Tag Archives: Community

U.N.I.T.Y

05 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by in Christian Life, Church, Discipleship, Leadership, Ministry; Leadership;, Mission, Uncategorized

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I don’t follow the NBA like I did when I was in high school. In those days the players and teams to watch were the LA Lakers with Magic Johnson, Boston Celtics with Larry Bird, and the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan. Today it is LeBron James (now) with the LA Lakers, Anthony Davis with the New Orleans Pelicans, and Stephen Curry with the Golden State Warriors. With regard to the Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry, what has been impressive to watch is how they’ve been to the last three NBA finals—winning two of them. And it seems by the start of this season it could be trip number four.

How do teams like the Golden State Warriors and others make it to the top? It’s not just on talent. That’s clear with the struggling LA Lakers who acquired LeBron James in the off season. Just because there are five talented players on the court doesn’t necessarily equal victory. In sports, people talk about team chemistry.

It takes the right chemistry to concoct a team victory.  

In other organizational realms like businesses, nonprofits, and churches, the word that it used most often—rather than chemistry—is unity. Without unity, teams are weak. Without unity, teams do not maximize results. In fact, according to Jesus—in the context of praying for His followers and future followers—unity was quintessential to what He and the Father were aiming to accomplish. Jesus prays, “Father, protect them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11). Jesus prays something very similar later, but in regard to future followers (John 17:20–23).

Why did Jesus pray for oneness, or unity? So that the world may know Jesus! In other words, missional effectiveness is tied to corporate oneness. This truth applies across the board to any organization or team.

Without corporate oneness, churches will not experience missional effectiveness.

So, what does unity look like? I created an acrostic to help us think through unity and the various elements of unity that come together to create corporate oneness.

U—      Understand your Purpose

If a team is going to embody unity, they need to unite around a common purpose. Without a common purpose, goal, or mission the team is left with the potential of moving in various directions. When a team moves in various directions no movement or traction is made.

N—      Note that it’s not about me, but we

If a team is going to embody unity, they need to check their egos at the door. Team isn’t about me, it’s about we! In Christian circles, church isn’t about me or necessarily we, it’s about HE! Thus, we don’t waltz into a locker room, conference room, or church belting out commands about what we want to see, what we want to do.

I—       Identify roles and responsibility to fulfill purpose

If a team is going to embody unity, they need to identify the various roles and responsibilities of the players and team members that will come together and fulfill the mission of the team or organization. This is more vital than it may come across. Scripture teaches about how the church is one body with many members. Thus, if the feet, hands, and eyes don’t understand their role and responsibilities you have one jacked up body that’s dysfunctional. With sports teams the identification of roles and responsibilities are called the playbook; in business circles it’s called the by-laws and policy manuals, along with organizational charts; in church circles it’s called the Bible along with documentation (by-laws and org charts) that describes how the church is organized around the truth of Scripture to fulfill the mandate of making disciples of all nations. If you don’t identify roles and responsibilities to fulfill your purpose, you’re winging it. Those who wing it, [typically] don’t win!

T—      Trust the process

If a team is going to embody unity and corporate oneness, they will need to trust the process. Everything up until this point—uniting around a purpose or mission; noting that it’s not about me, but we; and identifying the roles and responsibilities to fulfill the purpose—is part of creating clarity and alignment for your team or organization. Once you’ve secured those, then you institute a process of moving towards the desired goal. Sure, you will have to make tweaks here and there, but overall you must trust the process. This is especially true for churches. Churches are notorious for trying something for only a few months and then changing because they didn’t see the desired results. The truth of the matter is that clarity and consistency over time lead to celebratory or cultural change.

Y—      Yield to the movement of the Spirit

If a team is going to embody unity, they will need to yield to the movement of the Spirit. In sports and business environments we call it riding the waves of success. This is where teams and businesses hit their stride and they do all they can to stay in their prime at the top. This requires great commitment and effort. Slacking and goofing off is prohibited—especially if they want to stay in the zone and on top. In the church world, riding the waves of success is really the movement of the Spirit in the vein of multiplying and making disciples. It is in this zone where churches can either choose to move at the speed of committee or move at the speed of the Spirit. In other words, they can choose to stifle the movement and momentum of the Spirit of God and where He wants to take a church, or they can choose to fan the movement and momentum of the Spirit. But this will require commitment, effort, a release of control, and a lot of faith.

