Why Does Your Church do Church Membership?

Church membership was invented to keep track of who can do what in the church. It helps a church judge who is committed to the church.

It sounds good in theory, but unfortunately, church membership has become a tool churches use to manipulate people, in my humble-ish opinion!

Church membership is not in the Bible. Yes, believers are members of the body of Christ, but that’s not the same thing. Verses listed to prove church membership, do not say anything about modern church membership practice.

Church membership typically requires some sort of class, meeting with someone to check out your testimony, and typically requires a person to be baptized.

Church membership is now a number churches track to see how well they are doing. Thus, in order to boost that number, new people are encouraged to “get involved.” In order to “get involved,” a person has to become an official church member.

This also locks in the new person, so they are “forced” to attend church to do their thing they “got involved” in. If the new person is not baptized, many churches use the church membership carrot to manipulate people into baptism.

I find this to be the most troubling part of modern church membership practices.

Churches have a hard time dealing with the fact that if you don’t have any mature believers to do a ministry, then don’t do that ministry. Instead, churches get pumped up to do all their programs and just need warm bodies to fill slots. In order to fill slots, people are rushed through church membership. This misses the entire point of the whole thing!

This also means that many church positions are filled by new believers, or at least new people in the church who the church has no idea who they really are, but hey, go watch these stranger’s kids for an hour since child molesting has never been a problem in churches before.

Obviously you can read my cynicism on the issue quite clearly.

The reason New Testament churches didn’t do official church membership is probably because churches were smaller. You knew the people better. There was also probably more cost to attend since persecution was more prevalent. Only serious people would even bother showing up.

In the little church I was pastor of for 21 years, we did not have church membership. I knew who came, so did anyone else who came. I knew them, they knew me. No relative strangers were plopped into positions of leadership in the church. The elders and deacons of the church paid attention and asked the people who they felt were ready to go do things.

I think that’s the NT model.

Church membership is fine if you want to do it as it’s also not forbidden in the Bible. Go for it. Don’t try to prove it’s a biblical concept though, just do it and say you feel this is the best way for your church in its present shape to do things.

But avoid the trap of making Church Membership this big thing that you rush people into. Don’t use it to manipulate people into being baptized.

If your church does church membership, examine the place it has. How is the church using it? Are people getting baptized because they are identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, or are they jumping through a hoop so they can do a thing in the church? Is it just a non-helpful formality at this point, or is it actually achieving its purpose?

I’m not saying not to do church membership. I am saying churches should think about what it truly is and how it’s being used and implemented.

___________________________________________________

If you want to know more of my fascinating thoughts about church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. It includes 9 tested and true tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

The Youth Groupitization of the Church: A Theory

Youth groups gained traction after the Baby Boom. Teen and youth culture took off in the 50’s and 60’s. As one born in the 70’s who grew up in the 80’s, I was pretty much at the peak of youth group activity.

As an introverted, shy kid, who was legally blind and picked on all the time, the last thing in the world I wanted to do was spend more time with kids. I hated youth group. Church kids were not much nicer than public school kids to blind kids.

I’m saying this to admit my bias before going any further: I hated youth group. I’m laying the foundation of your ability to dismiss my critique out of hand. You’re welcome.

Peak Youth Group was a lot of emotionalism and “fun.” Speakers tried to get a response out of you, either gearing you up to rededicate your life, or freaking you out with the dangers of rock music and the occult. This was all followed by games and food.

Cool youth groups mostly did fun stuff minus any moralizing or freaking anyone out. There was little biblical education. It was a social gathering, a place for kids that was safer than alternatives. I guess that’s fine, but the spiritual veneer put on it convinced many kids that socializing in church equaled Christian maturity.

Youth groups worked. If by “worked” you mean “kids came.” There were lots of kids. The best youth groups attracted popular kids, who then made the group acceptable for others to attend, even cool. The youth group I grew up in had no cool kids; it did have me though, so it never got big.

Churches saw how many bodies came for the excitement and fun of youth group. Churches adopted youth group atmosphere for church services. And it worked spectacularly, if by “worked” you mean “people came.”

The Seeker Sensitive church philosophy, really taking root in the 90’s, is nothing more than peak 1980’s youth group philosophy spread throughout the church.

People attend cool churches. The cool youth group pastors were outgoing, energetic, usually had cool hair, and swallowed goldfish for some reason. These guys eventually graduated to Big People Church and brought that same outgoing, energetic, cool haired approach to the entire church.

