The Externally Focused Quest E-Book

Eric Swanson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: J-B Leadership Network Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 480

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

A practical approach for leaders to guide their congregations to become more externally focused The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community is designed for church leaders who want to transform their churches to become less internally focused and more oriented to the world around them. The book includes the clear guidelines on the ten changes congregations must adopt to become truly outwardly focused. This book is not about getting all churches to have an annual day of community service as a tactic but changing the core of who they are and how they see themselves as a part of their community. * Outlines the ten changes needed for church leaders to transform their churches * Presents a highly practical approach that shows leaders how to become more externally focused without having to give up programs that serve members * A new volume in the popular Leadership Network Series This book reveals what it takes to make the major shift from an internal to external focus and how that affects church leadership.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

LEADERSHIP NETWORK TITLES

ABOUT LEADERSHIP NETWORK

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 - What Kind of Day Is Today?

Waking Up to a New Day

STEEPR: A Leadership Skill to Master

Liminality

CHAPTER 2 - Focus: They Choose the Window Seat, Not the Aisle Seat

Attractional and Missional Churches

The Early Church: A Window-Seat Church

Reasons the Church Is Not Engaged

A Timely Look at the Scriptures

Focus

CHAPTER 3 - Purpose: They Practice Weight Training, Not Bodybuilding

Understanding Purpose

The Tipping Point of Growth

Weight Training in Boulder

Weight Training in Dallas

Weight Training in Cincinnati

Research

Building Capacity in Young People

A Different Kind of Senior Year

What the Willow Creek Study Revealed

From Stairstep to Journey

An Even Better Discovery

If You Want to Live Longer

For the Sake of the 98 Percent

The Purpose of Strength

Depth and Frequency of Engagement

Frequency of Engagement

“I Need a Prayer!”

CHAPTER 4 - Story: They Live in the Kingdom Story, Not a Church Story

What Kind of Story Have We Been Telling?

The Rest of the Story

The Inciting Incident

The “Mandatory Scene”

An Unexpected Ending

The Importance of the Kingdom

Comparing the Church and the Kingdom

What Is Kingdom Work?

Isn’t This Work for the Church?

Becoming Part of the Kingdom

Creating Something Better

A Kingdom Experiment

The More Compelling Story

If Jesus Were Mayor

Vintage Vineyard

Becoming a Pretty Good Church

Miracle Thursday

A Story That Changes the World

CHAPTER 5 - Missions: The Few Send the Many, Not the Many Send the Few

The Changing Centers of Christianity

Missionaries from Other Countries

The Big Shifts

Interviewing Leaders

The Present Future

CHAPTER 6 - Partnering: They Build Wells, Not Walls

Do You Believe What I Believe?

Do You Care About What I Care About?

Churches Sinking Wells

Catalytic Days of Service and Unity

Rural Transformation

Most Popular Ways to Partner

Why It Hasn’t Always Been This Way

Who Else Cares?

What Sustains Partnerships

Lessons Learned

Changing Who Waits in Boulder

Fellow Workers

CHAPTER 7 - Systems: They Create Paradigms, Not Programs

Creating Structures for What We Value

What Would Jim Do?

John Wesley and His System

Creating Systems That Influence Behavior

CHAPTER 8 - Evangelism: They Deploy Kingdom Laborers, Not Just Community Volunteers

The Ministry of Jesus: Good News and Good Deeds

Two Questions

More Pearls for Single Moms

Driving or Putting?

Good Deeds and Goodwill

Why You Don’t Have to Wear a T-Shirt with Your Church’s Name on It

Apologetics Today

The Role of Expectancy

What Can We Learn About Evangelism from “Evangelists”?

“These Church People Are Different”

CHAPTER 9 - Creativity: They Innovate, Not Replicate

Innovation and Growth

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

What Do You Want to Accomplish?

Shifting Resources

How to Think like an Entrepreneur

Pulling It All Together

Looking at the Same Thing and Thinking Something Different

CHAPTER 10 - Outcomes: It’s About the Game, Not the Pregame Talk

Everyone Plays

Getting Everyone in the Game

How to Tell If You Are “Winning”

NOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

SCRIPTURE INDEX

INDEX

Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Credit: Gin Lane, 1751 (engraving) (b/w photo) by William Hogarth (1697-1764) British Museum, London, UK/ The Bridgeman Art Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Swanson, Eric, date.

The externally focused quest : becoming the best church for the community/Eric

p. cm. - (Leadership network titles)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-60289-8

1. Communities—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Mission of the church. 3. Church growth. I. Rusaw, Rick, date. II. Title.

