If you are a church planter or plan on becoming one you’ll find this post eye opening. I have gone to this same conference for several years and the buzz of why are were actually there ran through the crowd even then. Those who are or have been in ministry know something is astray. It might just be us. I ask that the Church not ignore the obvious. Thanks Scot for your candor.

Click here for the post -  http://scott.club365.net/2009/04/why-me.htm

I am finding many who tell this story and many who feel it inside. Do we trust our institutions too much? Is the institution part of the problem?  Examine this letter from a follower of Jesus.  Can you relate or is he mislead?

Invisible

Dear Institutional Church,

With great reluctance I have come to leaving you. Of course I left mentally some time ago, but with a sense of duty, obligation, and perseverance, I continued to attend until recently….

Wanting friends, acceptance, and fellowship I sought out opportunities to be involved in church life. Aside from child care, ushering, and musical performance, there were few to no options. I’m a guy. I work well with my hands, am good with technology, and love adventure. In short, I don’t fit.

my desire to attend Sunday morning theater church has died the death of a thousand cuts. …….. finding myself to be irrelevant to the needs of the church (no on childcare, ushering, Sunday school, music, and giving large tithes) has destroyed my waning desired to involve myself with the institutional church.

Click here to read the full story.

I have a feeling we are going to hear more stories like this one. The pastor was just trying to make some changes and and someone threatens his families life. Now that sounds like good Christian ethics. Orlando has already had interesting events of pastors getting raked over the coals because of changes they are trying to make in their churches. They just don’t always end up on the news. I’m guessing some of the same things may be happening where you are. Frankly it’s sickening. Church goers bunkered down in their churches acting this way need to get a life. O’ I want to say more but (red faced with indignation).  For pete’s sakes, my non believing neighbors behave better than this. If someone had done that to me, my whole family would have stood our ground and called them out.

Here an excerpt from the story.

- A Central Florida pastor has taken a leave of absence from his church after he received threatening notes and letters, including one placed in his hymn book, following the removal of the U.S. flag from the sanctuary… Read the rest of the story here.

The Provocative Church blog wrote about thoughts on Discipleship. Since it was so well written I am gleaning, simplifying and adding some of my own thoughts. Check out his site for other insights as well.

• Disciples aren’t made effectively in classes. Jesus didn’t disciple in a classroom. Disciples are made within the messiness of real life. There is no substitute for it. People want to see how faith intersects real issues, struggles and challenges in life. You can’t teach that in a classroom.

• Never equate longevity with maturity. It is possible to be in the church a long time but not have increasing evidence of Jesus’ indwelling. Any congregation can become a spiritual club, where graytops are merely infants in diapers.

• Charisma doesn’t guarantee transformation. Having spiritual manners — even some spiritual sensitivity — doesn’t make you mature. Nice people are adept at fooling others.

• Effective Discipleship is measured not by church attendance, but by the spiritual and physical transformation that happens around us in the environment we live in. Isn’t this want we want to duplicate?

• Spiritual Transformation. Dramatic changes in purpose, attitudes, behavior and lifestyle, characterized by actions of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control that reflect a commitment and obedience to Jesus Christ.

• Disciples create spiritual movements, the results of ordinary everyday followers of Jesus taking adventurous steps of faith in a grass roots environment to help facilitate spiritual and physical transformation. Changing lives is why most of us got into ministry. Running a Church has trapped us under its own load of responsibility making it difficult for most of us to thrive in a grass roots environment.

Lets look at some more basics.

Spiritual Movements usually burst forth at the grass roots level and usually stop within the limitations of the corporate or institutional level.

Here are some of the obstacles that limit the average Church from succeeding at the grass roots level.

• Structural and staff maintenance costs and debt
• Institutional corporate and legal limitations
• Higher Fuel and food prices and lower wages
• Hierarchal Control
• Loss of Integrity
• More focus on assimilation (inside the walls) vs discipleship (outside the walls)
• Competition – Did I mention Control?

