http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/in_westen_europe

I am in Western Europe today and the internet connection is not good... I hope to post some tonight.


Update 1:

Five Hours later... finally, Internet. Ahhhh.

We met tonight in a cramped apartment in urban Barcelona. There were about 20 of us shoulder-to-shoulder talking about how to plant churches in Western Europe.

I brought a group of pastors with me that are passionate about reaching U.S. contexts-- and there was some great dialogue and mutual learning.

Earlier today, we walked the city and saw some of its cultures.

I am impressed with these missionaries-- they could easily be planting churches in gentrified U.S. cities and it would be a lot easier.

I do not intend, by any stretch of imagination, to call U.S. urban church planting easy. But, to take that cultural context and place it in a post-Christian European city, is quite a challenging thing.

I read unChristian on the plane over. A worthwhile read about the move of emerging generations away from historic Christianity. It was challenging and sobering—but sitting in Barcelona reminds me that these people were post-Christian for generations. It is a different world… and I wonder if North America will look similar in the next generation.

Here is what I posted recently about the Western Europe leadership team:

As I have mentioned before, LifeWay shares part of my time with the International Mission Board.

I will be going to Spain in February to meet with the leadership and do some teaching. The IMB leadership will be doing some events in the states as well. Please connect with them if you can...


Here is the info:

The Western Europe region of the International Mission Board invites you to participate in The Gatherings, a two-day event designed to connect you and your church to the work God is doing in Western Europe.

Join IMB workers and other stateside church leaders/members at one of two locations in 2008: Stafford, Va. (March 3-4), or Atlanta, Ga. (March 6-7). During The Gatherings, we'll dialog about ministry among postmoderns and fast-growing immigrant groups in Paris, Barcelona, Zurich, Rome and other places in Western Europe.

Find out more information and register online: www.telleurope.org.

We hope to see you soon at The Gatherings!

Update 2:

Scott McConnell, the brains behind LifeWay Research, alerted me to recent Gallup Research that deals with Spain's spiritual views, among other things. You can find the full story here.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/some_miscellaneo

Now that I am on break sitting in a Starbucks in Barcelona, I thought I would catch up a bit on non-meeting stuff.

This is sort of my “Friday is for Friends” from the last week or so.


Billy Hornsby (Not Bruce Hornsby)

As I mentioned, I had a good week last week at Liberty University and had the opportunity to visit with Billy Hornsby. (No relation to Bruce and he does not have a “range.”)

He says some nice things on his blog, but he made me promise to say something nice about The Association of Related Churches (ARC). I am glad to do it!

He tells the ARC story on his blog:

Started seven years ago with two church plants, today the Association of Related Churches, (ARC) has planted 53 relevant, life-giving churches across the country, many of them now effective mega-churches. We are a non-denominational church planting engine that offers coaching, assessment and financing to young church planters and church networks. Because of the partnership of vision minded pastors like Greg Surratt, Chris Hodges, Dino Rizzo, Rick Bezet and Scott Hornsby, the ARC is poised to make an even bigger impact in the next few years. Great new friends have come along side of ARC to make the potential even greater…Guys like Matt Fry, Craig Altman, Craig Groeschel, Stovall Weems and many others have put the MO in the organization.

ARC is looking for planters and has resources for them… so check out their site for more info.


Rick Warren

Tonight (this afternoon in the states), I will interview Rick Warren for an upcoming podcast. More soon…


Ergun Caner

Though this will get me in trouble with some folks, I must admit that I enjoy Ergun Caner.

He is bombastic and sarcastic, traits that for some odd reason I can understand. He is also concerned deeply about evangelism and missions. And, as he puts it, he may have the greatest job in the world. Every Wednesday he speaks to 5000 young adults and challenges them to follow Christ to reach and change the world. (And, I am exceedlingly grateful he let me have a week with them.)


Now, Ergun is not what you expect in a seminary president. He drives a Ford Expedition that is tricked out with new rims, bullet holes, and a bumper sticker that says, “My Dean could beat up your Dean.” Now, I know the Deans of about 20 different seminaries and I am quite certain that is true.

Most importantly, he appreciates 80’s hair band music. While driving his Expedition, I was entertained by Queensryche’s “Operation Mindcrime” playing on “Hair Nation of Sirius radio. (If you don’t know, I can’t explain it to you—it was an odd few years in rock and roll.)

I hung out with Mark Driscoll on Tuesday night and Ergun Caner on Thursday morning-- and I think they would like each other. Not sure who would win the fight... but it would be close.


Monday is for Missiology

I must confess that I have done a terrible job finishing my Meanings of Missional series. It is not a dead project—just a delayed one. I have found adjusting to my new roles to be more difficult that I expected.

Not bad things, just too many things, and I need to get back to writing on missiology.

I will soon.


To my Evangelical Free Friends on the Emerging Church

I will post those resources on understanding the emerging church soon. Sorry I am delayed.


Now, back to missionaries in Barcelona...

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/things_are_going

Yesterday, I presented on “The Changing Church.”

Today, I presented on “Principles of Church Planting.” The response of the mission leaders was particularly focused on the need for peer support.

(I am just a small part of the program and many other activities are taking place.)


In our church planting research (click here a list of downloaded research projects), we found that mentoring, supervision, and peer relationships correlated with more effective church planting in the States. It would appear that the same thing is true here.

Many American church planters struggle with cultural adjustment, but the issues are magnified greatly here. Even though Europeans are dressed like Americans and buy our cigarettes, their worldview is distinct.

Last night, I broke from the group and walked the city. (I was looking for some hair product… no mocking please… and to grab some dinner.) I always make a habit of doing this when I am overseas—to listen, pray, and learn. And, I did. In two hours, I was clearly a fish out of water and needed someone to help me have a basic conversation.

When I got back to the hotel, I was watching the news… CNNInternational. When I saw the tornadoes in Tennessee, I called home. They had a tornado warning in place, the radar showed a supercell over our county, and Donna had the kids sheltered in the bathtub till the storm passed and they felt safe again. And, I thought—I am far from home when my wife and kids need me.

Yet, these missionaries live both these situations every day—they are in a cross-cultural situation and far from the people they love. When in a culturally dissimilar setting, with little contact from family, this is remarkably taxing work (not mine, I go home on Friday). It is stressful work for these wonderful missionaries—and that became the focus of the conversation today. The big question: how can missionaries develop support systems that enable them to nurture, project, and deploy missionaries?

When I wrote Planting Missional Churches, I shared this about culture fatigue and shock:

Culture shock and fatigue

Every planter needs to prepare for culture shock, a feeling of disorientation (think: fish out of water) while relating to so many unchurched people during the start-up phase of a new church. These people think, talk, behave, and react to life in a way that may seem foreign to the church planter, especially one who is fresh out of seminary or another setting that could be described as the comfortable cocoon of Christianity.

And it can get worse. Culture fatigue is a nagging weariness from culture shock. The constant feeling of working as a “stranger in a strange land” wears down the optimism of the planter, who – at worst – finally feels worn out, maybe even overcome with emotional exhaustion, thinking, I keep telling them the right message, and they just don’t get it.