Although many people bemoan how many young people leave “the faith” when they escape mom and dad’s house, few seriously lay the blame on the youth group philosophy that created the mess.

Instead of examining the failure of youth group culture, we’ve turned the entire church into youth group culture. We know how that works: it’s big and fun for a time, then people leave “the faith” in droves. This will continue, especially as the world becomes more hostile to The Faith. The entertaining fun and energy which served so well to pack seats, has not prepared anyone for persecution. More churches will decline in numbers as the cost to attend rises.

Yes, I am pessimistic about the church and the future. But I’m also highly optimistic. First, because one day all this will be over and I’ll be with Jesus Christ. But secondly, persecution will eliminate pretenders and will restore the church to the New Testament ideal. There is no other answer I can see that will truly revive the church.

We reap what we sow. Although everyone whines about what we’re reaping, we seem content to sow the same seed.

I believe persecution is the only thing that will wake us up. We’re too comfortable, fat, and happy to be bothered. Making real changes in our approach will tick people off, donors will leave, and mortgages and staff won’t be paid. Too risky.

The system is a wreck. I’m anxious for the system to burn down. The sooner the better. Souls raised in entertaining happy church slip into hell every day.

It’s high time to awake out of sleep. Judgment begins with the house of God. Bring it on.

__________________________________

If you’d like to hear more of my experience in not doing church well, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Does Your Church Promote Actual Christianity Or The Game of Christianity?

A percentage of people in your church are just playing The Game. Their intent is to play at Christianity without it interfering with their lives.

Most evangelical churches promote The Game. They’ve given up calling anyone to new life in Christ and are content to entertain the masses. Everyone is smiley, dressed well, money flows, programs happen, everyone is just thrilled with everything, and are happy their materialistic comfort now has God’s sanction.

Other churches have gone so far down the progressive trail that there is literally zero distinction between what they are doing and what the world is doing. They are so obvious about their worldliness that most of these churches are declining in attendance. People prefer feeling like they are actually playing The Game than knowing with absolute certainty that they are not.

The churches I’m most concerned with are the ones who don’t think I’m talking about them.

The church services are not overly entertaining, some might even call them lame. The music is slightly off key. It’s not fashionable. Anyone speaking in front of the church acts like they’ve never used a microphone before. The Bible is used. People say the pastor is “faithfully teaching God’s word” even. The pastor is so busy; he tells you he is all the time. Everyone is so busy; surely something real is happening!

Yet there’s no call to holiness. No call to Christ-likeness. Although the Bible is used, if you listen closely you will detect that the pastor isn’t actually saying what the verses that were just read are saying.

There’s a subtle switch going on. Jesus is mentioned, even made much of. But there’s just nothing there. No power. No transformation. No new life. No old man is crucified. There is a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.

It’s a fake Christianity. It’s not real. It’s The Game.

Furthermore, if you raise concerns over these issues you will get incredible pushback. These churches don’t want anyone growing in Christ because that means it’s possible. They pull you down. They will, if you actually do insist upon spiritual growth being a legit thing, accuse you of being legalistic and eventually divisive. You will be the heretic for actually wanting people to do what those verses said.

I had a couple in church who came for a while. They were rich. Enjoyed being rich. I did a series on money and the Sermon on the Mount and such passages. The wife stopped coming. Soon the husband did.

His explanation to me why they stopped coming is because “Your church doesn’t feel like church.” They wanted to play The Game; they didn’t actually want to take Christianity seriously. They didn’t want it to be possible.

If you preach and act like Christianity is possible and the Gospel has power to transform lives, your church will shrink. The Game players will leave.

This isn’t a bad thing, unless you want to be impressive and get paid and such things. You’ll have to decide. I had to. I took pay cut after pay cut. People kept leaving.

But The Gospel was doing a work in me and I couldn’t help it. It was totally worth it.

Call out The Game players by taking your faith seriously and preaching like Christianity is real, powerful, and possible to actually live. You’ll eventually be left with a fellowship of about seven souls who will glory in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Or you’ll just be lonely and heart broken. That’s where I got. But Christ was real and I was never truly alone and my heart is healing.

Christianity is possible. Live and preach like that’s true. Those who want The Game will think you’re loony. It’s ok. We are fools for Christ’s sake. Worse things could happen, and they will if you’re just playing The Game.

________________________________________

If you’d like to hear more about how I shrunk my church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

5 Annoyances With How Christians Talk About Spiritual Gifts

Love is the theme of 1 Corinthians 13. About 75% of the time I’ve heard 1 Corinthians 13 mentioned is in the context of marriage. Seemingly every wedding has it read, which is fine, it’s the most redeeming aspect of most weddings.