Quote of the Day

“I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please – not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of him to make me love a foreigner or pick beets with a migrant worker. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of a womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I’d like to buy $3 worth of God, please.”

- Wilbur Rees

Sound familiar?

Sometimes, someone hits it out of the park. Here is a post at that does just that in this discussion. Below is a tidbit of article. Read rest of the post at cindybryan.blogspot.com

“..we also need to get the heck out of the church building and live lives that show we care about somebody in addition to the people we worship with. we must address this corporate addiction to church that we ourselves have created. call it a church intervention, maybe. and if we succeed, the withdrawals will be ugly, angry, and very messy. If we don’t succeed, thousands of local churches just like ours will be gone in 20 years or less. I’m not even sure if that isn’t what should happen.”

The truth is whether we do or don’t succeed, thousands of local churches will be gone in 20 years anyways. They will either die and not be replaced or behave differently and succeed whether they have a building or not. We have no choice as to whether change will happen. We do have a choice as to whether we become architects of the change.

I will be doing a series that is a ground breaking strategy your church needs to look at before having to close it’s doors and turn out the lights. I will be discussing how to transform a church with four walls, no matter what size it is, to a church with unlimited possibilities. It’s time to stop the bleeding. Get ready to have your world shook to its foundations.

Here is a great group of individuals that had to close their church doors like so many other churches across the country are having to do. I honor thier service and dedication. To me it is like a death in the family. It breaks my heart because of all the people affected.

I hope they keep this video online. It has an incredible value to the church world.

I pose a question to my church friends. What if you had a way to stay together as a church and become more effective without having to worry about the costs of running a church? This is a discussion worth having.

The people at Oak Leaf Church went around the town asking people why they don’t’ go to church. As you listen to the answers, try to put yourself in their shoes vs thinking of good comebacks. You may find you will see and hear more than what’s being said.

To most of my neighbors Church is viewed as “out there”. “Come to us, get saved, give us your time and money” is the message they hear. That message is not relevant to most people, but it is the message we the church are sending. That’s a key reason why churches in America are struggling.

My neighbors want a safe and vibrant neighborhood to call home, raise their families or retire. The question for me changed from “How do I get my neighbors to go to church?” to “What can we as individuals in our church (including the staff and pastor), do to make the neighborhoods we live in a healthier more vibrant place to live?

Jesus tells us. “Go into.., Love God, love your neighbor and make disciples. The message is simple. The course of action easy to understand. Discipleship is not about filling up the church seats but making active Jesus followers. The neighborhood is the perfect environment to accomplish this because its where we live 7 day a week.

Click here to join the discussion

Get the hard cold brutal facts about your Church.   Click here for the Video

I’ve been hearing a lot about the book, Jim and Casper go to Church. It’s about an atheist and a Christian who decide to go visit churches all across the country? Below is a video where they talk a little about the experience. It wasn’t too far from what I have observed when visiting various Churches throughout the country.

This got my attention. Meeting needs of people first. Click here to see what a ministry can do to make an impact for people who won’t step into a church.

Click the Icon to learn more.

Click here for an insightful website that has people writing why they end up leaving Churches.

Imagine planting a Church anywhere you want including the neighborhood you live in, the neighborhoods surrounding you, campuses, restaurants, board rooms, hotels, mobile home parks, cruise ships, without having to worrying about the cost of staff, a building or trained leaders.

Here is an intriguing example of a Church Planting concept that is so simple to use, anyone, anywhere, anytime who is or desires to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus can do it.

We are using it in our area and the feedback so far has been enthusiastically positive. The sky is the limit with what a person can do with a concept like this.

Check out the site at www.simplechurch.tv for more info

I loved this video.

It reminds me of the lyrics to an old Keith Green song, Asleep in the Light.

“Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down”.

“Don’t you care, don’t you care, are you gonna let them drown…”

~Thanks to our Canadian friends at Campus Crusade for Christ for producing this clever video.

An important note: This conversation is not meant to invalidate the local Church. Just put it into perspective as it relates to spiritual transformation strategies of a community.