Be prepared for this inevitable challenge. Even if you’re planting in your hometown, you’ll find it surprisingly stressful to focus on the unchurched people there, even if the surroundings are familiar and so are the people. It’s true that you may be from that town, but as a Christian who’s making the enormous effort to plant a church there, you’re coming at this once-familiar place with new eyes and from a different culture. In a way, you’re an alien there. And the longer you deny that to yourself, the more stress you’ll experience.

Here are some ways to prevent the burnout that culture shock and fatigue can cause.

First, take the following warning seriously: every planter will experience some form of this cross-cultural struggle.

Second, identify an Ebenezer (1 Sam. 7:12). This marker is a memorial of God’s help. It reminds the planter of God’s call and God’s promise that planting a new church, and planting in this place is the divine call. The planter must be able, in the midst of doubt and weariness, to look back to that “Ebenezer” moment when God’s direction had been clear and unmistakable. I think of Jim Dumont, a church planter in Erie, Pennsylvania, who moved there in 1981 to start Erie Christian Fellowship. He had nowhere to live and didn’t know anyone – he came solely in obedience to the call of God. He and his family lived in a campground for six weeks. Now, many years later, he says that every time he goes by the campground, “it reminds me of God’s faithfulness.” For Pastor Jim, this campground is his Ebenezer.

Third, develop a network of other planters and intercessors, a mentor, and a supervisor who can provide support during the high and low tides of weariness and hopelessness. You will need a community to support you on this journey. This leads to the issue of mentors and coaches.

Church Planting Mentors or Coaches

Church planters tend to be self-starters and often think of themselves as self-sufficient. That personality type is often resistant to the advice of others—thinking, if I’d listened to other people I would not be planting the church in the first place. But, planters who miss out on the benefit of coaching miss out on a tremendous help throughout the ministry journey. My analysis of more than six hundred church planters shows there’s even a significant numerical value to having a mentor or supervisor.



For example, the accountability to a supervisor correlates to a surprisingly high impact on attendance at the new church. Frequent meetings may indicate a heavy involvement by the sponsoring entity, and the planter would probably have a close and satisfying relationship with the supervisor. Most church planters I know would chafe at the idea of a weekly meeting with a supervisor, but, according to my research, it clearly makes a positive difference. Accountability leads to productivity.



Meeting with a mentor has a similar positive impact on attendance. Planters that met weekly with a mentor, perhaps because they took seriously the process of learning from others, led churches that were almost twice the size of those that had no mentor. I believe a supervisor should focus on work issues, and a mentor should focus on personhood issues – providing encouragement and nurture to the church planter. Choose wisely in forming these relationships in the beginning, and give these individuals permission to ask you the hard questions—whatever they may be.

Steve Ogne is probably the best resource for insights regarding church planting coaching. He recently co-authored a doctoral dissertation (soon to be a book) entitled, Coaching: a New Paradigm for Empowering Missional Leaders for Ministry in a Changing World, with Tim Roehl. In their dissertation, they cited a church planting study from the Foursquare Church. (I served as consultant and advisor on the project.)

That study, done in 2004, showed that two-thirds of church planters had the benefit of a coach as part of their church planting experience… Of those who were coached, 77 percent reported that coaching had “some” to “very significant” impact on their personal effectiveness and productivity, with 54 percent reporting coaching had “significant” or “very significant” influence… Of the 425 churches planted between 2001 and 2003, 90 percent of Four Square churches were successful. Of those that failed, 60 percent of the failed plants did not have planters who received coaching in their efforts.

Relationships make leaders; wise leaders will also create learning relationships. This is not easy for most church planters, who tend to be free spirits and perhaps mavericks. But the best church planters combine innovation with learning and become leaders under accountability.

Finally, the planter must learn and remember, in spite of everything, that the God of eternity is faithful and that He is the God of the fiery furnace. He always accompanies His obedient servants into the midst of life’s hottest fires (Dan. 3:19–30). Having a wise voice to remind you of this will be a tremendous help on the journey.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/church_planting_

TellEurope.Org

On Thursday, I presented on the characteristics of effective church planters and asked what unique competencies were needed for missionaries in Western Europe. This led to some fascinating conversation.

It was good to finish up and head back from Barcelona. (I am writing this in the airport without a spell checker so please ignore any typos!)

Make sure you visit TellEurope.Org and learn more about what these church planters and missionaries are doing in Western Europe. I brought several innovative pastors with me and I think this will lead to some positive partnerships for the future.


Exponential Conference

If you have not already registered for the Exponential Conference (the National New Church Conference), be sure to do so this week. The Early Bird rate ends Feb. 15th.

If you don't already know, this is the largest church planting gathering in the U.S. each year. Here are some quick facts:

1. 12 Pre-conferences (including one that I lead for movement leaders wishing to connect for best practices).
2. Over 40 national speakers including keynoters Tim Keller, Andy Stanley, Steve Andrews, Dave Ferguson, Alan Hirsch, and myself.
3. 7 main tracks

Go to www.exponentialconference.com for more information.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/friday_is_for_fr

Flying home today on the airplane, I read about my home county (Sumner County, TN) on the front page of the USAToday. You can read the article here.

Seven people died in these tornados in my county alone. Tomorrow, my family and I will see how we can help.

Union University

I also read about, and saw pictures from, Union University. The picture here of the dorm tells a powerful and tragic story.



Brad Waggoner (my boss) told me today that his son was in the dorm as it came apart.

My friend David Dockery is the president of Union and I know many of the faculty there. You can keep up with their situation through their disaster blog (http://www.bpnews.net/blog). Also, our friend Tim Ellsworth has updates at his blog (http://www.timellsworth.com/).

I am a big fan of Union and its president, David Dockery. David recently asked me to speak in chapel, and I could not work out the date he suggested, but I am now even more motivated to get there. I will work harder to make that happen.

Please pray for Union, its students, and its future. We can rejoice that no one died at Union, though some came close and are still recovering from injuries, both physical and emotional.

I hope you will join me in sending a check to:
"Union University Disaster Relief Fund"
1050 Union University Drive
Jackson, TN 38305

Update:

You can view a powerful video here:



And visit www.timellsworth.com for more videos.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/saturday_is_for_

Tim Keller is notoriously averse to publicity. I had to pull teeth to get him to agree to be profiled for this story. He does not speak at many conferences and has not written a book for a decade. So, for some of you who read the blog, his name may be unfamiliar.

This week many more will hear about Tim as he is featured in Newsweek. Click here for the article.

To many of us, Tim is a hero and a role model. I have even been publicaly accused of plagiarizing Tim. (OK, the accusation was a joke, but I did respond here.)

Here are some excerpts from the article and my thoughts:

Place: New York City... On a sun-splashed corner near Central Park a churchlike building is filled to the rafters with Christian worshipers. By 9:15, the room is at capacity. By 9:20, even the balcony is full. There's nothing sexy here. There's no rock band, no drop-down theater-size video screen, no 100-member gospel choir—just a few chamber musicians and a couple of prayer leaders to help the congregation along in its hymns. The crowd at Redeemer Presbyterian is overwhelmingly young, single, professional and—for lack of a better word—sober.