But the context is not at all about weddings or marriage.

1 Corinthians 12 is about spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14 is about using spiritual gifts within a church gathering.

The theme of love is brought up in the middle of those chapters.

If you don’t have love, all your spiritual gift does is cause problems.

This isn’t a weakness or fault with spiritual gifts; it’s a fault of ours. We are proud. Pride warps spiritual gifts.

Spiritual gifts are for the benefit of the church, but proud people turn them into, “Hey everyone! Look at me! Look at me!” This causes division and confusion. This is especially true if there are multiple arrogant people who think they have spiritual gifts.

The first three chapters of 1 Corinthians are about division in the church. Pride was the cause. Lack of love and pride go together. Love thinks about other people; pride thinks about me, me, me.

Throughout my years as a pastor there were many needs in the church. I thought of people who could help meet those needs. I asked them to help.

Guess what I heard approximately 98% of the time?

“It’s not my gift.”

Oh gag.

I have some thoughts about the people who say, “It’s not my gift.”

1. People who say “it’s not my gift,” never exercise any gift. They don’t do anything. If a person had a discernible gift that they were using regularly, I’d be happier hearing “it’s not my gift.” But that’s not what happened. “It’s not my gift” was said by those who never did anything.

2. “It’s not my gift” is a most sanctimonious excuse for Christian laziness. The bottom line is that you don’t feel like doing what is needed. Just say that. Just say you don’t want to do it. Be honest. I don’t want to. I don’t have the time. I don’t have the money. I can’t stand those people. Don’t put some fake spiritual veneer on top of you apathy. Don’t spiritualize laziness.

3. Love is the motivation for the use of spiritual gifts. Love thinks about the other person. If you love the people in your church you will look for ways you can help them. Whenever you help someone in the church, that’s you exercising a spiritual gift. People who never find a spiritual gift, are simply people who don’t love people in their church.

4. Paul says to “covet earnestly the best gifts,” which makes it sound like you can get as many spiritual gifts as you want. The idea you are locked into one or two gifts is nonsense. This is especially true if you see many needs in your church. Why not be the person who develops the gift the church needs right now?

5. There’s a notion that spiritual gifts are things we naturally enjoy doing. Spiritual gifts often get confused with natural ability or pleasure. This is nonsense. Spiritual gifts must at some level be spiritual; they can’t just be natural talents or things you were born enjoying. Biblical love includes sacrifice. Love hurts. Yet people in churches seem to think that if my service inconveniences me or costs me something, it must not be my gift. I think they assume people with a spiritual gift just love using that gift all the time and are always happy and free of sacrifice. This isn’t the case. I’d suggest that you know you’re exercising a spiritual gift when you are laying down your life for someone, as Christ did for us, which doesn’t always feel great.

That’s not to say that spiritual gifts must feel terrible. There are people who are good at things, but it must be discerned whether they are naturally talented or spiritually gifted. Lots of good speakers speak in churches, yet the content of their speeches let you know they don’t have the spiritual gift of preaching or teaching.

The proof of a spiritual gift is that people are edified and helped, not whether the person who did it is good at it.

In the end, all the times I was told “it’s not my gift,” guess who ended up doing that stuff? I did. I can attest to you not all these things were my spiritual gift. But I did it anyway because it had to be done I loved the people who needed the help.

That’s not me patting myself on the back. This was hard. It stretched me, but it also made me better at exercising spiritual gifts. I learned a ton and I think was able to help people. I wanted others to get this same great experience.

But I couldn’t get them off their butts to go help.

Spiritual gifts are not determined by you looking at yourself and seeing what your pride thinks you’re good at.

Spiritual gifts are determined by what needs your church has and by how your love responds to those needs.

The church has really messed this issue up and most Christians, instead of seeing spiritual gifts as reason to be helpful, instead use them as excuses to be lazy.

This shouldn’t be so.

There is a more excellent way: LOVE. Love people and spiritual gifts will take care of themselves.

_____________________________________

If you’d like to hear more of my annoyance with how churches are completely blowing it, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Is Giving Money to Church, Giving Money to God?

I’ve been told many times in many ways in many churches that if I give them money, that’s me giving money to God.

That is one astounding statement.

Getting yourself confused with God is the essence of pride. It is what Satan did that resulted in his fall. It’s the temptation he subsequently used to get humanity to fall—you will be like God (Genesis 3:5). He hasn’t changed tactics.

