism to areas where it would be most effective?

As an aside, what about those who criticize the evangelistic techniques/approaches of some churches while having no effective evangelistic strategy and effort of their own? As one pastor put it to me, "Those who don't do evangelism criticize those who do!" Would it not be better if we looked at the log in our own eye before examining the speck in our brother's eye?

Ken May
Director of Missions
Montgomery Baptist Association
Montgomery, Alabama