This is exactly my impression.

Last time I was in Manhattan I attended the church and spent some time with Tim on Monday.

I was most impressed with how, well, non-"hip" the service was. (The giveaway was the note in the program reminding you to not applaud.)

The "band" was four men in suits who played wind instruments accompanied by an organ.

Yet, most of the crowd was young and engaged... a reminder that contemporary is not always contextual.
-------------------------------

More from the article:

Standing at the microphone is a man more than six feet tall with a shiny bald head and wire-rim spectacles, looking more like a college professor than a megachurch pastor. This is the Rev. Tim Keller, a Manhattan institution, one of those open urban secrets, like your favorite dim sum place, with a following so ardent and so fast-growing that he has never thought to advertise. He rarely speaks to the press.

And, might I add, he never moved from an imaginary 4 foot box on the stage.

Yet, he keeps my interest (and that of thousands of others) every time he speaks. And, since Tim reads the blog (and comments), I need to not go to over the top in my praise! But, he has blessed many of us with his teaching and leadership.

Simply put-- people are looking for content and transformation. Tim brings the content and points to the cross for the transformation.
-------------------------------

The story of Redeemer is remarkable. From the article:

Keller started Redeemer 17 years ago in a small rented church on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Now he preaches five times on Sundays, shuttling between three different rented venues and reaching more than 5,000 people each week (5,000 also download his sermon online).

New York is not a bastion of growing evangelical churches... and Redeemer is growing and multiplying at an rapid pace.
-------------------------------

Here is my favorite part of the story:

He is helping other pastors use his "formula," if you can call it that—orthodox Christianity and challenging preaching, with an emphasis on social justice and community service—in cities like Amsterdam, São Paolo, Berlin and Paris. Keller believes that young urban people too often face an unsatisfactory choice: the dispassionate formality of the established churches or the fire and brimstone of the conservative evangelicals.

Orthodox Christianity and biblical preaching, eh? Who woulda’ thought that would work?
-------------------------------

Be sure to order his new book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

Thanks, Tim, for your faithful witness. See you in NY for the dwell conference!

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/tim_keller_on_ev

Tim and I dialogued a bit last night and this morning about his Newsweek profile. (See my comments yesterday for context.)

Some have been discussing a few problems with the story, and a couple have mentioned the reference to evolution in the article.

Tim wrote (with permission for me to share).

We should be charitable to the writer on the issues mentioned. They are pretty minor.

Yes, it isn't my first book, but the last one was over 20 years ago. I don't preach at all 5 services--I preach 4 and every week someone from the preaching team preaches the fifth one.

I wouldn’t in the least style myself a new C.S. Lewis (who would want a new one when the old one is still so great) but she got that from publicity copy written by well-meaning people at Penguin.

I wouldn't want to characterize myself as another Rick Warren but she likes Rick and wouldn't see that as a negative statement.

I believe in the historicity of Gen 1-11 and Adam and Eve and I don't believe in young earth-creation or six 24-hour day creation, but, as far as she's concerned, that means I believe somewhat in evolution. She's not used to the fine distinctions on these things we make inside the church.

Also, I've never lived anywhere near Georgia (but maybe I've spent so much time in the airport it's affected my accent!)

And even the statement that my book disappointed her in comparison to my preaching is actually true—I’m a better speaker than writer, and always will me. That was more a compliment to the preaching than a criticism of the book.

Despite this list of nits to pick, it was an overall positive, even warm article, especially considering it comes from someone whose beliefs are so different. The writer clearly likes the church and appreciates the ministry in many ways. So I'm glad for her efforts.

Remember, we should not assume that secular reporters get the distinction between 6-day creation and evolution. And, yes, there are some minor story details that are incorrect. But, as I told Tim, I thought it was a strong article that I believe will bring glory to God.

Finally, the (mild) criticism in the article is normal-- no reporter writes a nice piece without a few critical comments. And, Keller is a great speaker, so the book will have to be very good to keep up.

Thanks, Tim, for the update and for your humility.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/sharon_hoode_on_

I recently had a great talk with Sharon. We first met at the recent Convengent Conference at Southeastern Seminary. She is articulate, gracious, and passionate about the gospel.

Sharon is a new writer, recent graduate of Duke Divinity School, a college minister to students from Duke, UNC- Chapel Hill and UNC-Greensboro, and a part of The Summit Church (where J.D. Greear serves as pastor).

Check out her blog at www.sheworships.blogspot.com.

She wrote me (and I have permission to quote) about women's ministry. I found her thoughts challenging. As a father of three daughters, I hope to instill in them such passion for the gospel and the Word.

Sharon wrote:

As a woman who has a passion for women's ministry, I am somewhat dismayed by the resources available to my generation. I have spent the last seven years of my life going to college and getting a masters in divinity, so it frustrates me that most women's ministries focus on merely surviving the perils of marriage and motherhood. I have yet to encounter a women's ministry whose goals involve preaching the Gospel, planting churches, changing your community, country and world. So while the current vision is important--women do need encouragement as they battle the frustrations of family life--it is also rather small.

For women like me, the state of women's ministry therefore poses two problems. One, there is a lot I would like to do before I get married and start a family, but women's ministries largely ignore my stage in life, as if my life hasn't really started yet. And that trend begs a very important question: Why aren't women's ministries capitalizing on the tremendous resource of my time and energy? Young women have so much to offer the Church but we are largely overlooked, and that is, simply stated, an inefficient use of the Kingdom's assets.

Two, a lot of books for women focus on helping them get through the day, heal, and survive, but the prospect of merely "surviving" my life is thoroughly unappealing to me, and discourages me from involvement in women's ministry altogether. As one women's minister explained to me, "It's a season-of-life kind of thing. Once you're a mom, you don't have time to think about theology and engaging the culture." I think I speak for many women my age who desire much more than that, and are disheartened that bar has been set so low for us.

The truth of the matter is that women's ministry is changing. More and more women are getting advanced degrees. More and more women are following current events, are engaged in the culture, and want to be intellectually challenged. This does not mean that women's ministry must become heady, academic, or political, but it's got to be about more than mere survival. We want to be women of vision, women who use our minds, our educations, and our time to change the world. This requires more than a Christian self-help book or a pep-talk style devotion at the beginning of each day. It requires leaders and teachers who can challenge us to think critically about our culture and what is going on in the world, as well as engaging Scripture in an active way, and living it out radically.

That, I believe, is the future of women's ministry, and that is the vision I try to capture with my writing.

Check out more from Sharon here.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/a_week_so_far.ht

Here are a few things from the week thus far...

Tomorrow, I am at North Central University in Minneapolis all day so I probably won't be blogging. You can read about the conference here. I will also be dialoguing with the school faculty in the afternoon. Should be a good day.

Here some updates from the week thus far.


David Landrith

On Monday, I met with David Landrith. He blogs about our meeting here.


David is a fascinating guy. He is really a country preacher, with the accent and all. His college nickname was “Country.” I must confess to enjoying calling him that. (And his nickname for me is "Jet Plane.")