Definitions

“We have to know what we want and why we want it, before we can know if we are getting the results.”

l. Church Assimilation: “The task of moving people from an awareness of your church to attendance at your church to active membership in your church”. -Rick Warren

This area is one of the most talked about subjects in staff meetings. How to get them into the building and keep them from going out the back door. So much of our efforts go to this. We usually don’t realize how much effort physically and mentally we put into it.

What we measure the most is where we spend most of our time. Look closely at this one. Are we working to move people from an awareness of our church to attendance at our church to active membership in our church? If so, Church assimilation is what we are training our staff and congregation to do also. Like our kids, we tell them to do one thing but they end up doing what we do. Most discipleship (membership) 101 classes and volunteerism are infused with assimilation into the local church as the main product, yet isn’t our intended goal to create fully devoted followers of Jesus ?

Good Assimilation is usually seen as a sign of a healthy church. What is the final product though?. It’s exciting to see active members talking about their church, spending time volunteering, recruiting, and “fellowshipping”, yet how much discipleship is really going on? If we promote small groups, consider this. Churches that do small groups usually have a tendency to duplicate what a church ministry does and talks about. Events, attendance, teachings and so on.

The average local church attendance is 300 people or less, in a community of 250,000 or more. Everyday more of these Churches pass into obscurity or being merged into the larger, more successful churches. A larger, more functional church may be attracting more people, but when it comes to spiritual transformation of a community it’s like a couple ants trying to eat an elephant. It is something we rarely are successful at.

OK, Thanks a lot. I feel great now. I’m really inspired. I know all this already! Tell me something new. What do I do?

Keep reading. It’s so obvious I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. I probably didn’t want to see it because it’s more messy. The veneer of ministry would fall from my shoulders and I would stand exposed. Looks like I was wearing my sunday clothes instead of my work clothes.

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ll. Spiritual transformation:

“Dramatic changes in purpose, attitudes, behavior and lifestyle, characterized by actions of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control that reflect a commitment and obedience to Jesus Christ.”

The local Church is still a viable ministry vehicle. It normally functions like a clipper ship that is constantly recruiting passengers to become sailors who end up spending their time fixing the holes in the sails instead of rescuing people. We watch as sailors jump ship to find a better one somewhere else. It’s inadvertantly become a competition of who’s got the better ship just to keep people in it. Of course, there are those who just jump back in the water and start rescuing people.

The sailors who jump in to rescue people in the dark stormy waters are usually looked at as disobedient, undisciplined in the fine art of rescuing. The sailors looking for a different ship are too occupied to rescue the drowning people around them.

When the captain decides to jump in to rescue someone, more will join him in the water and use any means neccesary to rescue victims. The rest of the crew either stay on the ship, look for a new ship or look for a new captain. Why? It’s because the majority of sailors became highly skilled in caring for the ship and never learned how to swim.

Here it is. Are we discipling people to fix and build ships so we can build more ships, or are we rescuing people using any means neccesary to get them to shore as quickly as possible?

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What do I do?

Discipleship 101: Matthew 9:37 The harvest is….

You can’t harvest a field unless your out in it. The more people are trained to work in the field with you the greater the abundance of the harvest will be.

“Train them in the field, not in the barn“

It is the field where transformation and discipleship take place. The more knowledgeable we are about the field we work in, the more wisdom we will have about what the barn should look like when it’s time to build it. The barn protects the harvest. It does not bring it in. The “Church” (followers of Jesus) bring it into the barn after it has been harvested not before.

We who are the most qualified laborers and planters (Pastors, teachers and leaders) should not be living in the barn, but working in the field side by side showing people how it’s done. This is where we need to be spending most of our time. This is what discipleship is.

Ok, Sounds good in theory, but where’s the proof.

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Examples of rescuers who put on their work clothes and went into the field.

