Are We Preaching A Sufficient Gospel?

I fully realize that there are many ways to try to quantify and assess church growth and health. However, in many circles it is done through numbers--baptisms, attendance, Sunday School, giving, etc. Some of them raise questions, some of the questions are never asked.

A story of the growth of a rural church was carried in a recent denominational publication. I am going to try to change the numbers some so as not to identify the publication, the article or the church, but not so much that they will fail to capture my point. It raises, or better, fails to raise a very significant question.

A season of growth began in this church 16 years ago. Their attendance was under 50. In the last three years, they have baptized 324 people. The current attendance is 425. Anyone see a problem here?

This is not the graph from the church in this blog

Here is a deadly serious question the church should be asking (if I was pastor, I would be asking it of my preaching): if the gospel we preach and invite people to respond to is not producing lasting results of discipleship, were the hundreds of professions over 16 years of people that cannot be found legitimate? Are we lulling people into a false security? Have we lowered the bar too low? The gospel that Jesus preached didn't have many false professions; it had people who followed hard or turned away because the path was too hard. The only thing that could be construed as a similar experience to the teaching or experience of Jesus is the parable of sower. How you interpret the middle two soils is for another blog post on another day.

The gospel is not complicated, nor are we called to make it that way. However, the road that leads to salvation is straight, narrow, and difficult, and we are called to issue a clear message of followership that includes genuine repentance, self-denial, cross-bearing, obedience, and radical savoring, treasuring, and loving Jesus Christ. Is your church seeing baptisms, is a question that should be asked. Are those baptized taking up their cross, this question is only rarely asked, and even more seldom addressed if the answer is no.

We must begin asking that question, lest we go down with churches that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nazi-imprisoned pastor, said were feasting on the carcasses of cheap grace.

" We Lutherans have gathered like the eagles around the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison which has killed the life of following Christ…What had happened to all those warnings of Luther's against preaching the gospel in such a manner as to make men rest secure in their ungodly living?  Cheap grace has turned out to be utterly merciless to our Evangelical Church." (p. 54}

"This cheap grace has been no less disastrous to our own spiritual lives. . .  Instead of calling us to follow Christ, it has hardened us in our disobedience. . .  Having laid hold on cheap grace, they were barred for ever from the knowledge of costly grace.  Deceived and weakened, men felt that they were strong now that they were in possession of this cheap grace – whereas they had in fact lost the power to live the life of discipleship and obedience.  The word of cheap grace has been the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works."

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Making Disciples

Jesus made the final command for which we are responsible very simple: make disciples. At a conference I went to recently, there was a break out session on "Creating a Disciple-Making Culture in Rural Churches." I took a lot of notes because it was really good info. I hope that I can help my churches put it into practice.

Why? Well, as I mentioned, Jesus told us to and this is the mission of the church, the vehicle by which to make much of Jesus Christ among the nations. If we don't make disciples, we are disobedient, or best case, we are failing at getting it right. So the question that I have been entertaining in my mind is how you measure or determine with you are producing disciples? How do you qualify or quantify people following Jesus better and more?

We have always been good at counting Sunday School or worship attendance, but attendance to public worship is not necessarily a good indicator of spiritual growth. We've counting baptisms, and we hope that more people begin a walk of faith by obedience to baptism (which is also associated with the Great Commission), but we know that baptisms don't necessarily turn out good followers of Jesus. We can talk about who read their lesson or had their "quiet time" (which by the way, is never mentioned in scripture), and that is our opinion of a really spiritual Christian is, but is it? But subconsciously, and unintentionally, could it be a mechanical, legalistic, checklist of "things on my list of impress God and others" list? AND if we don't know if we are doing a good job at it, how do we plan better, assess it, and make changes (shhhhhh) to get it done?

