Transforming Church: Bringing Out the Good to Get to Great

Every pastor I know wants to make a difference. Every church leader I know wants his or her church to thrive. Every church I know wants to bring the kingdom of God to their community, region, and beyond.

So with all this godly desire, why isn't that happening for such good, conscientious people? I think Kevin Ford's book, Transforming Church: Bringing Out the Good to Get to Great, compellingly answers that question, and gives hope and direction for "getting to great."

Over and over as I read Transforming Church, I found myself nodding at depictions and dilemmas that are all too familiar from my thirty-plus years of ministry to four growing churches. Ford, who writes from the perspective of an experienced consultant to churches, says, "This book is about churches that have the courage to embrace change and to confront adaptive issues head on--what I call transforming churches." He identifies five common, crippling dysfunctions of unhealthy churches (which correspond, not coincidentally at all, to dysfunctions in Western culture) and contrasts them with their healthy opposites:

• How church members relate to one another (consumerism vs. community)
• The church's "genetic code," often unwritten and even unacknowledged (incongruence vs. code)
• The church's leadership culture (autocracy vs. shared leadership)
• How the church relates to the surrounding community (cloister vs. missional)
• How church members see the future (inertia vs. reinvention)

With numerous examples from one church after another, Transforming Church shows how these unhealthy/healthy characteristics operate in real life, and even offers readers a free diagnostic tool (www.transformingchurch.net/tcinsight) to measure their churches against the principles mentioned in the book.

The book's tone can be a little "consultanty" (a word I just made up), but it is so full of stories-that-ring-true and information-that-makes-sense, it should be devoured by every church leader and applied to every church. It would have made a huge difference in every church I have served, and I sincerely pray that it will find universal acceptance among the churches, leaders, and pastors I know.

My Vacation Reading

My vacation reading this coming week:

It might seem a tad ambitious, given the length of The Goldfinch, but I'm half done with it as vacation begins, so it looks more ambitious than it really is. The other books are Chasing Fireflies (in audiobook), Astonished, and Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?

Simple Sermon Outline: Prayer That Fills You Up

Last week the Desperate Pastor blog introduced a new series of posts, "Simple Sermon Outlines" for the hardworking pastor who takes seriously the task of breaking the Bread of Life to God's people but is sometimes up against a wall and fresh out of ideas. The outlines posted here will be simple and sparse, in the hope that they will ignite (not replace) the process of prayer, study, and creativity.

This week's entry is based on a chapter in my newest book, The Red Letter Life" 17 Words from Jesus to Inspire Simple, Practical, Purposeful Living. It suggests twelve tips (yes, twelve--you got a problem with that?) for prayer, drawing from the Lord's Prayer:

Prayer That Fills You Up
Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4

Pray Communally ("Our")

Pray Relationally ("Father")

Pray Confidently (because our Father is "in heaven," ruling over all)

Pray Respectfully ("Let Your name be kept holy")

Pray Cooperatively ("Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven")

Pray Specifically ("Give us...bread")

Pray Practically ("Give us the bread we need today")

Pray Contritely ("Forgive us our sins")

Pray Graciously ("As we forgive those who have wronged us")

Pray Submissively ("Lead us")

Pray Purposefully ("Not into temptation, but deliver us from evil")

Pray Worshipfully ("For yours is the kingdom, power, and glory forever")

You Probably Will Not Like My Church

I saw this fascinating (and sad, so sad) screenshot on the "Stuff Fundies Like" Blog recently. Apparently Liberty Baptist Church wants to make sure you know you're probably not going to like their church unless you're already a member...and maybe not even then:

I mean, I believe in clear communication and letting people know what to expect. But whoever wrote that needs to get back on their medication, asap.

But it got me thinking. What would a similar disclaimer look like for my ideal church? Maybe something like this:

You probably will not like First Bobtist Church. 

We love Jesus. A lot. More than our traditions. Even more than Krispy Kreme donuts, which we serve every Sunday. Free. With really good coffee. But coffee and Krispy Kremes help us love Jesus even more.

We don't try to please everybody, but we make no apology for trying to make newcomers, visitors, skeptics, and seekers comfortable, even if that makes our own long-time members uncomfortable. We'd like to think that actual Christ-followers have matured enough after decades in the church to reflect Christ-like values of hospitality, kindness, and self-sacrifice. It may not be true, but we like to think it.

We're against being against a lot of stuff. We are so busy being for the brokenhearted, the captives, the prisoners, the poor, the single moms and dads, the grieving, sick, forgotten, widows, and orphans, that we don't do much "againsting." But when we do, we're against it.

We love the Bible, but we don't worship it. We read it, study it, and pray it. But we are not afraid of good scholarship, honest questions, or sincere doubt.

We're not always sure we're right. We're probably more often sure we're not. And we mess up. A whole lot. But we do our best to give each other the same grace we receive from God in Christ.

We like drums. Good, loud drums. And bass, lots of it. We may sing a hymn, sometimes, but our music may also include classical, jazz, or bluegrass--even the blues, depending on how good or bad the preaching is. But we will never sing, "Victory in Jesus." We just won't.  

We stand unapologetically for love. We believe in: Love God, love all, love much.

If your standards are low enough to put up with us, we will have no trouble extending a warm and gracious welcome to you. 

The Pastor's Desk (Episode 31)

The latest episode in the recurring feature, "The Pastor's Desk," here on the Desperate Pastor blog is that of Rev. Karen Montgomery, lead pastor at the North Lewisburg United Methodist Church, North Lewisburg, Ohio. I knew her when she was just a wee pup, even before she served on the staff of the Oxford United Methodist Church in Oxford, Ohio.

She clearly subscribes to the "clean desk, clean mind" school of thought. Wesley would be proud.

(If you would like to participate in this recurring feature on the Desperate Pastor blog, submit a single photo of a pastor's study, office, or desk--but no tidying up before taking the picture, mind you--to bob@bobhostetler.com, along with a short description identifying to whom it belongs)

Simple Sermon Outline: How to Change the World

I only know a few pastors who aren't desperate pastors. There's just so much to being a pastor, and there aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week. Or volunteers in the church.

So I thought, to make things a little easier, I'd inaugurate a new series of posts here on the Desperate Pastor blog--sermon outlines for the hardworking pastor who takes seriously the task of breaking the Bread of Life to God's people but is sometimes up against a wall and fresh out of ideas. They will be simple and sparse, in the hope that they will ignite (not replace) the process of prayer, study, and creativity.

The first in the series:

How to Change the World

Prayer (Acts 1:14)

Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4)

Proclamation (Acts 2:14)