Sadly, there are a lot churches that are really good at addition, subtraction and division, but not multiplication.

It’s easy to settle for addition, because at least it is positive growth. Addition is safe. Addition is comfortable. But addition is often the result of a lack of vision and mission. Church leaders get bogged down in caring for the urgent and the existing members are happy because the attention is all on them. Sometimes people move into the area and just naturally look for a church. Put out a sign and we can probably grow through addition.

However, addition is just a step away from subtraction. People start to withdraw from the church when the church has no purpose. I bet more people leave the church out of boredom than from being called to fulfill the Great Commission.

Let’s not even talk about division…

Multiplication requires vision and leadership. Multiplication requires sacrifice and commitment. Multiplication is what disciples of Jesus are doing. Multiplication takes much prayer and a lot of hard work. Multiplication requires evangelism and a passion for making disciples. Bill Hull says,

If the church fails to make disciples, it fails to multiply. If the church fails to multiply, it fails.

We all know that division is failure, but so is subtraction and addition. Multiplication brings glory to God. It is what we are commissioned to do. If it’s division, subtraction, or addition, it may or may not be from God, but if it’s multiplication and it brings Him glory, there’s no doubt it’s of Him!

My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples. (John 15:8 HCSB)

Further Reading:

• Church Planting is People Planting
• The Great Commissions: John
• The Great Commissions: Luke

So here are a few of my top concerns for the local church:

1. Members are just going through the motions.
Many Christians spend only about one hour per week involved with their church. They go to a church building. They know when to stand or sit. They know when to sing or listen. Most importantly, they know when the “hour of power” is supposed to be over. And may it never be that the pastor ever forget.

2. Prayer is not effective.
Not that the prayer of a righteous person isn’t effective, or that God isn’t listening. Instead, most of our churches are infected with lazy Christians who have no vibrant relationship with God and think that prayer is just rubbing the lamp and the genie-god comes out and does everything we want it to do.

3. The local church isn’t led by the Spirit of God.
It’s not just the people in the church that concern me, it’s the leadership. Elders often think they are the decision makers and they lack the close connection with God necessary for the health of the church. Acts 14 gives a good example of the elders being led by the Spirit to act.

4. Preaching is talking.
Often the preaching elder doesn’t know how to exhort or rebuke or encourage. He doesn’t spend time discovering what God is saying to the Body through His word. Preaching becomes a series of talking points that lack persuasion or correction. Preaching isn’t prophetic anymore.

5. The American Dream is more important than the Kingdom of God.
For most people, life with Christ is crowded out by regular life. Working hard to be successful, to make money, to become more powerful, these are the reasons most members have for why they can’t invest more in God’s kingdom. They can’t imagine how their wants needs could possibly be provided for without working 60+ hours a week. Since prayer isn’t effective, surely God can’t be relied upon to fulfill His promises.

6. Serving and hospitality are no longer values.
Since the American Dream is such a powerful force, there’s little time left to help someone in need. We have our excuses: “Based on how they dress, if I give them money they’ll probably just spend it on alcohol or cigarettes.” “I can barely afford cable TV and the payments on my flat screen, much less give to the church.”

7. Making disciples is for the paid professionals
In fact, everything that needs to get done around the church is up to the pastor to do it. At the heart of this is the fact that members are no longer following Jesus. They don’t care about what He said. They don’t care about what He did. They don’t care that they are supposed to be following His example. Primarily what Jesus wants us to do is to love God, love people and make disciple-making disciples. There aren’t even a whole lot of paid professionals (pastors) that are fulfilling that commission.

These are just a few of the concerns I have for the church. What concerns you? What are your ideas for how to solve these problems?

Related Post:  What is the Purpose of the Church? ::  Subscribe ::

Further Reading:

• An Unnatural Life
• Disciples of Jesus Multiply
• Social Languages for Transformation

I know I’ve been finding it difficult to talk with God and spend time with Him in the midst of such a busy schedule. But shouldn’t it be the goal of our life to simplify everything else so that we can increase our quality time with our Creator?

I tend to overextend myself. But I’ve been thinking about the things I commit to. The time that I give, does it belong to me? As a child of God, doesn’t my life belong to Him? Sure, most of the things I volunteer for are good things. But sometimes I miss out on prayer because I’m blogging helping a friend or meeting a need. Again, as noble as my motives may be – is it my time to give? My time, my resources, and my life are not my own.

