I have heard a very similar statement made numerous times by very different people since the first of the year. The comment has actually generated a great deal of thinking inside of me about my experience and what people are really trying to say. So this week I am going to explore the idea of what it means to be a Mega-Church from those comments. The simple concept of each statement was “Our Church is not one of those Mega-Churches.” Each time it was stated in a sort of negative way. People said, “I am glad our Church is not one of those Mega-Churches.” “I could never be a part of one of those Mega-Churches” “We don’t need to handle that like those Mega-Churches.”

Two clarifying thoughts for you to know up front. One, I do not lead a Mega-Church nor have I ever lead one. I am a small Church pastor. Two, I do not consider a Church a failure if it does not reach Mega status. I do however think that God is doing something great through the largest Churches in our country and I am greatly encouraged by them.

So, for me today I want to start in the most ordinary way, by looking at the Bible. The first Church ever started was a Mega-Church. In the book of Acts it tells us in 2:41 that about 3,000 people were added to the original 120 (Acts 1:15). In one day God took the Church from a mid-size Church into a Mega-Church through the power of the Holy Spirit. The story doesn’t end there. In Acts 2:27 it says that God was adding to the number “daily.” Next in Acts 4:4 it says that the number of men grew to about 5,000 people. The growth from there continues with almost every page. Acts 5:14; 6:1,7,15; 9:31; 11:21; 12:24; 16:5 and 19:20 all state the Church was growing and continually being added too. When we reach Acts 21 there is a statement in verse 20 about “how many thousands of Jews have believed.” The word there is “myriad” which literally means tens of thousands. Some estimate that there are over 25,000 believers by this point in the book of Acts. The Church is pictured as growing and growing and growing and …

For me, to say that we do not want to grow into a Mega-Church is like saying you do not want to restore New Testament Christianity. The Bible shows the Church as a group of people who are reaching out with their faith and are never content with the current size of their Church. This is true because each number represents a real person. The early Christians seem to really believe that each person should reach out to at least one other person with their faith and win them to Jesus while placing them in a Church (Re-read Luke 15). Their faith fueled a desire to see the Church grow because they believe Jesus was the only name by which people could be saved.

Honestly, it makes me a little nervous when someone says that they do not every want to be a part of a Mega-Church. My fear is that what they are really saying is that they do not care if the Church is reaching people with the gospel. Sometimes the difference between a Mega-Church and a non Mega-Church is not the size of attendance but the attitude toward reaching the lost.

I usually do not just simply copy someone’s else blog and repost it here. But I thought this one was really good and it captured what I have been saying for years.

THE PLUS ONE APPROACH TO CHURCH
by Kevin DeYoung

[Originally posted HERE]

Are you just starting out at a new church and don’t know how to get plugged in? Have you been at your church for years and still haven’t found your place? Are you feeling disconnected, unhappy, or bored with your local congregation? Let me suggest you enter the “Plus One” program of church involvement.

I don’t mean to sound like a bad infomercial. Here’s what I mean: In addition to the Sunday morning worship service, pick one thing in the life of your congregation and be very committed to it.

This is far from everything a church member should do. We are talking about minimum requirements and baby steps. This is about how to get plugged in at a new church or how to get back on track after drifting away. This is for people who feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. This is for the folks who should make a little more effort before slipping out the back door.

The idea is simple. First, be faithful in attending the Sunday morning worship service. Don’t miss a Sunday. Sure, you may miss a couple of Sundays during the year because of illness. Vacation and business travel may take you away from your local congregation several other Sundays too. But keep these to a minimum. Don’t plan all your cottage getaways over the weekend so that you miss out on your own church (and perhaps church altogether) for most of the summer. Don’t let the kids’ activities crowd out Sunday services. (What did Joshua say? “If soccer be god then serve soccer, but as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.” Something like that.) Don’t let homework or football or too much rain or too much sun keep you from the gathering of God’s people for worship. Commit right now that Sunday morning is immovable. You go to church. Period.

Now, add one more thing.

When you meet people who feel disconnected from church, start with this question: Are you committed to worshiping with us every Sunday unless you are providentially hindered? If they say yes, then move on to “Plus One.” Is there at least one other activity in the life of the church in which you are consistently and wholeheartedly participating? Usually the answer is no. Most people who feel disconnected from church feel that way because they have not made the effort to connect consistently. This doesn’t mean churches don’t have to do more to care for senior saints, singles, those with special needs, or any number of other folks in the church. This doesn’t mean pastors can say (or think), “It’s all your fault.” Sometimes it precisely the pastor’s fault. But I find that most often–not always, but normally–people who want to get involved, find a way to get involved through the existing structures of the church.

