Jan 1 2017 Grace Summit New Year’s Resolution - Growth!

Happy New Year – don’t forget about your Christmas cards… - next year we’ll post the names on the screen of those who still have theirs down there.
Lord, thank You for this morning – for the New Year. It is just another day – and we must continue to walk with You every day – but at the same time, it is an opportunity to start fresh – Your Lovingkindnesses are new every morning. You allow us to start fresh and You want to create new things in our lives and church. I pray that each of us would recognize that we are accepted as we are but You want us to continue to grow as people and as a church. You don’t stop and we are not supposed to stop. May we zero in on Your work of the kingdom – that it would be something we deeply desire.
I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions – 97% of them fail… - but even though we don’t believe in them – this is the 2017 Grace Summit New Year’s Resolution sermon.
This actually goes well with what we have been talking about – what our church will look like over the next 5-10 years – to build a church for the next generation – and that is an exciting thing for us – to turn over a church that goes beyond us – that 30 years from now, it will be much stronger than it has ever been. That is a goal all churches should aspire to.
For us this year – the focus needs to be “Building a culture where each individual is inspired to reach and equip others.”
We need to think about growth and change and increase and numbers. When we talk about such things – people get concerned and sometimes scared – This seems like it is about numbers. Let me say this – we are not interested in ever competing with other churches... We are not interested in numbers – if you have been around for any time at all – you know we are focused on people and service oriented – that is what our church is about – people and serving others. YET – it is God’s desire – and it is spoken throughout the scriptures to fill His churches with PEOPLE! It is His commitment and desire for heaven to be fully populated. Overflowing! With people! Is anyone here against that?! “I don’t like crowds!” It is big enough that you can have an entire galaxy to yourself!
When we talk about filling a church full of people – we are not talking about numbers – we are talking about making disciples – I think the Bible says something about that somewhere. Like Jesus’ final words – go and make disciples. Christ-followers. We are a church of Christ-followers. A lot of words associated with church have become bad words – maybe we should change the words – we are simply followers of Jesus. Just like when Jesus said to the first disciples – Follow Me. They didn’t create groups – they just got up and followed and we want to do the same.
God’s kingdom is a kingdom that grows. When you read the parables of Jesus – almost all of them talk about this. There is this feeling – that when God touches something – it grows! Whether it is a garden or a person’s life – it grows.
Mark 4: 26 And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. 28 The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. 29 But when the crop permits, he immediately [g]puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Our task in this process is relatively small. All we do is plant seeds. Sow. Everything else – that is all we have to do - we have no other responsibility. Everything else is God’s responsibility. We just sow and go to sleep
Paul says the same thing in 1 Cor. 3: 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
If you want to be a famous Christian – don’t talk to Paul. You count for NOTHING! God causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters are one – each will receive his reward according to his work. Yes, God wants us to be planting and watering like crazy. But when you plant tomato plants – you can’t MAKE them grow. God made it that way – it is a picture of how we work and how He works.
Growth must be committed to the wellbeing of people here and now and eternally.
We all want this. And we should be committed to more and more people – their wellbeing.
We are not interested in numbers for an organization – but disciples in God’s kingdom. There has been a church movement – I believe it is of God – the megachurch movement. A lot of it began in the late 70s and early 80s – some certain churches have made this famous – the attractional model of church. What is that? IT focuses on attracting people to the church by creating a program that is of such high quality that people want to come. Usually – the focus is on the Sunday service – but the church can also focus on youth ministry and Sunday school – etc.
In these large churches – we don’t go to them because I am here – but I go to them because of conferences – and I have been to many because of that. What happens there – they have first – usually – a high quality worship experience that centers around music. After going to some of them – let me say – the quality is unreal – lightshows that are amazing – professional quality musicians and singers. Second – they tend to have highly gifted communicators – people who are REALLY – and they write books and we all know them. Along with that – big churches have high quality programming of all kinds – women’s, men’s, children’s ministries – and they grow big because people are attracted and want that kind of church. And you are probably wondering where I am going with this?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a church doing that. That is my opinion.
Now, I read a lot – and as I read – there are those who think there are things wrong with that. They think these churches are shallow or appeal to consumeristic tendencies of America. That is true of some – but not all. Many of these are making great disciples for the kingdom. Here is where I am going: not all churches can or should do that.
There are less than 2% of churches that are megachurches. That tells us that most churches can’t do THAT.
The worst case scenario is to try and be one of those churches when you are not.
There are ways to engage in God’s mission of growing His kingdom and filling His heaven and not have to be that. There is an entire movement now, in the Christian world – and books coming out – churches that aren’t THAT but are really growing God’s kingdom.
In CLEVELAND – there is a home church church that is growing like crazy - I’m not saying we will do that either! There are so many ways of building a culture of growth.
Because a church does not become attractional does not mean that we should try to have bad music or preaching or programs. We should always do our best – but it more than okay if our best is not THE best. Those are wholly different things.
There is a reason God has created so many churches – so many different kinds – and I think he has a specific and unique purpose for each church. And the secret is to be able to find and fulfill that – and that is difficult and takes a lot of work.