The Catholic Church historically took this notion further than anyone, blatantly saying that giving them money resulted in forgiveness of sins. Martin Luther quipped that chief Catholic money-raiser, Johann Tetzel, acted on the principle that, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, another soul from purgatory springs.”

Protestants love bashing on Catholics; it’s one of our favorite things to do. There’s good reason for doing so, but there’s also good reason to heed Paul’s warning when confronting other people’s sins: confront humbly, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted (Galatians 6:1).

The more we point out the fault in other people, the cloudier our vision of ourselves becomes. Yes, the Catholic Church thought they were in the place of God. The idea that Protestant churches are free from this error is laughable.

Any church that tells you that giving them money is how you give God money, is falling into the same trap.

Sure, we don’t say that exact thing, and most Protestants stop short of saying that giving them money leads to forgiveness of sins, we don’t copy the exact error, but boy howdy do we like telling people our church is in the place of God.

Protestants also like to go on about Sola Scriptura, the idea that the Bible is our sole authority for life and doctrine. This is said a lot. Way more than it’s acted on.

For instance, how many verses in the Bible tell us to give money to church?

Google, “Bible verses that say to give money to church.” You’ll come up with several results. Click on one that seems promising. Read those verses. Note how none of them say to give money to church!

2 Corinthians is often used as the go-to source for guilting people into giving money to church. That is because one reason 2 Corinthians was written was to guilt the Corinthian church into giving money!

Why did Paul want them to give money?

The church in Corinth was filthy rich. Many churches in Paul’s day were struggling and getting beat up in persecution. In 1 Corinthians Paul told them to gather up some money “for the saints” (1 Corinthians 16:1). The saints were the poor saints in Jerusalem. Paul brings up their need in Romans 15:26 also.

Poorer churches gave. Corinth did not. Paul writes 2 Corinthians to guilt them into giving their money for the poor saints. He already told other churches they would (2 Corinthians 9:1-5), and they promised they would (2 Corinthians 8:10-11), but they didn’t. Paul compels them to do what they promised.

Many people will partially quote 1 Corinthians 16:2 that we should take up a collection on the first day of the week, Sunday. Obviously this refers to taking up an offering in a church service on Sundays.

Yes, indeed, that’s what it says to do. The money, however, was to be used for the poor saints in Jerusalem. That’s the entire context of giving money in 1 and 2 Corinthians.

This is not Paul telling churches to take up an offering for salaries and buildings. It’s for the poor.

The only verse that remotely comes close to telling people to give money to church is 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.”

Allow me to make two opinionated points:

1. All usages of giving money in the New Testament are for helping the poor. 1 Timothy 5:17 probably assumes that the elders were poor. That was probably due to the fact they were laboring in the word and doctrine, and that time commitment cut into their billable hours at a regular job.

2. There are very few elders who were supposed to be given double honor, especially in our day. I have known and do know many pastors. There are very few who are laboring in the word and doctrine. Mostly they are running a business labeled a church and putting on social programs. Yet in our day, the vast majority of all church budgets go for salaries and benefits.

OK, my two opinionated points are over.

Even 1 Timothy 5:17 doesn’t tell you to give money to a church; it says to give it to an elder who is helping you spiritually.

All other usages of giving money in the New Testament are about giving money for the poor.

The word “alms,” which Jesus uses for giving money, refers to giving money to the poor. Matthew 6 says to give your alms discreetly so no one, not even your left hand, knows about it. He’s talking about giving to the poor, not putting money in the church offering to update the furnace. You can update the furnace if it needs it, but don’t tell people that’s giving alms or giving money to God!

In Acts 2 and 4 we are told that the early church had all things in common. Members sold their personal property and took care of each other’s needs. Meeting the needs of others was the whole point of selling their stuff (Acts 2:45 and 4:34).

Luke 12:33 says we are to lay up treasures in heaven. The way to do that, based on this very same verse, is by giving alms, sometimes translated “charity.” It means giving to the poor or someone in need.

The rich, young ruler was told to sell all he had and give to the church building fund. Oh wait, I read that wrong. He was also told to give to the poor (Matthew 19:21).

Mark 12:42-44 is often used by churches to get the last drop out of their people. The widow gave her last mites into the temple treasury. The temple treasury was used for purchasing sacrifices, wood for the fires, upkeep of the temple, and also for the priests. Doesn’t this mean giving for the temporal running of the church is giving to God?