Scott and Julie Schuler – Who opened their wealthy suburban home to many young people who were hurting and invested their lives with them every day for three years. 90% of these young people are now in the field doing the same thing all over the world. You’ll never know them or see their names in lights.

David Williamson: A pastor of a little struggling church who read the words “the Church is not where you go, but who you are”, took it to heart and is now influencing more change outside of his Church than in it. He now knows where his congregation is. He has a small band of believers following him into the field where they are. You may one day hear about him. He is like many Pastors who are beginning to walk into the field and touch the harvest they have been talking about for so long.

Franklin Graham: Samaritans Purse. He turned down a chance at celebrity status to go to where the harvest was. He has influenced more people outside the pulpit then he could ever do in it.

Dr. Bob Pierce, World vision: An international Christian relief and development organization working to promote the well being of all people – especially children. World Vision offers material, emotional, social and spiritual support to 100 million people in 96 countries.

The Dream Center in Los Angeles: ….. “In the first four years of the Dream Center’s establishment, prostitution and gang violence dropped 73%, the homicide rate dropped 28%, and rape dropped 53%. The mayor and city council have publicly acknowledged the dramatic impact of the Dream Center and praise it’s efforts”. With over 150 active ministries reaching out at all times of the day and night, thousands of hurting people in Los Angeles now have a way of hope.

Bill Bright: Campus Crusade for Christ: This is one of the most influential ministries in the history of the United States and possibly the world. It would make a good case study. More Churches today have benefited from this man’s work than most church leaders realize. All because one ordinary man sold out to Jesus, made a little booklet and went into the harvest field. If one man can do that to the world think what a little band of people can do in your community.

One of the many Ministries associated with Campus Crusade For Christ is…

The JESUS Film Project®
Showing “JESUS” to everyone in the world in his or her native tongue. Over 5.4 billion people have viewed the film.

Look across the borders and across the sea’s and hear the amazing stories of millions becoming followers of Jesus. Whole tribes, governments and people groups becoming followers of Jesus even at the threat of death, transforming from darkness to into light. The Church is growing in all forms and shapes by believers of all walks of life, side by side in the field.

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Lets end this dialog with this.

Someone who is truly transformed gravitates to where the need is greatest.

Those who want to be transformed are usually assimilated into a group (Church) of some kind. It is what they will end up replicating that we should measure.

OK, Are we ready to see the elephant in the room and see things for what they are?

Church assimilation vs Spiritual transformation

What are we discipling people to do?

Do the majority of Churches in America focus most of their time, effort and teaching, to assimilating people to function effectively in a church environment, instead of creating disciples of Jesus to facilitate spiritual transformation effectively in the world they live in?

Important note.

I have never met a pastor who’s main goals were to see how many people they can get to fill the seats or salivate at the thought of the offering plates full of money. Pastors are people who want to see lives transformed, yet most of the operational environments they do ministry in require as the main focus developing healthy numbers of people in the seats and adequate finances to pay the bills .

As oxygen is essential to our ability to live, numbers are essential for most ministry organizational structures to function properly. The structure will whither and die without healthy numbers.

Most of our time, effort and messages are used to create healthy numbers. We usually don’t notice it because we are just to busy to really pay attention to it. The risks associated with paying attention to this fact is usually too frightening and sobering to bring to the surface and face it head on. When we try to find the balance, the pressure is just to great to do what needs to be done. The risk for ignoring it is greater because over time our ministrys become ineffectual, less adaptive and irrelevant to the communities around us.

The community is the biggest casualty because even if a church grows it usually does not create the kind of spiritual transformation a community needs. We keep working to prop up the wind only to find we have holes in our sails. To often good pastors end up looking for greener pastures or end up leaving the ministry all together.

If we are honest with ourselves, we know the truth of this and know many more scenarios that go along with it. In the back of our mind it sits like a caged animal wanting to get out. It gets rationalized and drowned out with the busy activity of our doing “ministry. We need our churches, but must accept the limitations inherent with such structures in order for the whole Church to become healthy.

