Charles Spurgeon on Church Growth

Justin Taylor has a great excerpt on his Theologica - Between Two Worlds blog from Charles Spurgeon, who built the world's first "megachurch" in London, England over a century ago, giving Spurgeon's recipe for growing a large church. Like all of Spurgeon's writings, the English is a bit antiquated and flowery compared to the way we speak today, but it's worth reading.

Here's a taste (there's more on Justin's site):

My good ministering brother, have you got an empty church? Do you want to fill it? I will give you a good recipe, and if you will follow it, you will, in all probability, have your chapel full to the doors.Burn all your manuscripts, that is No. 1. Give up your notes, that is No. 2. Read your Bible and preach it as you find it in the simplicity of its language. ... Begin to tell the people what you have felt in your own heart, and beseech the Holy Spirit to make your heart as hot as a furnace for zeal. Then go out and talk to the people. Speak to them like their brother. Be a man amongst men. Tell them what you have felt and what you know, and tell it heartily with a good, bold face; and, my dear friend, I do not care who you are, you will get a congregation.But if you say, "Now, to get a congregation, I must buy an organ."That will not serve you a bit."But we must have a good choir."I would not care to have a congregation that comes through a good choir."No," says another," but really I must a little alter my style of preaching."My dear friend, it is not the style of preaching, it is the style of feeling... Preach out of your hearts just what you feel to be true, and the old soul-stirring words of the gospel will soon draw a congregation.

Death by Ministry

Last May, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church had a provocative post on the Resurgence blog dealing with pastoral burnout entitled, "Death by Ministry." After listing some sobering statistics on burnout in the ministry and symptoms to look for (some of which I had never considered before), he provides a list of preventions and solutions:

1. Fill your plate.
2. Exercise.
3. Do not allow technology to be your Lord.
4. Sabbath.
5. Pick a release valve.
6. Work on your life, not just in it.
7. Leave margin.
8. Spend most of your time training leaders.
9. Work from conviction, not guilt.

His most recent post (Of Brokennes and Buddies) shares some of his own battle with burnout in the face of church growth at the rate of 1,000 plus per month. (Can you imagine that kind of stress?!?!!!!) Whatever your opinions may be of Mark's theology or even his personality, our brother is obviously impacting a great many people in one of America's least churched cities. Why not take a moment to breathe a prayer for him and his family during this time? Whether our church is larger or small, any one of us could be where he is right now, and probably will be at some point in our lives and ministries.

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2 NIV)

If you have never heard of Mark Driscoll, there are many articles about him on the web, including one from Christianity Today magazine entitled, "Men Are From Mars Hill." You may find his opinions enlightening, you may find them strange, you may even find them offensive, but if you are like me, you will usually find them thought-provoking! Here are a couple of quotes from the CT article to show you what I mean...

You say there are particular theologies attached to traditional, contemporary, and emerging churches? What are they, and what are Mars Hill's distinctives?

Traditional churches have either leaned toward being fundamentalist and separated from culture, which has led to legalism and irrelevance; or they have leaned toward being liberally synchronized with culture, which leads to compromise and irrelevance. Either way, many traditional churches are irrelevant, whether they lean to the Left or the Right theologically and politically. Most contemporary churches are not very theological beyond a few evangelical basics, because they are guided more by pragmatism and programming than theology. At Mars Hill Church, we are driven by Reformed theological convictions and emerging missional methods. I like to say we are theologically conservative and culturally liberal.

What are some of the major blind spots of megachurches?

The major blind spot of megachurches is that they tend to be very effeminate with aesthetics, music, and preaching perfectly tailored for moms. Manly men are repelled by this, and many of the men who find it appealing are the types to sing prom songs to Jesus and learn about their feelings while sitting in a seafoam green chair drinking herbal tea—the spiritual equivalent of Richard Simmons. A friend of mine calls them "evangellyfish" with no spiritual vertebrae. Statistically, traditional churches are in steep decline, contemporary churches will dominate in the foreseeable future, and emerging churches are just beginning to sort out what the future holds for them.

