Form the VCC Newsletter on 1/27/2020: Mission Drift (Part 2)

So what does a church on mission look like, and how is it different from a church that isn’t on mission? 

For many churches in the USA the goal has become keeping the doors open. Members cannot imagine life without their church, even if it is unhealthy, but little can be articulated as to the church's goals, vision, and reason for being. A church on mission is fundamentally different because it sees everything it does--worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and missions--as contributing to the kingdom of God.  They are willing to stop doing something when it ceases to be effective or when the work loses its people and support, save one or two unhappy but dedicated persons. Many people think a church starting new things is a sign of health, but the real measure of health is if a church can stop doing something it has “always” done. One of the most important questions an overworked volunteer needs to ask themselves is, “If I quit, will this ministry die?” If the answer is yes, then that ministry is unhealthy, and it probably needs to die so those seeds can fall to the ground and bear fruit (John 12.24).  A church on mission not only does ministry that matters, but it is healthy enough to review what it is doing, how it is doing, and admit when things need to change. 

Another thing a mission church does is to make sure the bulk of its resources (people, training, money, facilities) are being used for its primary mission. Too often churches end up using all their resources to do good things but get out of balance and stop actually making disciples of Jesus. Remember the church is not all about fellowship, or worship. It’s not all about living moral lives, or keeping rules. The church isn’t all about good works. The church does all of these things with the expressed purpose of multiplying disciples of Jesus Christ. If the church makes any one of these things its sole purpose, it quickly gets out of balance, and becomes unhealthy. At Vineyard we have simplified it down to: Love God, Love People, and Pass It On. So next week I will share about how we fulfill our mission, and why it matters.  

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 1/20/2020: Mission Drift

One of the things we say around the Vineyard is "stick to the main and the plain." That phrase has many implications; most often we use it to talk about not getting tangled up in endless controversies over opinions or minor doctrinal disputes. Instead, we focus our attention and energy on the things all Christian churches agree, and we allow for diversity of opinion on those things which divide Christians but are not central to Christian belief or part of the great creeds and confessions of the church. For instance, throughout church history, one of the primary beliefs has been that Jesus is coming back for his church in the resurrection. That is a core belief! However, from the very earliest days of the church there have been numerous opinions on how and when. So instead of spending energy on the how (a-millennial, premillennial, or postmillennial), we focus on the core belief that he is returning. It’s not that it doesn’t matter! It's that a healthy discussion includes all those views and allows people to decide for themselves without fighting about it. I have my view, but if I am wrong, we all still win. There is nothing worth fighting about. There are numerous other issues on matters of opinion, especially when it comes to worship styles, church government, dress, and a number of social topics as well. 

So why do churches get so wrapped around the axle about minor doctrinal differences, methodology, ecclesiology, or the like? That my friends is what we call mission drift. When we forget what our mission is, then we tend to major in the minors and get very cross with those who do not agree with us on our pet projects, ideas, or preferences. Jesus’ mission was to seek and save that which is lost. From that grows everything we are about and need to do. When the church isn’t on the same mission as God, we get sidetracked. Some of those discussions are about really important topics. I believe that the Bible speaks strongly about God’s heart for the poor, his hate for injustice, kindness to strangers, and issues of morality, social norms, and every matter of the heart and social interaction. I believe there are really important discussions to be had about the end times because it does affect our view of global missions and informs our views about the kingdom of God. I believe our views of church government affect how we interact with the larger church. These subjects matter, but they should not divide us.  So then that which unites us not only creates harmony, but it launches us into the world God so loved that he sent his son to redeem. 

With that in mind, next week I want to talk about what being a church on mission looks like, and then in the weeks following I want to look at our mission as a church: to Love God, Love People, and Pass It On. 

  

From the Vineyard Newsletter on 11/25: The Great Commission- Part 2

Last week I wrote to you briefly about the Great Commission and the importance of evangelism. If you did not read that letter please go back and do that? This week I want to continue those thoughts.

As I said, the best way to begin evangelism is with a prayer list. To make a list of those persons in your life that you want to see come to Christ, and begin praying for their salvation on a regular basis. As well, I invited you to send me your prayer list, and with your permission, I would even share it with our prayer team. 

This week, I want to suggest some additional simple steps to evangelism. Like the last step, this one is also rooted in prayer. It is praying for God to stir your heart with zeal for the lost. Our lives are often so full of other things, that there is not much room in our hearts (or lives) for the lost. So before we will ever make room in our schedule we need a change of heart. The place to begin then is praying, “God I know that your heart is for the lost. Please give me passion for the lost. Please give me the zeal to reach my friends, neighbors, and family. Please give me a heart for my community.” That prayer will do more to you than you can imagine. You cannot pray that prayer and it not affect your love for the lost.

If you will start with these two things: (1) prayer for people on your list, and (2) prayer for your own passion/zeal to be ignited for the lost. I promise you that you will see people get saved. 

One last thing, will you, as an act of evangelism, please invite your neighbors to our Christmas Eve Candlelight Services on December 24? We have two service times, 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm.