BV625.S85 2010

261—dc22

2009051931

HB Printing

LEADERSHIP NETWORK TITLES

The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs, Brian Bailey and Terry Storch

Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners, and Re-Aligners, Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr

Leading from the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams, Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson The Way of Jesus: A Journey of Freedom for Pilgrims and Wanderers, Jonathan S. Campbell with Jennifer Campbell Leading the Team-Based Church: How Pastors and Church Staffs Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders, George Cladis

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens, Neil Cole Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church, Neil Cole Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders, Earl Creps

Reverse Mentoring: How Young Leaders Can Transform the Church and Why We Should Let Them, Earl Creps

Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Mandate, Commitments, and Practices of a Diverse Congregation, Mark DeYmaz Leading Congregational Change Workbook, James H. Furr, Mike Bonem, and Jim Herrington

Baby Boomers and Beyond: Tapping the Ministry Talents and Passions of Adults over Fifty, Amy Hanson

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey, Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James H. Furr

The Leader’s Journey: Accepting the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation, Jim Herrington, Robert Creech, and Trisha Taylor

Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement, Mel Lawrenz

Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out, Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro, with Warren Bird

Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement, Will Mancini

A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey, Brian D. McLaren

The Story We Find Ourselves In: Further Adventures of a New Kind of Christian, Brian D. McLaren

Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church, Reggie McNeal

Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders, Reggie McNeal

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church, Reggie McNeal

A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders, Reggie McNeal

The Millennium Matrix: Reclaiming the Past, Reframing the Future of the Church, M. Rex Miller

Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches, Milfred Minatrea

The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition, Alan J. Roxburgh

Relational Intelligence: How Leaders Can Expand Their Influence Through a New Way of Being Smart, Steve Saccone

Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird

The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community, Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw

The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence, Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath

Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America’s Largest Churches, Scott Thumma and Dave Travis

The Elephant in the Boardroom: Speaking the Unspoken About Pastoral Transitions, Carolyn Weese and J. Russell Crabtree

ABOUT LEADERSHIP NETWORK

Leadership Network, an initiative of OneHundredX, exists to honor God and serve others by investing in innovative church leaders who impact the Kingdom immeasurably.

Since 1984, Leadership Network has brought together exceptional leaders, who are focused on similar ministry initiatives, to accelerate their impact. The ensuing collaboration—often across denominational lines—provides a strong base from which individual leaders can better analyze and refine their individual strategies. Creating an environment for collaborative discovery, dialogue, and sharing encourages leaders to extend their own innovations and ideas. Leadership Network further enhances this process through the development and distribution of highly targeted ministry tools and resources—including video, podcasts, concept papers, special research reports, e-publications, and books like this one.

With Leadership Network’s assistance, today’s Christian leaders are energized, equipped, inspired—and better able to multiply their own dynamic Kingdom-building initiatives.

In 1996 Leadership Network partnered with Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint, to develop a series of creative books that would provide thought leadership to innovators in church ministry. Leadership Network Publications present thoroughly researched and innovative concepts from leading thinkers, practitioners, and pioneering churches. The series collectively draws from a wide range of disciplines, with individual titles providing perspective on one or more of five primary areas:

• Enabling effective leadership

• Encouraging life-changing service

• Building authentic community IX

• Creating Kingdom-centered impact

• Engaging cultural and demographic realities

For additional information on the mission or activities of Leadership Network, please contact:

Leadership Network 2626 Cole Avenue, Suite 900

Dallas, Texas 75204 800-765-5323 www.leadnet.org [email protected]

FOREWORD

AS A WRITER AND TEACHER on missional church, one of the axioms of leadership that we can assume is that every organization is perfectly designed to achieve what it is currently achieving. This comment usually raises a bit of pushback because it seems to put responsibility for any current situation back onto those who lead the organization. And this is in some ways true, but it’s only half the truth. It also suggests that there is something in the inherited ecclesial templates handed down, and subsequently adopted without serious critical reflection, that tend to factor in the propensity for either growth, or decline. So, the issues do concentrate around leadership imagination and inherent design flaws in the way we conceive of, and do, church.

If your church is in decline, it is probably because you are organizationally designed for it. Don’t complain ... redesign! And you need to redesign along the lines that Jesus intended. You see, the Church that Jesus built is designed for growth—and massive, highly transformative, growth at that. It was Jesus who said “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Hang on! It says that the gates of hell don’t prevail against us! It is the Church that is on the advance here, not hell! Contrary to many of the images of church as some sort of defensive fortress under the terrible, relentless, onslaughts of hell, the Church that Jesus built is designed to be an advancing, untamed and untamable, revolutionary force created to transform the world. And make no mistake: there is in Jesus’ words here a real sense of inevitability about the eventual triumph of the gospel. If we are not somehow part of this, then there is something wrong in the prevailing designs, and they must change.

