Justification by X: Click | View Series

Church Math

As kids, I bet most of us reading this post probably hated math—all the subtracting, borrowing, and dividing. These are all words that make pastors nervous. No wonder teachers called them "problems."

But as we aged and began ministry, something miraculous happened and we suddenly fell in love with numbers. In fact, we learned the whole new subject called "church math," like baptisms, budgets, and Sunday service attendance. The number of things to count became almost endless and almost fun—that is, as long as the numbers were up. But if the numbers went down, especially the Sunday attendance number, our spirits would often go down with them. And that is a problem indeed.

Our Relationship With Attendance

I am not against counting things when it comes to church. The old adage which says, "We count people because people count" may be trite, but it is true. We should count the things that we keep track of. But all of us will readily admit that there is something suspicious going on with our relationship with the attendance figure. I believe it is because, at times, we look to it to justify ourselves and our ministries.

The equations on the chalkboard of our heart usually go something like this:

Lots of people = Visible success in ministry = I am happy

Fewer people = Failure in ministry = I am depressed

Anybody else think that math is a little fuzzy?

Here are a few tips to help us clear things up.

1. Define yourself by what Jesus did on the cross, not what you do on Sunday.

Though we all know this is true, we often struggle to believe it when it counts. To see change happen, we must do what it takes to write this gospel truth on our hearts, so that it is ready when we need it most. As we grow in our ability to use the gospel in daily life, we will be better equipped to fight the enemy's lies.

2. Be careful with counting.

As I said before, I'm not telling you not to keep track of things. I’m simply saying that we recognize attendance records can be like handguns—helpful in some situations and dangerous in others. Ask yourself questions like, “Why am I watching the attendance so closely? For Jesus or for me?” Remember, our worth as followers of Jesus and as pastors is not wrapped up in how many people attend our services, but in the gospel.

3. Be careful with how you define success.

Though our “bigger is better” mentality may tempt us to think otherwise, a big crowd doesn’t necessarily signify a faithful ministry. In fact, as we study the Scriptures we see a number of “successful” preachers who weren’t always surrounded by huge crowds—Isaiah, Jeremiah, and at times, even Jesus. While we can take heart in this fact, we must also guard ourselves from going too far in the other direction as well. Pastoring a small church doesn’t necessarily make us more faithful, just as pastoring a large church doesn’t make us unfaithful.

4. Be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Nearly every pastor I know struggles with this issue. Will you join me in serving your fellow strugglers and not let “So what are you guys running these days?” be the first question you ask your pastor friends the next time you talk to them? Ask about their soul, their family, or how they are engaging their community. As we do, I think we will do the kingdom a great service.

Our justification is in the gospel, not how many people attend our services. What are you looking to for your justification today?

Missional Ecclesiology

Re:Train professor Gregg Allison explains the missional church in his blog series on Missional Ecclesiology.

Click through to the Resurgence if you can't see the video.

Acts 29 Director Scott Thomas talks about the growing diversity within our movement when it comes to how to "do church" in this recent interview clip.

Recommended Books

Get the best books on various important topics. Check out our recommended reading section.

Jared Wilson pastors a church in Vermont, runs a great blog, and wrote the book Your Jesus Is Too Safe: Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel Good Savior.

I had never even visited New England before I began the interview process for the church in rural Vermont that I am pastoring now. As a native Texan who spent more than a decade in Tennessee, I have the blue blood of the Bible Belt coursing through my veins. But in 2008, as the pastor of a young church plant in Nashville, God began to shift my attention from the older brothers of my homeland to the prodigals of (what I would consider) the wilderness.

In just the last two years I have been privileged to connect with others who are receiving a heart for the now least-reached portion of the United States, and I believe more and more are receiving the call, looking to “liberal,” “pagan,” “dead and dry” New England with missionary fervor. But the need is great and the workers are still few. As I keep an eye on the momentum of church planting initiatives in the U.S., I am grateful to see so many willing hearts and strong hands engaging neighbors with the gospel, but I am disheartened to see over and over again the least-churched region of the nation overlooked. Could the neglect of this emerging mission field not be from the lack of God’s call, but the lack of the called’s interest?

