Designer Christians: Startling new research

We should be concerned, very concerned with the current state of today’s church product according to recent research from Barna.

From HuffPo, and USA TODAY:

“If World War II-era warbler Kate Smith sang today, her anthem could be “Gods Bless America.”

That’s one of the key findings in newly released research that reveals America’s drift from clearly defined religious denominations to faiths cut to fit personal preferences.

The folks who make up God as they go are side by side with self-proclaimed believers who claim the Christian label but shed their ties to traditional beliefs and practices. Religion statistics expert George Barna says, with a wry hint of exaggeration, America is headed for “310 million people with 310 million religions.”

“We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs — our clothing, our food, our education,” he said. Now it’s our religion.

Barna’s new book on U.S. Christians, “Futurecast,” tracks changes from 1991 to 2011, in annual national surveys of 1,000 to 1,600 U.S. adults. All the major trend lines of religious belief and behavior he measured ran downward — except two:

• More people claim they have accepted Jesus as their savior and expect to go to heaven.
• And more say they haven’t been to church in the past six months except for special occasions such as weddings or funerals. In 1991, 24 percent were “unchurched.” Today, it’s 37 percent.

Barna blames pastors for those oddly contradictory findings. Everyone hears, “Jesus is the answer. Embrace him. Say this little Sinner’s Prayer and keep coming back. It doesn’t work. People end up bored, burned out and empty,” he said. “They look at church and wonder, ‘Jesus died for this?”

We’re in deep trouble and yet, we continue to do the same things expecting different results. In our efforts to seek out seekers, create sensory experiences, and make people feel comfortable, have we abandoned God and His Biblical mandate to make disciples? The Apostle Paul wrote, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10).

There is no crown if there is no cross. We want the rewards without obedience. However, obedience to the commands of Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely essential. Let me be plain and simple – an outward profession of religion will not ensure a heavenly abode unless there is corresponding life transformation. All judgment rests with Jesus.

We are to do the will of Christ. His will is that we believe in Him, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. It is God’s will that we be sanctified. God wants us to live holy lives.

Barna’s Research: Four Obstacles & Four Keys

Obstacle 1: Commitment
Less than one out of every five self-identified Christians (18%) claims to be totally committed to investing in their own spiritual development. Perhaps this is why a majority of self-identified Christian adults (52%) believe that there is much more to the Christian life than what they have experienced.

Key: Without a full determination to live like Christ and for Him, the path to complete transformation is blocked. Commitment is paramount to the Great Commission.

Obstacle 2: Repentance
Most of the self-identified Christians in the U.S. (64%) state that they have confessed their sins to God and asked for His forgiveness. However, only about 3% of all self-identified Christians in America have come to the final stops on the transformational journey – the places where they have surrendered control of their life to God, submitted to His will for their life, and devoted themselves to loving and serving God and other people.

Key: We are called to bear fruit that is worthy of the gift of repentance. The New Living Translation of the Bible says it very well, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.” (Luke 3:8)

Obstacle 3: Activity
Four out of ten self-identified Christian adults (39%) have participated in a combination of three “normal” religious activities in the past week (i.e., attending church services, praying, reading the Bible). But far fewer have engaged in another trio of deeper faith expressions: less than one out of ten have talked about their faith with a non-Christian, fasted for religious purposes, and had an extended time of spiritual reflection during the past week. Various spiritual disciplines – including solitude, sacrifice, acts of service, silence, and scriptural meditation – are also infrequently practiced.

Key: As Barna noted, “Tens of millions of self-identified Christians have confused religious activity with spiritual significance.” We must emphasize, practice, and bring accountability to the basic spiritual disciplines of our faith. I recommend Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster as a place to start.

Obstacle 4: Spiritual Community
Most self-identified Christians note that they feel comfortable and connected within their church. However, many self-identified Christians do not take their faith community seriously as a place to which they should be open and held to biblical principles. Only one out of every five self-identified Christians (21%) believes that spiritual maturity requires a vital connection to a community of faith. Further, only one-third (35%) claims to have confessed their sins verbally to another believer at some point during the past quarter.