We don't think about it much in these terms, but not necessarily program-wise, but just as a matter of life, we must if we are doing what Jesus said to do? Even pastors, as I guide the conversation to discipling, if they agree with our mission to make disciples ("yes" is always the reply), and then what's their plan to accomplish it, and how do they know if they are doing it? How do they know if Bill is walking more like Jesus today than one year ago? Studies show that 90% of believers think they are growing, and pastors think 20% of their congregations are growing. "Pastor, how do you plan to do it? How do you know when it's been done?"

I also learned at this conference that I shouldn't give all the answers you. So not that I have them all for this difficult matter, but I've been chewing on it for a while, and have some thoughts. But you need to figure out the answers. Are you making disciples? Are they being made at your local assembly?

Relationship To Win

Recently we had a really cool example of God rescuing a church member from the brink of (or at least the potential danger of) spiritual disaster in the wake of some devastating circumstances in their life. And I wanted to share it with you.

We have been doing triads in our church for several years now. And that has produced some wonderful relationships, and some disciples for Christ, and catapulted others into spiritual growth. And I am convinced that this is what rescued this person spiritually.

The three of them were meeting regularly when a huge bump in life's road made it difficult for this person to gather with the church. But their triad kept meeting. For weeks the triad was the only thing that was consistent spiritually. And now after many weeks, still going in the triad, he has been restored unto the weekly gathering of the church. It seems like such a hard thing to do to get people back that struggle like this, but God used the triad to do it.

Do you know what the main component was that so powerfully worked in this situation? Good, theologically solid material? Nope. Weekly structure and prayer? Nope. RELATIONSHIPS. The relationships within the triad were the saving grace that drew back the wanderer.

As a shepherd, I am just glad to feel like a situation like this turned out well! So, whether it is a triad ministry or not, build deep relationships with those that you gather with. This is not just a good idea, but what sharing life together as the body of Christ is all about!

Sharing Life IV

I asked permission to post the contents of an email that one of my triad members sent me. He agreed, and thus this maybe the best testimony to their effectiveness; at least to God's work in our lives...

"You know when I started out, we agreed to do this just to get the "Preacher" off our backs and on to someone else. We figured we could get the hour down to about 30 minutes a meeting. Do our time and get it over with. BOY was I wrong. One hour is not really enough. I did not know I had such a desire and such hunger for Gods word until now. My whole life has changed. I only wish I would have had someone to direct me to a Triad the day after I got saved. Instead I starting my walk in Christ alone. I struggled for a long time because I did not understand a lot or how to get started. Because you didn't give up and talked me into doing the Triad, I have so much to be thankful for. Because of the Triad I no longer look at my pastor and my friend in the same manner. I look at them as close friends in Christ. Someone who will be there if I ever need to be picked up. Someone I have have a lot of confidence and trust in. True brothers in Christ. I have learned and grown so much in my relationship. My wife will tell you I am not a reader, but this is one book I can not put down. I am in it almost every day. I'm even excited about starting it over from the front with a new group just to get to go back through the book again. I feel like you can ask the hidden questions that you hide in the back of your mind and together figure out the answer without being embarrassed or looked at funny because you didn't already know the answer. It may be different with the others, but I have been truly blessed. Finally, you come away feeling like, now you are being equipped to make disciples as God has called us to do. Proverbs 27:17 ...... Iron sharpens Iron, and one man sharpens another."

God has truly blessed us!

Thanks for reading!

Sharing Life III

In our time together we quickly discovered two things. First, an hour wasn't enough time. And that what we were doing was well worth it. We saw that the triad atmosphere is different than a small group study, Sunday School, and definitely preaching. We noticed how open we became with each other over the first six weeks or so. We noticed how we all looked forward to the time together. And often if one had to miss, the other two met, even though they didn't do the material for the week.

We would suggest that you commit at least an hour and a half. Trust me, you will want to. On the other hand, you don't have to finish each lesson in the allotted time. Both groups regularly took two weeks to do a lesson because the discussion was so good. We all got to ask all the questions that we wanted to ask, and wrestle with them together. Remember, not content based, but relationship based. There are 25 lessons in the manual, and 52 weeks in a year, you got time.