If you are a future church planter or have designs on joining a missional plant, here are some reasons I hope you will consider looking to and praying for a vision of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont, the six states that comprise New England:

1. New England is the least-churched area of the nation.

If there is an unreached people group in the United States, it is New Englanders. A 2009 Gallup poll placed the six states of New England in the top ten least religious states in the nation. While the Bible Belt is approaching a completely unchurched generation, New England is already there. There is no high attendance at Easter and Christmas, because nobody even has the nostalgia factor driving them to recapture childhood visits to church.

There is no biblical literacy to speak of, of course. According to the Glenmary Research Center, via NETS Institute for Church Planting, those in New England who attend evangelical churches hover between 1 and 3% of the population. There is a higher percentage of evangelical Christian churchgoers in Mormon Utah than in Rhode Island!

2. New England’s few existing churches are not gospel-wakened.

New Englanders have little desire for anything to do with Christianity or church, but even those who have it have little opportunity to explore it. While the landscape of New England is dotted with little church buildings, some quaint and some beautiful, more and more of these buildings now house liberal, practically Unitarian congregations, if they house church gatherings at all.

And where churches are evangelical, the evangel has not yet captured the hearts of many congregations. As the cultural environment became more worldly, conservative churches became more insular, opting to self-protect in their religious “bunkers” instead of engaging their communities in gospel mission. The need for gospel-centered missional churches throughout New England is dire. The good news is that a movement is afoot already, but it needs more workers.

3. New England is spiritually fertile.

While the soil in New England is superficially hard, beneath it run springs of spiritual openness. This isn’t always a good thing, of course, but there’s something about this area of the nation that is spiritually fertile. America’s two major cults—the Latter Day Saints and the Jehovah’s Witnesses—had their genesis in the Northeast United States, both in New York State. (My 200-year-old church in Vermont actually kicked out Joseph Smith’s secretary for heresy!) The New Age movement and pagan spiritualities are still popular in pockets throughout rural areas and college towns.

But there is a rich evangelical heritage in New England, of course. The Great Awakenings began here. George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Finney are just some of the great preachers God used to light fires of gospel revival. New England enjoys a great history of Reformational preaching and mission. Lemuel Haynes of Rutland, Vermont, was a strong Calvinist parish minister and the first black pastor of an all-white church in the United States.

But where gospel fires once burned now looks burnt over. The majority religion in New England is Catholicism, which seems so odd given the evangelical fervor of the Awakenings.

Many of us believe God can and will do something great again in New England. As in the days of Amos, we are praying that God will do what he promised to do for his dispersed children: “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11).

Is God calling you to raise up the ruins of beautiful New England? The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

How Do You Pastor Your Family?

How do you pastor your family? A practical article by an A29 pastor and dad. Read it here.

Church Planting

There is a church planting movement happening right now in the United States and around the world. It is causing a rapid multiplication of new disciples of Christ across denominational lines and cultural divides.

Experts say that church planting is the number one way to reach unchurched people and make new disciples for Jesus Christ. C. Peter Wagner says, "Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven." Likewise, statistics show that it is much harder for traditional churches to reach the unchurched. Therefore, there is a great need to plant churches that reach the unchurched in our nation. Church planters are modern-day missionaries to North America.

One Size Doesn't Fit All

There are many different types of church plants: missional, multi-site, house church, theatre church, and purpose-driven, to name a few. Planting culturally relevant churches in the 21st century is one of the best ways to reproduce disciples through rapid multiplication. We need churches that will reach urban, suburban, and rural communities.

One size does not fit all, and one church cannot win all. It takes a variety of churches to reach all kinds of people. The key is that the church needs to be gospel-centered and culturally relevant to whatever community or culture that they are called to serve through planting. It is important to take into consideration the culture, race, and ethnicity of the culture in which you plan to plant a church.

There are many ways to plant a church, not just one. For instance, some people choose to plant as a team, while others may choose to plant as a solo church planter. When we are talking about church structure, we should be primarily concerned with what the Bible says on the matter.

Getting Involved

Existing churches can and should reproduce themselves by planting new churches. You may be asking yourself, "How can I help plant a church? I have enough to worry about with the church I am already a part of." There are many ways that you can become involved in church planting.

