Compliance driven organizations

One can tell much about corporate and ministry culture by simply reading their policies. Up front, I want to be clear that policies  are a positive and necessary set of parameters for any healthy organization as they spell out what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Well written policies are boundaries that are not to be violated. Organizations without clear policies on HR, finance, relationships with vendors, conflict of interest for example, leave themselves open to behaviors and practices that can harm and bring disrepute.

Beyond the basic, clear policies, organizations either have a culture of trust or mistrust. Compliance driven organizations - those who often are mistrustful seek to write a policy for any possible infraction - or as the result of an infraction. Thus everyone gets punished for the sins of a few. Someone misuses their time card so additional layers of policy and compliance are put in place to ensure that no one does that again. The end result is often the opposite of what is desired - cynicism because everyone knows that instead of dealing with the offender, another policy has been put in place to keep everyone in place - not a place most people want to be.

Healthy organizations develop policies that specify the expected behavior of its employees, keep them to a minimum rather than trying to anticipate all possible issues, hire good people, trust them and if the boundaries are broken, deal with that individual.

The same is true in terms of church bylaws which are often written to prevent past sins (in someones mind) from occurring again. Never mind that in doing so, the congregation is communicating mistrust toward some group (by the way they hem them in) or person (senior pastors or chairperson) that hamper the organization in the present. Far better to deal with the problem person(s) than to write unnecessary boundaries into bylaws that are hard to change in the present or the future.

Writing a policy to keep behavior within bounds rather than dealing with the behavior is usually the easy way out whether expressed in personnel or bylaws. It can also be the cowards way out since it avoids dealing with the behavior of an offending individual(s) and instead tries to solve the issue through a policy - which seldom solves the underlying problem which is personal behavior.

Compliance driven organizations - who believe that there needs to be a policy or procedure for everyone and everything are operating from a culture of mistrust rather than trust, foster a legalistic rather than grace filled culture and mistakenly believe that compliance to their rigid procedures will keep them healthy. Actually, healthy people working in a culture of trust and grace will make for a healthy organization - not the other way around.

Write policies where you must. Keep them to a minimum - same with bylaws, and deal with problematic people where that is necessary. Before you write a new policy to solve a problem, ask yourself if it is necessary and how it will be perceived by those who were not a part of the problem. Compliance driven organizations may solve some perceived problems but they also can create cultures of mistrust and cynicism.

Resolution or Revelation?

Think about the issues you face in your life that you wish were resolved. For some it is health, others, financial or family, relationships or jobs. We regularly walk through seasons where we wish for, pray for, and long for resolution of painful issues.

What we want is resolution. But what if the answer is not resolution – primarily – but revelation? In resolution the problem goes away, but in revelation we learn something about ourselves or about God that is far more important than the issue we face.

The Apostle Paul learned this: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).”

Think of the power of Paul’s revelation. “For my power is made perfect in weakness…for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Had he simply been given his prayer for resolution, neither he nor us would have that lesson or learned that truth.

This does not mean that we don’t pray for resolution in the middle of hard times. It does mean that we also seek to understand if and what God might want to impress on us in a revelation from him that we would only learn in and through the process of difficulty and pain. At one and the same time, we pray for resolution and pray for revelation – in the sense that God may have something far more important for us than resolution. He might have a lesson or truth about Him and our lives that we would receive no other way.

Disciplemaking or Church Planting

A close friend asked me recently whether I thought that the mandate of Christ was to “make disciples” or to plant churches. His question came out of observing the often poor efforts to plant churches around the world. This is not a new question as many ministries focus on evangelism and discipleship while others focus on church planting. For those of us involved in missions it is a fundamental and crucial question.

Jesus commanded us to make disciples – people who would wholeheartedly follow Him. This is the heart of the Great Commission. What is interesting is how the apostles took that mandate. Their response to the Great Commission was not simply to do evangelism and to disciple new believers (which they did) but it was focused on church planting as their fundamental strategy for fulfilling the Great Commission. Indeed, they came out of a Jewish background where the worship of God was never simply an individual affair but was focused around the synagogue where they gathered for worship, prayer and teaching.

In the New Testament, the church is called “bride of Christ” and Paul writes that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-30). One could argue that this was simply the “church universal” but the New Testament is clear that each local church is a manifestation of the global church. Paul not only planted churches but several of his letters were addressed to individual churches (Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians Philippians, and Thessalonians). 

Jesus himself addresses letters to seven individual churches in Revelation two and three. The history of Christianity is a history of church planting wherever and whenever the church has penetrated populations where the Gospel was not present. Christianity has never spread without the spread of local churches.

