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To Breakout, We Must Breakdown

Sean Cronin — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 10:00:37 +0000

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To Breakout, We Must Breakdown

By Josh Laxton

How can pastors and leaders guide their churches to experience a breakout? Breakout can be defined as a sudden move to the next level. Therefore, with many of our churches (at least 60% according to Rick Richardson in his book, You Found Me) in states of plateau or decline, the question is not do we need a breakout, but rather what will it take to lead our churches to breakout?

I would propose that the first step to breakout is to have leaders who breakdown.

In March of 2013, my wife and I bought a used minivan. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of minivans, nor am I a fan of buying a much older model car (I didn’t learn car repair in seminary). However, I am a big fan of making my wife happy. Not too long after purchasing the van, I’m driving back from the store (alone) with my three small children when suddenly, after a few mildly intense sputtering episodes, the car died. There I was, with a broken down car, stranded in the middle of the road, with no shoulder to move the vehicle to safety.

While I am trying to think about what to do with the broken down car and move us to safety, my four-year-old daughter has her own breakdown. She begins letting out these belching screams yelling “Daddy, Daddy,” piercing cries accompanied with huge crocodile tears, along with heavy sobbing and breathing. The car was not the only thing that broke down that day; my daughter Ellie had one as well.

Did you notice what triggered her breakdown? Ellie’s breakdown stemmed from the breakdown of the car.

For many of us, our churches are like my minivan. They were running fine, but something happened along way, and now the church is not functioning and operating the way Jesus intended—as a God-glorifying, gospel-centered, mission-oriented, disciple-making, and church planting vehicle. Sure, the flashers, radio, horn, and air still work (i,e., corporate worship, committees, and programs still work), but the breakdown is in the primary reason of its existence—it’s literally not moving, not going anywhere. What is needed within the church today are people like my little girl who will have a breakdown over the brokenness of the church.

When it comes to leaders in Scripture that had a breakdown over the broken condition of God’s people, Nehemiah comes to mind. Although Nehemiah had never been to Jerusalem, he had great affection and concern for his homeland, therefore, when his brothers came to visit, he asked how his countrymen were faring. The news he received was bad; the people and the city were broken. The bible says that upon hearing this, Nehemiah “wept and mourned” for days. In addition, the Bible states that he “continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” The city’s broken condition led to his breakdown.

Nehemiah teaches us a foundational principle of leadership when it comes to leading a breakout. Leadership begins in the heart; it begins with a breakdown.

Contributing Factors of Breakdown

There are two contributing factors that led to Nehemiah’s breakdown.

First, his reality was based on what he knew about God and what God had called His people to be and do (Gen 12:3; Exodus 19:4-6). When Nehemiah learned that the wall was in ruin and the people lived in great trouble and shame, he recognized that they were not where they were supposed to be.

Do we know with certainty the honest, transparent conditions of our church in relation to God’s intended reality, a reality void of any false reality such as our presuppositions, preferences, or traditions?

Second, the reality affected him because not only did he know about God’s intended reality for his people, but he was in relationship with God. Thus, when Nehemiah heard about the condition of the city as well as the people, he went immediately to the Father weeping, morning, fasting, and praying.

He was broken over their condition because he knew God was broken over their condition. And Nehemiah’s going to the Father was not a one-time ordeal; the Bible states that he “continued” doing this.

How closely are you connected to the heart of the Father?

As leaders, both pastoral and lay, we must understand that the breakout of our churches begins with our breakdown in light of their broken condition.

In summary, breakdown occurs when the source of our reality stems from God’s intended purpose for us in the world. But understanding God’s intended reality is not enough, we must also be connected with Him in a vibrant, intimate, and personal relationship, which then begins to move our heart the way His heart is moved. In doing so, when God’s heart breaks over the condition of his people and their ineffectiveness of living out his mission, then our heart breaks as well.

In short, to breakout we must first have a breakdown!