Prayer is both the purpose and the process for getting our schedule under control. We need to spend time in prayer but if we don’t have time for God, prayer gets pushed to the rear. But prayer also enables us to get our schedule under control. How am I supposed to know how best to use my time if I’m not in communication with the One to whom my schedule should belong? I overextend myself sometimes because I mistake good things for the best things.

Prayer as Purpose

The end result of maintaining control of our time and resources should be that we can spend more on our relationship with God. If we are too busy to spend an hour a day loving and serving God then we are too busy. Some of that time could be spent in prayer. Some could be spent reading the Bible. Some could be sharing your faith or discipling a believer or investing in a small group of Christians with whom you are sharing life together.

But prayer shouldn’t be ignored. It’s easy to make it to a weekly worship gathering because people see you there and hold you accountable. Prayer is different. Prayer requires personal discipline. Prayer is a passion that you have to decide that this is more important than the American dream. It’s even more important than paying the bills. Overtime at work might help you put money in savings but it won’t keep you connected to God who is Jehovah Jireh (The Lord will provide). Prayer is the purpose. Prayer is the goal of a simpler schedule.

Prayer as Process

But prayer is also the plan. We are better able to comprehend God’s will when we communicate with Him and draw closer to Him. God is able to direct our steps but He won’t do it if we don’t let Him. If our schedule is packed from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed then there’s no room for Him. This is why Americans have such a hard time with prayer (including me). We work 50 or 60 hour work weeks (not to mention those who work even more). We fill our downtime with activity. We might get around to kissing our wife and hugging one or two of our children but that’s it.

I recently was sharing the vision of small groups and developing community with a group of church leaders. I was talking about the commitment to fellowship that seems to be missing and was encouraging a deeper level of commitment (like, say, 2 or 3 more hours a week) when one of them asked me, “How do you get people in the church not to think this is some sort of tax?” I think I handled my response appropriately but I couldn’t believe that a church leader would think that “being devoted to fellowship…” might be perceived as some sort of a tax on people’s time.

I totally understand the difficulty of spending time in community because I know how hard it is for us to even spend 15 minutes in prayer and in relationship with our God. But that’s not an excuse. Our current schedule is no excuse for not spending time with God, with our families, and with our community. We are ambassadors of Christ, not day laborers at our 9 to 5 job. God is not a task master but it should be our desire to do His will above all else. How can we know His will if we aren’t spending time with Him?

In times of prayer, God teaches us how to say “no”, but He also teaches us when to say “yes”. As we walk with God and talk with Him throughout the day, He directs our steps. He keeps us from burdening our lives with too much activity and helps us to say “no”. He opens our eyes to needs and opportunities where we need to say “yes”.

Stop saying “Yes” and start saying “Yes”

A few days ago I gave up something important to me because I knew my wife needed my time and attention. It was something that WE needed to do together and even though I hate cancelling something because it seems like I’m irresponsible, I know that has to happen sometimes. It should be the same way with God, we need to stop saying “yes” to every little thing that comes along that sounds good and we need to start saying “yes” to those things that bring glory to Him. If you’re like me, I always learn the lesson after I’ve already said yes to something and then I have to back out. This makes things difficult for everyone involved.

Americans know how to pray. But, just like the disciples, we need to be asking God to “Teach us TO pray.” Prayer is the easiest concept in Scripture to understand but it might be the hardest one to implement. Prayer at it’s basic definition is communication with God. We don’t need to ask “teach us what to pray, or how to pray, or when to pray, or how often to pray”. We need to ask God to help us carve out more room in our schedule to pray.

Related Post: My Top Concerns for the Local Church ::  Subscribe ::

Further Reading:

• Disciples of Jesus Multiply
• My Top Concerns for the Local Church
• Election 2008 and Predestination

The definition of predestination according to the Westminster Confession of Faith is that, “[God] freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass.” God is in control. God is sovereign. We can trust that no matter what happens tomorrow God is our ultimate source of hope. He is the true cause of life and liberty. No government grants that to us…we can’t vote that into office. God is the source of all life and He wants us to have it in abundance.

Having said that, we live in a nation where we get to choose. This choice doesn’t negate God’s sovereignty, this choice is a part of God’s sovereignty. Only God in His sovereignty can maintain complete control when idiots like us head to the voting booth. God has allowed us freedom to choose and we get to exercise that freedom in electing a new president tomorrow. The person we choose will not surprise God and cause him to have to do damage control. Instead, our next president will be precisely the person God has chosen for our country.

