[This is part of the A.P.E. Pitfalls series. Check out the other posts here.]
Earlier this week, I wrote about one of the first temptations planters face–not starting because we assume that it’s not harvest time. In our journey as a region, we’ve had to confront this temptation again and again as we set foot on new campuses and take Jesus at his word that “the fields are ripe with harvest”!
But what happens after you’ve succeeded at starting something new? Then what?
This guy has no problem at all!
[This is part of the A.P.E. Pitfalls series. Check out the other posts here.]
Athletes, who work out and lift hard, always take rest seriously.
Why?
Because any serious athlete will tell you that it is actually the rest days that help the muscles grow more. Lifting weights helps of course, but the days off when you are sleeping, eating right, and resting the muscles is what gives space for the muscles and body to grow.
WOW!
As an athlete (yes golf is a sport and I did play it in college) this analogy spoke to me.
How am I as a Christian minister and child of God taking regular rest days to let my spiritual muscles grow?
This started to bother me.
[This is part of the A.P.E. Pitfalls series. Check out the other posts here.]
I know, I know. You’re busy. You don’t have time to start something new.
Mandy and Jon at DMACC
You’ve got no shortage of things to do–people to influence, teachings to prep, and to-do lists to tackle. Our lives as leaders are full and we often function with little margin. To be sure, many of us need to get better at saying “no” and not jumping at every opportunity that presents itself, but at the same time, I’m convinced that there’s a temptation that operates in many of us as planters– the temptation of not starting.
This year has likely been the busiest of my life–our region is growing and opportunities abound for fruitful ministry on our current campuses. But we’ve committed ourselves to becoming a planting movement, and so as a way to kick-off the Fall, it felt important for me to prioritize an opportunity to start something on a new campus.
[This post is part of the A.P.E. Theology series. Read the rest of the posts here!]
You do not have to look far to discover that Christendom still maintains a stranglehold on the mindset of the American church. Many leaders still maintain that minor tweaks in the why we “do” church brings the possibility of attracting new people to the programs and activities of the church. They simply have not fully grasped the reality that we no longer live in a place where the church is the dominant seat of culture. The shift from a Christendom to Post-Christendom society is nearly complete; and the corresponding challenges are great.
But what is an appropriate response to the challenge?
The solution is to recognize the church’s relationship to the culture in terms of a missionary encounter. In other words, to see that in a Post-Christendom context the church is once again placed in an alien world. The mission field is no longer located somewhere else, instead it surrounds us on every side. And the greatest problem with making cosmetic changes to the church, is when we falsely assume those changes will some how help the church grow and we therefore put our time and energy into those practices instead of equipping and releasing people into this new, and rapidly growing mission field. There is no final answer or perfect solution to transitioning the existing church in a missional direction. But if there was one—a silver bullet—it would be the formation of every church member into a missionary.
[This is part of a series on “How Do I Develop an Apostolic Leader?” You can read the other posts here.]
Apostolic leaders are born not made….
You can identify them, train them, guide them, and encourage them, but you can’t create them.
While you can and should encourage every believer to be committed to and engage in mission, we have to be comfortable with the idea that Paul was serious when he wrote that all God’s people have gifts and they are in fact different from one another.
Too many ministries fall into the trap of believing that being Missional is the same as being apostolic and that any person can be developed into an apostolic leader. So they press and push people with leadership gifts into attempting an apostolic leadership role that neither fits them nor ultimately advances the mission. Leaders who are not Apostolic find themselves forced into places where they will face certain failure. Trying to do so will not only harm the individual but also frustrate the purposes of whatever mission you are attempting.
[This is part of the A.P.E. Pitfalls series. Check out the other posts here.]
I recently heard a story from the life of St. Francis of Assisi that captured an essential lesson for me in apostolic leadership. We need friends!
The story goes like this:
When St Francis said yes to God’s call to “rebuild” the Church, to care for the poor and sick, and to proclaim the gospel, he said no to a lot of other things. He said no to the previous direction of his life, he said no to a life of luxury and worldly success, and he said no to his parents, who were wealthy merchants. In fact he literally took the extravagant clothing off his back and gave them back to his father before he walked out into the streets.
And that was a choice he had to live with everyday. Everyday Francis would walk to the heart of his city to preach the gospel and care for the poor and sick. Everyday he would walk past his father’s shop and everyday he would face a barrage of insults and ridicule from his father as he walked by. “You’re wasting your life.” “You’ve turned your back on us.” “You are a fool.”
In the loneliness of his calling, it was difficult for Francis to keep his father’s words from taking root in his soul. Had he been a fool? Was he wasting his life?
[This is part of a series called “What is an Apostle?” Check the other post here]
“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.”
– 1 Corinthians 3:10
Paul was a missional architect and we see this no more clearly than the way he talks to the Corinthian church. Paul saw his role as an apostle to lay framework and foundation for the church so others could carry out the mission of Jesus. Paul saw himself as a “wise builder” or “master builder” when it came to the church.
