Source: Have You Lost the Vision?

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By Jim Putman:

A few months ago I sent out an email to my readers asking them to share their number one problem when it comes to making disciples. I received many, many emails. A number of different themes came up as I read through them, but one thing in particular stood out.  A large number of you feel personally responsible when the people you are discipling either lose interest in, or turn away from God.

While it is very important to recognize that we do have a part in the discipleship process, it is equally important to recognize that we don’t carry the full responsibility for it alone.

Don’t let Satan try to tell you that you are not good enough, smart enough, or spiritual enough to disciple someone – it’s a lie.

The truth is there are three roles in the discipleship process. There is our role, their (the disciples) role, and God’s role. The Key Truth that I want you to take away from this is that we can and should only take responsibility for our part.

Now, I am certainly not saying that we can’t grow and become more skilled at what we do. We can. But there are a number of possible reasons for why a person might not respond positively to the gospel message, or to our encouragement or direction. For instance – in the case of witnessing to a lost person, perhaps we were trying to force something on the person that God was not in on. I’m not saying that God wants anyone to be lost – he doesn’t. But He does know each person’s heart. We may be only one in a series of steps they will go through before they surrender to God. Or it could be that God IS working in their heart, but they are the one holding back and refusing to respond.

We even have an example in the Bible of this happening to Jesus. In Matthew 19:16-22, a rich young man came and asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus, knowing the young man’s heart, responded to him with truth and love, putting his finger right on the problem. The young man didn’t respond to the offer to become a disciple of Jesus. He chose to stay with what he knew and was comfortable with, rather than follow Jesus. Had Jesus failed because the man didn’t follow Him? Had he done His part perfectly? I trust you know that answer to those questions.

God is not dependent on our perfection to win someone He is working on. He is also not dependent on us to disciple someone perfectly.

God is not dependent on our perfection to win someone He is working on. That is so important I want you to read it again! God does not need us to perform perfectly in order to win someone to Him. He is also not dependent on us to disciple someone perfectly. This is where we go wrong every time. We forget that the people we disciple are not our disciples; they are Jesus’. And He will never stop working on them.

We forget that the people we disciple are not our disciples; they are Jesus’. And He will never stop working on them.

Don’t let Satan try to tell you that you are not good enough, smart enough, or spiritual enough to disciple someone – it’s a lie.  We can’t do the other persons part and we certainly can’t do God’s part. But we can only do our part- and God has, and will continue to, equip us for our part and for the work He has called us to do.

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By Jim Putman. Used with permission.

The post It’s Not Your Fault appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: It’s Not Your Fault

The post It’s Not Your Fault appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: UnSeminary

Welcome to this week’s edition of the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Ken Costa, the founder of God At Work and author of four books including his latest, Joseph of Arimathea. He is with us today to talk about listening and leading in this season.

Stop and listen. // Right now we’re dealing with a lot of pivotal events in history and the church isn’t insulated from what’s going on in the world. 1 Chronicles 12:32 says that the men of Issachar understood the times and knew what to do. Consider very carefully that we’re drawn together as a mixture of reason and revelation. It’s not enough to be a sociologist, guess the social trends and try to get ahead of them. There is a revelation from God in what is happening and He is trying to grab our attention. We must stop and listen.Look outside your lens. // Decisions have to be made in the knowledge that we don’t have enough facts by ourselves. We need to pull together the insights that we can from the world around us with analytical tools while also pursuing God for discernment. Draw together a small group of people who would represent those two areas of reason and revelation and listen to what they’re saying. Discernment needs to happen in the context of community.Using discernment in leadership. // Discernment is a gift of the Spirit and is about asking the right questions. It’s also a process rather than something instantaneous that we can Google to find answers. Keep a posture of listening by submitting to God, reading Scripture, and trying to recognize God’s voice. Look forward in faith as you make forward projections.Walk by faith. // Be careful about trying to lay down the next three-year plan for your church and rushing back to the old days. Instead keep short term plans and constantly evaluate them against real time changes. Ask where is the Spirit of God moving? Where is it changing? Be ready to change with it. Flexibility is paramount in adapting to today’s world. Wise pastors will be living in contracting horizons in which they know what they’re doing for a short period of time (ex. a three-month plan instead of a three-year plan).Ordinary matters. // Ken’s book Joseph of Arimathea: The Extraordinary Calling Ordinary People reminds us that ordinary matters and that small acts of faithfulness can lead to astounding influence and impact. Joseph was a secret disciple who didn’t express his faith until he was forced to. He didn’t know how the story was going to end, and yet he was faithful in his calling to bury Christ. Like Joseph, leaders and pastors are experiencing a “silent Saturday” time during the pandemic, but it will give way to a resurrection celebration.