In closing, Acts 2 gives us a glimpse of what churches can experience when they embody U.N.I.T.Y. As the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to one another; as they lived a life centered around He and we—not me; as they moved and operated within the confines of their roles and responsibilities in the body of Christ, serving the needs of one another; and as they trusted the process and movement of God’s Spirit among them; “Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47b). Dear church leaders, we too can experience a sort of NBA final-like environment with regard to missional effectiveness, but it will require corporate oneness, aka—U.N.I.T.Y.!

Dangerous Church

25 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by in Christian Life, Church, Discipleship, Mission, Uncategorized

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dan·ger·ous (ˈdānj(ə)rəs/)

Dangerous is an adjective which means, “able or likely to cause harm or injury.” It can also mean, “likely to cause problems or to have adverse consequences.”

Typically, when Americans think of the word “dangerous” they tend to think of a weapon, an object in the house, a kind of animal, a kind of person or group, an area of town, or a region of the world.

Those things that we think of as dangerous have the potentiality of causing an effect on us and our lives. When something is dangerous it yields a certain kind of power and authority towards those who consider it dangerous. In other words, when someone thinks something or someone is dangerous, there’s a respect and honor—even a fear—towards that something or someone.

If I had to guess, I don’t think people today (particularly in America or throughout much of the world) believe the church is dangerous. Sure, they may think that radical religious groups like the Westboro Baptist tribe is emotionally dangerous and/or a cultural nuisance. Yet, they don’t view the church, in and of itself, dangerous. In fact, many do see the church, by in large, as a menace and nuisance to society—not to mention irrelevant.

However, when it comes to the book of Acts, the church was dangerous. Now, before I go any further, let me clarify what I mean by “the church was dangerous.” Did the church cause bodily harm to people? No! In fact, they brought healing to people. Did they cause problems for religious people and their institutions? Yes. Did they cause problems in cities throughout the known world as people turned their life over to Christ proclaiming Him as King and God, not Caesar nor their pantheon of gods? Yes.

The harm induced by the church—the problems caused by the church—throughout the world in the first century, had to do with the kind of change and transformation the gospel brought into the lives of people, and thus, in the spaces they occupied. Isn’t this ultimately why the Jews and Romans killed Jesus? He was dangerous. He was a threat. He was causing harm and causing problems within their spheres of influence. He was disrupting their way of life, their religious system.

In this short post, I want to provide the “how” and “what” of becoming a dangerous church.

First, how do churches become dangerous? This past Sunday, I taught on Luke 9:23 where Jesus exclaims, “If anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” I used the acronym D.I.E. (Deny themselves; Intend to be crucified to the world; and Emulate Jesus) to describe what it means to follow Jesus. In sum, to follow Jesus—and to access and download His life for us—we must D.I.E. daily to ourselves. In other words, to download the latest version of His life for us, we must kill the oldest version of us.

So just imagine what our churches would be like comprised of people who D.I.E. to themselves daily.  Imagine the impact these churches would have in and on their communities and cities.

Those who D.I.E. become dangerous to those around them and the places and spaces they occupy.

Second, what does becoming a dangerous church look like? In other words, what are some of the characteristics displayed in churches that are dangerous? Based upon Acts 5:1–32, I believe there are at least five characteristics exhibited by a church that is dangerous.