Encourage Planters

First, you can encourage church planters in your area. Planting a church can be a lonely business. Nearly 80 percent of church plants fail within their first year. One of the primary reasons for failure is not a lack of finances, but a lack of relational support. Church planters often experience culture shock and spiritual fatigue. It is hard for a church planter and his family to adjust to a new culture.

Church planters have a real need for fellowship and accountability. You can build relationships with church planters and encourage them to fight the good fight of faith. These men have sacrificed everything to plant a new church. These guys need all the encouragement they can get. Meet with a church planter, pray with him, and take him to lunch or coffee.

Support a New Church

Secondly, you can help financially support a church plant. One of the greatest needs for church planting is finances. An existing church can collaborate with a new church plant by becoming a mother church that sends out a church planting team with funds. You can help pay a church planter's salary for a year. Churches in a region or community can partner together to plant new churches in their area.

You can also join or support new churches in a church planting network such as Acts 29. The Acts 29 Church Planting Network is one of the leaders of this movement. It is a trans-denominational peer-based network of missional church planting churches that have a high view of Scripture and a commitment to engage contemporary culture with the gospel. In just a few years, they have planted nearly 300 churches in the United States and have bold plans to plant over 1,000 new churches in the next 20 years.

Replanting

A final way for churches to get involved with church planting is through replanting or church revitalization. Replanting happens when a church that is in decline or dying decides to face the music and dares to start over again for the sake of advancing the gospel. This will require churches to be willing to create a new identity, empower new leaders, and reach new people for Jesus. It will probably mean that a church sells their building and puts that money back into church planting.

The reality is that very few churches have the honesty and humility to admit that it's over, and even less have the courage to do what it takes to replant. Pray and ask God if he may be leading you and your church to replant.

Church planting is one of the greatest ways to make disciples. We should all share in the responsibility of impacting our nation for Christ through planting new churches that are gospel-centered and culturally relevant. If we want to be serious about making disciples for the 21st century, we need to get involved in church planting.

Acts 29 Network

A network of churches planting churches for the glory of Jesus. Get more info.

Discerning God's Call series: Click | View Series

Ditches

There are two ditches that the church can fall into as they help confirm a person’s calling to gospel ministry. First, they can uncritically accept the internal call, or the subjective sense of calling, which is usually driven by emotions. Too often the church’s motto is, “Just let the boy preach!” The danger here is that we produce ministers who rely strictly on gifts and fail to develop godly character, all but ensuring future disqualification.

The other ditch is when the church makes it too difficult to be affirmed in gospel ministry. Such churches set the bar too high with regard to skill development (being a great preacher) or with regard to education (candidate must have finished seminary). There are many gifted pastors who started successful ministries even though they had never been to seminary, like Mark Driscoll or Matt Chandler. We need to be careful not to set the bar so high that we exclude from ministry those whom God is genuinely calling.

Tests

How should the church test whether or not a man is called into pastoral ministry from a skill perspective? There are at least two tests a church should consider. The first test involves a man’s understanding of Scripture. Questions that should be answered might include:

• Does he have a working knowledge of the whole of Scripture?
• Can he articulate the gospel story throughout the Scripture?
• Does he understand the controversial passages that have caused division in church history (Calvinism vs. Arminianism, method and mode of baptism, and so on)?
• Can he make concrete life applications from the Scripture?

The second test involves inspecting the fruit of his ministry. Questions might include:

• Can he inspire the church for mission?
• Can he cast vision for the church and inspire people to pursue that vision with him?
• Can he organize the church to reach its goals?
• Can he set up systems and structures that run apart from his direct influence?

Discerning God’s Call in Your Life

All three of these confirmations—heart, head, and skill—must be present in a genuine call. The pentecostal/charismatic camp tends to focus on heart and the supernatural calling from God, the reformed/evangelical camp tends to focus on the head, and the mainline churches often focus on skills—but in a genuine call, all three are present.

Above, I posed some questions the church should ask when considering a candidate’s call. Here are some questions for you to consider as you discern God’s call in your life:

• Do I enjoy learning and communicating the truth about God to people from Scripture? Am I willing to be disciplined in my study habits as a pastor?
• Am I able to lead people effectively toward a goal? Are people able to follow me? Am I willing to take some hits for decisions that I make?

Acts 29 Network

A network of churches planting churches for the glory of Jesus. Get more info.