One of the main functions of an apostle is the “architect of mission” and the job here is to create, design and oversee the mission of God moving forward through a church or organization.
Dave teaching at one of the churches in his network
[This post is part of the Start Something New series. Read the other posts here!]
It was twelve years ago that Community Christian Church started a new campus for the first time. Since that time we have started a total of twelve campuses and have #13 and #14 in the cue for next year. It was seven years ago that Community planted our first new church and went on to form NewThing. Since that time our networks outreach has grown from one church reaching a couple thousand to twenty networks of churches reaching tens of thousands in three movements. During the last decade our passion has been about starting new things – new campuses, new churches and brand new expressions of God’s ecclesia. And during that time we have learned some lessons about starting new things.
1. VISION LESSON: The “God-Thing” Often Comes before the Vision
If you would’ve asked me a few years back how change is initiated, I would have said it starts with vision! I would have said it starts with a compelling vision from a gifted leader. While that is true, it’s not the whole truth in my experience. I didn’t really have the vision for being a multi-site church. God did! It was a God thing! I often get the credit for being a visionary leader, but what is closer to the truth is this: God did something extraordinary and I share what God has done with the rest of the church as the vision; and people follow. When you are able to share where God is working that is always a compelling vision that people will want to follow!
This is a guest post by Bob Roberts. He is the founder and Senior Pastor of NorthWood Church.
Through his leadership, NorthWood has planted 130 churches in the US. Bob is an international speaker and thinker in transforming people, churches, communities and the world. He has led
NorthWood and other churches to provide international development projects which include building schools, clinics and hospitals, micro-businesses, water systems and exchange student programs. You can read the rest of his bio here
[This post is part of the “Non Conventional Places A.P.E. Giftings Show Up” series. Read the rest of the posts here!]
Everyone talks about how there is no division between the secular and the sacred – but do we really believe that, and if we do, how does it change the way we act? Everyone talks about how we believe in the priesthood of every believer but do we really believe that? Everyone says it’s all about making disciples – but do we know what they really look like? We are using new language – but continuing in old applications – even in our missional conversations.
When you talk about “apostolic” or leadership in the 5-fold (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) it’s tied primarily to ecclesiology and positions in ministry. Not long ago I heard several “missional” church planting guys (primarily house but not exclusively) talk about “apostolic” and to them the “apostolic” was seen in guys who planted a lot of churches. It sounded real spiritual and transformational – “Apostolic leaders plant communities of faith in the city to engage and serve.”
Unless we release the “apostolic” beyond church planting – and hang on – the church framework, we will never see a move of God
And I mean all forms of the church, simple, house, organic, included. For a government to work, for a business to make a profit, for a hospital to work – you name it – it requires those 5 “practices” or functions if you will, in it’s own unique context.
God’s grid for engaging the world is found in the city, not the church. It’s the disciple and the city, not the preacher/planter and the church. The church is the gathering of disciples that are equipped and strategically deployed to engage the world/city/society for transformation. We teach our church planters the concept of “domains” which is found in human resource and urban studies. Domains are the infrastructure that a city is built on: education, governance, economics, health, agriculture, communication, art, civil society, etc., Sadly, most start churches to hopefully engage the city – I believe the reverse is even more powerful – engage the city through the infrastructures through disciples, and let the church emerge out of that.
I have a friend who is an international banker who loves Jesus. For years, as a banker not a church planter, not a pastor type (even though he’s led a significant house church movement) he sees the functions of the 5-fold as relevant for kingdom business.
Apostolic leaders are always plotting where the mission needs to go next
The Apostolic vocation in the church as noted in Ephesians 4 is very important to me personally and vital for the Kingdom of God as it continues to move forward.
What makes the Apostolic vocation extremely important is the fact that it is the primary role in charge of pushing forward the mission of God.
The Apostolic function of the church is responsible for pushing forward the mission of God and designing the way the church carries that out. These are our primary catalysts, visionaries and risk takers in the body when it comes to advancing the mission of God. We need them and we need them fully empowered!
However, the majority of people and churches are somewhere in the middle, and they just don’t talk about the Apostolic vocation much. Its just not a word you would find in those people or in the language of the church leadership. Therefore, the apostolic calling is not being released.
Well, we are going to talk about it a lot here as you can tell by now!
A series of posts on the apostolic calling. Follow along right here
— How To Identify An Apostolic Leader
— Here is my interpretation of Ephesians 4 and the five fold ministry
— Beau’s Story as an apostolic evangelist read this.
— Jon Hietbrink has a great post on owning the whole field
— The apostolic impulse needs to drive our minsitries
— Dave Ferguson says “you know you’re an apostle when…”
— Chris Nichols tells us apostolic leaders are born not made
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So, I would love to know…If you could pick one word to describe an apostolic leader what would it be?
