A Discipleship Moment

Re-Ordering the Church for the Future:
Looking In, Looking Back or Looking Forward

by Dr. Craig Hamlin

Throughout my years of ministry and throughout my life, I have observed the Church with a mainly “come and see” mentality. We have built large buildings, developed complex programs and sent missionaries all over the world to replicate the success of our ministries. While we have done an okay job in the community, most of our churches are filled with people who would rather cross the pond to do ministry than develop it in their own community. The need among the nations is great, don’t get me wrong, but we are losing generations in our own communities because many within the church have never taken the time to exegete their neighborhoods or developed a heart to see their neighbors discipled.

When COVID-19 hit, churches began to scramble for ways to continue their ministries. Some churches pivoted well and others not so well. What churches are discovering is that if they want to be deemed irrelevant coming out of this crisis, they need to simply go back to the way they were doing ministry. Doing things the way we have always done them is comfortable. Why make any shifts or look in a different direction? Richard Blackaby, son of Henry Blackaby, an author and in demand speaker around the world, made this statement:

“I spend half my time working with Christian CEOs from corporate America. I have been on numerous Zoom calls with them as they seek to navigate COVID-19. Doing so has provided a fascinating contrast of how business and church leaders are preparing to lead in the future. Business leaders know they can never return to the way things were. They don’t look back; they look forward. They don’t bemoan lost opportunities; they search for new ones. Church leaders could learn much from this approach.”

His comments came in the context of sharing the story of Lewis and Clark as they navigated rivers plotting their way toward the Pacific. Things were going well until they ran into the Rocky Mountains. How they did things would no longer work when they got to the Rockies. For them to continue they had to adjust and work within their new environment. The same is true for the Church and for your church. If we embrace the new possibilities and opportunities afforded through this crisis, we may come out doing things differently but seeing greater fruit than ever before. Could we see a reversal in the trends of college students who are leaving the Church at alarming rates as they start to come back? Could we see neighbors who stay at home on Sundays and are indifferent to the Gospel begin to open up to you and what you have to say? Could we see followers of Jesus intentionally take their faith into their neighborhoods to birth, host or lead a LIFE Group that studies the Bible, creates a safe place to share life, and develops future leaders who will do the same in the next neighborhood over? Could we see a generation of Christ followers concerned more about going to their communities rather than expecting their communities to come to their church or their church’s programs?

This is a time for us to ask the hard questions and consider finding new ways to fulfill the goal that every LIFE group should pursue: the radical TRANSFORMATION of every person in their group.

Might you be the catalyst to participate, host, launch or lead a community group that multiplies all over where you live? It would not be about giving up something or giving up relationships, but about expanding them, expanding your influence and expanding the kingdom of God.

A Final Word…

Richard Blackaby concluded his argument for the church to consider ways to look forward and the dangers of waiting for things to get back to normal, by bringing up the story Jesus told in Luke 19 about the Master leaving His servants in charge and giving them each 10 minas. When the Master returned, one of the servants had hid his minas out of fear. Jesus rebuked him and took it away. Blackaby drew a parallel to churches who do the same versus churches who look for more creative, uncomfortable and necessary ways to do ministry. He said, “I believe the future calls for entrepreneurial leadership in both business and the Church. It demands creative, future-oriented, courageous leadership. Outdated methodology must be discarded, and new, more effective means implemented. Effective leaders know what matters. They hold tightly to the mission and the message, but they hold loosely to the means. They clearly recognize that the means are just the means. They’re not the ends.”

COVID-19 has been a wake-up call to leaders everywhere. Some have responded brilliantly. Others have buried their mina in the sand and dourly waited out the storm. Such leadership will not see God’s kingdom expand, and it certainly won’t be rewarded by the King.”

 

Craig