Thursday, July 29, 2010
Why We Lose Church Members
The most heart breaking activity for a Church Pastor is seeing people come and go. It is so exciting
when people visit the Church and it is really exciting when we see people get what they need from God in our ministry.
However, it is heart breaking when it looks like they will stay but suddenly they are gone. Most of the time, this
is without a word as to why. Sometimes it is with very surface excuses and a few with great insult to what you are trying
to accomplish as a ministry.
It is very hard on many Pastors when people leave, because they many times take it
personal. Some Pastors even take it as a small wound added to other wounds when people leave. The conclusion seems to be that
the visitor just didn't like the preaching or worse, that the visitor didn't like them personally. If you, as a minister,
allow yourself to take people leaving personally, it will not be long before you leave the ministry. Before you leave, you
will build walls that won't allow yourself to even receive the ones that God sends your way. You will even begin to reject
them before they reject you or you could even wound them out of your wounds. Language of rejection always turns people away.
Please understand that ministry is complex and has many aspects as to why people do what they do. These are some of
the reasons that I have heard and seen through the years, as a Pastor and as one that ministers to Pastors.
1)
Even though one member of the family likes your church, others don't. This causes the one that does to back off.
2) Many, when they receive what they need at your church, then want to return to their family church.
3) Someone
in your church offends them or turns them off.
4) Services go too long.
5) Not enough freedom in the
services
6) Uncomfortable with the freedom in the services
7) Don't like the style of praise and worship.
8) Sound system too loud
9) Sound system not loud enough
10) No nursery or they are not comfortable
with the nursery workers
11) Their teenager doesn't like your teen ministry or they don't
12) They don't
like the children's ministry
13) Service times do not work for them
14) You don't offer programs they
are looking for such as: (singles ministry, couples ministry, senior ministry, moms day off, after school programs for children,
intercessory prayer meeting, Sunday school, Bible School, etc.)
15) Service is not what they are use to.
16) Personal problems
17) Too much enphasis on money.
18) Not enough teaching on finances
I hope by now you get the point. You will not know why a person does not stay at your church, unless they tell you or God
tells you. However, if you think it is all about you, please get counsel so that you can stop being wounded and quit wounding
others. You should enjoy being a minister of the gospel.
1:53 pm edt
July 28, 2010 - Man's Vision versus God's Vision
I once preached a message on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The simplicity of the message is that good is not
good enough for God. Too many ministries are accomplishing vision they decided is good rather than that which would come from
God. Sometimes, they are through good administration able to see great success in the vision they promote. Other times it
is a struggle. Success or failure is not the defining moment of whether the vision is of God or man.
First of all
do you have a vision? Where there is no vision the people perish. In all reality, if there is no vision the people are dead
in the water. Your ministry cannot grow without a vision. Secondly, how should ministry vision come? If it is a God vision,
it will come the God way. It will come through prophetic knowing or dreams and visions. That means you need the foundational
ministry gift of the prophet's influence to your ministry. If your ministry is going to have God's vision at the very beginning,
it will be with prophetic influence. After all, it is God's vision you are looking for, not your own. A preacher was called
upon to ask God to bless a man's vision. The preacher answered that if it is God's vision it is already blessed. As ministers
we need to quit trying to get God to bless our visions. We need to work in what God is doing. We need to get God's vision.
Good is not good enough for God.
July 27, 2010 - New Economy, New Strategy
I know that we are in this world but not of this world. I also know that we should be living in
God's economy and not allow the world's economy to rule over our lives. I also know that as a minister of the gospel, for
more than 30 years, that most of the congregation doesn't live in much of the other great revelations either. Therefore, as
a minister of the gospel, we must help them in every way that we can.
It is not enough to preach the truth of God's Word
to your congregation. They are coming into the church worn out from working multiple jobs and trying to stretch the finances
to keep up a normal lifestyle. The stress levels are incredible and they are looking for an answer in your church.
You
are going to have to minister freedom and strength to them to open them up to receive what God is saying and doing. This means
you will have to change the way you do a service.
Your people need to be given a steady dose of joy in the day we live
in. Joy replaces the heavy shackles of this world with strength. It gives strength to the faith that is in the churches' heart
and soul. Every service you have should have a good dose of joy in it. These are some ways you might accomplish this in your
service:
1) Always do at least 15 minutes of joyful praise in your service. ( break out the old songs that are
in their heart if you have too)
2) Have the one that opens your service share something funny with the people. It's good
for the people to laugh. A merry heart does good like a medicine. You are a ministry, minister.
3) Get someone to do,
by your request, up beat, victory songs for special singing.
4) Use the arts (dramas, skits, dance) for visual of victory
and joy.
5) While receiving the tithes and offerings use encouraging scripture, encouraging stories and testimonies.
Let people share victory reports.
6) Get a joyful, victorious theme song to close your service with each service. (the
same song so it will get into their spirit)
7) It is true that the church will remember less than 1% of your well prepared
message in 3 days but they will remember the delivery. Don't beat them up, instead encourage them, instruct and teach them.