It might, it’s probably the best verse to prove that. It should be noted that the temple is not the church though. We, the individual and collective members of the Body of Christ are the temple in the NT. This fits quite nicely with the idea that giving money means giving to other people, not the running of an institution in between us and God.

The New Testament temple is not an institution or a building; it’s people. People say this all the time, but few act as though it was true.

The Old Covenant stressed the physical. The New Covenant stresses the spiritual. Christ died so we wouldn’t have to pay for animal sacrifices, and priests, and altars, and silver bowls and spoons for temple service. He freed us from that so now we can actually use our physical money and stuff for helping people. Unfortunately, most churches accumulate stuff and buildings and go right back into slavery keeping them from helping those in need.

Many who tell you that giving to the church is giving to God will use Old Testament Scriptures. Since we don’t have elders who have given themselves to the word and doctrine, very few people understand the distinctions between the two testaments in their Bible. This has lots of bad results.

Many in the Health and Wealth movement base their notions of money on the Old Testament. The Old Testament said if you obey God you will get physical blessings; if you disobeyed you would get physical curses. Deuteronomy 28 is probably the best passage to illustrate that.

The law was given to the physical race of Israel. It was written on a physical rock. All the 600+ laws were about how they physically handled physical stuff. If the physical people of Israel kept their physical laws written on a physical rock dealing with their physical stuff, God would physically bless them in their physical land (Read Deuteronomy).

The New Covenant (Testament) does away with all this (Read Hebrews).

If the verses being used to convince you that giving money to a church equals giving money to God are from the Old Testament, be careful!

There are no verses in the Bible that say you should give money to a church. All verses in the New Testament about giving money specifically say to give your money to other people: elders, the saints, and the poor or those in need.

If your church is giving to the elders, the saints, and the poor, then feel free to give to it. And yes, all churches have expenses dealing with physical things, but any church viewing their responsibility before the Lord with any seriousness, will endeavor to keep those expenses as low as possible.

I have known many pastors and I have known many churches. Very few churches are giving to the poor. Most are giving to the elders and most of those elders are not laboring in the word and doctrine. Most of the rest of the money goes for the building. And, unfortunately, many of those churches have a significant amount of their money going to a bank in interest payments.

The church today is not following the New Testament and has more or less fallen into the same unbiblical ways as the Catholic Church we so love to bash.

Money and power go together. When a church tells you that giving money to them is what it means to give to God, they are falling into the trap of money and power. Humility and meekness are much easier if you don’t have money!

If your church routinely tells you that giving to them is giving to God, this is a huge warning sign.

Be careful out there.

___________________________________

If you’d like to hear more about my views I think are biblical that no one likes, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Is Your Church’s Leadership Paying Attention?

In my many years of familiarity with churches, I’ve noticed that many people in positions of church leadership have no idea what’s going on in their churches.

And let me make clear that the church I was a pastor of was no exception.

I took my role as pastor/overseer seriously and felt the role required utmost attention since I would give an account before God. Souls were at stake and I wanted to be careful.

The people on the church board were mostly checked out though. This was frustrating on several levels:

1) They had no idea what was going on and they didn’t care. They were “busy.” They had zero time for church considerations. Oh sure, they mostly showed up for meetings and said “aye” at the right time, but they spent very little time thinking seriously about what the church was doing.

I remember one month at a board meeting asking them if they prayed about the church. They unanimously said no, not with any regularity. I asked them in the coming month to do so. They said they would. “Aye.” I asked them at the next board meeting if they prayed regularly for their church. They all said “no.”

This broke my heart. I can’t even get them to think enough about the church to take a few minutes a day to pray for it, how in the world are they going to be effective and helpful leaders in the church?

2) Even if a few people are paying attention, no one understands concerns when brought up. The one guy paying attention gets branded as “that guy” who is “always against everything.” After a while that guy isn’t listened to.

For most of the years as a pastor the board of the church was not involved in anything in the church. It was actually a rare occasion when all board members would be at church on a Sunday morning. “Why didn’t you choose more faithful people to be on the board then?” you may ask. There weren’t any others. These were it.

If they are never at church activities seeing what I’m seeing, how are they going to care? “Just do what you want, that’s why you get the big bucks” was actually a regular answer I received from the board. Doing what I wanted wasn’t the point. Having a group of dedicated people in agreement, and having each other’s backs, and ultimately the health and safety of the church as a prime concern, was the point.