That’s why I say, be faithful on Sunday morning, plus one more thing. Personally, I’m partial to the Sunday evening service. I think it’s the easiest, most historic, and one of the most biblical ways to really get to know your church. In most churches, the evening service (if they have one) is smaller, more informal, and contains elements of prayer and sharing that may not be as present on Sunday morning. Plus, the time after the service is usually less rushed and allows for more genuine fellowship.

If Sunday evening is not an option, join a small group. (I reiterate: these are baby steps. I hope people in our church will participate in Sunday evenings and small groups.) If your church doesn’t have formal small groups, you could still invite a group of friends over every other week for prayer and fellowship. If that’s too much right off the bat, find a good Sunday school class and go every week. Or join the choir. Or get involved with the youth group. Or sign up to be a greeter. Or go on the men’s retreat. Or join the outreach committee. Or take the leadership training course. Or come to the prayer meeting each week. Or teach a kids class. Or volunteer with a local ministry your church supports. Or do Meals on Wheels. Or join the softball team. Or do the mid-week Bible study. You get the idea.

Large churches have hundreds of Plus One opportunities. Even small church will have plenty to choose from. Make Sunday morning your first priority. Then try one more thing and stick with it for at least six months. Maybe you’ll realize the church is not for you. Maybe you’ll still need help getting plugged in. Maybe you’ll find it’s time to sit down in person with a pastor or elder. But I suspect you will find that you feel more invested, you’ve made new friends, and you’re eager to see Plus One become Plus Two or Three.

I stood quietly in the dark after shutting out the lights. I hung my head and couldn’t believe how big of a failure that experience had been for me. I had attempted to do a rocking Sunday evening worship program and it flopped. The Church I was serving had been given an old Church building and we were not sure what to do with it. So we came up with a plan to continue our adult contemporary worship on Sunday morning at the movie theater and then have a loud rockin’ band in the evening at the Church building. This would enable younger people to sleep in and enjoy worship in the evening. It would also allow the musicians to keep their gear set up each week without moving everything back and forth. With this plan in mind, I gathered a band, set up the building and put together a series of sermons and went for it. We publicized and prayed and held our first program we called “Connection.” The first night we had 25-30 people other than the band. The second Sunday night dropped to 10. By six weeks into the program we had 5 people attending other than the band and myself. Finally at the end of the seventh service I told them that we were going to cancel the evening Connection program. Everyone cleaned up, took their gear and headed home. I was left alone shutting out the lights and feeling like a failure.

In every game my children play there are only the two outcomes of winning and losing. Success or failure. About 50% of the time I have sat in the stands to watch my children give their best effort only to lose … and sometimes to lose terribly. Other times I have sat in the stands and watched my children win and have great success in their efforts. Everyone who lives in America knows exactly what I am talking about for themselves. We ride the roller coaster of happiness and sadness with every game they play.

One problem I see is that we can bring this type of thinking into the Church. Actually we can do it any relationship, but I see it played out in how people do ministry for God. It is easy to think that when we do ministry that the only two outcomes are success or failure. I believe that is simply not true. I guess my real problem is that I do not know how to define success in ministry. Failure either.

Is it a success or a failure if only one person hears the gospel for the first time? I mean it is not 10 people who heard, or 50 or 100.
Is it a success or a failure if I learn to trust God more than myself through attempting something new? I mean I was the only who grew spiritually.
Is it a success or a failure if Church people spent time in prayer for a program only a few attended? I mean is it ever a failure when people pray?
Is it a success or a failure if a few people spend time together attempting to do something for God? I mean is it ever really a failure when someone does ministry?
Is it a success or a failure when the Bible is preached or taught? I mean, it is the Bible.

The older I get the harder I find it to clearly define a success or a failure in the Church. Sure, some events do not have the same impact as others and as a Church we need to focus on what bears the most fruit. As a leader I clearly understand that truth. But if the church in an effort to find what works the best in their context has a few less than successful ministries along the way, is that a bad thing? If you were to attempt something for God and it did not go as planned does that mean the effort was wasted? Is that a failure?

That night I bowed my head and I thanked God for the people who put together this program, who prayed for this program, who attend this program and anyone who had grown even a little because of those 7 weeks. Was it failure? Maybe. Was their success? Maybe.

I encourage people to give their best in a ministry and to work toward their greatest impact, but I really feel like no effort is ever wasted by our God. Maybe there are no failures only some things are more successful than others.

It was December of 1995 and I was finishing a one year ministry that had been filled with pain and heartache. The only bright spot in that year had been joining with a fellow college student to unify our two youth groups into one. We both had been having 8-10 teens in our groups but when we combined the numbers climbed to almost 30 teens each Sunday evening. Myself and C.J. really connected with the group and a couple other college students along with my wife joined in the leadership. We wrote birthday cards, encouragement cards, thank-you cards and “we miss you” cards every Sunday night after the group was over. We regularly prayed for the teens and the struggles they were having. It was a powerful year with one student giving their life to the Lord and several rededications to living the Christian life.