  • They served a dangerous God. Early in this chapter, God takes out Ananias and Sapphira because of their lie and deception. They lied to church, and ultimately to God, about the amount for which they sold their property. A dangerous church has a dangerous God working in and among them to fulfill His mission. I find it interesting that in the same chapter, religious people are trying to protect their institutions and way of life through violence and threats. Dangerous churches never have to resort to violence and vehement threats to those who endanger their way of life and mission. Why? Because they serve a dangerous God who ultimately protects His people, His church. This doesn’t mean that we don’t shepherd, watching out for wolves in sheep’s clothing or ravenous lions looking to devour weak prey. It simply means we don’t have to fight fire with fire—violence with violence, nastiness with nastiness. We can trust in a sovereign, omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotent God who work in and through us to accomplish His will for His good pleasure.
  • They stood in awe of God. A couple of times in this chapter Luke tells the reader, “And great fear came upon” those who heard of what God had done—particularly with Ananias and Sapphira. The idea of “fear” invokes awe. There’s this healthy reverence and fear the church has towards God. When a church stands in awe of who God is and what He has done, is doing, and will do, they posture themselves submissively to God offering their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him.
  • They embodied unity and togetherness. In the early days of the church, while God did many signs and wonders in their midst, they gathered consistently in Solomon’s Portico, a large outer-court where large numbers of people could gather. We also see in other places, whether it is in the Upper Room (Acts 1), devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to one another (Acts 2), or believing they were of one heart and soul (Acts 4), the early church wasn’t about individuals coming to a location to consume a religious experience but about individuals coming together to form a body (Jesus’ body) to live on mission. One person can make a difference, but a group (a body comprised of many) can alter history. Think about it. The only reason why Jesus altered history as we know it, was because He empowered His body to go into all the world. A dangerous church can only become dangerous when it is unified, moving and operating together in the power of the Spirit.
  • They bought in to Jesus’ comprehensive mission. Not only did they preach the gospel, they served the hurting, the needy, the broken, and the sick. They were serving and meeting the needs of so many people that it went out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to the point that people from the surrounding towns and villages started bringing the sick and afflicted to Jerusalem. As they physically met needs they spiritually pointed to Jesus—the hope and King of the world—who had come, lived, died, and rose again to make all things new.
  • They were willing to die. After being arrested, the apostles’ lives were threatened once again in Acts 5. They were told they had been warned and charged not to teach in the name of Jesus, yet they continue to do so. Peter, along with the other apostles, respond, “We must obey God rather than men.” And they go on to proclaim the gospel once more to these, already irritated, men. In the face of an angry religious mob, Jesus’ devoted apostles declare, “Kill us if you must, but we cannot disobey the command of our King.” This mentality makes the church extremely dangerous. And it is this kind of attitude that becomes the seedbed and fertilizer of God’s movement in the world. Church father, Tertullian, put it this way, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The world cannot stop people willing to die for what they believe in!

Are you dangerous? Are you part of a dangerous church? Do you realize you serve a dangerous God? Do you stand in awe of God? Do you embody a unity and togetherness with other believers? Have you bought in to Jesus’ comprehensive mission? And are you willing to die to and for the glory of Christ and His gospel? If so, those around you better watch out! For, when a dangerous church moves into an area or a city, that area and city—over time—will not be the same.

May it be said in our generation, from cities and communities throughout our land, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6).

Breakout Community

03 Monday Feb 2014

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Over the course of the last few weeks we have been diving into the book of Nehemiah on Sunday mornings, gleaning from Nehemiah’s account of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem and renewing the people. While many point out the leadership accomplishments of Nehemiah, which are obvious throughout, it must not be forgotten that he accomplished the desire that God had placed within his heart in and through a community. Nehemiah would never have accomplished what God put in his heart if it were not for the power of God and the power of God working through community. When it comes to us believers, even us humans, understanding community, we must understand that we were created in and for community. God is a God who exists in community—the community of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And when he created us, he created us in his image. After having created man, he quickly turned and said that it was not good for man to be along. Thus, we were created in and for community.

Community is vitally important and essential. True, authentic, deep, holistic, and biblical community is a group of people who belong, believe, and become with one another. This was the community that Nehemiah formed around him to accomplish the rebuilding of the wall and to see the renewal of the people. As a Lead Pastor, I desire to lead our faith community to become this type of community; a community that belong, believes, and becomes with one another, which ultimately forms what I call a “Breakout Community”—a community that together moves towards a new level. I would argue that individual breakouts (a movement to a new level; or simply growth) happens within breakout communities.