Key: True koinonia (fellowship, sharing in common, communion) is largely missing in today’s church. Scripture commands us to be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10), honor one another (Romans 12:10), live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16; 1 Peter 3:8), accept one another (Romans 15:7), serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32), admonish one another (Colossians 3:16), encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13), spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), offer hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), and love one another (1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11-12).

Knowing Christ Jesus: helping believers know Christ and to make Him known

1. Less activity. Deeper relationships.

Barna noted that most churches encourage people to engage in an increasing amount of religious activity, asking them to pour themselves into efforts related to the “core six” spiritual dimensions: worship, evangelism, discipleship, stewardship, service, and community.

Key: The goal of our spiritual development should be to be formed, conformed, and transformed in Christ-likeness – godly character, not worldly accomplishments and the development and realization of a life-changing relationship with Jesus instead of church programs.

2. Surrender, sacrifice, and suffering

Barna suggests that we need to help believers embrace the necessity of sacrifice and suffering in order to surrender and submit themselves fully to God.

Key: There is no crown without the cross. We have so focused on immediate gratification, fast-food spiritual discipleship, and have disdained purposeful sacrifice and suffering that few are willing to follow the narrow path. The way of the Master is selflessness. It is time to rethink our discipleship process if we teach anything less than the life and teaching of Lord Jesus.

3. Small groups do not necessarily produce commitment

A third challenge listed by Barna was the importance of perceiving and experiencing a faith community as a vital support system in the pursuit of a deeper relationship with God. Past studies have shown that while small groups that meet during the week for purposes such as Bible study, prayer, and life sharing have become a regular activity among roughly one-quarter (25%) of self-described Christians, and those meetings are relied upon by conventional churches as a means of creating community and a sense of connection to the church, the ultimate product of those groups is a combination of knowledge and comfort more often than it is commitment and application.

Key: Barna writes, “Small groups are an important ingredient in most churches. And though knowledge is an important step in the growth process, without transparency and accountability, the information rarely gets converted into personal, congregational, or cultural transformation.” As Greg Ogden writes, “One of the most powerful discoveries I have made in ministry is that size matters. It matters greatly. Over 20 years ago I stumbled onto groups of three or four (triads/quads) as the most effective way to create a transparent, reproducing, relational environment for transformation into Christlikeness.” Like Greg, I have discovered the power found in smaller “core” groups and have made it my purpose and ministry to provide a Biblical process and free discipleship resources to that end. You can learn more here.

Measuring Success

We should re-think how we measure “success” corporately and personally. According to Barna, common success measures such as church attendance and program completion showed little correlation with transformational progress.

Key: The mission of His Church is to make disciples who can then make disciples. Spiritual fruit as evidenced through character change, lifestyle shifts, attitudinal transitions, and spiritual process and commitments should be the primary metrics used to determine success.

We should be ever mindful of what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” God help us to become disciple-making people by His power and to His glory.

The Breakfast of Champions: Living Courageously

Henny Penny, also known as Chicken Little, is a tale about a chicken that believes the world is coming to an end. The moral, we learn, is not to believe everything you are told and to not be a ‘Chicken’ but have courage.

In a time characterized by moral, cultural, and economic bankruptcy, we need to return the strong foundation of God’s Word.

You will recall the story where God told the Israelites that the Promised Land was rich and fertile. Not only that, He promised that this bountiful land would be theirs. When the spies who were sent in to see what the land was like reported back to Moses, they gave plenty of good reasons for entering the land, but they couldn’t stop focusing on their fear. Talk of giants in the land and fortified cities made it easy to forget about God’s promise to help. When they returned to give their report, 10 of the men uttered four words that forever changed their destiny, “We be not able” (Numbers 13:31). But, Caleb who saw exactly the same land, giants and cities said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30).

Joshua also saw the same giants and walled city as the other spies, and added, “Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us” (Numbers 14:9).

Giants are the Breakfast of Champions

Joshua proclaimed that the giants in the land were bread for them: Giants are the breakfast of champions. Whatever you are facing today, whatever is keeping you from realizing your destiny, know that as you commit yourself to be wholly devoted to the Lord, fully separated to Him, allowing Him to develop in you the spirit of Caleb and Joshua, and following the Lord wholeheartedly, that He promises that even though delays may come that He will ultimately bring victory in your life!