Once in a while a ministry leader who has been successful in ministry begins to put the pieces together and take positive action. They end up becoming more influential and transformational to more people than they ever dreamed of. Their actions cause transformational shifts in the functionality of the culture they are embedded in. They achieve far more than they were ever able to do within the structure they once worked in. I am convinced this can happen on a grand scale if we change the way we think. Our limited church structures will become healthier because of it. History gives us the proof we need.

Let me get personal for a moment.

One reason I never became a pastor in a Church because I felt I could do more without the restraints of having to be an administrator and a manager. I continued to spend time helping churches attract and assimilate people to do kingdom work. I realized to my behest that most of my accomplishments were based on church assimilation vs spiritual transformational ministry even though that was not my intent. Assimilating people into the Church so they could be properly discipled to do kingdom work proved to be a false assumption in most cases.

I began measuring church assimilation results and how they correlated with spiritual movements and community transformation change. I also began looking at the Church from a global perspective and it blew me away. I realized the error that I along with almost everyone reading this has or is making. We are discipling people to be church assimilation experts vs spiritual transformers. That needs to change.

In part 3 we will clarify our definitions of Church assimilation and Spiritual transformation (discipleship)

to be continued.

Much effort ,thought and strategy go into Church growth. We get excited when it’s a full house. Soon we need more room for various ministries, staff, more or not enough funds are available for the building fund, maintenance and staff. How can we get more volunteers to fill the need? On and on it goes.

Such is the life of a growing church ministry. It can be an exciting time. However If you are part of a large growing ministry, Watch out !. You may be growing the wrong thing and putting your time and effort in the wrong place.

Some of you are thinking. Thats not us. It’s exciting what God is doing here. People love to come. Souls are being “saved”, baptized” and are attending classes and small groups. We have a great kid’s program and give to missions.

It may not be as healthy as you think. In coming days we will look at one of the biggest “elephants in the room” regarding church ministry.

This discussion will make most ministry leaders, pastors, either shaking their heads in agreement, frustration, defensiveness or outright anger. This issue must be wrestled with and can not be rationalized away for the many various reasons that exist. I’ll do my best to bring it out in a clear and concise way.

The goal of this discussion is to grow a healthy Church that transforms human hearts, which in turn transforms our world, one community at a time.

As a ministry analyst it is my role to help the Kingdom of God flourish. No matter what form it’s in. To break down the processes to it’s finest point, then make practical suggestions which create practical solutions.

If we ignore or water down the obvious, it becomes a detriment to the Churches health, functionality and credibility.

What is your church and ministry really growing?

What will be the impact years from now?

Could you have a bigger impact doing something else?

End of Part 1

   In America, most congregations perceive the term pastor as a title for the job description of the leader of their local Church.

Pastor: Definitions>

1. A Christian minister or priest having spiritual charge over a congregation or other group.

2. A layperson having spiritual charge over a person or group.

3. A shepherd.

The word itself is derived from the Latin word pastōr which means shepherd.

    The usage of pastor comes from its use in the Bible. In the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), the Hebrew word רעה (transliterated: ra`ah) is used. The word is used 173 times, and is used to describe feeding sheep like in Genesis 29:7 and also in regards to human beings like in Jeremiah 3:15, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (KJV).

    In the New Testament, the Greek word ποιμην (transliterated: poimēn) is used and is normally translated pastor or shepherd. The word is used 18 times in the New Testament. For example, Ephesians 4:11, “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (KJV). Jesus also called himself the “Good Shepherd” in John 10:11.

    Historical usage: Around 400 AD, Augustine, a famous North African bishop, described a pastor’s job

“Disturbers are to be rebuked, the low-spirited to be encouraged, the infirm to be supported, objectors confuted, the treacherous guarded against, the unskilled taught, the lazy aroused, contentious restrained, the haughty repressed, litigants pacified, the poor relieved, the oppressed liberated, the good approved, the evil borne with, and all are to be loved”.

