Earlier this week I participated in a conference for churches attempting to break through the barriers that are holding them back. My first message, “Church Unstoppable”, centered around three important questions. These were questions that our church asked itself during a particularly difficult season, and the answers were pivotal in helping us to move forward. I think they hold value for any church who is struggling to take the next step on their journey.
The first question was, “What kind of church is God asking us to build?” Was God asking us to build a church that helped the people already inside our walls to grow spiritually? Or did God want us to reach beyond our doors and invite new people in to rediscover Him in a meaningful way? For us (and for all churches), the answer was obvious – God was calling us to do both. To do one and not the other would be to embrace only half the Great Commission (Matthew 28.18-20). Even though we all know the right answer, in the real world churches often find themselves out of position. In fact, there are four different spots that a church can find themselves in, depending on whether they are growing spiritually, growing in attendance, neither or both.
#1) Unsustainable – If a church is growing in attendance but not growing spiritually, they are in an unsustainable position. It’s unsustainable because the church will quickly burn out its core (the faithful few who are supporting increasingly large numbers of uncommitted people), use up all of its resources and go to greater and greater lengths to hold the interest of the crowd.
#2) Unmaintainable – If a church is not growing spiritually and declining in attendance, the conclusion is not in question; the church is dying. There needs to be a drastic change to put this church in a different position.
#3) Unmovable – If a church consistently helps people to grow stronger in their faith, but struggles to be outward or inclusive, they become increasingly difficult to move forward. The desire to maintain their church as it is with respect to how it feels, who they know and what they can expect eventually overwhelms their impulse to change for the sake of others.
#4) Unstoppable – Unlike the other three positions, if the people in a church are experiencing profound life-change and the church is rapidly growing in attendance at the same time, things are moving in the right direction. If this church stays close to God and remains true to their calling, they are quickly on their way to becoming unstoppable.
Again, in this sense, it goes without saying that God is calling all churches to become an ‘unstoppable’ church. But that begs the 2nd question, “What does an unstoppable church look like?”
As we prayed through this question as a church, we came to believe that there are four qualities of an unstoppable church are true regardless of a church’s geographic location, demographic make-up, attendance size or worship style. Those four characteristics are:
#1) Spiritually Transforming – Unstoppable churches pursue the call of Romans 12.1-2 to experience God’s love and mercy in a way that moves us to live full out for God and as a result, see Him spiritually transform them into the image of Christ.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12.1-2
#2) Culturally Inspiring – Unstoppable churches reflect Christ AND connect with the culture around them. This is a challenge for many churches; some reflect Christ very well but struggle to connect to the culture and end up culturally isolated. Other churches connect very well to the culture, but have a difficult time reflecting the person of Christ strongly, they face the very real prospect of becoming spiritually compromised. Only when churches can authentically represent and express the identity and ideas of Christ in terms the culture around them can understand does a church really gain traction in a significant way.
#3) Relationally Connecting – Unstoppable churches don’t just offer people their services, they offer them community. This is a reality that has been true since the early church. We’ve found that in order to be relationally-connected, Christians need to be in 3 types of relationships.
1. With a spiritual mentor – Someone that they personally know that helps them to grow in Christ, that can help them not to wander.
2. With a church family – A group of people that this person knows, enjoys, trusts and that are committed to one another, that can help them to not be isolated.
3. With people that live in their neighborhood – Others in close proximity to them that are still exploring God. These kinds of relationships are important in that they help us not to compartmentalize their faith, but to live as a Christian every day of the week, in every part of our lives.
#4) Missionally Impacting – Unstoppable churches realize that the reason for their existence is the mission of Jesus; they realize their purpose isn’t to create new value but to represent the value of Christ. Missional impact is centered around Jesus because He is the answer to life’s greatest questions (Where did I come from? What is life all about? What happens when I die?), He is the fulfillment of the greatest human needs (the need to make our life enjoyable, the need to make life our work, the need to make our life matter) and He is the solution to the world’s greatest problems (war, crime, disease, poverty, racism, family and societal breakdown is all rooted in sin and can only be addressed through a relationship with Him).
In short, Jesus is the answer the world is looking for. For that reason, missional impact is centered around showing people Jesus, telling people about Jesus (i.e., connecting the dots to what they have already seen) and then helping them to experience Jesus for themselves. This is what it means to love people – and love is the music that makes the words of the gospel move the heart of an unbelieving world.
I will wrap up the rest of this message in a 2nd blog post… What are your thoughts so far?
Ron Kempka posted on October 16, 2009
Scott, thanks for sharing this. It all sounds good that’s for sure. I think the churches problem is that we work so hard to make people feel comfortable and focus so much on all that God has given us. It’s consumer christianity… While we do have so much in Christ; where are the challenges about what we give back and how we should honor him and sacrifice…. “for this is our spiritual act of worship”. I’m sadened that prayer meetings have 2 or 3 people in attendance and that outreach ministries, like People to People, struggle to get people out of their comfort zones. How do we get people to “put their feet in the water” when we are trying to keep them comfortable. I think so many christians never get off of spiritual milk because they are not taking risks for the kingdom and seeing just how faithful God is. I think we all need some serious challenges from the pulpit to take account of our faith. There’s no need to “consider the cost” if there really is no life change, no sacrifice. I hope this makes sense. I could probably go and and on…. Your brother in Christ, Ron.