Are young people becoming more sympathetic to Reformed theology?

The two hot theologies today are Reformed and emerging. Reformed theology offers certainty, with a masculine God who names our sin, crushes Jesus on the Cross for it, and sends us to hell if we fail to repent. Emerging theology offers obscurity, with a neutered God who would not say an unkind word to us, did not crush Jesus for our sins, and would not send anyone to hell. I came to Reformed theology by preaching through books of the Bible such as Exodus, Romans, John, and Revelation, along with continually repenting of my sin. I am,however, a boxers, not briefs, Reformed guy. I am pretty laid back about it and not uptight and tidy like many Reformed guys.

What do you think needs to be the relationship between church and culture?

The difficulty is that there are actually three ways that faithful Christians and churches must respond to culture:

Reject—Some aspects of a culture are simply sinful and should be rejected by God's people. In our day this would include sexual sins (fornication, pornography, homosexuality, adultery), illegal drug use, and the pluralistic notion that every religion is an equally valid path to salvation.

Receive—Some aspects of a culture are the result of common grace and should be received by God's people. Examples in our day would include stewarding and enjoying creation, building community, and acts of mercy for the poor, widows, orphans, sick, and elderly.

Redeem—Some aspects of a culture are, in and of themselves, morally neutral but are used for evil, and can be redeemed for good. Examples in our day include using media portals (e.g., internet, podcast, vodcast) for the gospel, celebrating sex within heterosexual marriage, and spending money and using power in such a way that honors Jesus and demonstrates his love for people.

Podcasts I listen to...

I frequently use the free itunes software to download and listen to audio and video podcasts from a variety of churches, ministries, and news organizations. (Please note that you do not have to have an ipod to do this. The software also lets you do it on your computer.)

If you would like to check out the podcasts I subscribe to, just click here and do the following steps (If you have not yet installed the itunes software, then click here first...!):

1. When the window opens up, a bunch of text will appear on your screen that you do not have to try to understand. Just save the page to your harddrive somewhere via the "Page" then "Save As" on your browser menus.
2. Then, open up the itunes software and choose the "File" then "Import" menu selections from inside itunes and click on the name of the file you just saved and voilà...you will be subscribed to all the podcasts that I am subscribed to...!
3. Depending on what settings you have selected under the "Edit" and "Preferences" menu selections in the itunes software, your computer will start downloading all the podcasts I either listen to regularly or am checking out at the moment. It is easy to delete the ones you don't like and only keep the ones you do like.

Enjoy...! And, let me know what great podcasts you find on the web, too!

Stuart Briscoe on Preaching Today

Here is a great link to an audio interview with Stuart Briscoe on what preaching means today. If you do not yet have the free ITunes software installed on your computer that makes listening to podcasts easy (whether on your computer or by transferring them to an ipod), you can download it by clicking here.

Millions of Muslims Coming to Christ...!

While browsing the web this morning, I noticed an item entitled, Six Million Muslims A Year Coming to Christ on a blog by a Vineyard leader called, "Charismatica." The post points the way to a video on YouTube containing a clip from an interview with a Muslim leader stating admitting that statistic, which works out to about 667 Muslims coming to Christ per day. (The broadcast begins in Arabic, then after a moment, English subtitles pop up.) Interesting...! Here is a link to a partial transcript.

In a similar vein, a friend of mine was flying across Pakistan a few years ago when he came across an article in an English language paper with the headline, "Warning! Our Children Are Becoming Christians!" It was a translated excerpt from an article in a Saudi Arabian paper saying that while rich Saudis were out jet-setting around the world spending their petrodollars, the foreign nannies they had imported were singing their children to sleep with sweet worship choruses about Jesus, and their kids were converting to Christianity at an alarming rate...

Just like Jesus promised,

"...this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14)

Dr. David Shibley's "Open Letter to Southern Baptist Leaders"

Earlier, Dr. David Shibley's blog was carrying the text of his, "Open Letter to Southern Baptist Leaders" regarding the IMB Trustee's decision to no longer appoint missionaries who practice a private prayer language. It is now on the Charisma magazine's website. As a charismatic alumnus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, his perspective is well worth reading.

