The choice of every church: Cooperation and Partnership or Competition and Autonomy

There are two choices that nearly every church in our nation has the opportunity to make: whether to compete or cooperate with other churches in their city or region. For most churches the choice is to compete since success is measured by numbers, programs and budgets. For a small but growing number of churches the choice is cooperation toward a higher goal of building His Church and reaching whole cities and communities for Christ.


I have no doubt that Christ himself would choose cooperation and partnership over competion and autonomy. But of course, Christ's definition of success is often different than ours - even what we do in His name.


“Did God call me to built a great church in my area or to reach my area for Christ?” was the question on the minds of a group of pastors in the Chicago area. What would happen if rather than competing with one another we actually joined together with other evangelical churches to make relevant, meaningful contact with every home in our city? What would happen if instead of caring just about “my” church we cared instead about The Church?




This is happening in Gurnee, Illinois where ten churches committed to evangelism are working together to bringing the gospel to every home in a city of 32,000 people. In Lake County Illinois, 45 churches are actively involved with scores of others participating in one way or another. Under the banner of Christ Together, churches are banding together across denominational lines and even theological differences in a major effort to reach whole cities and whole regions for Christ.


“The whole church bringing the whole gospel to the whole city” is the goal of Christ Together. The strategy gets its roots from the church in Acts 2 which banded together to reach the city for Christ. Churches who are involved see this effort not as an ancillary ministry but as one of the core ministries of their congregation. It is transforming churches, lives, and entire communities. Not only are these congregations working to bring the gospel to every household but they are banding together to serve the community in tangible ways as well.


What a refreshing difference from the autonomy and competition that marks so many ministries today!


Christ Together wants to help churches make five key shifts that they believe are consistent with the principles found in Acts 2.


“Move from Spiritually Struggling to Spiritually Transforming: We help churches to become agents of spiritual transformation, leading people into a vibrant, life-changing relationship with God.”


“Move from Relationally Fragmented to Relationally Connected: We help churches to build deep and trust-filled friendships with one another, enabling them to pursue God’s dreams for their city together.”


“Move from Functionally Anemic to Functionally Healthy: We help churches to overcome the pragmatic ministry challenges that threaten the strength and vitality of their faith community.”


“Move from Culturally irrelevant to Culturally Inspiring: We help churches to serve their community together in significant ways, reshaping people’s perceptions of God, Christianity and the Church.”


“Move from Missionally Ineffective to Missionally Effective: We help churches to fulfill the Great Commission by reaching their community more effectively, one life at a time.”


These are certainly five key shifts that are needed in the American church today. In a ministry culture that is driven by “my success” and the building of “my church” there is a deep need to repent of our selfish, autonomous ways that build our ego and pride and work to build His church, The church and reach our communities in humble partnership with the whole church.

Predicting the Decline of the Attractional Church

I am sure that this blog will elicit comments for I am not a fan of the attractional church model and believe it is already in severe trouble with the young, old and some in between.

The attractional church model thinking goes like this: If I have a great performance on stage, relevant preaching and lots of programming that I will attract a lot of people, build a large church and therefore experience ministry success. The American church continues down this path blind to the fact that it is often not producing real disciples but that there are a growing number of folks who are rejecting it outright. This blog is not about church size but church philosophy!

Take the young generation. What they see in the attractional model is that people come to get and not give. They desire to be part of communities who are actively living out the gospel rather than simply hearing about the Gospel. There is a fundamental difference between those two. Furthermore they do not relate to a performance up front but would rather be a part of the worship experience. Finally, our preoccupation with service "excellence" is often seen by them as lacking authenticity. They can live with simple if they believe it to be authentic.

Oh, and the preaching? By dumbing down the gospel to make it relevant, by not addressing the radical implications of the gospel - that would make it too uncomfortable. By paying more attention to culture (the relevance thing pastors talk about) they feel cheated on the truth thing (what Jesus has to say about life). All of these reasons contribute to the dearth of the under thirty crowd in many churches.