You can learn more about Ken and his book at www.kencosta.com.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Carey Nieuwhof

Surrounding yourself with other high capacity leaders is so important right now. When you’re well connected, you can put meaning to content and make well-informed decisions.

Carey Nieuwhof created The Leader’s Circle in March 2020, an inner circle of high capacity leaders who have direct access to him and to one another. If you want to stop leading alone and start leading together, apply now to join The Leader’s Circle.

Source: The Extraordinary Calling of Ordinary People to Lead in This Season with Ken Costa

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Source: Three Ways for the Church to Seek Peace

The post Three Ways for the Church to Seek Peace appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: I often hear from people who say “We don’t any need more ideas/strategies/conferences/skills…all we need to do is ________,” and then they fill in the blank with something that sounds spiritual.

Maybe you have people like that at your church, or someone like that on your team.

It’s amazing how common this perspective is.

You know the drill.  Every time you suggest “Why don’t we try reformatting our services/changing our kids ministry/reaching out into the community” they shoot back with “what we really need to do is just pray” (or “what we really need to do is get back to the Bible…”) as though that settled the discussion.

Sometimes, of course, it’s not other people who have the problem. Maybe you’ve fallen for a leadership cop-out too—dodging the real issue by putting a spiritual mask over it.

Can it be that something that sounds so spiritual can actually stop some very spiritual work?

Well, yes. The answer is yes. In the name of God, some people end up opposing the work of God. And it’s all done in the most holy-sounding way.

Here are three leadership cop-outs that sound spiritual, but aren’t.

In the name of God, some people end up opposing the work of God.Click To Tweet

1. All we need to do is pray about it

This sounds so good. After all, how can prayer be a BAD thing?

I mean how are you supposed to counter that? It puts you or anyone around you in a horribly awkward position.

If you disagree, you sound like you’re coming out against prayer.

If you agree, you’ve just mothballed any productive strategy conversations.

I mean who really wants to come out against prayer? Not me. Not you.

And so, not sure what to do, we shut down the leadership conversation and all the potential that comes with it.

Prayer alone can become a smokescreen. Why? Because while prayer is foundational, God almost always moves people to do something.

The walls of Jericho ultimately fell down because having heard from God, people obeyed God, marching around the city for a week, blasting trumpets and shouting.

The early church grew because Paul prayed day and night then got out on a boat, escaped from jail and kept preaching the Gospel even if it put his life in danger, which it did again and again.

Jesus prayed all night long and then went out from city to city encountering people in a way that changed their lives and the world.

All of this kind of sounds like strategy doesn’t it?

Interestingly enough, the scripture is filled with strategy if you look for it.

I haven’t become an atheist. I agree that the church needs more prayer and I believe all authentic, effective ministry is rooted in prayer.

But saying “All we need to do is pray” really misses how God works.

If all we needed to do was pray, we could lock ourselves in a closet and never come out. But I’m not sure that’s how God has moved historically.

What begins in prayer should end in some kind of action, because prayer without action lacks courage.

As Augustine said, pray as though everything depended on God; work as though everything depended on you.

Prayer without action lacks courage.Click To Tweet

2. We’re Just Being Faithful

I’ve seen too many leaders behave like faithfulness and effectiveness are mutually exclusive.

They’re not.

Just because you’re being effective doesn’t mean you’re being faithful, but just because you’re being faithful doesn’t mean you’ll be ineffective.

And yet time and again I’ve seen leaders use faithfulness to justify a lack of fruitfulness.

Too many leaders use faithfulness to justify a lack of fruitfulness.Click To Tweet

Sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade.

No, you’re not being faithful. You’re being ineffective. (Enough said.)

Sometimes, church leaders, you’re not being faithful. You’re being ineffectiveClick To Tweet

3. Jesus Didn’t Have a Strategy

People often tell me “Jesus didn’t have a strategy.”

Actually, he did.

He needed one. The opposition to his ministry was so intense to approach it in a haphazard, poorly-thought-through way would have meant disaster.

Think about it.

He prepared for thirty years for a three-year mission. that’s a 10:1 preparation to accomplishment ratio. He spent ten years preparing for every year of ministry he did.