David is an East Tennessee boy to the core. And, he pastors a church that runs over 4000 people every week. David is passionate about doing whatever it takes to reach this region for the gospel.

I have written more about David here.

David is currently on sabbatical and you can follow his journeys here. I predict that David will increasingly become a voice for church transition among declining churches in this region. The Longhollow story is pretty remarkable. You can read their history here.


The Guys of Every Nation Ministries

I also had a meeting with my friends from Every Nation Ministries, Kevin York, David Houston, and Steve Murrell. I have consulted with them a few times about organizational structures that produce multiplication.

Every Nation is a ministry with a church planting / collegiate focus. They describe themselves as:

...a worldwide family of churches and ministries that exists to honor God and advance His Kingdom through Church Planting, Campus Ministry and World Missions.

I would say that they are "charismatic," but Steve writes that he does not like that here. So, I am not sure what to call them. To me, everyone who sings loud and claps looks like a charismatic. Sigh. So, I guess I will just call them "brothers."

It is a fascinating historical and missiological oddity that Steve pastors a church that with 30,000 attendees in the Philippines.


Steve explains:

my wife & i came to the philippines in 1984 for a "one month summer mission trip" - that never ended. longest month in the history of time.

We had a great time talking about their movement and its next steps. However, I left with one concern. Steve “outed” my appreciation of Nacho Libre.

In the future, I would request that all such movie references go unmentioned. And, for those of you are fans, “the priests say I don’t know nuthin’ about the gospel… but I do!”

Besides, Kevin and David like Nacho Libre more than I do. They actually own stretchy pants.


John Revell

It is always good to catch up with John Revell. John is the editor of SBCLife, kind of a denominational glossy newspaper. He has been crazy enough to publish a few of my articles. I might pull some of them out over the next few days.

What I like most about John is his passion for disciplemaking. You can’t take a bite of your biscuit (we had breakfast) without him reminding you that the command of the Great Commission is not to “go” but to “make disciples.” John has written some about his passion for disiplemaking here on his blog.

John recently wrote:

Could it be that 21st century evangelicals have been so influenced by a Western, industrialized perspective that we have fixed our attention on the results listed in the Book of Acts and have largely overlooked the far more critical matter of the disciples’ process of obedience?…

When I was a teenager (a long time ago) I attended a Campus Crusade “Lay Institute For Evangelism.” Part of the training was memorizing their definition of evangelism: “Evangelism is simply sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.” There was such freedom in knowing that we were not expected to pursue results—that the results were up to God.

What if we applied that mindset to our current approach to evangelism, church life, church growth, and missions? What if we set aside our deductive approach to studying Scripture (bringing our own preconceived notions to the text and looking for support for those notions), and applied an inductive approach (examining Scripture in its original context and looking for what actually was commanded and what took place)? And then, what if we simply obeyed the Lord’s command to proclaim the Gospel (as the Bible defines it, not a watered-down version designed to bring results) and make disciples (according to the Lord’s definition and following His example)?

I suspect our churches would start looking drastically different—and we would let the Lord worry about the results.

Most impressive to me is that he has raised two sons whom he discipled—and his sons brought their friends to be a part of the meetings. In a day when too many pastors’ kids walk away from the faith, John has walked with his kids to be robust disciples. That’s a lesson worth living.


Trustees

I just left Nashville and the trustee meeting at LifeWay. I have written before about how I think it is essential that trustees from churches oversee the work of agencies. It was good to see that done in a healthy way today.

We have a good committee that relates to us in Research. It was good to get to spend some time with several of them today.

Also, I am glad that the trustees voted to give a contribution to Union University. (I will let our communications people report the details.) The trustees also voted to move my boss into a new role, moving me into a new organizational structure. Sigh. Again, the press should have details… but now I report to Thom Rainer. This is a tragedy for him... so pray for his strength and health. Grin.


Off to Minneapolis

Right after the meeting, I jumped on a plane to Minneapolis. The last time I was here to speak at John Piper’s church for the Global Church Advancement conference. (I was in town a couple of weeks before the bridge collapse—and we drove over that bridge several times.)

Right now, I am getting ready to speak at the North Central University Missional Ministry Conference. On Monday, they heard from my friend Mark Batterson. The school is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, so it was only appropriate that they heard from Mark who is one of the up-an-coming leaders in the Assemblies of God movement..

I was supposed to speak today (Tuesday), but I changed my meetings to be with the trustees. My friend Todd Hunter graciously switched days with me. Todd and I talked on the phone tonight so we will avoid overlap. And, Todd gave me the heads up on a new book he is writing which sounds very good. (I plan to write more about Todd soon.)

When I look out my hotel window I see where the Minneapolis I-35 bridge once stood. Makes you think...

But, for now, it is time to turn in.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/missiology_in_we

Larry McCrary is a dear friend who has been involved church planting in the United States and in Europe. There are few who have planted on two continents so his comments are worth hearing. I asked him to tell me about missiology in Western Europe and he wrote:

I like to think of Western Europe as a river with three major cultural streams affecting it right now. Each stream is a spiritual challenge in itself, but combining the three makes for extra-difficult navigation when it comes to engaging people with the gospel.


The first stream – which is decreasing in size – is that of the institutional church’s decline. This may be the Roman Catholic Church in some countries, the Church of England or the Lutheran church in other parts of Western Europe, but as a whole the churches are declining in attendance. What makes this stream interesting is that, while it is decreasing in size and influence, the veneer of the institutional church still has an impact on the culture.


In Spain, where we served for the last five years, my friends would say they were not part of the church and would speak out against it. In the next sentence, however, they would claim that they were Catholic, thus identifying themselves as religious. The opportunity for those of us who live here among these people is to help them see it’s not about religion, but about a relationship with God.


The second stream worth mentioning is that of the post-Christian or secular worldview held by many Western Europeans. Evangelism research shows that, in most Western European countries, less than 2 percent of the population is evangelical. (“European Believers Report”, 2007 by Ruth Robinson, Greater Europe Mission).


The only exception to this is Scandinavia, and they have a whopping 3 percent according to most studies. (“European Believers Report”, 2007 by Ruth Robinson, Greater Europe Mission) The worldview of most indigenous Europeans is post Christian/secular. While most are generally closed to the idea of institutional church, the hope lies in believers who will live out their faith incarnationally in Europe.


The third stream is also growing rapidly, and that stream is Islam. The flood of Muslim immigrants moving to Europe over the last 10 years is incredible. Most major Western European cities have several mosques, and in some cities, mosques are literally replacing the empty cathedrals.


The increase in the number of Muslims moving to Western Europe makes an impact on the cultural and religious climate. Believers have a great opportunity for ministry in that we don’t face the same restrictions on sharing the gospel as those in closed countries. This gives us some freedom in how we can minister among people.


The challenge is great in Western Europe, but God is moving. Those of us living and serving here need churches that are interested in ministering with us amid the cultural diversity of Western Europe. Check out the Western Europe regional Web site at www.telleurope.org to learn more about our context and how you and your church can be involved.