God Has a Plan

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11)

God knows the future, and His plans for you are good and full of hope. As long as you surrender your whole self to God’s plans and as He goes with you as you fulfill His mission, you can realize unlimited possibilities. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:17, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” It may be difficult to believe that the person who does the will of God will live forever. But this is based on the facts of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and promises. Knowing that this evil world and your desires for its pleasures will end can give you courage to overcome. Now, this does not mean that you will be spared pain, suffering, or hardship in this world, but that God will see you through to a glorious conclusion. When evil, pain, suffering, or hardship strikes, you can still be thankful for God’s presence and for the good that He will accomplish through the storm. God loves you and wants only His best for you!

To Realize God’s Purpose and to be Victorious We Must

• Be submitted to God’s Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16)
• Be equipped by God’s team (Ephesians 4:12)
• Demonstrate mutual, unconditional love of one another (2 Thessalonians 1:3)
• Have daily spiritual nourishment from God’s Word (1 Pet. 2:2)
• Have opportunity to exercise faith (Philippians 1:6)
• Have an understanding of moral absolutes (2 Peter 1:5-11)
• Be grounded in essential doctrine (Hebrews 5:11-14)
• Think and live with a consistent and cohesive Biblical worldview based on the infallible Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).

By diligently learning, applying and trusting God’s truths in every area of our lives we can begin to develop a deep lasting faith that will stand against the unrelenting tide of today’s Henny Penny “the sky is falling” ideas.

Developing A Discipleship Ministry: Teaching or Imparting?

Discipleship: Teaching or Imparting?

Jesus gave His all to a handful of men and He personally discipled them.

His brand of discipleship required that His disciples enter into a personal relationship with Him and His Father. Jesus called His disciples to be “with Him.”

“He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons” (Mark 3:14,15).

“We teach what we know – we impart who we are.”

You cannot grow any higher than your headship, nor can you go anywhere that your head does not first lead. Similarly, we teach what we know – we impart who we are. Teaching is not the same as imparting. Impartation is more than academia in that it is a relationship proven in time in faith. Jesus did not assign to some other minister or ministry His responsibility to make disciples. He is the head of the Church, Sovereign Lord and King, and yet, He rolled up His sleeves and imparted life to a band of brothers for more than three years. He did this because this is what His Father told Him to do. Day in and day out, through thick and thin, winter and summer, hot and cold, rain or shine, early and late, on the sea or in the Temple, Jesus taught these men. He knew His Father and this knowing is what He imparted. Everything He did, He first saw His Father doing. In such way, He demonstrated to His disciples not only the what, but most importantly, the Whom. Jesus knew the Father. This knowing was much more than intellectual assent. This kind of knowing is realization, awareness, knowledge, perception, resolution, understanding, and intimacy. It was this kind of knowing that Jesus imparted and prayed for His disciples: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

A disciple-maker knows God, has walked with Him, and then imparts this life in a proper relationship to others. This includes accountability, encouragement, correction, support, and service. It involves deep character refinement. Only those who have come to some level of spiritual maturity in these areas can truly impart such to others. Hearing a sermon, reading a book, going to a seminar, or attending a study cannot learn these things. They can only be imparted from one who has experiential faith – faith fired in the coals of life – to another who is willing to learn. These are not classroom subjects to be sniffed at as much as they are life lessons to be digested. They can only be shared in the context of doing life together. The daily faith road provides all the subject matter any seasoned disciple-maker requires to further build on Christ’s foundation.

And just as is true today, this does not mean that the disciple-maker must be present with his or her students 24/7. Jesus purposely went away or sent His disciples away at various times. Often times He would give them tasks to attend to. Jesus’ teaching methodology is similar to parenting skills in that He would first tell and show them, supervise them, and then release them to attempt the task themselves. He knew that they would learn, and though He knew they might fail, He was not fearful of their failure. He knew that there must be given equal opportunity for success and failure. How many parents have attempted to teach their children to ride a bicycle knowing that the child would inevitably crash? Does this mean that the parent is insensitive? No. A good parent will tell their child how to ride a bike, show them, supervise them, and then let go. However, like so many enabling parents in today’s culture, many disciple-makers never learn to let go. This is not the way of the Master Teacher.