Just think:
– Breakout Businesspeople like the late Steve Jobs Apple, Bill Gates, and Donald Trump are individuals who broke out because of a community—a group of people around them.

– Breakout Athletes like Lebron James, Peyton Manning, and Tiger Woods are part of a community that adds value to them.

– Breakout Weight Losers usually are part of a community, whether that community comes by the way of books, trainers, gyms, clubs (Weight Watchers), or programs (P90x).

– Breakout Politicians happen to be connected to communities whether they are the communities of the Democratic or Republican Party, or the overall American community.

– Breakout Addicts usually break their addictions in communities such as AA, celebrate recovery, or transitional houses.

– Breakout Careers usually take place as a result of connecting or embedding themselves in community whether it be in training, school, teachers, mentors, or networks.

– Breakout Marriages (Books, counselors, church)

You will be hard pressed to find, although not impossible, breakout people not connected to or embedded within a breakout community.

Therefore, I believe it is vital that we as a church, and as churches, be the Breakout Community God desires us to be, in order that individuals who are in need of breaking out (breaking towards the goal of becoming conformed into the image of Jesus) can connect and embed themselves within us. Given that it is important for us to be a Breakout Community, what does being a Breakout Community look like? I believe Nehemiah provides a great portrait outlining the characteristics and qualities of a Breakout Community. Here they are:

They are unified around a central goal. The people of God in the book of Nehemiah exemplify what it means to be unified around a central goal. They were centered around building the wall and renewing their city and their lives for the glory of God’s great name. This purpose and mission rallied them together and kept them together to accomplish something great. If our church will become the breakout community that God desires it to be, then we must unify around the glory and mission of God—to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ starting where we are and moving to the uttermost parts of the world. If we have individuals bring their own agenda, preferences, purposes, and missions to the table, rest assured we will be a breakdown community rather than a breakout one.

They have leaders who set the tone. Next, the people of God had leaders that set the tone. In other words they set the example for the rest of the community to follow. Nehemiah is an obvious leader who set the pace and tone for the community. However, in verse 1 of chapter 3 we read how the high priest, Eliashib, begun work on the wall—along with his brothers. Many have heard the phrase, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” It seems that the Bible confirms the validity of this statement. If I had time I would show the running biblical theme of the necessity of strong, godly, consistent leaders who lead God’s people. If you don’t’ believe me just read Genesis 3 as well as the entire Kings narrative. Therefore, breakout communities are in need of strong, godly, consistent, hard-working, sacrificial, pace-setting leaders who have met with (and who continue to meet) with God, and who have a passion to serve King Jesus and his mission in the world.

They value individuals and their roles in the community. Interestingly, Chapter 3 of Nehemiah outlines a laundry list of names (ones that I have a very difficult time pronouncing) who worked on the wall. One of the explanations that some scholars give to this list, is the value that Nehemiah places upon individuals in the community. Taken into account that Jesus expresses that he knows the number of hairs on our heads and that people are more valuable than sparrows (Matt 10:30-31), and that the apostle Paul explains the importance of the “many members of one body” concept (1 Cor 12), one can only conclude that individuals matter to God. Within a breakout community individuals will possess great value. In fact, it will be in breakout communities that individuals will find their greatest value.

They are diverse, or heterogeneous. As one reads through the list of the various people that worked on the wall, they will find different people groups, various occupations, both genders, and people from different socio-economic spheres. In other words, people from all facets and walks of life worked on the wall. The truth is, diversity enhances the community’s ability to breakout. Therefore, there is great value in diversity. Think about it, diversity brings together people with a broad range of experience and expertise, which adds depth to the community. In addition, diversity around a centralized goal or purpose exposes the greatness and potency of the goal. In other words, the greater the diversity around a centralized goal, the greater and more powerful the goal, idea, or mission is. And finally, having great diversity teaches the community to be gracious, redemptive, merciful, and loving. When people from all walks and facets of life come together for something greater and bigger than themselves it speaks volumes to the community. Why you ask? In honesty, we have the tendency to group together with people like us—people who look like us, talk like us, etc. But in a breakout community, people from various backgrounds, ethnicities, socio-economic statuses, and occupations come together learning to extend love, forgiveness, grace, and mercy to one another as they strive towards the greater vision.