Larry will be answering questions in the thread if you want to ask about church planting in Europe.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/pray_for_al_mohl

From Baptist Press:

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will require additional surgery after a scheduled colonoscopy Feb. 11 revealed a tumor in his colon. An initial biopsy indicated that the tumor is pre-cancerous and further tests are to be scheduled, along with surgical options...

Mohler, 48, underwent major abdominal surgery in late December 2006, complicated by the development of bilateral blood clots in his lungs. Doctors will take special precautions to prevent a recurrence of the blood clots with this new surgery. Specialists are consulting on the case and a decision on the date and location for the surgery is to be made in the near future. The procedure is likely to require an extensive period for recuperation and recovery.

Details here.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/at_north_central

I just wrapped up my day at the North Central University Missional Ministry Conference. I am heading home to see my family.


I spent two sessions with local pastors talking about missional church issues. I also spoke in chapel to the student body.

North Central has an urban campus in Minneapolis, and I was impressed to see the multicultural mix of the student body. This is the first time I have had a college chapel message interpreted for the deaf-- so it was nice to be able to sign a bit with some of the students after chapel. (I have not signed since my days back in Pennsylvania when we started the Millcreek Community Church of the Deaf.)

I particularly enjoyed a last minute "add on." A couple of days ago, the faculty from the Pastoral Ministry and the Theology Schools added an afternoon dialogue to my schedule. It was good to talk about the integration of theology and practical ministry. Hopefully my few suggestions will be a little bit of help as they think through these important issues.

Coming up...

Tomorrow morning you can drop by to dialogue with Western Europe missionary Larry McCrary about reaching Europe for the gospel. Stay tuned and come by tomorrow morning.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/bob_roberts_new_

I just received my copy of The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches.

Bob continues to crank out books... and he always makes me think. In this case, Bob's focus is churches that plant churches.

Bob asked me for my input and I gave a bunch. I enjoy the dialgue with Bob becuase he really wants feedback and is not afraid to push back. We have great arguments-- and then we do it again. So, we had a good time talking through the book and "provoking one another to love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24).

You can order the book here.

Here is the foreword I wrote for the book:

The Multiplying Church.

Kingdom minded leaders stop focusing on what is hard or risky, move beyond the comfort of addition within their own building, and risk.

My friend Bob Roberts is a risk taker. It is evident in his ministry. As a result of shunning the safe in favor of radically chasing after the Kingdom of God, Bob has become a multiplier. He’s instilled that mentality in the members of NorthWood Church, the body of believers he pastors in Keller, Texas. The result: exponential Kingdom growth.

Not many people are able to grasp what it means to think and act exponentially, especially in today’s North American Church. But, Bob is there on both. That is what makes him uniquely qualified to share his insights. I can be pretty frantic, but I pause when I hear or read something that comes from somebody who’s “been there, done that.” Bob has always given me reason to pause.

Actually I did more than pause when Bob sent me this latest book, The Multiplying Church. I lingered.


Bob explains what the church should look like when it fulfills the biblical mission of reaching the people of the world for Christ. When the church lives out its mission, it will be founded on the Gospel, evidence true discipleship, positively impact society, and become the body of Christ in whatever cultural context it develops. Ministry will be done. Jesus will be worshipped as supreme above all else. People will be prepped for the Feast of the Land.

And it will be done in accelerating fashion.

Really, Bob describes what can happen when “Missional Meets Exponential.” Jesus loves the church and gave Himself for her (Eph. 5:25) and declares, “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). Moreover, he allows us to join Him in its building. Following our Lord’s command to make disciples of all the “nations” (Matt. 28:19-20) and to witness for Him throughout the world (Acts 1:8), the Bible records the acts of the apostles as planting churches, evangelizing, and teaching the new believers.

In Acts 20:28, Paul exhorted the elders of the church at Ephesus “to shepherd the church of God,” (HCSB), meaning that they should care for and guard the church. In fact, he emphasizes that very point earlier in that verse (“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock”). In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul encouraged the leaders in Corinth to edify, build up, and strengthen the church through worship.

I have seen it time and time again in research I’ve conducted. Churches that multiply exponentially have pastors who constantly encourage members to get out where real people with real problems live and be Christ, they stress: Be the church Jesus intended. Of course in admonishing this, these pastors have not unlocked the secrets to quantum physics. They’re simply repeating a recurring theme of Jesus’ ministry. He doesn’t call us to stagnation. The Savior was constantly pressing forward into the spiritual darkness and charging His charges to charge! They were to go!

Interestingly Jesus was intentional. There was no winning converts for the sake of boosting numbers at the First Church of Jerusalem. If that had been his interest he would have made like too many 21st Century evangelical churches and glossed it all over with those groupies he alienated. No, Jesus had building the Kingdom of God locked squarely in his sights. Paul understood the primacy of Jesus’ objective better than any other human who has lived. He gave his life for the birth, growth and multiplication of the church.

Bob has that same kind of passion for seeing churches live out that same mission. He codes it into the DNA of a church plant. At the heart of Bob’s vision for church planting is developing leadership that will plant churches with the intention of planting other churches. NorthWoods offers a nine-month internship where Bob annually trains more than a dozen potential church planters and their spouses. Since Scripture nowhere says that “Caucasians will inherit the Kingdom,” Bob is intentional about making sure half the internships are filled with non-Anglo planters who reach other ethnic groups both within the United States and beyond. These church planters are not locked into programmed models but instead focus first on the needs of the community and allow cultural flavor to influence the form of church. The beauty is that the gospel is at the heart, bringing a standardization to otherwise radically diverse sister churches.

You will find a discussion of these things in this book. Bob teaches how missional churches act faithfully and intentionally wherever God gives them opportunity by being incarnational, indigenous, and intentional. Let me spell this out so it’s even more clear where Bob is heading:

Incarnational: Missional churches become deeply involved in their communities. They are not focused so much on their buildings as they are on living, demonstrating, and offering biblical community in a lost world among a lost people. An incarnational church functions as the “body of Christ” because it represents the presence of Christ within a community. They get that the reason spiritually lost people act spiritually lost is because, well, they are spiritually lost. They don’t back away from godless people but instead embrace godless people because they understand the hearts of lost people conquered by the Lordship of Jesus builds the Kingdom.

Indigenous: Missional churches take root in the soil of their society and reflect, appropriately, their surrounding culture. Obvious example: If a church is in an urban setting saturated with hip-hop culture, southern gospel quartets miss the mark. Bob teaches this. Related (WARNING: toe-stomping zone ahead), It’s ironic that most evangelical churches are filled with people who live very much like the world but look different from it on Sunday. Study after study has shown that many North American evangelicals engage in the same lifestyles and sins as the unchurched. It should be exactly the opposite—we should look similar to those in our community but act like members of a heavenly community.

Intentional: Missional churches are intentional about their methodologies. In missional churches, biblical preaching, discipleship, baptism and other functions are vital. But worship style, evangelistic methods, attire, service times, locations, and other matters are determined by their effectiveness in a specific cultural context. (I know this last statement probably turns some dogmatic theological cranks out there, but before you get too worked up leave your cultural presuppositions outside your prayer closet and spend a little time objectively reviewing Romans 14 and the first half of 15. Paul had lots to say about primary and secondary issues and we’d do well to keep our Bibles open there before being too critical of churches actually multiplying themselves among people different than themselves.)