One criticism that we had was that the first page in each lesson was not very helpful. We ended up skipping it in both groups most of the time. It did give the scripture memory and study passage for the week, but that was about the extent of its usefulness.

Three things that we would add. We would add a component of daily intercession on behalf of your other triad members. This is something that we found ourselves doing anyway often, but we felt like it would be good to be more intentional about it. Secondly we would add a fellowship component outside of the weekly meeting. It would be neat for families to get involved in the deepening rerelationships that are forming. It would also give us a chance to model biblical fellowship to others. Thirdly, we would do a couple of lessons on very practical issues. The study is very general in some aspects. And for men's triads, I would add lessons on being a good husband, sexual purity, and family worship. These are just some of the areas that could have been dealt with more thoroughly if the study was gender or age specific. But again, the study is broad enough where you can work all these things in when you want to.

I am firmly convinced that if we truly want to make disciples in our churches, that we must do some things different. And one thing that we must do is get back to one on one/two discipling over the long term, pouring our lives into one another. Without the use of this tool, I forsee more great difficulty and failure in our goal to make disciples (not that this tool guarantees success, just that it is necessary). For in the end our first two triads I am fully anticipating the results that we are now standing firmer in Christ and closer to our brethren, as well and poised and inspired to continue the process of making more disciples, and advancing the kingdom!

Sharing Life II

In my previous post, I discussed how we started to discipleship triads, and how great they went. So let me fill in some of the gaps on how's and why's.

I ordered some of the Discipleship Essentials manuals and asked two men to meet with me once a week for about an hour for a year. The commitment to the time is the hardest part. But this study is really not content-based. It is more about relationships and sharing life than about learning lots of verses of biblical truths. Although that having been said, the study part of it is not shallow, in fact is very deep, and deals with difficult truths (theodicy, sovereignty of God in salvation and suffering, etc.), quotes Piper, Packer, Stott, and others. But again, the main point of the study is to develop lives together.

So Monday morning at 5:45 AM three of us began our walk together with Christ and Greg Ogden in September of last year. We shared some of life each week, prayed for each other, and studied the Word together. And this group became the group of people that I would share anything with, and I mean anything. We all began to grow in closeness with each other and with Jesus.

It was going so good that I started a second triad with two other men. I will not do two groups at a time again simply because of time, but it went great too! The first two men were biblically-knowledgeable, and discipled. The second triad was made up of men whom the church had seen come to Christ, baptized, and then expected to grow upon their own. No one had ever discipled these men intentionally. And I figured that this would really be the test of Ogden's methodology. So we began meeting at 6 AM on Wednesdays. And their testimony was weekly, "this is the best thing that New River has ever done" to promote spiritual maturity and growth.

They began to grow in leaps and bounds. And it is not that these men were worldly or anything, but they just began to press on toward maturity. And their families and friends noticed their passion for Christ and the relationships in our group. And our relationship has surpassed that of a pastor or a hunting buddy to that of a friend, deep and true.

And this is one of the reasons that I say that this is what God has been using in my life. I have been grown, challenged, held accountable, and been encouraged through these two triads. I thank God for His grace to me in this fashion, and for these men.

And now, as our first triad is over, these men are finding two other men a piece, and beginning their own triads; forming deeper relationships over truth with other men; discipling others in the way that Paul and Jesus did. In fact, even in the second triad, these men are beginning to think about who they want to take on in their next triad. And we have some ladies in our church that have seen how the men have responded, read Ogden's book, and are contemplating beginning triads of their own. Hopefully this will help transform our church over several years, and fill it full of genuine disciples for Christ.

In the next post, I try to outline some of the helpful hints and suggestions that our groups have come up with, in case you are interested in doing triads.

Sharing Life I

One of the things that has impacted my walk with Christ in the past year is sharing life together with two other men in a discipleship triad. And I have constantly referred to it on Facebook, in sermons, and in conversations with other believers and pastors, and one of them suggested that I blog about it and share what God is doing. Probably have to break it up into a couple of posts, so as not to be too lengthy. So here goes...