Let me say this – not only for churches – but for our lives – God has a unique and specific purpose for each of us in His kingdom – and the secret is finding and fulfilling that. It is easier to try to copy someone else. But when you try to do this – say – with your family – you will damage your family. If you try to make each of your children the same – don’t! You will be the most frustrated person in the world. And if you have two children – you will realize they are different – if you have ten – they are all different.
For us to build a culture … - we will need to grow and change – in the way God wants us to. That is 2017. Doing whatever is necessary to become the church God wants us to be.
In 1996 – we went through Experiencing God – it is a long series – I highly recommend it. We have these old video tapes my dad copied – it was probably illegal – we didn’t know about laws like that! But one little story that summarizes it for me.
Henry Blackaby was ministering in the late 60s with a huge bus ministry – and we had a church like that in Akron. And people would go to conferences and hear about bus ministries and would try it and it would fail.
WE TRIED IT AND IT FAILED! Henry replied – IT never works. God is the One who works. We aren’t going to start a bus ministry – maybe an Uber ministry – just kidding. We should learn from others – but not copy. We can learn from anyone – even football coaches or not! We can learn from the business world. We are not businesses or football teams or that other church. We are our church. There is a better biblical way. We need to learn to faithfully engage the place that God has placed us. Not just as a church – but as individuals. Embody the presence of Christ in those places. Become the body of Christ where God has put us. That is what every church and every Christian is supposed to do. How do we do that? How do we build a culture where each individual is inspired to reach and equip others?
How do you build cultures?
Communication.
The Spirit. Bam! Aaaand we’re done. Can’t top that answer! Others?
Customs and traditions. People.
All those things end up becoming THIS – one thing. This one thing doesn’t happen with all those happening. This one thing – STORIES. Think about it. Think about the US of A. Other than the children in this audience – we all grew up hearing about the midnight ride of Paul Revere. Valley forge – George Washington throwing a quarter or dollar across the Delaware.
In the business world – APPLE – the cult of our day. Everyone knows the story of Steve Jobs and that other guy in Jobs’ garage – and talking to the Pepsi guy and asking, “Are you going to sell sugar water all your life or do you want to change the world?”
This church has stories behind it that make it what it is.
1995 – losing our building – meeting at the Abruscis for a couple weeks (one of those was Christmas Day!) – then this building and then another – and Experiencing God – and getting this building. But we need NEW STORIES! This is the opportunity for each of us to make, live, and tell stories – and some of those will continue for 20 or 30 years – and you have the opportunity to be involved in making those stories – that may be talked about after you are gone.
Our church has sent many many many people out into God’s kingdom. Working all over the place in God’s kingdom. As missionaries – some fulltime – some part time – our young people going out with church plants – others who have left because of jobs are now leading in other churches. This year we are sending Hannah to Guatemala. That is one of our priorities – but let me tell you our biggest one. This year – we are sending YOU out – not to a faraway place – but the places you already inhabit. You are being sent as a missionary to your neighborhood – to your jobs –
John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
You are sent on a mission. But it is just to where you are – the places you already inhabit. So what we need to do – we need to identify your mission field –
Second – get to know those places. Listen. Discern. Ask questions. Get to know the stories of those places – the needs, hopes, dreams, fears, worries of those people.
I have gotten to know the mayor a bit – his goal – he grew up here – his life has been here – his history is here – he is Mr. Cuyahoga Falls – he remembers the neighbors being neighborly – and his hope is to do that again! He was in the neighborhood a few weeks ago at the school – he talked about neighbors being neighborly – but how can we make that happen for the church?
Maybe you need to create a space. Maybe you don’t have a space you inhabit. Maybe you do and don’t realize it. I know of someone who created a space by joining Toastmasters. I don’t have a workspace where there is a lot of people. I go to the Nat – I started swimming – I hate it – but it is good for me – I try to go at the same time and to the same locker – and I hate that. But people do that – and they get mad at you if you took theirs and you didn’t know you did it! I’ve learned – don’t use that one! It is someone else’s. But I see similar people and start to talk – but when we do that – we need to learn to John 1:14
The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We are not outsiders coming in as missionaries and being different. They started out doing that until Hudson Taylor started wearing Chinese clothes and cutting his hair like them. The mission societies wanted to kick him out! But the nationals said – Oh, he is like us!
While mission sends us out – incarnation calls us to go deep – to engage in grounded missional practices in everyday life – moving from Facebook to face-to-face relationships. It is being there and being there for the long haul. It is amazing what can happen over the long haul.
Cindy and I have lived in the Woodridge community for 25 years now. We were really involved when our kids were involved. But that was a long time ago. But still – to this day – after not having kids there for 10 years – and you see someone and there is the connection again and the opportunity.
A year and a half ago – one of our kids’ friend’s brother practically died - got sick in college – and his parents sent me a text – pray for our son – he is really sick.
It is learning –over the long haul – to engage people’s lives. Jesus didn’t come for a day – he lived for 33 years – it is so easy to say – I tried – it didn’t work. But to engage with people and keep engaging and engaging – relationally...
Lord, thank You – there is much to think about. As we move forward this year – help us to build a culture where each person – every individual is inspired to reach and equip others – to care for the wellbeing of people here and now and eternally.