They experience the messiness of community. Creating a community, especially a breakout community, can be very messy. Nehemiah experienced his fair share of messiness. First, he had the opposers—people who did not want him, nor the group to succeed in building the wall. Nehemiah’s opposition came multiple times. They were as relentless as my five year old daughter. Facing opposition and obstacles in the community can get messy, for there will always be forces that oppose who we are, what we stand for, and what we are striving to accomplish. Second, Nehemiah had those who should have been part of the community, but in the end rejected him and the community. Verse 5 states, “their nobles would not stoop to serve their lord.” Some will think they are too good for, or better than, the community. Some will not like what the community is asking from them. Or perhaps, they simply reject the leader for some reason. In any case, what usually happens when people who should be part of the community reject the community, they leave in a way that attempts to stifle, hurt, and disrupt the community. In other words, they attempt to draw attention away from the community and its purpose and mission and center it around themselves—drawing attention to who they are and how better they are than others. Last, community can be messy in that there will be times where we will have to be corrected and times where we have to show love and extend forgiveness. Parts of the book of Nehemiah consists of the renewal of the people of God and how they are to behave as the people of God. Nehemiah leads the charge to get the community, as well as the individual behaviors in order. When this happened, people had to submit and surrender to godly discipline and correction, and other people had to extend godly love and forgiveness. I don’t know about you, being corrected and extending love and grace to someone who wronged you is messy. Just think: when you have a holy, perfect, and loving God flowing through and towards imperfect people, life will be messy—community will be messy. But, it will be a beautiful mess.

They leverage one another to accomplish more together. Reading through the laundry list of people working on the wall, one will find these phrases over and over, “next to him…next to him…next to him…; after him…after him…after him….” As individuals we can accomplish a lot—some more than others. However, together we can accomplish way more. We have all heard it said, “Two are better than one.” When it comes to being a breakout community we pick up where the other one leaves off. Together we leverage each other to accomplish something greater than we could accomplish on our own. The truth is, God uses his community to help shape and mold us into the person he wants us to be. Therefore, we need people “next to us,” and “after us” in our marriages, finances, attitudes, behaviors, evangelism, service, decisions, etc.

They are sacrificial. Being part of a breakout community is no walk in the park. There is great sacrifice individuals have to make to be a breakout community that belongs, believes, and becomes with each other. In Nehemiah, people left their homes, took off from work, and did strenuous labor—some of which probably was not their area of expertise. In other words, they gave up their time, talents, and treasure to serve alongside one another. I understand that we live in a culture that moves at a face pace. We are all busy running here, running there, going here, and then going there; taking the kids here and then there. We have this on our calendar, that on our calendar—not to mention the time spent in our occupation. I get it, many of us think we are too busy to belong, believe, and become in a community. The truth is that we will make time for the thing(s) that are important to us. I would argue that true, authentic, deep, holistic, and biblical community is something that you need and would be extremely valuable to you as an individual. Therefore, to make it a priority and to carve out time for community will [for many] be a great sacrifice. In the end, I believe the sacrifice will pay off. Just look at what Nehemiah and his community accomplished together.

They experience radical victories together. Together they accomplish a radical feat; they rebuilt a wall that had laid in ruin for over 140 years in 52 days. In addition, they experienced a radical revival as they came together to hear the word of God and seek the face of God. A lot transpired in a short amount of time. It would not have been possible outside of the community. I would argue that breakout individuals embed themselves in breakout communities, which in return produces and multiplies breakout individuals. To state it another way, the process of breakout/discipleship (being conformed into the image of Jesus and living on mission for him) happens within discipling communities, which in return produce and multiplies disciples, or breakout individuals.

My prayer is that Western Oaks, as well as all our churches, would be the breakout community/communities God desires us to be, in that we become the community that produces and multiplies breakout individuals—individuals that come to know Jesus, are conformed into his image, who participate in his global mission, all the while embedded and connected to the community of God.