8) What you have on your walls really means more than you know. Place positive things on the walls that show your support
for missions or other ministries. Pictures of baptism services, revivals, and church fellowships are good but also show the
children's ministry. (vacation Bible school, etc.)
If we minister to the people they will be strong and full of faith.
Visitors are looking for this kind of help too. You could grow your church by
imparting joy and encouragement. This environment will help you, the minister
too. Don't just be a church in the day we live in, be a ministry.
1:50 pm edt
July 26, 2010 - The Secrets of Ministry
One of the most important parts of ministry is being trusted with secrets. Most people in the
church will never have a clue to what a minister knows or has been in trusted to them by the people. Keeping these ministerial
secrets could be the biggest part of ministry to the body of Christ. If the body can not trust you, you have no ministry.
The hardest part of holding these secrets is when people in the body or even the leadership of the church are wanting you
to deal with something that is tied to one of these secrets. Usually because of what you know it becomes impossible to deal
in a straight forward manner. Of course those around you can't see the problem and you can't tell them. If you don't have
the trust of your ministerial team at this point you are in real trouble.
Ministry in the Word was never portrayed as easy. As a matter of fact it is portrayed as very difficult except when ministering
in a corporate fashion. The religious and even the disciples were there to question many movements or statements made by Jesus.
Jesus knew what He was talking about and what was behind each activity. The others did not, so they questioned.
They
will question you to and you should not be offended at this.
You must take time to build a trust with the people that
God has placed around you. Their confidence in you will help others when you are having to walk in a different way to protect
the people involved with the secrets you know. You must also learn how to answer people without giving away or hinting toward
secrets. Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. Then you must quit getting offended when people question you. This probably want make you popular with some however it will make you a much better minister.
A person that people can trust with there secrets.
1:49 pm edt
July 25, 2010 - The Trade Off
I know it seems like a bad question to ask but what part of God would you trade off to keep your
ministry job? I know that some would say immediately NOT ONE THING, in which because of your heart toward God I believe you
mean it. Today just for conversation sake lets evaluate what we have possibly given up to get to the job.
First on our
quest for finding God, even coming to know him we attended a church. In this church we submitted to leadership in innocence.
Whether the leadership was good or bad is not important at this time because you would not know the difference. You just needed
someone to take interest in you and help you to understand. In most cases because of your zeal for God they begin to find
jobs for you to do in the church. Then you end up in a church leadership class where you are trained how to serve the church
way. As you study the Word of God you have many questions and you see things in the Word that maybe your pastor doesn't teach
or they just don't talk about. You are told not to worry about that now, you will just get confused or you don't need to talk
about it because it will trouble the people. Now you make a choice to back off and just study the materials the church recommends.
You just GAVE UP going after God with all you heart to trying to learn it the churches way in order to be acceptable.
Later
because of your passion and call to ministry they recommend you to the ministry college that they aspire to. Yes, a place
where you are going to learn about the Bible cover to cover, history of Biblical times, and you are going to study God. You
have masterfully learned how NOT to challenge doctrine, church government operations, or concepts of who God is. Trying so
hard to please everyone to be a candidate for a ministerial job you have successfully remove the Spirit of God as a teacher,
and now are totally subject to man. The better you are at doing this, having good administrative and preaching skills, the
closer you are to a church that can support you in the lifestyle you are accustomed to.
Finally you have made it to the
ministry job that you now hold. I'm sure that you are pleased with your accomplishment. So many are. What would you give up
now to keep this job? Better yet, what are you willing to suffer in eternity to continue in this direction. Don't trade to
much of God off, your eternity may be in jeopardy!
1:48 pm edt
July 24, 2010 - Making Disciples
How can we say we are ministers if we have never made a disciple. I really don't think we
can come to maturity until someone is watching our every move and asking us many questions. We have not lived a self-denied
life until someone has lived with or almost lived with us 24/7, hanging on our every word and wanting to know why.
Jesus
Christ commanded His disciples before He ascended to go teach and make disciples.
I just suspect that He knew from experience that making disciples would help keep them on track. He knew that they would have
to walk close to the Father in order to deal with all the strange attitudes and the many ups and downs. You know, the highs
and lows, mountain tops and valleys.
It is exciting when we see them overcome. Its awesome when they take our advice
and it works. Its wonderful when we see their highs and lows begin to level out. At this time, they even begin to help us
in some real way. Then a new thing begins to happen. They begin to act like teenagers. Yes, you don't know as much anymore.
They begin to break free from us to do their own thing with God. Yes, this is all part of making disciples. Sometimes they
even get upset when we try to advise them further and some even stop all communication for a season.
We wonder if it
is worth all the effort but then we begin to see their fruit, we watch their ministry take off and watch them begin to make
disciples too.
However I say that we should look at how much we have grown and learned from God in the process. We now
see the fruit of the Spirit working our life. We now hear from God so much better. Yes, we move with God now and not ahead
of Him. OK it is my conculsion that making disciples is worth all the time, effort and even trouble.