What is clear is that the local church is God’s chosen method to reach the world for Him. At least that was the understanding of Christ’s disciples and their response to His command to make disciples was to plant churches where believers could gather for teaching, prayer, worship and the celebration of communion – and it was this gathered body of believers that made such an impression on both Jews and Gentiles in the years following Christ’s ascension.

Studies of conversions around the world show that a large percentage (often over 50%) of those who make a profession of faith are not following Christ three years later when they are not connected to a local church. Indeed, many campus ministries in Russia have seen disappointing results because while their efforts at evangelism were fruitful, a high percentage of those who made those professions are no longer following Christ because of the lack of healthy churches around those campuses.

Indeed, it is through the church that disciples are truly made – if the church is healthy. Now to my friends point: often our conception of the church is seriously flawed. We think of church as being defined by real estate, buildings and full time staff who have degrees. In a poor world where half of its population lives on three dollars a day or less, that definition of “church” does not work. 

Nor is it the story of the early church. If we define a church as a group of believers (small or large) who gather together regularly for worship, teaching and prayer and the celebration of communion under some sort of leadership we have a Biblical definition. In our organization we simply call these kingdom communities. It may be five former Muslims gathering in a home in secret, or a hundred believers worshiping under a large tree in Congo or a large congregation in the West in a fancy facility.

Often the reason for lack of success in “church planting” is that we are trying to plant a western version of a church rather than a Kingdom community of believers who gather together regularly for worship, prayer, teaching, the sacraments and to spread the gospel in their community. Multiply Kingdom communities and you multiply the church and one multiplies disciples. 

Flawed as it is, Jesus chose the church as His method of reaching a lost world and each of those kingdom communities, large or small are a part of His bride that shines His light in their community. Disciple making is the job of the local church. Evangelism is the job of every believer and every local church. But everything revolves around healthy churches – kingdom communities – whether a congregation of three or a congregation of 300.  

The mandate of Christ was to make disciples. The Apostles understood that the means of making disciples was to multiply local congregations where in Christian community believers grow together and together carry out the mandates of evangelism and disciple making. Those kingdom communities are His bride – for which He died and by which He intends to reach a lost world.

American Evangelicals, Israel and the rest of the Middle East

For a number of years now I have had the privilege of travelling in the Middle East and working with believers and ministries in that region of the world. When I ask Arab Christian leaders how we can help them, one of the consistent answers relates to Israel. When American evangelicals give cart blanch support to Israel at the exclusion of caring about and serving our Christian Arab brothers and sisters - we send a message that God cares more about those in Israel than he does in the surrounding states of the Middle East.

Indeed, in our desire to support Israel’s right to exist (which many of us would have theological reasons for) we often overlook inequities, injustices and practices by Israel that negatively impact other people whom God loves. Israel’s government is not God’s government. In fact, much of it is highly secular with a strong bias against Christianity and Christians. There have been and continue to be injustices imposed by Israel on members of the Palestinian community whose rights (like for many Jews) have been violated, whose homes were taken without recompense and who long for a homeland as the Jews did.

Without getting into politics there are several convictions that ought to inform our attitude toward the Middle East, Arabs and Jews.

God loves all people equally. For God so loved the World that he sent His one and only Son ….. Politically, America faces a real threat from radical Islam. And, there are nations in the Middle East who would like to eradicate Israel (some not all). However, none of this changes God’s love for men and women from every tribe, every nation, and every language that will one day make up the crowd in heaven.

Whatever our political convictions, as Christians, we ought to be equally concerned for the salvation of Jews and Arabs. And our Arab brothers and sisters need to know that we love, value, cherish them as much as we do others. God is doing remarkable things in almost every country of the Middle East and there are many Christ followers who live under tremendous pressure and need the prayers and support of believers in the west.

It is fascinating how God describes the nations around Israel in Isaiah 19 – looking forward to the day when He returns. He uses the same language for them that He uses so often for Israel. “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day, Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance’ (Isaiah 19:23-25).”

If that is God’s heart for both Israel and its neighbors, we ought to have the same heart. And the same concern for the populations that make up Israel and its Arab neighbors.  For all of the challenges for believers in these nations, God is up to something significant and many more Muslims are coming to Christ than we often hear of. In addition, believers in these countries are sharing their faith sometimes at the cost of their lives since they know that Jesus is the only way to the father.

My understanding of prophecy leads me to believe that God brought the Jews back to Israel. At the same time, I believe we must be even handed when responding to actions of the Israeli state or any state (including our own). If we expect justice and fairness from her Arab neighbors, we should expect them from her as well – and from our own government.

Most importantly, I want my fellow Christians in Arab nations to know that I value them, pray for the difficulties they face, want to support them in the spread of the gospel (as with believers in Israel) and that I will show no favoritism for God does not play favorites in salvation history and God has a heart for all people. Nor will I allow the politics of either Israel or her neighbors take away from my desire for all people to hear the good news of Jesus and for many to come to a saving knowledge of Him.