And how did these ordinary men given the unique opportunity to birth the church turn out? “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

“…a changed life convinces people of Christ’s power more than all the titles anyone will ever afford.”

People are always amazed at what being with Jesus will do. We live in a time of wholesale consumer skepticism. We are schooled in the belief that unless your pedigree is from the best of Christian thinking, you certainly cannot have much to say. Yet, in God’s economy, a changed life convinces people of Christ’s power more than all the titles anyone will ever afford. The most simple and profound testimony a disciple can ever provide is the difference others see in his or her life and attitudes since believing in Christ Jesus.

Jesus’ disciples walked with Him, talked with Him, watched Him, prayed with Him, ate with Him, and rested with Him. They saw how He lived, where He lived, and why He lived. They heard His voice, how He reacted, saw Him weep, laugh, suffer, pained, tempted, and tried. They heard Him pray, watched Him cleanse a temple, heal the sick, cast out demons, feed the hungry, minister to the outcast, raise the dead, walk on water, come to their defense, eat on the Sabbath, teach unforgettable lessons, handle popularity, foretell His death, His transformation, eat with Pharisees, bless children, suffer His betrayer, wash feet, face desertion, eat a final meal, be arrested, examined, condemned, mocked, beaten, shamed, scorned, hung on a Cross, pierced, forsaken, die, buried, resurrected and heard His final Commission to go and make disciples just as He patterned before He Ascended. Then they received the Holy Spirit and they understood and continued to do and teach as He did. They became committed. What they knew was imparted by Whom they knew.

Jesus prayed that, “I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23). As a result, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35)

Disciple-makers should live in such as way that others take pattern from them, and live after their copy. They should guide with their lips AND their lives, go before them in the way of the Kingdom, and should never be content with just pointing toward the destination. Disciples should follow the pattern as far as they are absolutely convinced that they are following Christ Jesus in faith and in practice, never violating God’s written Word, character, or their own conscience. Paul said, “Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15).

Jesus says of discipleship:
“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour” (John 1:39).

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mth. 11:28).

”Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mth. 19:21).

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:4).

Developing A Discipleship Ministry

Jesus was the greatest disciple maker who has ever lived. How did He begin?

Though Jesus had many who followed, He chose only twelve ordinary men with a mixture of backgrounds and personalities to be His disciples. Jesus’ entire ministry depended upon these men who would go on to start the Christian Church. He began His discipleship ministry in prayer:

“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles” (Luke 6:12,13).

Jesus then selected the men His Father told Him to choose for He only did what He saw His Father doing – Jesus saw these men in prayer and then hand-selected them from the multitudes: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19).

Jesus focused His time in prayer, communion and fellowship with His Father and then He selected His men. This is paramount to fulfilling Jesus’ model for making disciples.

Jesus chose a few in prayer, and prayer was His first priority as He continued to make them into life-long disciples.

Jesus focused on a few and He did nothing without first having prayed.

Though Jesus’ vision was enormous, He focused on just a handful of men. In so doing, He demonstrated the power of small beginnings:

“He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches” (Matthew 13:31,32)

Our Lord Jesus focused on twelve men to change the world and to whom He would give the task of building His church. He spent the majority of His life ministry pouring into an obscure, seemingly insignificant group of twelve very unlikely men. As Lord, He knew the power of small beginnings, the power of seedtime and harvest.

What we learn is that bigger and much is not always better. In discipleship, it is better to do more with a few than to do little with many. It is better to have a few very committed people than it is to have an army of mediocrity. We are so programmed to believe that the evidence of a successful ministry is how much, or how big, or how many. We turn to programs again and again that create mechanically produced leaders, but who are not prepared to stand, walk, and engage in spiritual battle. They lack much for they are still entangled in past hurts, offenses, bitterness, divisiveness, not firmly established in the Word of God, and have not learned to walk in the Holy Spirit of God. Too often, they are released to work for Him before they understand their position in Him. Perhaps this is one reason why more than 1,500 ministers leave the pastorate each month.

These first steps are critical in developing a discipleship ministry.