  

Grace and peace,

Hal 

From the VCC Newsletter on 12/10: Reaching the Unreached

A people group is considered unreached when less than 2% of a population has been evangelized.  In the Matthew 24:14 we read, And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. I have often noted that the word we translate as nations in English is actually the Greek word ethnos, from which we derive our English word, ethnic or ethnicity but the old translation of nations still persists giving us sometimes the wrong impression about global missions.

Consider that there are only 195 nations in the world but there are 6,500 people groups (ethnos) in the world of which 2,500 of those ethnos have no church –Nor is there any work being to establish one. When I worked in northern Mexico we had 13 of these unreached people groups who did not speak Spanish and did not have any church that spoke their language. Working in Juarez Mexico it was ironic to me that on one of the mountains in the city of Juarez were the words: La biblia es la verde., Leela. (the Bible is the truth. Read it.) Sadly, on that mountain top lived a group of Tarahumara indians that did not read or speak Spanish. Every year Christians passed these folks on their way to paint a sign in Spanish, but did not learn to speak the language of the people living under the words. Mexico is considered a Christian nation, but the Tarahumara people are unreached (less than 2% Christian, with no viable church).  Although we made considerable effort on the mountain we were unable to any significant inroads in that community, but I have not forgotten the people. This is why it is important for us to pray differently, for the sake of the mission, to reach every ethnos with the gospel of Jesus Christ, not just every nation.

 

After a great deal of prayer I feel the Lord has put it on my heart for us to change our nation of the month prayer format to praying for unreached people groups by the nations where they reside. Specifically, that we pray for those people groups to be reached and to have a church of their own. I hope you will join me as we focus our global mission attention in both prayer and giving to focus our attention on the unreached people groups. Our goal being to send missionaries to begin a church for every unreached people group, so that the gospel of the Kingdom would be proclaimed to every ethnos under heaven and hasten the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to rule and reign over the new heavens and new earth.

I hope you are as excited as I am to see what God is going to do in reaching these ethnos through our prayers and missions.

VALUING THE GENERATIONS

We talk a lot of about loving our neighbors and about how to treat the lost. Recently I have talked a great deal about objectifying people by placing them in categories by their religion, political party, sexual orientation, etc., and then reducing them to a set of bullet points we can attack. When we are filled with compassion it means we, at the gut level, feel their personal hurts and pains and empathize with the reasons why they think or feel like they do. Instead of judging them we can love them into a relationship with Christ. Without love we can never lead them to Christ from an objective position.

With that in mind, I want to talk to you about intergenerational relationships…

There is a lot of marketing being done by targeting age groups. It began with the Baby Boomers (those born between 1945-1965) and the  GenX/Baby Busters (1966-1986). Finally they identified Generation Y/Millennials (1987-2007), and on it goes. As each group is identified and marketed towards, the characteristics of each generation are used to make sweeping conclusions about each generation that are often unfair.

For instance, critics of Baby Boomers say they are greedy, self-centered, and materialistic. Critics of GenX say they  are deconstructionist, nihilist, and don’t play by the rules. Then critics of the Millennials think they need trophies for everything and melt at the slightest hardship. However, I can say I know lots of generous, selfless Boomers. I know GenX who are “by the book” and find meaning in everything. I know Millennials who live sacrificial lives on the mission field completely free of accolades. Assumptions about people based on age are not entirely unfounded, but when we use that information to dismiss,  belittle, or judge whole groups of people then we have violated the Spirit of Christ.  

These intergenerational struggles have been around since the beginning when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, when Cain killed Abel and their parents gave birth to Seth. It's normal, but normal is messed-up and sinful. Being normal does not make something ok. In 1 Timothy 5 we read: “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.” The church is called to view each generation as a gift to the body. Every generation has strengths (and, yes, weaknesses), and we need to glean from every generation what they know, what they do best, and value them for it.

Listen, the next generation does not lack information because they have the Internet, but what they need is sage wisdom in what to do with that information. The older generation may not know as much about the Internet, but they know how to do things you are trying to learn from a YOUTUBE video. They have life skills that once were common and now are virtually unknown. More than that, discussion about what is happening in the world right now, seeing it through the eyes of more than one generation, gives us perspective. I love when I get to talk with and listen to people from different perspectives because they help me develop a bigger picture.

In the church, we need the youth to engage and be the church today, not the church of the future. That will be too late. We must reach the young without dismissing everyone else.  

We need the life skills and resources of other generations. We need parents and grandparents; we need to remember every “new thing” is not really that new. In fact, it has often been done before, and we can learn from the past as well as the present. We need the patience of those who know “it” will still be here tomorrow, and we need the exuberance of youth who push us ahead because it seems like we will never get there otherwise.

Intergenerational ministry is as important as intercultural and interracial ministries. We are called to reach every ethnicity, every culture, and every age group with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s never ok to make it all about this group or that group or to value one group over the other. No matter how you justify that position, in the end, it violates the spirit of the gospel and the Kingdom.