Our Identity as a Christian

Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves.
(James 1:22 ERV)

Many people today claim some type of faith. In America, though other religions are growing, Christianity still is the predominant religion of our culture. Ask most people and they will tell you they are “Christian”. Most however are merely giving a default answer. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to judge anyone but if statistics are to be believed we are in an age when true Christianity is seeing a serious decline in its adherents.

It might help to state that I see the practice of claiming to be a Christian as more than just an identity to satisfy ourselves but rather, it’s a label that denotes our devotion to the person of Jesus Christ. When I talk to people about their faith and they willingly share with me that they are a “believer” my conversation naturally turns to how often they are reading the Bible, what has God been teaching them of late, and who are they serving? Once in a while I will get solid answers of daily reading, blessings and burdens, and the ministry they are serving in. In the vast majority of cases, I hear a plethora of excuses ranging from time constraints, not understanding the Word of God, not wanting to be bogged down in a church, etc..

As a business professional I write often here about leadership skills and time management. As a pastor, I attempt to bring this crucial information into the spiritual realm. The reality is our lives reflect what is most important to us. If Christ is important we will find 30 minutes in a day to read God’s Word. We will pray, we will change destructive actions and not be influenced by destructive people, and we will find a way to live our faith practically so that others will see the reality of who Jesus is. The words of the Apostle James follow up on this:

You might think you are a very religious person. But if your tongue is out of control, you are fooling yourself. Your careless talk makes your offerings to God worthless.
(James 1:26 ERV)

Do our actions measure up to our words? Or is our tongue merely being careless? If we never take action on what we learn, are we really making a difference? And how can we take action if we don’t read the execution manual? (The Bible). In business, we would be fired for attempting to do something without first reading the instructions and knowing how it should be done. If we lie on our résumé and say we are proficient in a certain skill we will soon be found out. Yet, many do this very thing by claiming to know God when they’ve never even read His book, hardly pray, and never take action. If you really are a Christian, then let God’s light shine through you as you serve others and glorify God each day (Matthew 5:16)

Planting the Gospel

What would happen if we as Christians focused our efforts at planting Jesus in the hearts of people rather than simply planting a “church”? As a church planter, I wrestle all the time with ideas and expectations of what the process of establishing a “church” looks like. Is it found in programs? A building? Teams of people moving to an area?

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
(John 15:7-8 ESV)

What if we simply took the words of Jesus to heart and began producing fruit? Would that fruit not eventually grow into a church? I think sometimes in our zeal to plant a “church” we forget the most important element and that is the heart of people. Most church planters I talk to say they are planting a new church because they want “see the lost get saved and serve Jesus” but if that really is the case then you have to realize that new Christians will come with a lot of baggage that will take a long time to shed. Sometimes (Many times!), they will get discouraged and leave the work you are trying to establish. In doing this they will often criticize you, your vision, God, your spouse, and other people in the congregation you are trying to bond together. All the fancy systems and planning cannot eliminate this. We have to focus on people.

What would such a movement look like? How much would you be willing to sacrifice? Would you and your spouse be willing to work full-time jobs as you started the process of reaching people? It would certainly speed up the process of getting to a specific region and moving forward in planting Jesus in the hearts of people. Even the apostle Paul made tents as he planted the gospel seed of Jesus into the hearts of the people he ministered to.

All good questions to consider. Feedback anyone? Anyone?

Digital Bibles – The Downside?

