Today in Blogworld 10.27.15

Mike Leake

Five Attractions of Passive Sanctification

This is a very attractive teaching. David also gives us 10 dangers of passive sanctification.

The Most Neglected Ministry Priority

I knew what this was before even reading the article. I’m grateful for this admonishment.

Sleeping In Your Contacts

I can’t sleep in my contacts, bothers me too much. But I know people who do. be so good

11 Steps to Memorizing an Entire Book of the Bible

I really should do this.

But wait…if T-Rex hates push ups how can he at this American Ninja Warrior course:

What Place Do Fun Events Have in the Local Church?

Mike Leake

“What you do to reach them is what you’ll have to do to keep them.”

I’ve taken this little maxim to heart. I believe it’s true. If people are won to the church through flashy junk then you’ll keep having to ramp it up in order to keep them. Folks will be entertained but few will actually be discipled.

And yet I just encouraged our church to set aside funds to purchase a block party trailer complete with inflatables and games.

How do these two fit together?

Not the Reason

I haven’t changed in my theology. I still believe that an attractional model of church not only doesn’t work, I believe it is harmful to the cause of the gospel. When I say “attractional model” I mean something similar to what Jared Wilson said here: “a way of ministry that derives from the primary purpose of making Christianity appealing”.

If I had an attractional model of doing church this is how I would promote our new block party trailer. We would say something like this, “Listen, most lost people aren’t going to come to our church for a Bible study. We need something to hook them. We know that all people love the word free. We also know that children love games. Having a block party trailer will give us an opportunity to reach people with the gospel outside of our church walls.”

At this point, with our attractional mindset, we would put together a big event to draw people. We would attempt to get as many people as possible. The more people who attend the more we would consider this a success. Our workers would be there to set up the inflatables, pass out the free popcorn, and make sure everything runs smoothly. The pastor would then try to gather up as many people as possible and give a short and simple gospel presentation. If someone makes a decision for Christ then the event will be deemed a wonderful success. But even if not we would count the number of people there and consider it as having planted X amount of seeds.

After the event you could hear people saying things like, “Those inflatables were a great idea. People really showed up for them. Our block party trailer is effective in reaching people.”

But that’s poppycock. Stuff doesn’t reach people. People reach people.

So, then, does that mean there is no place for inflatables and block party trailers in doing ministry? Does this mean that fun is the enemy of gospel presentation? No. And this is why I encouraged our church to pursue acquiring a block party trailer filled with inflatables and games. Let me explain.

Here’s Why

A block party trailer combined with an attractional model is a deadly thing. But I’m convinced a block party trailer with a different philosophy can be a wonderful tool. What if rather than saying our block party trailer is a great at reaching people we started saying that our block party trailer is great for opening up the door to love?

You see my philosophy of ministry is really simple. Love people. Preach Jesus.

Think of how this changes everything with the block party trailer. Rather than measuring something as a success because we blew up some inflatables and people came—we measure success by how many conversations our people had with their neighbors. We don’t see blowing up the inflatables and making the show run smoothly the end of the game. It’s only the beginning.

We believe that people reach people. We believe that what people really want and need is love. Often that starts in the tangible form of a follower of Jesus before it moves into the eternal love of God the Father. And so we use our block party trailer as an opportunity to give our community the one thing they can’t get anywhere else; namely, the gospel. And the gospel displayed with our lives and proclaimed with our lips.

Though I’ll still likely take an opportunity to do a bit of open-air preaching, I don’t consider that the main event. The main event is our people connecting with other people.

We believe that our power lies in the gospel. But we also believe that church folk are regular people. And regular people like to have fun doing things like hanging out at a block party. Regular people like free pizza or hot dogs and maybe a bite of cotton candy. So our block party trailer gives us a great opportunity to open up the door of love for our community.

It’s a subtle difference, but I’m convinced it makes all the difference in the world.

Today in Blogworld 10.26.15

Mike Leake 1 Comment

9 Questions for Sleepy and Nominal Christians

I appreciate these nine questions, but I wonder what we are to do with them.

Four Warning Signs You’re Approaching Burnout

The Lord very graciously gave me a lighter week, last week. I had a few of these signs evident. The counsel to get away for a bit is good if you can catch it early.

Joyless Christianity is Dangerous

One way to tell if your spiritual life is in danger is to look at your joylessness. This piece explains why.

The Importance of Ministry to Senior Adults

I pray that us young whippersnappers learn this lesson before we are senior adults ourselves.

You’ve got to appreciate his work ethic. This would serve as a great illustration of working hard but not working smart—because there are times when I’m convinced I’ve wasted hours working in a similar fashion:

One Reason Pastors Can Be So Miserable

Mike Leake

The article I just read was filled with truth. The author spent his 1200 words convincing pastors to preach Christ instead of moralism. And he was right.

But there was something cruelly ironic about the article. It sounded like this:

“Do a better job at preaching the finished work of Jesus.”

“Don’t forget to ground your application in Jesus.”

“Try harder at showing people their need for Christ.”

“You aren’t preaching a Christian sermon if you leave people in their own hands.”

All of these things are true. Every preacher should strive to point folks to Christ instead of moralism. But did you notice something about the wording? The gospel isn’t “do better” or “try harder”, and yet the advice we tell ourselves about preaching usually falls into this category. Why do we believe that “do better” and “try harder” will motivate better preaching? If it’s powerless for the banker, it’s powerless for the preacher as well.

This is why I believe so many of us pastors battle depression and discouragement. While we strive to be gospel-centered in our proclamation to others, we often surround ourselves with Christ-less counsel.

Maybe that was too strong. It’s not as if the pastor can’t glean the gospel from “do a better job at preaching the finished work of Jesus”. And I suppose we, of all people, ought to be able to assume the gospel. But here again, we tell our people all the time that if they assume the gospel they will lose the gospel. We like that Luther quote about beating the gospel into our heads because we are so prone to forget. Perhaps when talking with our fellow pastors (and the way we talk to our own souls) we needn’t assume the gospel.

You and I are going to preach really bad sermons. This will be painful. We’ll botch Scripture at times. We’ll make a bigger deal out of things we ought to just mention in passing. We’ll preach major points as if they are minor points. Our application will be off. We’ll preach sermons that are barely Christ-centered and our people might suffer because of it.

We ought to grieve these truths. But let us not grieve as those who have no hope. The power of the gospel, thankfully, isn’t tied up in the gospel-centrality of the preacher. Nor are we justified by being good gospel preachers. Preachers are justified by the good gospel. So next time you are bumming about not being gospely enough in your preaching, remember the gospel for your own heart. May these truths be driven into our hearts as we fumble through proclaiming them to others:

Herein is the justification for the sin-prone pastor (by which I mean “pastor”): because of Christ’s perfect work on your behalf, your failure, your daily anxiety, your unwillingness, your stress, your sin, your brokenness, your ineptitude, your ignorance, your awfulness, your regrets, your pride, and your arrogance are no match for the deep and abiding grace of God given to you before time began and now and forevermore. –Jared Wilson, The Pastor’s Justification, p114