During his active ministry, Jesus would disappear again and again to pray. He knew his private input would need to exceed his public output.

Jesus intentionally organized his community of disciples into concentric circles of 70, 12, 3 and then 1. His prayer resulted in action…thoughtful action. He built a succession strategy directly into his ministry.

The night before he went to the cross, he talked to God all night in agony to prepare him for what was ahead. Do you know what that was? It was a strategy.

Leaders, a great strategy is a wonderful companion to a great prayer life.

Great strategy is a wonderful companion to a great prayer life.Click To Tweet

And it’s not just Jesus who thought and acted strategically. God noticed that Moses had a bad leadership strategy that was ultimately going to wear out both him and the people. So God used Moses’ father-in-law (of all people) to give him a new strategy that required tremendous reorganization.

The early church continually rethought its strategy as the church grew and the mission expanded (see Acts 6, Acts 13 and Acts 15 as examples).

Sometimes church people behave like strategy is the enemy.

It’s not. It has never been.

Strategy is not the enemy. Overly simplistic thinking is.

Strategy isn’t your enemy. Overly simplistic thinking is.Click To Tweet

So Where Does This Leave Us?

So what’s the point?

Strategy should be a good word in the church. And it should be a good word in your church.

That means you should have the tough conversations.

You should surface disagreements (even pray through them).

You shouldn’t skirt tough issues.

It also means you need to lead.

Leadership requires your heart but it doesn’t stop there. It requires  your soul, your strength AND your mind.

So use your mind. And your strength. And your soul.

So Next Time

So next time someone interrupts the conversation and says “What we really need to do is pray”…what should you do?

I think you might agree…and say “I agree. We should pray.”

But then add.

“And after we pray, let’s get working on the most important issues facing us. The mission is just too important to ignore them.”

And when people say their’ being faithful, challenge them to be effective. When people say Jesus didn’t have a strategy, beg to differ and sharpen your strategy (prayerfully, of course).

Great prayer can and should lead to great action.

It’s time for the church to act. And to get the best strategy we can find to accomplish the mission God has given us.

Great prayer can and should lead to great action.Click To Tweet

Some Strategic Help

In the end, a prayerful strategy can be exactly what a church team needs.

I love producing resources that I hope will help with that.

If you want to drill down on why your church isn’t reaching new people, my book, Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Will Help Your Church Grow covers the major reasons churches fail to reach new people. In the book, I outline 7 issues that keep churches from reaching their mission. You can get it here.

Plus I’ve created a Lasting Impact Team Edition video series that will help your leadership team discuss the book in a healthy way. You can get that here.

If your church is reaching new people but is stuck an attendance plateau (this is so common in growing churches), check out my Breaking 200 Without Breaking You course. It’s designed to lead you and your team through the barriers that keep growing churches from their true potential. While it addresses the #1 church growth barrier (200 weekend attenders), it has also helped hundreds of churches scale the 400, 500 and even 700 barrier. The principles are often the same.

Click here to learn more.

Both of these resources provide deeper help for leaders who want to move forward.

Anything Else?

Have you ever run into leaders who block action in a holy-sounding way?

Anything else you’ve said or heard others say that stunts your mission?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

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Source: 3 Leadership Cop Outs That Sound Spiritual, But Aren’t

The post 3 Leadership Cop Outs That Sound Spiritual, But Aren’t appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Aaron Menikoff: Ambition is intoxicating. A few years ago I came close—a couple times—to having a book picked up by a premier, academic publisher. I’m not sure what bothered me more: the fact that both publishers ultimately turned me down, or the fact that I cared so much.

Even now, I hate thinking about this. What a petty concern! I know an Afghan brother laboring to help the underground church in Kabul. I’m praying for a sister battling cancer. My personal tremor doesn’t register on the Richter scale. But I can’t change the fact that rejection hurts. Ambition is intoxicating. Unfulfilled ambitions seem devastating.

I tried to baptize my discontent, to make it seem godly. After all, being published by a high-profile press would have meant greater respect. Greater respect would have meant a wider platform. A wider platform would have meant a larger audience. A larger audience would have meant more gospel impact, and so on. Nice try. The fact of the matter is I cared more about my fame than God’s.

Renowned author David Foster Wallace didn’t try to hide his ambition. An interviewer once told him, “Respect means a lot to you.”