On the other end of the spectrum are the fifty plus crowd who are increasingly but quietly leaving attractional church models looking for something different. They feel cheated in the worship (not just worship style) but in the often shallow worship theology and show up front. They especially feel cheated by the lack of emphasis on the word of God in today's "relevant" preaching. And they are more interested in doing ministry that makes a difference in the world rather than attending another program in the church. They have not rejected the church but they have rejected the attractional model of the church.

When I look at the American church at large today I ask the question, where are the gospel centered churches where truth is proclaimed carefully with real application. I ask, where are the gospel centered churches where the emphasis is more on reaching those outside God's Kingdom than programming ourselves to death to justify our buildings and facilities. One can see with our current model why it takes 168 people one year to bring one person to Christ in the course of a year.

I also ask how we have so mangled our definitions of success so that almost all that is talked about are numbers on weekends. We claim that spiritual transformation is our goal but the real marker in many Churches has nothing to do with that and all to do with numbers to justify the success of the pastor.

In a mentoring conversation recently with a young pastor I asked him how he would feel if there was not growth to his church in the next three years. His church has deeply problematic health issues and they may be what he needs to focus on. It took him a moment to say he would be all right with that....because for most of us success is in the numbers.

When I read the story of the early church I do see numbers being added to their ranks regularly. But the emphasis was not on the numbers. It was on radically living out the implications of the gospel - meeting together to share the elements and receive teaching, sharing their possessions with one another and being the people of God in their circles of influence which is why for instance the gospel penetrated whole communities with radical conversions, powerful miracles and a high emphasis on the word - read the story in Acts 19.

We have a deeply American model of church which has many differences from the Biblical model of church. A congregation I attend from time to time is a simple Anglican church. No flashy music, simple Biblical teaching, great Biblical liturgy and prayers and participation in the service of ordinary congregants who take their ministry seriously. Half of those that are there are former members of my own denomination who have left "attractional churches" for the simplicity of the gospel.

I predict that the American church of the future will look very different than it does today - in Evangelical circles. I pray that it is more word centered, authentic in its worship and committed to living out the "good works" God designed for us in our communities and circles of influence rather than through its programming keeping folks in the church. The program of God for the church is that they impact their communities, workplaces and circles of influence through living out and sharing the implications of the gospel.

I celebrate every gospel centered church I find, and the number is growing. They hold the key to the future of the American church. And they will attract people who are hurting, needy and looking for an authentic Jesus who can bring authentic change to their lives. Is it possible that the church of the future will attract people because it is centered on the person of Jesus Christ above all else? And in living out the implications of the gospel?

Lulled into complacency by our comfort

Dr. Woo in Surgery

Memorial service in Kabul for Dr. Woo

Guest writer: Michael Johnson

Julie Burchill writes for The Independent the British newspaper. For the August 11, 2010 edition, she commented on the critics of British soldiers’ role in Afghanistan as well as the sacrifice of Dr. Woo, one of the doctors murdered recently while volunteering to bring medical care to the citizens of that nation. She writes rather caustically, but clearly; People castrated by comfort and consumption of course feel worthless when they look at Dr. Woo or our soldiers. A man who has nothing which he cares about more than his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.



Dr. Woo’s sacrifice was particularly significant in that she was not on duty for her nation, but for His Kingdom. Are our decisions about our faith made from the comfort of our couches of conspicuous consumption? Are we really willing to make the difference we claim we should for Christ, or is it just religion as usual? Reporting in Telegraph.co.uk Dr Woo co-founded an charity called Bridge Afghanistan and raised thousands of pounds for emergency provisions for flood victims, education projects and medical supplies.


Her medical convoy was travelling through Badakhshan towards Kabul on Wednesday after spending three weeks in the mountainous terrain of Nuristan where the medical team were delivering medical care and supplies to the people living there. Local police said about 10 gunmen robbed the group and killed them one by one. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killings. A spokesman said the foreigners died because they were ''spying for the Americans'' and ''preaching Christianity''.


To add to the tragedy of her death is the romantic side the Telegraph reports that Dr Karen Woo, 36, British medic killed in Afghanistan was due to return home within days to get married, it emerged.