Source: To Breakout, We Must Breakdown

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Disciples Who Make Disciples

Patrick Bradley — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 09:00:49 +0000

by Tom Planck: The narrative that is unfolding in the Church today is not a good read. There are 355,000 plus churches in the United States and better than 80% of them are either in plateau or decline1. These churches are not only declining numerically, but they are also seeing a decrease in influence and impact in their community.

There is only one hope for the Church today. It is for a remnant of Christ-followers to re-engage with the mission of Jesus to make disciples who make disciples. The Church today greatly needs disciples of Jesus who help an individual walk toward and across the line of faith and then help them become a disciple who does the same for another.

This was and is Jesus’ Plan A for reaching the world and there is no Plan B.

Do you have a handful of people in your life that are far from God that you are intentionally helping walk toward a relationship with Jesus? Do you have a few Christ-followers that you are intentionally helping live with the attitude and posture of Jesus? Are you helping those disciples of Jesus intentionally repeat the process for others?

If you are still reading this blog entry and are a follower of Jesus then the answer to these questions should be a clear yes!

If you cannot answer these questions with the names of real people in your life that you are pouring into then let me challenge you to integrate a few principles into your life sooner rather than later.

1. Renew your commitment to be an obedient follower of Jesus.

Jesus’ words in John 14:15 are simple and profound:

“If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15

If you love Jesus, you will live His commands.

This is NOT:

a rule to follow.
jumping through a set of religious hoops.
behavior management or simply adhering to a set of tacit religious behaviors.
about being a good churchgoer.

This IS about:

being in a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus.
having the attitude of Jesus.
having the posture of Jesus.
intentionally living the way Jesus did.

Being Jesus’ disciple is not merely gaining knowledge about Him, but integrating and living what we are learning about following the way of Jesus. He isn’t asking for perfection, but He is clear that His followers live a life patterned after His.

Where do you need to be more obedient to Jesus?

2. Re-engage in fishing for Jesus.

The call on the life of a follower to help people find their way back to God is made clear multiple times and in multiple places in the New Testament. Jesus said it this way in Matthew’s account:

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19

My heart grieves over how few people who occupy a spot in a church pew on a weekly basis or serve on the staff of a local church have never helped someone walk to and across the line of faith. I am confident God’s heart breaks for the few numbers of Christians today that have helped someone find their way back to the Father. Know this, there are people in your life right now who God has strategically placed there so you can help them find their way back to God. Will you partner with Him? I hope so!

Walk across the room. Extend a hand. Build a friendship. Throw a party. Go to lunch. Invite them into your golf foursome. Get intentionally connected to those who are disconnected and see what God might do!

Take a moment right now to develop a short list of disconnected people that you will invest in and help walk toward a relationship with Jesus.

3. Refocus your time to be a disciple-maker for Jesus.

When the first followers of Jesus were given the challenge and strategy of making disciples who make disciples of all nations, this was not a foreign concept. They had lived it. It was key to their spiritual formation as His followers.

When Jesus began His public ministry, He called twelve to follow Him. He encouraged the masses but poured His life into a few. He made an even more intentional investment in three: Peter, James, and John. They had some unique experiences with Jesus that the other nine didn’t have. Jesus was preparing them for future leadership in the church. We see this clearly in the person of Peter who would become the foremost voice for spreading of the Gospel in the early days of the birth of the Church.

We also see this lived out in the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul. We see it most clearly in his discipling of young Timothy. Notice how Paul describes that in his second letter to Timothy:

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”2 Timothy 2:2

I love this verse because we see four generations of reproduction!

So the question to wrestle with is this: Who has God placed in your life that you can help become an obedient follower of Jesus who is fishing for people? How can you invest in them to ensure that the process gets repeated to multiple generations of reproduction?

Do not hesitate. Make the necessary changes. And, go make disciples!

More Resources

Here are a few suggested resources to help you build some intentional next steps.

Read “The Art of Neighboring” by Dave Runyon
Explore disicpleship.org
Hire a discipleship coach with Gravity Leadership

Note 1. Statistics adapted from “The Great Opportunity.” We highly recommend you download “The Great Opportunity” report.

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Source: Disciples Who Make Disciples

The post Disciples Who Make Disciples appeared first on Passion for Planting.