The reality is that the Western church is in a precarious situation today. Missional observation in Australia indicates that between 12 to 15 percent of the population will likely be attracted to the prevailing contemporary church growth model. This is not actual attendance, which is way below this figure (around 2.8 percent), rather it indicates “market appeal” or cultural connectivity. The rest of the population, most of whom describe themselves as “spiritually open,” will probably never find their place in a contemporary attractional church. It is simply out of their cultural orbit. If they are not repulsed by it, they are at least blase and/or turned off to the cultural forms inherent in the model.

In the United States the situation is not much better. I estimate that in the United States the percentage of people who find their spiritual connection through an attractional church is probably up to 40 percent. Again this is not attendance, which is more around 18 percent.

In both Australia and the United States the demographics of the group likely to “come to church” are probably what we can call the inspirational middle class, family-values segment—good, solid, well-educated, hard working, middle-class, suburbanites with Republican leanings. Contemporary attractional churches are really effective in reaching non-Christian people fitting this demographic, but it is unlikely that it can reach far beyond that—leaving about 60 percent of the population out of the equation. So the question we must ask is, “How will the 60 percent of our population access the gospel if they reject the current expression of existing church?”

This is precisely the issue that the missional church seeks to address. My contention is that it is going to take an “externally focused,” missional-incarnational, church approach to reach beyond the 40 percenters. It is only when the church decides to become the best church for the community that it at least has a fighting chance to reach the majority of the unchurched/dechurched population. The attractional church is about getting the community into the church. The missional, externally focused church is about getting the church into the community. Incarnational ministry, at its heart, is taking church to people by helping believers live out their calling among people who do not yet believe and follow Jesus.

The missional, externally focused church begins with the missionary questions: “What is good news for this people group?” “What would the church look and feel like among this people group?” Entering into a community through love, service, and blessing creates new proximate spaces as we become good news to the community. At the end of the day the impact of a church is not determined by who it wants to reach but by who it is willing to serve. Certainly missional living affects what happens outside the church, but it also greatly affects our own spiritual formation as disciples of Jesus. The Externally Focused Quest provides a significant part of the answer to the question of how we turn religious consumers into missional disciples that can impact the world around them for Jesus’ cause.

Building on the already significant insights from their previous writings, Eric and Rick blend years of direct leadership experience with great theological insights and a real heart for missional impact, and so concoct a really good book for our time. Our appropriate compliment ought to be to follow their advice, move into our communities, and transform them in Jesus’ name.

Los Angeles, California January 2010

Alan HirschMissional author, dreamer, and strategist (www.theforgottenways.org)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

WE WISH TO THANK KRISTA PETTY, who once again served as editor, welder, and jury-rigger for this, our third writing project. We are grateful to Sheryl Fullerton, executive editor at Jossey-Bass, for the opportunity to take this message to the world and to Joanne Clapp Fullagar, editorial production manager at Jossey-Bass, and Bruce Emmer, who through their meticulous attention to detail make us better than we are. We thank Brian Mavis, whose externally focused example helps keep us going in the right direction. Eric is most grateful to Scott and Theresa Beck and Leadership Network for the opportunity to work alongside so many passionate and gifted leaders whose example fuels the fires of his life. Rick is grateful to the staff and leaders of LifeBridge, who continually surprise him with ways to love and serve the community. Together we thank all the externally focused leaders who continue to lead, adapt, and innovate outside the walls of the church to advance the kingdom.

To Andy and Natalie, Jenda and Blaise—kingdom workers in theMiddle Kingdom, whose power of courage is surpassed only bythe power of their love.—E.S.

To the LifeBridge family. Thanks for your friendship andencouragement. You have risked, loved, and seen beyond the wallsof our church and are making a difference in our community. It hasbeen a privilege to journey with you.—R.R

INTRODUCTION

As difficult as it is to learn to surf, it is far easier to catch a wave than to cause a wave.

EVERYWHERE WE GO, WE MEET PEOPLE WHO, after listening to either of us speak on externally focused church, will say something like, “What you said today was exactly what I’ve been thinking, but I didn’t have the terminology or diagrams to explain it.” There is a movement of God taking place, and as we often say, “As difficult as it is to learn to surf, it is far easier to catch a wave than to cause a wave.” When God is causing such a wave, we can stand on the pier and let it break over us, or we can grab a surfboard, hit the surf, and have the ride of our lives. What will you do?

When we wrote The Externally Focused Church in 2004, we invited our readers to think differently about what church could and should be. We included nearly every church we were aware of that was loving and ministering outside its walls. In the past six years, the externally focused church movement has matured to the extent that projects and initiatives that were rare in 2004 are now quite common in 2010. Believers are longing to do something besides take notes in a worship service. Thousands of churches are rediscovering the DNA of the gospel and are living the gospel outside the walls of the church. Since 2004, we have been with scores of churches and thousands of people and listened to their stories and have tried to allow their experiences to deepen our own thinking about God’s missional design in the world. We want to tell about all we’ve learned since 2004 through passionate practitioners of externally focused ministry. What we have discovered is contained in the nine missional paradigms that we write about here, and we believe they can determine what impact you will have on our changing world. For those of you who are new to the journey, we say, “Grab your board and get ready for the ride of your life.”