Eight Core Values Of A Disciple

Discipleship, the ongoing process of loving God and loving others, knowing Jesus and making Him Known, applying God’s Word in your daily life and walking in the Holy Spirit, is based on your relationship with God and others.

What does a “fully-developed follower of Christ” – a spiritually mature disciple – actually look like according to the Bible? Here are eight characteristics from God’s Word. These are the result of a lifetime pursuit of growing in grace and truth.

1. A disciple rests in God:
A disciple lives in the constant awareness of what it means to be a child of God. A disciple rests in the knowledge that he or she does not need to do anything for God, but has learned to work in partnership with God. Looking at Ephesians 1, a disciple knows that he or she is: 1) Accepted; 2) Adopted; 3) Blameless; 4) Chosen; 5) Forgiven; 6) Predestined; and 7) Sealed with the Holy Spirit. As a result, he or she makes every effort to live above reproach in all things, private and public.

2. A disciple worships God:
The mature disciple needs no specific day, time, or place to worship God for they know that they themselves are presented to God as living sacrifices daily to God. A disciple: 1) Knows the purpose for worship; 2) Worships in spirit; 3) Worships in truth; 4) Worships regularly with other believers; and 5) Worships as a lifestyle.

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Billy Graham on Discipleship

Billy Graham once was asked, “If you were a pastor of a large church in a principal city, what would be your plan of action?”

In The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman reproduces Graham’s response, perhaps a surprising answer to many:

I think one of the first things I would do would be to a get a small group of eight or ten or twelve people around me that would meet a few hours a week and pay the price! It would cost them something in time and effort. I would share with them everything I have, over a period of years. Then I would actually have twelve ministers among the laypeople who in turn could take eight or ten or twelve more and teach them. I know one or two churches that are doing that, and it is revolutionizing the church. Christ, I think, set the pattern. He spent most of his time with twelve men. He didn’t spend it with a great crowd. In fact, every time he had a great crowd it seems to me that there weren’t too many results. The great results, it seems to me, came in this personal interview and in the time he spent with his twelve. (page 103)

Are American Pastors Abandoning Their Posts?

Eugene Peterson wrote the following in his book Working the Angles. Though published in 1987, Peterson’s writing still cuts to the heart of today’s church crisis. A must read for every young minister.

American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.

Crisis in the Church: Called out or fitting in?

Remember the frog that landed in a pan of water and stayed until it boiled? Had the pan been hot, the frog would have noticed and hopped out. But the water felt cool at first, and the frog sensed no danger. It simply relaxed and conformed to the gradual change. Subdued by the rising heat, it grew too sluggish to act. By the time the water boiled, the frog was dead.

I want to share the burden of my heart with you concerning the alarming trend of Biblical illiteracy and state of discipleship in today’s church. I want to encourage you by saying that with every problem there is an opportunity and to envision the church as the Lord sees it. Jesus will build His Church (Mth. 16:18).

You Are What You Eat

Back in my school days, in the lunch-room, there were posters encouraging us kids to eat well-balanced diets. One poster in particular always caught my attention. It read “you are what you eat”. In other words, it was saying that the kind of fuel I put into my body determined my performance – the higher the octane level, the higher the output. This is true in the spiritual life, too.

What we put into our minds determines what comes out in our words and actions.

Spiritual disciplines help us maintain an attitude of gratitude. They are habits that help us to live with a sense of God’s presence and grace and purpose, and because of this, we can be freed from the deep sense of anxiety that drives most of us.

Discipleship Begins In Leadership

The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization was held in Cape Town, South Africa, 16-25 October 2010. The Congress, held in collaboration with the World Evangelical Alliance, brought together 4,000 leaders from more than 200 countries to confront the critical issues of our time. The following is an excerpt from the proceedings: Christ-Centered Leaders.

Christ-Centered Leaders
The rapid growth of the Church in so many places remains shallow and vulnerable, partly because of the lack of discipled leaders, and partly because so many use their positions for worldly power, arrogant status or personal enrichment. As a result, God’s people suffer, Christ is dishonoured, and gospel mission is undermined. ‘Leadership training’ is the commonly-proposed priority solution. Indeed, leadership training programmes of all kinds have multiplied, but the problem remains, for two probable reasons.