    Many Protestants use the term pastor as a title (e.g., Pastor Smith) or as a job title (like Senior Pastor or Worship Pastor). This usage is particularly common among Protestants who believe in the priesthood of all believers, and, therefore, they reject the use of the term priest for their leaders. Such denominations include the Lutherans, Mennonites, Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed tradition churches, Baptists, Pentecostals and most non denominational churches.

Pastor – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Which definition of a Pastor do you want to be?

Do you need to join staff, get a title or the be the head of a church in order to be a pastor or are you already functioning as a Pastor in your everyday life?

A Final Word.

    If being a pastor is who you are in everyday life, acknowledge it and with greatfulness and enthusiasm, be a pastor at all times to whatever flock is around you whether it’s a school, neighborhood, ministry or work place.).

    People will naturally follow you because of who you are and who you represent rather than the title you carry.).

    If you happen to get hired later to run a ministry or join a staff, make sure you have or learn the administrative and management skills neccesary to do so.

    Do not allow your organizational tasks, allegiance or paycheck drown out your allegiance to Jesus whom you serve and the usage of the natural pastorship gift he has given you to serve him.

Here’s the usual order of how one usually becomes a Pastor in the USA.

• “Accept Jesus into your heart”, get baptized, attend discipleship 101 classes, attend small group meetings, ext..

• Begin volunteering in service areas of your local church, ushering, youth or children’s ministries, ext..

• Begin teaching adult Sunday school or facilitating a small group meeting.

• If you show natural public speaking or story telling abilities you may get opportunities to teach or preach in front of groups of people.

• At some point you may start attend bible college or seminary or start the process.

• The opportunity may present itself to go on staff at your church, a local ministry in your area, another city, state.

• You feel God is calling you to start a Church.

• Your Dad was a pastor

• It can be a combination of these circumstances or events but these are the most common.

If you are now a pastor, or desire to be one in the future, Should you be a Pastor because…?

• You are a gifted speaker

• You went to bible school or seminary

• You are a good teacher

• You are a good evangelist

• You are a good administrator

• You get along with people

• You are a natural leader

• You have a charismatic personality and have different talents.

• You find yourself naturally walking and nurturing people in their spiritual journey on a daily basis whether inside or outside the church walls.

Do you see pastors as…?

1. The top dog
2. The muddy servant
3. A man of the people.
4. A servant of Jesus empowered to guide people in their spiritual journey no matter the environment you live or work in

Do you believe people see pastors as…?       Hint:  It’s number 1.

1. The top dog who runs the Church
2. The muddy servant
3. A man of the people.
4. A servant of Jesus empowered to guide people in their spiritual journey no matter what enviornment they work or live in.

Important Note:

1. Most people who volunteer in ministry see themselves as 2 - 4.

2. A successful transformational ministry is when your volunteers see you as 2 - 4.

3. A Church organizational enterprise can run successfully without  the Pastor being percieved as 2 through 4, but it will not be transformational.

 If you see pockets of transformation, there is another reason it is happening.

   So you want to go into full time ministry.  Are you qualified?  Have you taken the assessment tests?  Lets look at some reasons people give when asked, “why do you want to go into full time ministry?”  I also have added questions you should be asking yourselves. They are blunt and to the point. Don’t ignore them.

I want to go into full time ministry because….

1. “I love the Lord” -

Yet what have I done the last two days to show it.? Is it just an emotional response or is there more to this?

2. “I want to see people come to Christ” -

Yet what did I do this week to help people come to Christ? If I’m not making a difference now with all the people that are around me, what makes me think I will in the future by getting on a church staff or becoming a pastor?

3. “It’s the career I would like to pursue’ (Yes, I hear this one a lot) -

Am I pursuing Jesus or going on a job search.? Anyways, I could make better career choices. I hear the pay is terrible and I’d always be on call.

4. “So I can serve the Lord full time” -

Am I a part time Christian now? What is it I’m trying to really say?