I’m in a church now as not a pastor. I have no official authority of any kind in the church. I struggle with this. Not because I want to be in charge! But I do see how the leadership of the church is not really paying attention. There is so much inconsistency and compromise and sloppiness in adherence to biblical standards, it’s rather distressing to me.

I find myself looking up things just out of curiosity, things that make me wonder, “what’s that about?” I find out. Turns out usually there is a reason my attention was pricked. I’ll ask about it from various members of the church leadership. “Oh, I don’t know what that’s about.” One recently said, “I wasn’t paying attention, I just tune that stuff out.”

There are, in my opinion, pretty dangerous things being floated about in this church, yet this seems to not get anyone in leadership’s attention.

I was unable to get a group in my church to actually care about the church; I know how hard it is to do. I do not stand as one who knows how to do it. I don’t know, I couldn’t figure it out. The inactivity of the board was one of the main things that drove me to resign. Obviously I don’t know how to lead.

I’m wondering if my old church and the church I go to now are exceptions or just how it is. From the various pastors and churches I know about, I’d wager that most churches have barely attentive leadership. How else do we account for the sad state of churches in our day?

Even if they were paying attention to church activities, are any of them regularly in the Word as well? Do they even know what a biblical standard is? What exactly is our guide for decision making? Is anyone paying attention to that? Or have we all agreed to not challenge anything so we can all just coast and get by doing the bare minimum?

Our shepherds are not keeping watch by night or day. Wolves are in sheep’s clothing tearing up the flock. Church leadership is “busy.” Not busy overseeing and protecting, but busy nonetheless.

I imagine this will be a deal on Judgment Day.

____________________________________

If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom” that shrunk my church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

The Dangers of Plugging New People into Church Leadership Positions

One time in my pastoral experience I invited a new family over for dinner and asked them how they’d like to be involved in the church. “Would you like to teach Sunday School or work in our youth group?”

Typically I never asked newcomers to get involved right away, but it was a particularly desperate time in our church and I had heard from many others that I needed to “get new people involved right away” if I wanted to grow the church.

So I tried. They never came back to church after that meal. I don’t know if it was because of my question about involvement, or if my wife’s lasagna was repugnant that night, or what.

I was never comfortable asking for volunteers for church work. Typically the worst person possible raised their hand. You can’t very well say you need a position filled and then not fill it with a person who volunteered to fill it.

Usually I asked an individual who I thought would be good at the position to do it. If they said no, I got rid of the position until I found someone who could fill it and wanted to do it.

I eliminated a lot of ministries and ministry positions. No one wanted to do anything really. So we didn’t do much.

I do believe the Bible says to be careful about putting new people in positions of church leadership. Having any sort of spiritual leadership is a serious position. People who take on that role will have added accountability on Judgment Day.

I don’t know if churches consider that enough. Asking some immature person who just wandered into your church to teach kids is not only potentially damaging to those kids, it might add heaps of guilt and chastisement to their life and potentially in God’s judgment.

Paul says a qualification for a bishop is that they are “not a novice” (1 Timothy 3:6). They can’t be new to the faith. Later in 3:10 he says that a person who wants to be a deacon should first be tested.

Now you may think that Sunday School teachers of kindergarteners or leading singing isn’t a bishop or deacon position, but Paul is establishing the point that positions of leadership in the church should be vetted.

The qualifications for pastors and deacons are nothing more than a description of what a mature believer looks like. Maturity in the faith should be an essential requirement for leadership.

I think the testing can be used for smaller, non-leadership roles in the church, things like cleaning, stacking chairs, (Lord knows we need qualified people for that job), greeting, etc. Anyone who joyfully performs these duties should be discipled for opportunities to lead.

Not only does begging new people to get involved potentially compromise those new people and who they might lead, it also reflects poorly on the church.

A church should act like it’s been there. It should have its stuff in order. If you walk into a new church and they are tripping over themselves to get you to do stuff, watch out! Why are they so disorganized and desperate?

Many churches expand their ministries and are forced to plug warm bodies into leadership roles. Anyone will do; we just have to keep the machine rolling.

This will not only destroy the people in the roles and who they are leading, it will eventually destroy the church. Only have ministries you have people qualified to lead. Yes, you will have to cut some ministries. Yes, people will get mad. Yes, Judgment Day will go better for everyone involved.

Church Growth advice is heavy on getting new people working in the church as it forces them to have to show up.

For every example of a church that exploded in growth by plugging new people in immediately, there are probably ten churches that were massively damaged by such a thing. No one writes books about or has those pastors to conferences. Only the winners get book deals.