There are two key factors that mark Bob and this book

1. When Jesus proclaimed, “As the Father has sent Me, so send I you” (John 20:21), His mandate was not directed to a select group of cross-cultural missionaries. It was a commissioning act of you, me, and our churches as well. We have a sender (Jesus), a message (the gospel) and a people to whom we are sent (those in our culture). I call this becoming missional in practice or missional orthopraxy. “Being sent” means that we must move outside the walls of our church buildings and engage the people in our communities.

Bob models spiritual transformation personally and leads others to experience transformation that results in spiritual obedience. They are changed… and when they are changed they change their world. They are missional in practice.

2. Growth is a spiritual work granted by God (Hebrews 6:3), not a mechanistic formula. John Mark Terry explained, “We have the best materials, media, and methods, but we lack spiritual power. Christians of the apostolic era had none of our advantages; they didn’t even have the New Testament. Still, they turned the Roman Empire upside down. What impact does your church have in your community?” (John Mark Terry. Church Evangelism (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers. 1997), 16).

In the book of Revelation, Jesus evaluates seven churches and reveals a pattern for evaluating churches throughout history. If you look around your city today, you will most likely find churches that face challenges like the church at Ephesus, resemble the church at Laodicea, and endure false teaching like the church at Thyatira. Jesus, as Head of His church, evaluates us and calls us to repentance when we lose our proper focus (Heb. 12:2). He was evaluating based on spiritual impact. Bob’s book causes me to evaluate my life, ministry, church planting – everything – based on the spiritual impact I’m having on the world around me.

George Barna also reflects on this issue of spiritual impact and leadership, “After fifteen years of diligent digging into the world around me, I have reached several conclusions about the future of the Christian church in America. The central conclusion is that the American church is dying due to lack of strong spiritual leadership. In this time of unprecedented opportunity and plentiful resources, the church is actually losing influence. The primary reason is the lack of leadership. Nothing is more important than leadership” (Barna, George, Leaders on Leadership. Regal Books, Ventura, CA, 1997, page 18).

I made the statement at the beginning of this foreword that Kingdom minded leaders stop focusing on what is hard or risky, move beyond the comfort of addition within their own building and risk. This takes courage and I think what Barna is ultimately getting at is that there are not enough people with courage to give themselves to the cause of reversing the trend and leading the church into the fray of contemporary culture unapologetically wielding the Sword of Truth (which is the Bible).

Jesus wants risk takers. He calls for courage. He expects us to be like Him. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:12-14, NIV). Jesus had the opportunity to only physically impact His own culture and geographic region. But He gave to us the opportunity to have a global impact. The question is, “do we have the courage to build His kingdom?”

If talking about building the Kingdom was sufficient I can tell you the curtain would have dropped and the show ended a long time ago. Courage and action are synonyms.

If we are going to move from missional to exponential, it will be costly. It will cost something financially—giving beyond what we think is reasonable. It will cost something spiritually—praying longer than we feel like praying. It will cost something mentally and emotionally—sending out workers into his harvest fields is hard to do because we have to let go of things and people that are dear to us (or at least dear to our earthly kingdoms). It will cost us something physically—being disciplined in every area of life is difficult.

Bob knows that transformation of society can happen – he’s seen it happen in more than 100 church plants – but he knows it only happens when the gospel impacts the culture. In the end, Bob helps bring us back in a simple but profound way to the fundamental truth in Scripture—it all boils down to Jesus. He guarantees the forces of hell won’t stand against His church (Matthew 16:18), He gave His peace to His disciples (hint: us) and then said, “Go” (John 20:21). He is the builder, the sender, the head, the beginning and the end of it all. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which people can be saved, and it is at the pronouncement of this precious name, and this precious name alone – “Jesus!” – that every knee will someday bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

May His name be lifted high from our lips and in our churches. May His fame spread to the ends of the earth.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/i_received_graci

I received gracious personal letters from both Paul Crouch and Dwain Miller regarding the incorrect citation of LifeWay Research’s study of "Private Prayer Language" on a recent TBN program. They were responding to the letter I mentioned in an earlier post. They have apologized and removed the incorrect information from their site. We at LifeWay Research are grateful and consider this issue settled.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/race_eric_redmon

Eric Redmond, whom I have mentioned before, gets some good press on the front page of the Washington Post.

You can read the whole article here. I have excerpted parts of the Post article, along with a couple of other articles, and made some comments therein.

The Post explained:

Faced with a crisis of aging and departing members, the nation's largest non-Catholic Christian bodies -- Southern Baptists, United Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians -- are reaching out to minorities in ways they never have before.

Yet, while local churches often remain predominately black or white, the outreach does result in a more diverse national organization.

I don’t disagree with the thesis of the introduction. I think many denominations are facing a decline and are reaching out aggressively to non-Anglos, though I am not sure the decline is the motivation. At least in the case of the SBC, “language,” “ethnic,” and “black” ministry dates back decades to when the SBC was growing rapidly. Most denominations have been focusing on increasing diversity for decades.

However, the increase of diversity is important when discussing decline, growth, etc. If you were to remove the ethnic and African American growth from the SBC totals, the denomination would have been in numerical decline for several years. (I think we are in decline already, but churches report inflated numbers and report a category that is a mystery to me, "non-resident members.")

More from the article:

But of all the denominations seeking to diversify, many agree that the Southern Baptist Convention -- an association of about 40,000 congregations that make up the nation's largest Protestant denomination -- has the farthest to travel.

Having just completed a church planting study of all major denominations for Leadership Network, I can tell you that is an overstatement. There are some VERY white denominations out there (and other monocultural denominations that are not white). My denomination has some some of the worst history, but if diversity is measured by the number of churches (and that is the standard the article uses), we have made more progress than most. For that matter, I would say that most denominations in our study found their plants to be much more ethnically and racially diverse than their denominations as a whole.
But, any way you slice it, my denomination has a bad racial history. As one pastor told me, "At Birmingham, we were the ones holding the hoses." But, progress has been made.

Now, before you tell me that I am just parroting the party line, that is not my style. As many Southern Baptists can tell you, I try to tell the truth even when it hurts (the Dallas Morning News says I am, "one of the more plainspoken SBC figures on the challenges the denomination faces in what many are calling a post-denominational age." (For example, see our analysis of young leaders here.)

So, I am always willing to tell the truth as I see it (and I have learned that telling the truth can be controversial). But, on the racial diversity issue, we have made, and continue to make, some real progress. We have a growing diversity in our convention, though we do have real systemic racial issues and some racists still in our midst. The difference is that now we have adopted a faith statement that actually says, "In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism” (BFM 2000).

Now, the challenge is to make that less of a statement and more of a practice.

Speaking of statements, here is a list of all the SBC resolutions on race.

The article continued:

Southern Baptists are starting churches in black communities and, while they insist they don't recruit from predominantly black denominations, the outreach strategy includes welcoming black preachers from those bodies and offering them multi-day "boot camps" -- intensive teaching in starting Southern Baptist churches.