One hundred years ago, if you were to take a survey of every one of the 1.65 billion people alive at the time and asked each person to check a box indicating religious preference, approximately 34 percent would check the box “Christian” in one of its forms—Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox. Today, a century later, with all the technological advances, T all the church planting, the phenomenal evangelistic success of the Jesus film, the expansion of the Gospel in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and evangelistic efforts, the number of Christians has risen with the population, now estimated at 6.7 billion people, yet the percentage of Christians is still 34 percent. For all the investments of the past hundred years, we have just broken even. How can we change the trajectory of the church? Changing the trajectory will not come from doing harder, better, or more of what we’ve done in the past. Ministry effectiveness—changing the trajectory of the church—will come from understanding the times and hitching a ride on the wave where God is moving. We don’t propose that we have all the answers, of course, but we are willing to follow the clues to see where God is moving among his people and among those who are searching for him.

Christian magazines love publishing lists of the best churches—“The 100 Largest Churches,” “The 50 Most Innovative Churches,” “The 50 Fastest-Growing Churches,” and so on. Some pastors whose churches make these coveted lists often frame and hang these outcomes to display to the world that they are doing a good job. But what if “largest,” “most innovative,” and “fastest-growing” were the wrong measures? Is there something else we could be working toward?

One good question changes things. One great question has the power to change a life, a church, a community, and potentially the world. When we wrote The Externally Focused Church, our big provocative question was “If your church were to close its doors, would anyone in the community notice—would anyone in the community care?” It is no coincidence that this question set many church leaders on a journey, a quest. It is no coincidence that the word question comes from the same root as quest—a journey in search of something important. So let’s think of questions as the beginning of a quest of discovery. Jesus was a master at asking great questions. “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?” “Who do you say I am?” “What good is salt if it’s lost its savor?” “Do you believe I am able to do this?” “Do you want to be well?” “Why are you so fearful... you who have no faith?” How we answer such questions shapes our lives and our futures.

We’ve discovered that questions are malleable and that rearranging a word here or there can result in a totally different answer. “Pastor, may I smoke while I’m praying?” “No!” “Pastor, while I’m smoking, is it OK if I pray?” “Why that would be a wonderful idea!” Changing the beneficiary of a question is a powerful way to transform a question to a quest. As Martin Luther King Jr. noted, the question that the Good Samaritan asked was not “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” but “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”1 A powerful question has implications for life. John F. Kennedy adapted a phrase in a way that a half century later, the question we should be asking still resonates: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”2

Most churches, blatantly or subtly, have an unspoken objective—“How can we be the ‘best church in our community?’”—and they staff, budget, and plan accordingly. How a church answers that question determines its entire approach to its members, staff, prayers, finances, time, technology, and facilities. Becoming an externally focused church is not about becoming the best church in the community. The externally focused church asks, “How can we be the best church for our community?” That one little preposition changes everything. And this is the big question this book seeks to answer. This is your question; this is your quest.

We have written the book around nine big missional concepts that need to be addressed in your quest to become the best church for the community—focus, purpose, scope, missions, partnering, evangelism, systems, creativity, and outcomes. Understanding and applying the truths of each concept will provide many of the tools you will need for your externally focused quest. We can’t guarantee that it will be easy to attain, but then again, things that we value and cherish rarely are. We’re glad you’ve picked up this book. We’re glad you’ve joined the journey. It’s going to be a great ride.

CHAPTER 1

What Kind of Day Is Today?

The church must forever be asking, “What kind of day is it today?” for no two days are alike in her history.

David Smith, Mission After Christendom1

JESUS DIDN’T ASK, “Would you like to walk?” He asked the invalid at the pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5). Rick admits that when he first read that story in the Bible, he thought, “It didn’t happen like that! What a rude question. Why did Jesus ask that? Of course the man wants to walk!”

Again, Jesus didn’t ask if he wanted to walk. He asked, “Do you want to get well?” Maybe Jesus was alluding to something more than just walking. When he asks, “Do you want to get well?” Jesus is asking the man if he is ready for the change that is coming. The man’s friends will most likely change. He won’t be begging anymore; he won’t be by the pool anymore. If he gets well, a lot of things would likely change.

“Do you want to get well?” That’s the question Jesus asked the man at the pool, and it’s the question we asked at the end of our first book, . We thought that would be a good place to start this journey, asking some more tough questions about change—change that affects our churches and our communities.