Be careful out there. As the pastor you are responsible for what’s going on in the church. It falls on your shoulders, if not today, then at least on Judgment Day.

Church is serious business. The new people you beg to do stuff in your church probably go to work during the week. They have bosses that don’t go around plugging new people into skilled positions without some vetting first. And if they do, no one is happy about it!

At least pretend church is as important as the places that employ your people.

__________________________________

Pastors: Battle the Wimpy Gospel that’s Overtaken the Church

One of the primary pastoral battles I fought was combating the wimpy Gospel that has consumed the church.

The wimpy Gospel goes something like this:

Christ died for your sins. If you believe that, all your sins are forgiven. No matter what you do, you’re saved and forgiven. Don’t worry about doing good works or bearing fruit. You don’t have to do anything, in fact, if you try to do good, be careful! You might be falling from grace and into legalism.

This sort of Gospel doesn’t always sound like this, sometimes it sounds more spiritual and theological. Other times it’s flippant and over the top happy. It has grains of truth in it, that’s why it’s so deceptive.

But the bottom line of this wimpy Gospel is: cool, now that you’re saved you can sin and get away with it! If we get away with sin, why bother fighting it or doing good!

I preached in a church not long ago about 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul said he made his body his slave, disciplined it so he could run to win. I encouraged people to go for it, use all that is available to you in the Gospel, put it to use, use some energy, zeal, and striving to get eternal reward. The sermon was meant to encourage, to provoke action, to stir people to use Gospel provision. Athletes do massive work for temporal rewards that someone else will eventually take. We have so much better stuff to go get, where is our discipline and effort?

I was told afterwards that the message was dangerous because it told people to do good works.

It’s unreal. Christians spend all week working, putting in time and effort for money. They use effort and discipline to pursue their hobbies and exercise, even their stupid golf game. They get into various diets and regulate their calorie intake. Everything important in life they work at to get a desired result. It’s how life works.

But then they come to their faith and there’s just nothing. Not only is there no exercise or discipline, but they have invented doctrines to excuse their apathetic laziness. “Grace” is typically the word that these excuses get pinned on.

“Faith” is another one. “It’s by faith, not by works!” Yes, salvation certainly is by faith. I cannot work my way into salvation. I cannot remove my sin and guilt. I cannot rebirth myself into a spiritual creation capable of entering eternal life with my Savior.

But with faith it is possible to please Him. We’ve turned the Gospel into “the thing that saves me and doesn’t pay off until I’m dead and in heaven.” It’s as if the Gospel has nothing to do with the life in between salvation and death.

The gospel is new life in Christ Jesus. By faith we were crucified with Him, buried with Him, and raised up with Him to newness of life. A new life where we yield the members of our body as instruments of righteousness and bring forth fruit unto holiness with the end everlasting life. Eternal rewards are held out for us.

You will stand before God someday. Many are expecting to hear “well done, good and faithful servant” because they said a 34 second prayer when they were six and proceeded to do jack squat with the Gospel since.

The Gospel is here to transform the life. We decrease and Christ increases. No longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. We are to grow into the perfect man Christ Jesus. Yes, we will not fully be like Him until we see Him as He is, but until then you can have as much of Him as you want to go get in this present world.

Yet anytime this hope, this joy, this goal, this privilege is held out for people to go get, I’m met with charges of legalism and works righteousness and accusations I think salvation is earned by our merit.

Nope, I’m just saying if you truly understand what Christ is holding out for you, the blessing and fruit that are available: then go get it! Paul says to remind them to do good works so they are not unfruitful.

We’ve exaggerated faith without works so much people think works are still evil even after salvation. I’ve had believers tell me that even after salvation all their works are filthy rags.

Whatever it takes to get us out of responsibility is what we go to. No one wants to be accountable. But to whom much is given, much is required. We’ve been given a ton in the Gospel. It is required in a steward that they be found faithful.

I said this for 21 years in a church and pretty much everyone left. I said all this in a church a few weeks ago and was told it was a dangerous message.

I don’t get it. I want more of Christ. I don’t know about you. I do. I’m attempting to do all I can to get as much of Him now as possible. The New Testament is filled with commands about how to do this, what to do, what works to pursue. This isn’t dangerous; this is life more abundant.

The Church better wake up. Bad times are coming and we’re soft. Hardly anyone is preparing. No one is exercising or disciplining themselves. A test is coming, The Day is right around the corner. I suggest we get ready. It is high time to wake out of slumber.