I have taught dozens of these "boot camps" and they are really just basic training for church planters-- where Anglo, African American, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, and all other church planters get their training. The article makes it sound a bit contrived with the "while they insist" they don't recruit, they still offer "boot camps." Maybe I am reading too much into it... but that seems a little smarmy.

More from the article:

"I wish it was all just spiritual, but some of it is pragmatic as well," said the Rev. Frank S. Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. "Our highest growth is coming in ethnic congregations, so it's very important for the growth of our convention . . . If we're going to reach our nation, we're going to need to reach ethnic groups."

Frank Page hits it on the head (at least in the second part of his quote). This is one of the reasons that the North American Mission Board created the North American People Groups Project and its site www.peoplegroups.info.

NAMB is aggressively focused on people group ministry.


So What is the SBC Ethnic Situation?

I wrote an article a few years ago with a racial double entendre in the title, "Guess Who Is Coming to Potluck." I thought it was quite clever at the time, but I don't think many people picked up on the racial overtone in the title (see the Wikipedia article on the movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). I hate it when I am trying to be clever and it does not work!

In the article, I explained a few things about the increasing diversity of the denomination. I wrote:

Word Tabernacle Baptist Church is excited about being part of the Southern Baptist family. Pastor Gailliard explains, "We're glad to be a part because of the Kingdom mindset of the Convention .... The connection with the Convention is so solid because of the theology and the cooperation we found there."

This church is like most of the new congregations reporting on the Annual Church Profile for the first time — it is primarily made up of non-Anglos; it is aggressively reaching out to its community; and it is excited about being a part of the Southern Baptist Convention family of churches.

Note that the majority of new SBC churches were not predominantly Anglo.

The over 48,000 SBC churches and missions tend to look different from the 1,600+ new congregations which appeared on the ACP list in 2002 (the most recent year that full statistics are available). The new congregations tend to be more ethnically diverse and more effective in outreach, but they still work together with other Southern Baptists to reach the world.

Ethnicity. New Southern Baptist churches are much more ethnically diverse than the larger pool of existing churches. Today, more and more Southern Baptists speak other languages, worship using other cultural forms, and fellowship over different foods. As our churches become more diverse, we look more like heaven with men and women from every tongue tribe and nation (Revelation 7:9).

The chart compares the existing churches (which is better than most expect) to the new churches (which is remarkable). Click on this link to get the original article which gives a better view of the graph.



Now, we have a very long way to go. For example, one very influential SBC leader has indicated that the reason revival tarries is because all these immigrants out there have not become good Americans so they can hear the gospel. Sigh.

But, things are changing.


More on Eric

Eric and I recently contributed to a 9 Marks forum on race. You can read it here.

My contribution to the forum was focused on if race really mattered:

Race matters.

I planted my first church among the urban poor in Buffalo. Having been raised in a racially isolated community near New York City, I never thought much about race—but in Buffalo we had little choice. We were forced to address issues of race because our community was a multicultural milieu. It forced us to read the Scriptures with more awareness of race—and an acknowledgement of its challenges.

We found that race matters in scripture. Even though few Anglo churches seem to notice, Scripture frequently demonstrates God’s concern for race and ethnicity.

Luke illustrates the coming of the Spirit with diverse expressions of tongues (Acts 2), even identifying the languages being spoken. And a glimpse of eternity in Revelation shows that men and women from every tongue, tribe, and nation make up the choir of eternal praise (Rev. 7:9). If the writers of Scripture take notice of ethnicity, so should we.

Scripture not only identifies race and ethnicity, but John hints at prejudice concerning Jesus in John 1:46, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Furthermore, Jesus intentionally offends ethnic and racial sensibilities with both the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). Why go to so much trouble to emphasize their ethnicity if it does not matter?

Yet the same Spirit that inspired the Scripture to identify race also provides the strength to overcome its challenges. Both our worship and our witness are made more perfect when we model gospel-centered diversity.

At the cross, there is "no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female." Yet at the throne there are men and women from "every tongue, tribe, and nation." We would do well to remember both.

Eric was much more articulate and is worth reading in its entirety here. Eric explained:

There is a race problem in the American church, if for no other reason than the fact that there is a race problem in America, and the evangelical church’s progress on race has, historically, mirrored America’s progress on race. The great gulf that exists between the gatherings of Whites and African Americans on Sunday morning, often reflecting the great gulf that exists between white exurbia and African American suburbia or cityscape, exemplifies the mirroring of the culture by the church.

My white brothers of the faith often miss the race problem. I don’t feel that this is due to overt racism on the part of many. Instead, it’s because my white brothers must work at seeing life though the eyes of an African or Hispanic or Asian or Native American—all of whom are naturally and daily race-conscious. This is inevitable when you are:

-the only minority in the board room or on the faculty,

-the one being profiled by security cameras or stereotyped as a class below white cultural and class standards,

-the potential victim of discrimination by mortgage lenders and human resource hiring specialists,

-a parent concerned about his/her child being mistreated as the only minority in a classroom or at a teen camp—even a Christian teen camp.

In addition, unless one works very hard to do so, my white brothers cannot feel what it is like to live in a society dominated by another ethnic culture (in a society in which ethnic distinctions matter greatly) and to adjust to the dominant culture’s preferences, norms, and mores daily—from the time one leaves home in the morning until returning home in the evening. This can even be the case at one’s church, fraternal organization or civic group. This practical ignorance of the minority experience lends itself to omissions of thought—i.e., "insensitivity"—on issues of race.

He takes a not-so-subtle swipe at a new book edited by a friend of mine, Danny Akin. You should get the book, it is good... but Eric points out:

A recently published systematic theology—A Theology for the Church (B&H, 2007)—provides the contemporary pastor and layman with a solid work that has the potential to become a standard seminary classroom or personal pastoral reference text for years to come. In this collaborative effort, each chapter on a specific doctrine has three great features: (i) a brief look at the history of the specified doctrine, (ii) a selective summary of Baptist teaching on the doctrine, and (iii) a consideration of the practical implications and outworking of the doctrine in the life of the church.

However, in Theology there is not one mention of racism, racial-reconciliation, injustice, slavery, or genocide. (I am aware that the topics included may seem imbalanced since the work is a collaborative effort, drawing from the expertise of several men.) By omitting such discussions in a tome of this type—one that is compiled by some of the most well-known conservative Baptist scholars in this generation—we have, by de facto, said that issues related to "race" are not for theological discussions, or at least not a discussion at the level of Openness Theology, Intelligent Design, and the extent of the Atonement. If this text begins to serve our seminaries in a manner similar to Erickson's and Grudem's systematics, many of our younger men and women will study theology without a critical reference work on race. Apparently, that discussion is left for the African Americans, Hispanics, and Liberation Theologians. This unintentional omission in Theology allows for an unintentional omission in the theology coming from our pulpits...

Moreover, if "race" is not important enough for the theologians to discuss, it will not be important enough for those who actually believe in (conservative) theology to consider it as part of their theology.

Eric blogs here.