“Show me somebody who doesn’t like to be respected,” Wallace responded, “I don’t think I’m more hungry for respect than the average person.” Maybe he’s right. But by God’s grace, Christians ought to be different. We must hunger for God’s glory, not ours. I know my own heart, and for a season I wanted to be successful more than faithful.

Looking back, God was kind to kill the book deal. He taught me the importance of longing for faithfulness—a precious piece of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

CAN YOU RELATE? 

Wallace and I aren’t alone here. There’s a reason so many books are filled with frustrated characters. Michael Henchard of The Mayor of Casterbridge lost his money and his office. Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman longed to be more than he was. Even the virtuous Lucy of Narnia convinced herself life would be better if she had the looks of her older sister, Susan.

Perhaps you can relate. Have you ever battled for wealth, prominence, or beauty—worldly metrics of success—only to come up short? How many kids, when asked what they want to be when they grow up, answer, “I want to be faithful”? I fear not many.

GODLY AMBITION

There’s such a thing as godly ambition. Dave Harvey warns us not to kill that God-given desire to achieve. He calls it “the instinctual motivation to aspire to things, to make something happen, to have an impact, to count for something in life.” Christians ought not squelch the craving to accomplish something big. Harvey is spot-on: “Humility, rightly understood, shouldn’t be a fabric softener on our aspirations.”

The last thing I want to do is de-motivate you from the kind of visionary action that marks a true believer. After all, there’s such a thing as false humility. It says with a sly grin, “Look at me now. I’m not trying to do anything great because I don’t want the attention. Don’t you wish you were as humble as I am?”

Instead of hiding your talents, take a page out of Jim Eliot’s life: “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” There’s plenty of room in the Christian life for godly ambition.

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to say you’re attempting great things for God when you’re really attempting great things for yourself. Before you know it, a hunger for personal fame elbows out a zeal for God’s glory.

How can you know if your ambition is godly or sinful? Our motives will never be pure this side of heaven. Indwelling sin makes sure of that. Nonetheless, we can and must pursue faithfulness, leaving the results to God.

WHAT IS FAITHFULNESS?

Fundamentally, the faithful are simply those “full of faith.” The Greek behind “faithful” in the New Testament usually refers to trust in the crucified, risen, and reigning King Jesus. In fact, God’s people have always put their confidence in the Lord. When Paul said Abraham “believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations,” he meant Abraham was faithful—clinging to the promises of God despite evidence to the contrary. Simply put, the faithful rely on God; they believe his Word.

However, faithfulness has another, related meaning. Those full of faith are reliable and trustworthy. The faithful have a proven track record of obedience to God.

The esteemed members of Hebrews 11 exemplified faithfulness in a variety of ways, not least by refusing to recant under fire (Heb. 11:26–38). When Paul explained how he “fought the good fight” and “kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7), he described faithfulness to the Lord. In the Parable of the Tenants, the one who wisely stewards his master’s property is called a “faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23). Likewise, the Christian who wisely stewards the gospel is called faithful, too.

Faithfulness shows up in a ton of different, practical, and beautiful ways:

Making time to meditate on Scripture in the midst of a busy schedule (Ps. 1:2)
Getting up early and working hard all day to provide for your family (1 Tim. 5:8)
Commending Christ in an office that makes fun of him (Matt. 10:33)
Showing up at the widow’s doorstep to mend her fence (James 1:27)
Teaching the Bible every week to a small crowd (2 Tim. 4:2)
Holding fast to the gospel when those around you are watering it down (Gal. 1:8)
Gently correcting your kids when inside you want to scream (Eph. 6:4)
Getting to the service early so you have a chance to encourage the saints (Heb. 10:25)
Submitting to your husband when you think he’s wrong (Eph. 5:22)
Leading your wife humbly and sacrificially (Eph. 5:25)
Giving money and time to a neighbor in need (Luke 10:37)

These are just some of the marks of a Spirit-filled life of faithfulness. The world cares about plaques and popularity, real estate and revenue, glamour and glitz. God cares about faithfulness—the steadfast commitment to honor the Lord in a thousand simple ways.

How can you be sure God cares about this? Because Jesus Christ, God incarnate, gave up heaven for a life of faithful obedience culminating in a cross. Faithfulness is nothing more—or less—than Christlikeness.

MY HEART TURNED

There’s nothing wrong with being disappointed, but when the publisher gave me bad news the sting was sharper than it should have been. I clearly cared more about being noticed than being helpful. It didn’t happen overnight, but somewhere along the way my heart turned. I took my eyes off of the faithfulness of my Savior and put them on myself.