______________________________________

The Church and The World Like Different Stuff

I listened to a “secular” podcast where four guys, three of whom claimed to be religious (one was Jewish, one Muslim, and one Christian), said in this messed up world, our churches should be full.

I’ve heard this before. Jordan Peterson says something similar. The idea being that church should be upholding a different vision, one that is hopeful and helpful. In this dark world, the church should be shining bright.

I agree with the criticism that the church is not shining brightly in our day. We’ve watered down the Gospel and bought into many of the world’s lies. Our drift into immorality is all but a determined swim at this point.

At the same time, I think the churches should be full statement is based on a self-help understanding of Christianity. The idea is that churches and Christianity should help people achieve their dreams. People will come if they think it’s practical in helping them get what they want.

The real truth is that the more faithful to the Gospel the church becomes and the brighter its light, the more people will hate it. Men love the darkness and hate the light.

I think our churches are too full. Or rather, I think most of the fullest churches today have given in to the self-help version of Christianity.

They’ve invented a gospel that appeals to people’s flesh.

People tend to forget that when God Himself lived on this earth, humanity killed Him.

Yes, I think the church should be doing better, I think it should be proclaiming the Gospel faithfully and plainly. But I do not believe for a second that this will result in filled churches.

Nothing in church history or the Bible leads me to think this. Yes, there were momentary crowds, but none of them were sustained over any length of time, and none of them were ever treated as the goal. Being popular in this world is rarely a good thing.

The world thinks religion is a crutch, it’s a thing you use to get where you’re going. I don’t like where the world is going and would prefer my church to not be a place that helps it get there!

The church proclaims the Gospel and the preaching of the word. Attendance is irrelevant. The judgments of the world upon the church are irrelevant since most don’t understand what the point of the church or the Gospel is—conformity to Christ, that one guy the world killed.

Preach the word, in season and out. That’s it. Do that. If you do that, don’t expect a full church.

____________________________

If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

How Pastors Should Handle the Church’s Money and Business

Recently I was asked for my advice about running the business side of church.

I’m not entirely sure what this means. I assume it has something to do with money and taxes and delegation and staff, etc.

Most of this stuff I didn’t deal with. I was the only “employee” of the church and our budget was small. We didn’t own a building, so I had none of those concerns.

The church I became pastor at was a little weird before I got there. The previous pastor ran the place. There was no board; he just had two guys who adored him backing him up.

When I became pastor, I took a look at “the books.” The largest expense category was “miscellaneous!” From what I knew of the place, “miscellaneous” meant all the times the pastor and the two fan boys went out to lunch.

The previous pastor self-published books. He gave money to the church and counted it as his tax deduction. Then the church paid for self-publishing the book. Then he sold those books to people in the church. It was quite the racket.

That’s the kind of stuff that was going on.

My first task was to get a board. I asked the two fan boys if they would be on it. They refused. They preferred to sit back and criticize everything I did rather than help, which was shockingly not at all helpful.

One of the guys I chose for the board had experience in banking and his accountant mind got to work on the books. The guy spent hours sorting through the books and getting things in order. This has always been appreciated by me and many others.

We established rules for who would handle the money with multiple eyes on every transaction. I never touched any of the church’s money.

So, there’s a couple tips right there.

1. Get good help. It does help to have someone with an accountant’s brain to do accounting! Don’t leave this to chance.

2. Put things in order and do everything above board. Have multiple people sign off on every transaction.

3. The pastor should never know who gives how much money. Nor should the pastor count or touch the money.

How many pastors have you heard of who got busted for doing weird money things? The above steps will eliminate all that temptation. I never wrote one check. I never bought anything with the church’s money.

The best way to be above board is to never do anything with the thing you want to be above board with!

As far as the day-to-day operation of the church, there were systems set up that took care of most things. I took care of a lot of “office work.” I did most of the copying, website stuff, mailings, and all that. Again, it was a small church with minimal levels of busy work.

I also am a person who hates busy work, and I was in a position to simply not do things that would require more busy work! If you eliminate busy work, you’ll be amazed at how little busy work you have to do!

Sure some people will get upset that you cut their thing they liked, but hey, if they aren’t doing the busy work of doing it, chop it. Most things that churches are doing that suck up time and other resources are not found in the Bible anyway. If you simplified your church to simply following the New Testament, boy howdy will your church be easier to run.

That’s my advice for the “business” side of running a church. It’s probably not helpful, but I also never thought the business side of the church was a big deal, and that’s why!

_______________________________

If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!