The masses are not
reached by people who have simply been born again. The masses have always been reached by disciples. Its disciple making time!
1:46 pm edt
July 23, 2010 - The Lonely Minister
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Ministry is something that most have no clue
of what they are getting into. With a heart to do the will of God we sell out to God with the great expectation of seeing
the world saved. Then we get involved in the helping of hurting people. Those of us that move in kingdom power enjoy the excitement
of seeing the captive set free and truly begin to grasp how much God really loves
us. As the Word of God comes alive in us we can't share it with enough people. The desire to serve is overwhelming as we give
our time and efforts to help the ministers that teach us and to those we look up to as great leaders. If we are single we
look for the one that will help us fulfill Gods' will. If we are married we pray that our mate will desire to serve God as
much as we do. Those around us family and friends don't know what to think of us. Some are happy and some are concerned that
we might be going overboard. There is such joy that we hardly recognize the sacrifice. The power of seeing a prayer answered,
of seeing Gods' hand in meeting needs. We are wonderfully convinced that God is good.
One day as we go forth in the joy
of our salvation we meet church politics or the person we look up to does something that is not Christ like. Then we begin
to see how easy it is for the church to judge. We meet with the control of religion and the world in the church. We find ourselves
disillusioned almost feeling scammed, even taken atvantage of by those we have served.
For the first time we feel used by them instead of God.
It's all a product
of the wrong tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even though guilt sets up in us for the thoughts that are hidden,
we still hold strongly to the thought that everyone is messed up but us. We then become isolated and afraid that we will be
judged and condemned if people really know us. Our prayers are not getting answered the way they were and our relationship
with the Father seems to disappear. Now the things that offended us are working in us we have become religious and alone.
We are constantly trying to get back what we had before our eyes were open and when we were in the reality that it was God
using us in the pleasure of us asking Him to. Remembering the time we didn't blame the church and other leaders for our problems
and how we held them in such high regaurd.
If we could be free from that
tree we could be free from the religion that keeps us in this lonely place. We could enjoy our salvation again and even enjoy
being ministers again. Yes our prayers would have power again, and desire that would release the tree of life and its fruit
would would release zeal and passion once again. Oh to be as free as the day we gave our hearts to Jesus Christ.
I love where it says in Matthew three that the ax is laid to the root of the trees.
Jesus came to cut down a tree. Ephesians three tell us if we are rooted and grounded in love we would know the love of Christ
that passes knowledge and we would be filled with the fulness of God. First John one;twelve says if we love one another God
would dwell in us and Gods' love would be perfected in us. Love that passes knowledge will bring you out of that lonely place.
Make a choice to love even your enemies and God will give you His love to love with. He loved us all past His knowledge of
us and HE HAS CALLED US TO DO THE SAME. God knows you can't do it with your love, however if you commit He will give you His
love to love with. Just think as you return to your first love you can leave religion behind and all the lonelyness that comes
with it. LOVE IS TRULY THE ANSWER!
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July 22, 2010 - Ministry Life With Dr. Tony
It is important that we recognise (each) of what we call the five fold ministry. They are found
in Ephesians chapter four. ( Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher) Many of the church today have only had the influence of a pastor which gathers and protects or a teacher which points to the accuancy
of the Word being taught and its details. There are some that have been influenced by the prophets which brings vision, direction,
and shapens the ability to hear Gods' voice.
There are two gifts that we seem to be short on to the body of Christ. The
Apostle which is the Fathers main influence to the young ministers (Timothy's), revelation teachers bringing the ability of
the believer to relate to God and the things of the Spirit (the Apostles' doctrine) and the gift that releases or births the
young minsiters into there ministry instead of letting them die in the pews. This has been replaced by denomination or pastors
who can't let go. (not their fault, its not what the gift does)
The second is the evangelist. Yes the evangelist has
been replaced with pastors doing revivals for pastors. This is important to realize because without the evangelist there is
no impartation or desire created to reach the lost. The church becomes interverted! Its ok to send missionaries around the
world but we can't reach or have no desire to reach our community. The harvest is fallen to the ground it is so over ripe
but without the evangelist the church is not equiped to pick the fruit from the ground. Pastors its time to let the evangelist
get you out of your comfort zone and allow the seed of evangelism to be sown into your people.
1:43 pm edt
July 21, 2010 - Kingdom Living
When we talk about Kingdom Living we are talking about individuals that are filled with the fullness
of God, the strength of the fruit of the Spirit, and a person of power. When we talk about Kingdom Living we are dealing with
individuals that are manifesting heaven in this earth. The Word says correctly that the Kingdom of God is not in word but
in power.
Kingdom Living is demonstrating the reality of heaven on earth and the truth of a resurrected Jesus
Christ. As we invade the spirit, soul and body of man and tread on the kingdom of darkness God's goodness is seen that He
has not left us comfortless. He is here with us to bring His peace, to bring His joy and to manifest His love in our lives.
Therefore, Kingdom Living can never just be talked about ~ it will always be demonstrated!
1:41 pm edt