Is there a potential downside to the digital trend in bibles on tablet PC’s, smartphones, and eReaders? This week, I’ve discussed (albeit on a surface level) the great benefits we now have living in the digital age. This includes the availability of bibles and related study tools that are freely ready for downloading, most at no cost to the reader. So what could be bad about all of this? It really depends on who you talk to. There are actually some people out there who have said that a digital bible isn’t really the inspired Word of God. I guess you have to have a “hard” copy in your hands for it to really work for you. I don’t understand that line of thought but perhaps there is one grain of truth in that thinking that is purely unintended. That is this: The digital revolution has the potential for stunting your spiritual growth. You might say no it doesn’t but let’s consider a few of the “negative” aspects of digital bible reading…

1) Reading the Bible is much more than checking off boxes on a reading plan. I’ve went back on forth on reading plans. I like the organization but truthfully, they are constricting. Miss a day and you get discouraged. Miss a week and you give up. I’ll have more to say on this later but understand that a reading plan is not much more than surface level stuff. If you really want God’s Word to change you, there has to be more.

2) Depth of study. Digital tools give us flexibility in how we interact with scripture but are we really using them to study or do we use them as a kind of internet search to find ‘verses that talk about adultery’? Giving time to let God’s Word speak to you is the only true path to life change (Colossians 3:16).

3) Personalizing it. Today’s newer online tools have the ability to make notes, highlight text, and bookmark your reading. Still, there’s something about underlining verses in a paper bible, writing notes in the margin, highlighting text, and using special little “glyphs” to note your reading that make reading from a “hard” copy bible something that digital will never reproduce. For years, I’ve put lightning bolts, light bulbs, question marks, and candles in the margin of my bible to mark specific ideas or thoughts as I’ve read. It doesn’t matter what they mean…You might have your own system but what it does is make your bible YOURS. My kids have looked at my bible and laughed at the things they’ve seen but they have also questioned me on certain areas where I’ve written things down. One day, it might be something that will bless them or a great-great-great-great grandchild I will never meet in this life.

In the end, digital tools are great. I use them all the time. But I’ve never allowed them to replace my traditional paper tools that I still use for my in depth study of God’s Word. You will have to determine what works for you and allow God to change your heart with the daily infusion of His Word in your life. I welcome any thoughts you might want to add on this topic.

Digital Bibles – The Good

A few days ago I began a series of posts on digital media, specifically all the new bible apps that are available and how they can both help and hinder our spiritual growth. Today I want to focus on the good. In a couple of days, we will look at the potential downside.

As I mentioned in the previous post, today it’s not uncommon for me to hear the clicks of eReaders turning on to follow my preaching in digital bibles. My thought is that within a few years this will be the norm. More and more people are making the switch to digital tools including the bible on smartphones. These are amazing tools for the Christian in helping them to understand scripture. A few of the benefits on this new media include:

1. Easy searching of the biblical text. I love my ESV online account for searching the bible as I prepare my sermons each week. I can find and easily cross reference texts online without hauling a lot of materials with me to wherever I happen to be studying. This is a great benefit to me. It doesn’t take away from the hard study that I still do with various materials but it’s a convenience that I appreciate on the run.

2. The Bible is always accessible. Let’s face it…Not everyone hauls their bibles around with them to work and/or school unless that happens to be their job or what they are studying. Such tools allow anyone to take the bible with them so they can read at lunch, on break, or on a plane. Wherever they may be, the text is available. This is also good.

3. Support tools are built in. Not everyone rushes right out and buys a concordance, topical bible, or cross reference book but most of these new bible apps have everything included. This helps increase knowledge by giving the user some additional tools to help with their grasp of the scriptures.

4. Cost. Most of these new tools cost very little if anything to use. That sure beats spending a bunch of money on the books you would need and have available to you.

5. Space. Digital tools require some digital file space but no shelf space. No need for large books occupying space on shelves when you can take it all with you in your purse and/or pocket.

There are other benefits but these are the first that come to mind when considering the benefit of new technology. I currently have a number of digital bibles and free tools in my computer and also pay for some services I think are worthy of my investment (ESV Online is truly one of the best for the features it offers). What other benefits can you think of? Share them here and let me know your thoughts.

Are Digital Bibles Taking Over?