On that note, God needs some courageous churches, men and women who will get involved in the Arab world. Plenty of evangelicals are involved with Israel. My question is who will come alongside believers in the rest of the Middle East for the cause of the gospel? Those who are willing to take a trip to the Middle East quickly discover that God is up to something – and that they have much less to fear than they think they do. I invite you to pray for believers in the Middle East, and to consider engaging in some way there.

Debt and Tithing

One of the encouraging signs among believers today is that many are working to get their financial house in order. After years of living beyond their means, and through the encouragement of a number of helpful financial ministries, budgets are being built, debt is being paid down and many are trying to eliminate all debt – including their mortgages.



This has, however, raised a critical question because in their effort to become debt free many believers are choosing not to tithe until they are debt free – saying, “I will give to God when my own financial house is in order!” How does one respond to that trend? Does one have an obligation to tithe if they are in debt and is it “OK” to take a vacation on tithing until that debt is paid off? It is a good and important question.


On this face of it this may seem a reasonable position but if one probes beneath the surface we are quickly faced with some Biblical realities that challenge our rationale.


The truth of the matter is that getting my financial house in order always starts with choosing to put God first, not last with my finances because our first financial priority according to scripture is that of giving God the first of our income. Saying that I will tithe when all my debts are paid is exactly the opposite of what Scripture teaches about making God the beneficiary of the “first” of my income – which is a gift from Him in the first place. In fact, His portion should be the very first thing that goes on our budgets when we start getting our financial house in order rather than the last. It is ironic that our rationale on this issue is exactly the opposite of God’s teaching.


Paying my bills before I honor Him with the “firstfruits” of my wealth is putting my convenience above my obedience. It is elevating my needs and desires above God’s commands. Scripture actually has a name for that – sin: Choosing my way over His way.


In fact, this is nothing more than a rationalization for disobedience. Consider the case of how many white collar criminals get into trouble. They are short on cash and start to “borrow” money from their employer with the conviction that they will one day pay it back when they are able. It sounds reasonable to them but not to their employer and it always comes at a price (getting caught or living with a guilty conscience). Ironically, there is a direct parallel to our own lives when we choose to “put off” our giving until (like the embezzler) we have enough to pay it.


The prophet Malachi in the last book of the Old Testament calls this “stealing from God.” And it is. He challenges the people who were doing the same thing many of us are (putting our interests above God’s) to bring our treasures to His temple. Consider the following conversation between God and His people where He actually tells His people that in withholding their tithe they are robbing Him.


“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.


“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’


“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.


“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’


“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 0 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 1 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty (Malachi 3:6-12).


These are strong words and unfortunately words that need to be heard by many of us today who are regularly robbing God by not putting Him first in our financial lives. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be guilty of robbing God!


Ironically, the text above points out that if we choose to put God first in our finances, He will actually help us meet our other needs. “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Here is the principle. When we withhold from Him he withholds from us. When we put Him in His rightful place, He promises to meet our needs. This is the only place in Scripture where we are invited to "test" God and see if He does not come through!


In the ultimate irony, God says that if we want to get our financial house in order, He will actually help us do that – if – we put Him first in our finances. Many believers are trying to get their financial house in order without God’s help because they are “robbing from Him” in the process. Those who put Him first financially find out that He provides for the very needs they are worried about meeting.


Let’s be intellectually honest on this issue. Choosing not to tithe for any reason, debt or otherwise, is disobedience, selective obedience and contrary to what Scripture clearly tells us is our obligation. Obedience is often not convenient. But following Christ is the journey of bringing our lives into alignment with Him and His teaching whether it is convenient or not. If we truly want God’s blessing on our lives, we choose to follow Him even in the hard things and there are hard things because our sinful nature always want us to put our convenience, our pleasure, our needs and our desires above those of God’s.


One final word. Some believers in their quest to be financially independent have made a God out of being “debt free.” Certainly it is better to have no debt than to have debt. But to pour all our energies and money into becoming debt free at the expense of God and obedience in the matter of our tithe is to focus on the wrong thing. First we choose obedience and in our obedience He will help us meet our needs.

This is really a matter of our hearts and whether we want to please God and make Him first, or please ourselves and make ourselves first. We all have the choice.

Lectio Divina

I have been mulling on the lack of spiritual transformation in the lives of so many Christ followers in spite of our best efforts to provide the best preaching, small groups, programming and experiences in our churches today. While there are no simple solutions, I do have a simple question: Could it be that the lack of transformation mirrors the lost practice of personal Bible reading and meditation? We have a whole generation of believers whose practice of even the most basic of spiritual disciplines is lacking - and yet one cannot be a disciple without discipline: indeed the word disciple and discipline come from the same root word.