Here are a few questions to ponder / discuss regarding denominations and racism:

-What can denominations do to build bridges across the racial divide? What about churches?
-What are the systemic racial issues that need to be addressed in my, your, and other denominations and churches?
-How should other churches respond when they hear of active or passive racism in churches in their denomination?

Feel free to weigh in on your comments below.

By the way, February is Black History Month.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/the_comeback_cha

I am on the way to California today for a conference called "The Comeback Challenge." I have never had a conference named for my book before, so it is a little intimidating! They are giving away a free copy of Comeback Churches to each attendee.

I have been told that a very special guest is going to show up but I don't see him on the schedule, so I better wait for the folks in charge to make that announcement.

More soon...

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/rick_warren_is_s

So, here I am in California teaching a seminar built around my book, Comeback Churches.

It is called the "The Comeback Challenge."

It is a great conference so far-- Nelson Searcy, Voddie Baucham, and several other pastors. You can download the PowerPoint I used at www.comebackchurches.com.

And, who shows up to teach the last session of the Comeback Challenge? Rick Warren. He steals my last session and starts talking about my stuff!!! UGH.

Can't he write his own stuff?!?!?

Last month, it was announced he was speaking at the Exponential Conference, again following me around. Sigh.

Stop stalking me Rick!

He’s OK teaching my stuff… and he even brought a little of his own. Grin.

We are doing dinner tonight and then a panel for a smaller group.

Here are a few quotes (written on the fly, but I think they are pretty accurate) from when Rick spoke.

You want to make them doers of the word and not just hearers.

----------------------------------

Jesus led people from "come and see" to "deny yourself and take up the cross" to "eat my body and drink my blood." That takes a while and it takes a plan.

Some of you are “come and see preachers” and your people need you to lead people to “eat my body and drink my blood.” They need you to lead them to harder truths. You need a plan to move people to high commitment of "denying yourself" and “eat my body and drink my blood.”

Some of you are “eat my body and drink my blood preachers” and you need a plan to help people “come and see.” Church is all about bringing people closer and closer to Christ.
----------------------------------

Saddleback may be the most spiritual mature church in the nation… we have more people in small groups than we have in Sunday morning worship… we have 13842 tithers… over 14,000 people having a daily quiet time… the over 15,000 people who are serving in ministry…
----------------------------------

Teaching a sermon will not disciple people… it is not enough.
----------------------------------

Spiritual growth is incarnational… it’s Christ in you… it is helping people let Christ live through them… Christ in you the hope of Glory.
----------------------------------

There are three dangers: hedonism, materialism, and secularism-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

If you have been in the minsitry 10 to 20 years and kept your pants on, I honor you.
----------------------------------

Prosperity gospel: don’t ever put an adjective in front of gospel: Prosperity gospel, social gospel.

The gospel is good news: Christ died and resurrected for our sins.
----------------------------------

[Referring to the temptation of Jesus] The plan was that Jesus would be worship because he died on a cross not because he jumped off the temple.

Keywords: blog, Stetzer

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/more_on_race.htm

Eric and Larry bring some insightful conversation in the comments here.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/denominations_th

The National Council of Churches has released their annual yearbook of U.S. and Canadian churches.

A few highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective):

Only three of the top 10 – the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA) – are "mainline" Protestant churches.

By far the largest church in the U.S. is still the Roman Catholic Church, numbering 67 million members. The others in the top three are the Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million) and the United Methodist Church (nearly 8 million).

Jehovah's Witnesses, who rank 25th in size among U.S. churches, reported the largest increase in membership since the publication of the 2007 Yearbook : 2.25 percent, with 1,069,530 members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew 1.56 percent to 5,779,316 members.

My prediction: there will be more Mormons than Methodists in twenty years.

(And, one quibble: I would not consider Mormonism / JW as faiths belonging on a list of Christian denominations, but in a catagory for other faiths.)

Other bodies in the top 25 churches that reported membership increases were the Southern Baptist Convention (0.22 percent, to 16,306,246 members), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (0.21 percent to 1,443,405 members) the Roman Catholic Church (0.87 percent to 67,515,016 members) and the Assemblies of God (0.19 percent to 2,836,174 members).

All other communions in the top 25 said they lost members or reported no increases or decreases.

What are the implications? It depends on who you ask. As you read the comment below, put me in the catagory of the "some will wish to argue."

"Some will wish to argue that the slowing growth rate is evidence of an increasing secularization of American postmodern society," Lindner writes. "While such an explanation will satisfy some, caution in drawing such a conclusion is warranted."

Many churches are feeling the impact of the lifestyles of "Gen X'ers" or "Millennials" – people now in their 30s and 20s – who attend and support local congregations but resist becoming members, Lindner observes.

However, I would also point out what the National Council of Churches will not-- the more liberal a church is the faster that denomination is declining.

More breakdown:

Pentecostal churches represent three of the top 25: the Church of God in Christ (5,499,875), Assemblies of God (2,836,174) and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (1,500,000).

Six of the 15 largest churches are historic African American Churches: the Church of God in Christ, (5,499,875), National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc, (5,00,000), National Baptist Convention of America, (3,500,000), National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, (2,500,000), Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., (2,500,000), and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, (2,500,000).

Interesting times...

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/in_orlando.html

Today, I spoke to a group of associational leaders in Orlando. These leaders all coordinate the mission work of churches partnered together in associations-- much like districts or judacatories in certain denominations. In some cases they are a few dozen churches (like Cleveland and Pittsburgh) and in others it is hundreds of churches (the Dallas Baptist Association has over 300 churches-- larger than some small denominations).

To be in the group, there association has to cover a geographic area including at least a million people. They also tend to be in urban centers.

We talked about the future of cooperation and missions-- a fascinating dialogue. I will probably share some more later here at the blog.

The next two days are way more important... Disney World days with my two oldest daughters!

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/02/er_clip_illustra

It is not often that you see programs like NBC's ER so clearly illustrate the emptiness of a faith not rooted in God and His Word. Click the video below to learn more.



The clip reminded me of our recent research. Below are some excerpts of comments I wrote a few weeks ago for the story Terry Mattingly published through his Scripps Howard News Service column. Terry was covering our recent research you can review here.

Non-attendees want to ignore a generic God, but when/if they follow a faith, they want one that has robust beliefs and is worth following...

Since growing churches tend to have more defined belief systems, when people start a journey to faith, they want something they see as worth believing and giving their life to. A generic god is hardly one worth committing to...

As best I can tell, those who are not a regular part of a faith community still want to be "spiritual" people, but without a clear faith...

Many fashion a tame God in their own image-- a generic god for a generic spirituality, not a God who actually intervened in the world through the death of Christ and calls us to follow and live differently...

For many, they want to get all the benefits of spirituality without any of the truth claims of a rigorous faith...

I think the Oprah-ization of American spirituality has glorified "searching" for spiritual meaning but de-emphasized "finding." In other words, it is good to be looking for spirituality, but it is intolerant to actually believe you have found a right faith and want to invite others to such.
In "I'm O.K., You're O.K. Spirituality," the only sin is intolerance... and intolerance is defined to mean actually believing your faith is the correct one.

Behold: even NBC knows that a generic faith in a generic God does little good when it really matters.

HT: Justin Taylor