Within the next 5-10 years, digital bibles will replace standard paper bibles in our churches. There I’ve said it. Many who bring their well worn paper bibles to church will want to take issue with me but the facts are telling. The culture is slowly moving from standard books to ebooks and with it, online and ebibles are replacing their paper counterparts. Already in my church I have a few people who’ve downloaded bibles into their ereaders and smart phones and when I begin my sermon I now hear the familiar sound of paper but also the soon to be normal sound of clicks as the readers locate the passage I’m preaching from.

Is this gradual change good?

It depends on who you talk to but for me, more importantly, it depends upon the situation and the person. This week, I want to take some time to discuss this issue in a blog series since brevity will not allow me to share all of my thoughts in just one post. Let me start by saying the digital revolution in general and “cloud” computing in particular have been a real benefit to my study of God’s Word and to my ministry work overall. I have an account with the ESV online bible, have access to all of its online tools, and use it extensively when I’m out and about in my daily work. I can interact with it, write notes, highlight text, and then save my work wherever I’m at. It’s wonderful. I have friends who’ve downloaded bibles to their phones and use reading plans that are free for downloading to help with their reading of the bible. Many of the newer bible apps for smart phones have the plans built in for ease of use.

But has this ease of use factor caused us to get lazy in our serious study of God Word for our lives? How can we leverage digital tools to enhance our spiritual growth rather than stunt it? Despite all of the good things digital technology brings to this topic, there IS a downside. One that we can avoid but certainly one that makes itself easily available and will ruin our walk with Christ if we let it.

So that’s what we will try to tackle this week. Starting with the positive aspects of both digital and paper tools in our study of the bible and our future spiritual growth in the next post. There’s never been a better time to be a Christian and have the wealth of information that’s now available at our fingertips. But like all good things, we must be aware of the dangers if we use it in the wrong way.

The Changing Focus of Youth Ministry

Earlier this week I was reading the blog of a prominent youth ministry guru who leads large teen conferences across the country. His focus in a recent post was to encourage churches to keep youth ministry a top priority and I couldn’t agree more with him that our teens need to be an important part of the ministry of our churches if we are going to have a church in the future. However, we divide over the nature of what actual teen ministry will look like in the future. After years of watching teens in traditional church ministry I’m struck by the following…

Percentage wise, the majority of kids in these hyped up weekly youth meetings leave church by the time they are 21. Statistics say between 60-80% of them are gone by adulthood.

The cost to run such a ministry is staggering. When you take into account the amount of volunteers, equipment, and buildings needed for this type of weekly gathering, it’s easy to see that only larger churches can afford such extravagances.

The average teen congregates where ever there is social activity. Many of these kids have no desire to grow in their faith but they put Mom and Dad in a tough spot when they tell them they want to go to “this” church because their youth program is so much better then somebody else’s. The truth is they will leave that program as soon as a majority of their friends do. I’ve seen this occur more than once when one church invests in a jazzed up program and then a few years later abandons it. The kids move somewhere else. It’s what is popular and NOT what is being taught.

Recently, the very large Mars Hill church in Seattle did away with their weekly youth gathering in favor of more informal in-home micro groups. Why did they do this? They were tired of investing large sums of money into the program and not getting the disciples they anticipated. the relatively small number of kids who actually grew under this type of program seemed to do just as well in the new system without nearly the cost or need of facilities. I know some youth pastors who will get mad with me over this but in the world of business, if you had the return on investment most churches today have with youth ministry you’d abandon the entire program and find something else that works.

We can’t be spiritualistic about the issue and say the few are worth it, especially in today’s economic climate when more and more pastors are losing their jobs due to low giving, low attendance, and a general apathy. No, it’s time to get excited about including others in helping to grow leaders amongst our youth. There are teens who want real life change and every church from the smallest to the largest has the capacity to grow disciples for Christ among their teens. Disciples who will happily share their faith and bring others to Christ. The question is, with the pressure many parents put on churches for the “traditional” youth ministry, will we have the guts to change?