His blog also contains other interesting posts, including his TOP 10 THINGS I AM LEARNING FROM FRONTLINE SHEPHERDS WORLDWIDE, and his 10 HOPES FOR FULFILLING THE GREAT COMMISSION.

Generation Gap 2007

The stunning rise in influence of bloggers on public opinion is nowhere more evident than in the ongoing controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention over the decision taken last year by their International Missions Board to ban the appointment of missionaries who exercise private prayer languages according to 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. (Marty Duren's SBC Outpost blog with over 600,000 hits is one notable example of this phenomenon.)

Without going into the details of that controversy, or the events that first attracted my attention to it, namely, the furor over local Pastor and SWBTS Trustee Dwight McKissic's sermon on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in chapel at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary over in Fort Worth last summer, I must say that I found SBC President Morris Chapman's recent words on the apparent generation gap in their movement quite thought provoking. In his post entitled, "Are We Watering Down the Gospel and Weakening Our Collective Witness?", Dr. Chapman writes,

No doubt, times are changing.The older and younger generations are separated by the greatest gulf in history due in no small part to "Al Gore's" invention of the Internet. For the first time in history, the man on the street has equal access to the public through a brand new vehicle of communication … Access to the masses is no longer the reserved domain for leaders only … The Internet has provided a means and a medium by which the previously unheard can be heard. Such freedom without implementing certain disciplines can be intoxicating and a person can easily feel the license to say things he/she would never say in any other circumstances.The very opposite is true with my generation. Rather than being intoxicated with public discourse as a means for registering differences, my generation is tempted to do everything quietly, away from public view, with pre-set agendas, persuasive phone calls, and whispers in an attempt to control an otherwise neutral environment by whatever means is necessary to achieve a political end.

The contrast is revealing. The older generation prefers to work with others one-on-one in an effort to influence them to embrace a particular opinion. The younger generations, due to the advent of the computer and Internet, prefer to speak openly, candidly, and publicly, often about personal opinions as well as private and/or corporate deliberations and decisions. The older generation has been inclined to persuade others by applying political pressures. The younger generations have been inclined to persuade others by informing the public and implying shame. Neither approach has room to boast as long as their accusations against each other have the common goal of demanding a specific answer without wise and careful deliberations in a context free from threats, intimidation, and rewards to the so-called "faithful." … Will the generation comprising the over 65 crowd, men and women who pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and slowly ascended into a role of leadership, ever connect with the new generations spawned by the Internet? To date, I think no one knows the answer. Sufficient time has not passed to make such judgments. It will be a tragedy for all generations if it doesn't happen.

Sooner or later, all the lions of leadership walk haltingly off the scene and are left with little more than an occasional toothless roar that is barely heard and hardly noticed by the pride that he led with such majestic carriage. It will happen to us all regardless of our age at the present time. Younger generations are less conscious of that day because it seems so distant to them compared to older individuals. God designed it that way so that as the older generation begins to walk more cautiously and with increasing maturity, younger generations will bring vision, vitality, enthusiasm, energy, creativity, and innovation to any discussion, any project. Both the older and younger generations bring more to the table than my abbreviated list and both should engage in solutions to make the world better and our Convention more effective for the sake of Christ's Kingdom. To treat each other with contempt and disdain no doubt saddens the heart of God. We should talk with each other, not to or about each other. We should talk about issues, period!

I have never met Dr. Chapman, and quite honestly know very little about him, but I found his analysis of the immense difference in communication and leadership styles between older and younger Christian leaders at this point in time both fascinating and resonant with the ring of truth. Quite honestly, I bear scars in my own soul resulting from wounds suffered in past conflicts which were aggravated by the diametrically opposed approaches to dealing with the issues of leadership transition and congregational life he describes. Whichever side of the generational divide you find yourself on, taking the time to read the full text of his article and reflect upon his words will better prepare you to lead God’s people into this new millennium.