RightNow.org

I read an interesting article the other day from RightNow.org. Back in the middle of November RightNow and Bluefish TV hosted an event in Dallas. It was called Lead Now and was a conference for leaders of all sorts of ministries. I thought about going, but didn't. Reading this article made me wish I had.

One of the speakers was Francis Chan. I didn't know a whole lot about him until a friend of mine suggested I pick up his book "Crazy Love." I've started reading it but haven't finished yet. Anyway, Francis Chan was speaking about ministry and the goal of what we do. He made some rather provocative statements about church growth. He said that he knew how to grow a church to massive size. He knew how to preach great sermons. He knew how to reach people at an emotional point where he could get them to move. (I know I'm not getting these completely correct, but I'm working strictly from recall as I can't find the article anymore.) I thought these were bold claims, but then he went on to say something more profound.

He wondered if that was truly the goal of ministry. Is the goal of ministry to grow as large as possible? Is being relevant and attractive the goal or is it more about simply preaching the truth? Are we supposed to draw people in to hear the truth or are we supposed to simply preach and let the Holy Spirit draw? (I'm getting away from what Chan said because I had questions of my own.) Am I supposed to look for fresh, new ways to bring students to my ministry or simply speak truth to the ones I have?

I don't believe these two concepts are mutually exclusive, just wondering which is more necessary. If I sacrifice truth for relevance, my ministry won't be successful. If I pack out the house but can't speak to their need for God, what good have I done? I'm asking these questions because it seems that I can't do both at the same time, as least not consistently. I'm not that creative of a person on my best days nor am I a charismatic speaker. I believe in simple, straight-forward delivery of the truths in the Bible. I think that honesty and truthfulness when dealing with scripture is the best policy. I had a Greek professor who used to say "You don't have to make God jump through hoops to be impressive."

Why is it we feel like we have to compete with the world, like we're trying to sell a better product? Why also do we take the extreme other end and have the attitude of "if you don't like my product, then suck it?" We're still treating Jesus like he's a commodity, to be bought and sold.

Jesus is not a commodity to be bought, sold, or traded. He is a person with whom we can have a relationship. We also don't have to sell anyone on the idea of having a relationship with him. We simply must tell the truth about what a relationship with God really is. This begs the question, how many of us really understand that Jesus is a person? How many of us really understand what intimacy in a relationship is? If we don't grasp this point, how can we ever lead others to understand it?