I have forgotten who turned my attention to the manual Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden. Or maybe I was perusing the latest advertisement magazine from Christian Book Distributors. But I have been for a long time reading about (and experiencing in churches) lots of discipleship programs, classes, studies, etc, and little results. Leonard Ravenhill thought that the 50's were a time of shallow faith, but certainly we have surpassed his era. And our commission is to make disciples. So in searching for a fresh way to make disciples, I came across this book. It was obviously a manual, and I wanted to read the method to the madness, so I ordered his other book, Transforming Discipleship.


This book detailed his journey as a pastor of education at several churches to find something that helps truly accomplish the task of making disciples. He told of the myriad of programs, and detailed the church's failure as a whole to produce mature believers, sound in their theology and serious in their biblical worldview. I was hooked! So he went on to describe his discovery, or rediscovery, of the method of disciple-making used by Jesus and Paul--one believer pouring out his life into other believers one at a time over a long period (not just six weeks), and covering the breadth of theology AND practical life issues, and providing depth of life relationally, accountability, encouragement, and challenge. It sounded too good to be true (not that it would be easy or quick), but it just made sense. So, I figured that I would try it and see. So, I started two groups; one last September, and one in January. The summary statement is that they are awesome! I am thrilled with the work that God is doing in all of our lives.

I will try to explain the how's and why's of their success, and how we went about doing this in the next post. But I know that I speak for the other men when I say that we are convinced of the power of the triad, and are going to continue using it to make disciples. You can find more info at Greg Ogden's website, and you can find his books at CBD and Amazon.com.

A Plea for Multi-Generational Parenting pt. 3

For my last post on this topic, I want to address two remaining issues. First of all relationships. If we are to pass on values and truth to the next generation, we must build and maintain relationships. Everyone thinks that they have a relationship with their children, but not every child thinks they have a genuine relationship with their parents. One of the best resources that I have seen on this topic was a message that Josh McDowell preached that the GA Baptist State Evangelism conference. You can order the message here. He shows the truth that if we don't maintain our close relationships with children and teens, they will not receive the truth that we teach (this is not ruling out the intervention of the Spirit, just stating truth). Truth is receive when its communicated in love. We must maintain intimacy with our children and teens, knowing them, relating to them, and serving them, else they will view the truth we teach as falsehood. This not only applies to our own families, but to those within the body of Christ that we minister to. And those in the community (assuming that you are ministering in the community). We must have closeness, vulnerability, honesty, love, and genuine commitment to them, BEFORE they will hear our truth. We must reduce judgmentalism and get involved in their world.

Secondly, we must personally sell out for Christ. Half-hearted Christian commitment will ensure apostasy in our own families, churches, and denominations. Nominal faith in one generation is no faith in the one that comes after it. According to Voddie Baucham it takes two Christian families with two kids a piece to get one believer into the next generation (it's not rocket science with a 75% defection rate). The younger generations see right through the hypocrisy that got by us. And they don't want that Christ, or at least not His church. McDowell says that never before in the history of the church has a hypocritical parent or church member been such a hindrance to the preaching of the word. If Christ is not everything to us all week long, all month long, all year long, our children will understand the shallowness of our commitment, and reject our gospel.

Strive to be the parent or parental figure that inspires legends about your godliness. Refuse to be a status quo, maintenance mentality, don't rock the boat believer. Let your testimony of your passion for Christ be evident. Pray that your family will be speaking of this great grandfather or grandmother who loved Jesus more than life itself. Pray that they will be aspiring to be like you. Pray that they will tell of your accomplishments for the kingdom for generations. THEN, GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT! Live radical for Jesus! Quit making excuses! Cut off the hands and gouge out the eyes that prevent you from living a legendary life and raising up Christian ballistic missiles! Live your faith out loud! May the dust of your Rabbi be all over you! And if so, may your tribe increase to the glory of God and the ingathering of the nations!