Henry Nouwen writes these words about this discipline. "The term lectio divina comes from the Benedictine tradition and refers primarily to the sacred or devotional reading of the Bible. My growing suspicion is that our competitive, productive, skeptical, and sophisticated society inhibits our reading the Bible with the reverence and openness to what the Spirit is saying to us in the present moment. When we approach the Word of God as a word spoken to me, God's presence and will can be made known. The regular practice of lectio divina presents occasions when my story and God's story meet, and in that moment something surprising can happen. To read the Bible in this way means therefore to read "on my knees" - reverently, attentively and with the deep faith that God has a word for me in my own unique situation" (Spiritual Formation: The Way of the Heart, p. XXIII).


Could it be that a renewed emphasis on Bible reading with some simple instruction on how to approach God's word could have a profound effect on those in our congregations? Just as many countries fight the problem of illiteracy, the church must fight the problem of Biblical illiteracy if there is going to be any hope of a deeper transformation.


True transformation always has four parts: Transformation of hearts, of thinking, of priorities and of relationships. Only God's word can help us transform our thinking so that we "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but (are) transformed by the renewing of our mind. Then (we) will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2). Until our minds are being constantly renewed and we understand his good, pleasing and perfect will we cannot bring our our priorities into alignment with him. And that transformation of our thinking comes through an intimacy with His truth, His way, His teaching, His path which is found in His word.

In Jeremiah 6:16 the Lord says to His people, "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Where are those ancient paths that show us the good way and provide rest for our souls? They are found in His Word. 


But ancient paths require us to follow the ancient disciplines of the church - including the regular (daily) devotional reading of His Word. 


We have many priorities in the church. Is this one of the primary priorities that would have a significant influence on our walk with God and therefore the transformation of hearts, thinking priorities and relationships? It is simple - but then ancient paths are pretty simple as well.

Dialing down the Noise

Our lives are full of noise! Distractions, diversions, hectic schedules, ubiquitous emails and text messages that chase us across the city or the globe, twenty four hour news, and beckoning computer screens that allow us to have dozens of multiple pages open, clicks to click and options to explore as the news scrolls across the bottom and music plays in the background. Our lives are full of noise.

Think of noise as everything that distracts from quiet contemplation, deep thinking, and quiet time with God. If your life is like mine, the cacophony of distractions often drives out what our soul often craves. The simplicity of quiet solitude with God where away from the distractions, we can think, pray, meditate and just "be" with Him.

Our distractions - schedules and technology - are often our greatest challenges. I confess to loving technology but I recognize that I can often be a slave to its noise and constant 24 hour ability to find and distract me anywhere I am on the globe. I also confess to running very hard, cramming all that I can into my days leaving too little margin at times. Noise!

I am learning to unplug and disengage more often for the sake of my soul knowing that the distractions also distract my attention from the One whom I serve and always need to spend time with. Theophan the Recluse wrote: "When remembrance of God lives in the heart and there maintains the fear of Him, then all goes well; but when this remembrance grows weak or is kept only in the head, then all goes astray." Distractions cause remembrance to grow weak. We are only as connected to Christ as the last time we spent time with Him.

As a youngster I knew my father rose at about 4:30 to spend time with God before going to work early as a physician and surgeon. I could not understand that early morning ritual. Today I do for it is in the quiet of the early morning that I find quietness, solitude, and time to reflect on my life in light of God's word. In the monastic tradition - one passed down to the Catholic, Anglican and Episcopalian church, this is often called "The Daily Office." Regular times of prayer, Scripture reading and contemplation. It is the discipline of taking time away from noise and distractions that will often chase us the rest of the day to be with Jesus.

As one who embraces technology easily I am experimenting with weekends and other periods where it is turned off. I am finding more joy in times of solitude, extended reading and technology free hours. When I do, my mind slows down, allowing it to wander down winding alleyways of thought that distracted thinking does not allow. One wonders if the Psalms would have been written if David had a cell phone and computer. The reflections of the sages we read, ancient and modern on following Christ were born out of deep thinking and long times with God and His word.

By wiring I love the challenge of what I do in life and leadership. I also realize that the drive that often thrives on noise and the adrenalin it produces causes my soul to grow weary and shallow when not nurtured by the solitude and silence of undistracted time with God. When one first dials the noise down it feels unnatural because we are so used to jumping on every text, every email and distraction. Indeed we have become the distracted generation. But practiced regularly, a daily office, if you will, away from the distractions and  noise nourishes the soul in ways nothing else can. And in the end, feeding our soul is far more important than answering the beckoning email.