What we can’t know in our limited human understanding is what goes into God’s choice for president? We do know some things from Scripture that inform our thinking, but they give us no hard and fast answer on who God wants in the office.

Here are a few things God has promised us in the Bible that might inform how we vote:

God Bless America?
Psalm 33:12 ”Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

Will the candidate I vote for acknowledge God as the Lord? Will he try to govern justly? Will he adhere to Biblical principles and be concerned with deeming others as more important than himself? Will he look out for widows and orphans? Will life from conception to death be of importance to our new president? Will alleviating poverty be at the top of his agenda? Will he desire God’s blessings on all nations and not just the one we happen to have been born in, not allowing our “American Dream” to come at the expense of other struggling nations? The list could go on, but ultimately will he acknowledge God as the Lord and seek to align his policies with the will of God? These are the questions that will help us determine who we should vote for on election day.

Patriotism or Priesthood?
1 Peter 2:9 ”But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

As we vote, we need to keep everything in perspective – that God demands a loyalty from His children that goes beyond party loyalty. We aren’t Democrats or Republicans, we are Christ followers. This world is not our home and therefore, we can’t be swept away by party loyalty or even extreme patriotism when there are millions of people suffering around the world due to our country’s greed and selfishness. I am patriotic but I am also part of the priesthood that has been called to “proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Casting a vote is patriotic and I believe it should be done carefully after much prayer by responsible Christians. But sharing hope and love and the story of God with your neighbor is something we should be doing no matter what. That is a higher and more important calling.

Presidential Predestination
Romans 11:33-36 ”Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has ever first given to Him, and has to be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” 

Can any of us determine who God has predestined to be our President? I know who I am voting for and I’m voting for him based on Biblical values. I’ve spent much time in prayer for our country, for our world, and for our current and future leaders. I pray for them by name. I have thought long and hard and consulted other wise men and women of God for their thoughts on the issue. But at the end of the day, we don’t know God’s plan. God can certainly intervene supernaturally and change the course of history. Do we deserve blessing? Do we deserve a curse? Will the next president lead us further down economically, militarily, and morally? If so, could it be that God allowed that to happen so that we can turn to him yet again to bring healing to our nation? On the other hand, might our next president lead us into economic prosperity? Which would be better for our country spiritually speaking? Who can know the mind of the Lord?

What About Abortion?
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.”

Should Christians vote based on one issue? Should this verse be used to demand pro-life legislation? The answer to both questions is “No” but I don’t think the issue of abortion needs to be abandoned as a hopeless cause either. We should consider the entire panoply of issues that face the American public on election day, but there is no greater injustice in our society than the refusal to grant rights to the unborn. I personally don’t believe that all abortion should be outlawed. In cases when giving birth will cause harm to the mother (6% of abortions) abortion is one option that should not be totally disregarded. But how can we be a blessed nation by God when 93% of abortions in America are done for convenience? If we don’t get this issue right, how can we ask (and even demand) God’s blessings? There are about 4,000 abortions performed every day in America. We need to be concerned about poverty and crime and the environment but there are close to 4,000 children who are unborn every day who will never even get a chance to experience life. Why is it such a bad thing to value this issue higher than other issues? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is helpful to think that people first need physiological needs met (food, clothing, shelter) and from there they move on to more sociological and emotional needs. However, we seem to forget that the Hierarchy of Needs is predicated on life. I want every man, woman, and child to have the basic essentials of food, clothing, and shelter, but even more important is that they are alive to enjoy them. 

As Christians we must evaluate each candidate and determine his stance on the issues that are important, not to our country, but to God. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority.” Our prayer should be that God would guide our country and would bring us back to Him. Not that we would become a Christian nation, but that we would desire to do His will and allow other nations to be blessed through us. We have a responsibility to cast a vote…it’s a choice between two men. Our choice will not hinder the sovereignty of God and He will maintain control over His universe. God is sovereign and sometimes we don’t fully know His will or His plan but in our freewill I hope we will choose a president based on our values and on Biblical principles.

What about you? What Biblical principles inform your decision to vote or not to vote?

Further Reading:

• Terminating Tiller's Life is Worse than Tiller Terminating Lives
• Shocking Stats from the book Radical
• Disciples of Jesus Multiply