At least I’m in good company. Solomon prayed and received wisdom from God. With this wisdom he settled disputes, managed a kingdom, and oversaw the construction of the very house of God. Solomon asked for wisdom that he might rule justly. God, as he often does, gave him so much more: “King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom” (1 Kgs. 10:23–24). He had it all: wisdom, wealth, and prestige.

But somewhere along the way, his heart turned. Solomon started believing his own press. Though he once elevated the name of the LORD above his own fame (see 1 Kgs. 10:1), he eventually neglected God’s Word, disobeyed God’s commands, and allowed the kingdom to reflect his glory and not God’s. By accumulating wealth and weapons and wives—all in defiance of God (Deut. 17:14–20)—Solomon proved he loved success more than faithfulness.

THANKFUL FOR FAILURE

Solomon lost his kingdom; I just lost my pride. Looking back, I’m thankful my book was rejected. God splashed a cold glass of water on my face, reminding me he’s important, and I’m not. In the big scheme of things, it was a tiny trial. But it was my trial, and God used it to pry my fingers off a brittle ego.

More than that, God pressed into my soul what every Christian ought to know. In his divine economy, the metrics of success aren’t the amount of followers, likes, retweets, or mentions you get on social media. It’s not the number of letters behind your name, books on your shelf, or how fast you can run a mile (at my age, not very fast at all). Christians, above all others, ought to understand this. Our value isn’t found in what we do, but the perfect love of a Savior condemned in our place. And the fruit of the Spirit isn’t success; it’s faithfulness.

“WHAT ONE CHASES”

Wallace, that great American writer, committed suicide in 2008 at the age of 46. He struggled with depression for years and couldn’t find a way out. He achieved worldly success early on in life (everyone wanted to publish his books) but it wasn’t enough to appease his ambition. In the interview where he admitted he wanted respect, he also confessed he didn’t know where to find it. “A lot of my problem,” he said, “is I don’t really have a brass ring, and I’m kind of open to suggestions about what one chases.”

Wallace, like Solomon, had the world in the palm of his hand, but it couldn’t chase away the despair in his head. Worldly ambition, the carnal desire for success, is a bus with just two stops. One stop is failure—you get out knowing you didn’t achieve what you wanted. The other stop is success, but it doesn’t satisfy—you debark only to look for another brass ring that won’t leave you fulfilled. Either way you look at it, worldly ambition is a bus to nowhere.

What you chase matters. Christians are called to chase after Christ. To love him, to long for him, to pursue him with everything we have. What does this chase look like? Faithfulness: the steadfast commitment to honor the Lord in the nitty-gritty details of everyday life.

HOW CAN YOU GROW IN FAITHFULNESS?

Now more than ever the church needs models of faithfulness. We are bombarded by airbrushed images of success. They belittle faithfulness and commend acclaim. How can we grow in our pursuit of faithfulness?

Believe the gospel. Only those who have put their faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ can be found faithful. Have you done this? Submit your life to Christ. Trust in him for your salvation. Believe he died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead for your justification. Without faith, faithfulness is impossible.
Rethink success. It’s one thing to say success is a life of obedience to Christ, a life of faithfulness. But consider how you react when you don’t get what you want. Perhaps your heart hasn’t caught up to your head’s definition of success. If you think success is a big family, a stable career, or a large church then you’ve wrongly accepted the world’s metric. It’s time to rethink success.
If you are in ministry, listen to Mark Dever’s message, “Endurance Needed: Strength for a Slow Reformation and the Dangerous Allure of Speed.” It’s a sweet reminder that worldly ambition poisons the pastorate.
Get to work. Faithfulness is a gift of the Spirit, but it’s also hard work. Look over that list above. Checking off those boxes is not the pathway to heaven; we’re justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But if God has given us new life, if he has changed our hearts, then we’ll roll up our sleeves and obey his commands.
Leave the results to God. Paul wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6–7). The call to faithfulness is not a call to laziness, but it is a call to rest. We are finite. We may write the best book we could possibly write, and never find a publisher. We may work as hard as we possibly can, and never be promoted. We may share the gospel a thousand times, and never see a convert. It’s our job to be faithful. The rest is up to God.

Source: “What Do You Want?”: Pastoral Reflections on Faithfulness

The post “What Do You Want?”: Pastoral Reflections on Faithfulness appeared first on Passion for Planting.