Have I been castrated by comfort? What does my faith cost me? Dr. Woo was willing to pay all. She did.

It's all about the Gospel

Those of us who are deeply involved in ministry, as leaders, team members or volunteers constantly need to be reminded of one very important truth: It is all about the Gospel!

Paul put it this way in his summation and introduction to the book of Romans. These two verses (Romans 1:16-17) sum up the message of Romans and the gospel.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

Paul's first statement is interesting: He is not ashamed of the gospel. Why would he say that? I believe because many in his day were indeed ashamed as in our day. It was too simplistic (simply by faith), it was politically incorrect (there is only one way), it was intellectually stupid (God on a cross) and it was flawed in its premise (you can do nothing to earn salvation - it is simply by grace).

Paul was no intellectual slouch! But he understood the premise, power, truth, and plan of God in the gospel to do what no other religion could do - transform sinful men and women from all walks of life into walking billboards of God's grace through simple faith and he refused to be ashamed of this gospel, or to try to make it more palatable. It is what it is: The one and only way to Jesus and a life of relationship and significance.

It is easy to forget in our strategies, programs, events, plans and ministry that everything we are and everything we do is ultimately focused on the simple gospel of Jesus Christ. That gospel has the power to change any individual who will simply trust, intervene in any situation that we will give to God and transform corners of society that are infected by its truth.

John McArthur writes this about Paul. "Paul was imprisoned in Philippi, chased out of Thessalonica, smuggled out of Damascus and Berea, laughed at in Athens, considered a fool in Corinth, and declared a blasphemer and lawbreaker in Jerusalem. He was stoned and left for dead at Lystra. Some Pagans of Paul’s day branded Christianity as atheism because it believed in only one God and as being cannibalistic because of a misunderstanding of the Lord’s Supper.

But the Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem did not intimidate Paul, nor did the learned and influential pagans at Ephesus, Athens, and Corinth. The apostle was eager now to preach and teach the gospel in Rome, the capital of the pagan empire that ruled virtually all the known world. He was never deterred by opposition, never disheartened by criticism, and never ashamed, for any reason, of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

I ask myself and I ask you: Do we have that kind of drive and that kind of passion to see the gospel spread across the regions where we work? The work of spreading the gospel is not a job: it is the greatest privilege anyone could ever have and the greatest responsibility given to man by God. There is hope and power and forgiveness and grace and eternal favor wrapped up in that message.

Do we believe that much in the power of the gospel? Do we believe that God wants to transform hundreds of thousands of lives through the work we do and the movement leaders we support? Do we believe that the gospel has that kind of compelling magnetism and spiritual power? The kind of power the raised Christ from the dead and set him above every rule, authority, power and dominion and title that can be given, not only in the present age but in the one to come?

In the end, it all comes back to the gospel. That is why I am not ashamed! And I never want to lose the sense of awe, majesty and amazing grace encapsulated in that gospel. It has the power, the only power, to change lives for eternity.

Gospel and Politics

It is a familiar request. Can I put out materials in the gathering area so members are informed of the political issues the nation faces and how they should vote? Or can the church please take a stand on this issue - or that issue?

Come election time especially, the pressure can get intense. If a certain candidate were to win the White House certainly the nation will be in dire trouble and the church at risk. If the wrong supreme court nominee gets on the court, liberties - religious and otherwise will suffer. If certain legislation is passed or not passed dire consequences await.

There may be some truth to such assertions although rarely as much truth as they would want us to believe. But, regardless of our personal conviction, political leanings or activism, the church is not about politics or legislation or elections or nominees to the bench - it is about the gospel.

It is Jesus who is the hope of the world, not a political party, nominee or piece of legislation. It is Jesus who can change hearts and it is the gospel of Jesus that can transform society as hearts are transformed.

I care about many things politically. But I have long ago come to conclude that it far more important who is in my house than who is in the White House. Politics come and go but Jesus remains the one hope for humanity across two thousand years and will be so till he returns. Never confuse the power of politics (it is transient and far less powerful than we think) with the power of the gospel (it is permanent and changes hearts and communities).

Oh, and no political party has a corner on the truth. But Jesus is truth.