5. “I believe God is calling me into full time ministry” -

Do I really believe this or am I making a decision based on other factors. Doesn’t it make more sense to work 24/7 among “the world” where people need Jesus the most , then to work 8 to 10 hours a day with believers who don’t?. Am I just being self centered?

6. “I’m unhappy where I am working now” - (Yes I hear this one often too.)

Is the grass greenest on the other side or where I cultivate it. ? Anyway, Talk about a bad day. I hear Peter died hanging upside down.
–
OK OK… I must admit. The opportunity of having the time and paycheck to do full time ministry does sound good.  Well,.. unless your in a country where they chop your head off or torture you to death.

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Can I be blunt here. I’ve seen too many burn outs and disillusioned people leave the ministry for me to dance around the obvious. 

• The grass is not greener on the other side. Thinking we can do more for the kingdom of God if we were on staff at a local Church or ministry is a journey in futility.

• Most of the time we are simply exchanging one job for another. At some point you will probably find yourself spending more time doing the opposite of what you originally got into ministry for.

• Thinking the ministry title such as “Pastor or Teacher” gets us more credibility when we try to influence people is highly overrated.  People follow leaders. Not titles. “Bosses tell people what they should do, leaders show people how its done.

I tell this to everyone who come to me wanting to pursue full time ministry.

   “Are you doing full time ministry now?”.  If you are effectively doing full time ministry in the environment you are in now, the sheer force of the task you are doing will move you to it’s desired course. You will have no choice in the matter of where to go. It will be as a natural flow of water in a stream. Not even the rocks and obstacles can stop it. It’s a rush and frightening at the same time because it will always be bigger than you.”

I hope this site can give you the tools to do effective ministry now.  But don’t wait. The best place to start is where you live life. See where it takes you. 

Do you want to serve at a church, become a pastor, church planter, elder, do ministry outside the church walls, at school, work, home, a neighborhood, street, overseas or maybe start a spiritual movement? If so, ask yourself this very important question.

Before you answer, their is a rule you must follow. Whenever I ask kids or adults a bible, spiritual or personal question the two answers they cannot give is “God” or “Jesus”. We have all learned to give generic answers to questions instead of really thinking the questions through. So here is the first question.

Why do you want to be involved or go into ministry? Here are examples of the most common generic answers most people give.

• “I love the Lord”
• “I want to see people come to Christ”
• “It’s the career I would like to pursue’ (Yes, I hear this one a lot)
• “So I can serve the Lord full time”
• “I believe God is calling me into full time ministry”
• “I’m unhappy where I am working now”
  

Note: If you are already involved in “part time” or “full time” ministry you might want to do this exercise also, whether you are “successful or not”

Here are some guidelines to follow when you are at this stage.

1. Be specific. Break down your answer by asking why. It’s like that annoying kid who asks why the sky is blue and every time you answer one him he asks, WHY… to the answer you just gave him.

2. Put it in writing. Don’t skip this step. If you are not willing to wrestle with it on paper, your conviction and commitment is questionable and it may be more an emotional decision than a rational one based on foundational principles.

3. Don’t make an emotional decision with out understanding the root cause and specifics of where the emotion comes from.
You may find that you will talk yourself out of it. If thats the case, circumstances or someone else will eventually talk you out of it also.

Note: You may have noticed I didn’t say pray, read your bible or ask advice from someone in ministry because I assume you have already done this. It’s not others that need convincing that you are making the right decision. It ’s you who will need to be convinced of this.

   For over 35 years I have been actively involved in helping church ministries get from point A to point B. I seen just about every church model function at different levels with many different results.

   As a ministry analyst I have actively engaged myself in ministries within the churches, working with as many ministry volunteers as possible in order to properly examine the operational and spiritual structure down to its smallest component, recommend changes and help implement those changes working side by side with wonderful and faithful friends.

   This blog is intended to help people in all walks of ministry whom are either just starting out, are engaged in church planting, have an established ministry or are a struggling church.

   This site will also help you find practical solutions and may challenge many assumptions of ministry that exist today which end up choking the very life out a having fulfilling and transforming ministry.