Unfortunately my interactions with the adults in my congregation had not gone so well. We could not see eye to eye on anything concerning the Church. They thought I should perform miracles and I thought they should at least come every week to worship. It all came to a head at a meeting where we voted to change the by-laws. To that point, everyone who had been baptized in the Church was a member. All male members were deacons. I mean all. Finally, all deacons could attend any board meeting. The sad issue was that we had men coming to Church once a month or less and then attending board meetings. There was no spiritual depth and every decisions was hard-fought including the one to fix the baptistery. The sump pump issue was a 3 month ordeal that almost ended in a fight. It was awful in every way so I had suggested we adopt a more biblical model. We invited in a professor who walked us through what the Bible said and made suggestions. The elders and I drew up a new plan and then presented it to the board. Suddenly several men realized that to change the by-laws would mean they would no longer be on the board since we made deacons meet the Biblical requirement. Then on one Sunday night in November we held a vote about the by-laws and every man in the congregation showed up to vote. That night with one quick meeting the Bible was voted down and the men kept their position. With that done, I sat down and prayed and handed in my resignation.

The final Sunday was a moment of relief. I was finally going to get out of a bad situation for me and my wife in ministry and look for greener pastures. There was only two families in the Church who had become friends and they knew exactly why I was leaving. But then there was that youth group. Over 30 teenagers who I cared for deeply and I wished the very best for them. What was I going to say to them? Well, I gave them a brief explanation as to why I was leaving and assured them it had nothing to do with them. I then taught them one principle that helped me appreciate our time together and I hope helped them too. I still hold onto this lesson today. I told them this; “We will never know the amount of good we do in our lives on this side of heaven.” I explained to them that I did not know what would happen to most of them but I prayed for the best.

Would they remember me? Would they remember anything I taught? Would they remember the late Sunday night conversations? Would they remember the cards? Was my time with them wasted?

Honestly, I have no idea the answer to any of those questions. I have never heard a single word from any of those teenagers in the 20 years since that lesson. My life moved on and so did theirs. Deep down inside I hope my time was not wasted on them during that year, but I really will never know.

The result of much of the service we give to Jesus in the Christian life is unknown. We will never know the lives we touch. We will never know the impact of our presence. We will never know the lessons people have learned from us. We will never know how our service helped another person to know God. We will never know the details of what has been done for God. Ministry is something we can measure – how many lessons taught, small groups hosted, and the number of people who attended. The impact of a ministry is unmeasurable. For those of us who serve God on a regular basis we have come to live with the unknown.

Throughout the Old Testament we have stories about kings and leaders being confronted by “a man of God.” Sometimes we are told the person’s name and sometimes we are not. Elijah is called a man of God for example, but in stories like 2 Chronicles 25 we are never told the man’s name. At first this bothered me because I wanted to know who it was and any other stories from their life. Lately I am thinking this is the perfect way to tell the story of the Bible. Ultimately the story of the Bible is the story not of individual achievements but of God’s work in the world. The people who follow him and serve him as “men and women of God” are not the center of the story – God is.

Honestly, I think the same is true of our walk with God. We serve Him and make sure He gets all the glory. I say this for a couple of reasons. First, I came to a simple conclusion a few years ago that I will never be “matthewharris.com” or Matthew Harris ministries. In fact, I hate to even put my name on the website or on the front of the program or even on the sign out front. I made a commitment about 7 years ago that I will stop trying to build my kingdom and try to build God’s kingdom. I do not need my name in lights or even the recognition of my peers to make my life meaningful. I am a servant of the God most high.

The second way I see this played out is in my daily ministry. I do not care for people to know everything I do as their preacher. I know that sounds odd to some but to me it makes perfect sense. I do not want any ministry to be about me. It is not my youth group or my worship planning or my cleaning ministry or anything I do that makes this Church great. It is God’s ministry and we all participate in it for His glory. I really do not want any part of the local Church to be my little kingdom. I want simply to be a man of God.

My hope is that when the story of my life is told to future generations you could take my name out of the story and put in the words “man of God” and the story will have the same meaning. My greatest desire is that what happens in our Church is recognized as the work of “men and women of God” and no one individual. Sure, no one will know exactly what each of us has done, but they will know that God was at work through us. I think that is the greatest story that can be told.

I recently read an article about a Christian man who made a commitment to stop lying. To be clear right up front this was not one of those experiments in being brutally honest all the time. Personally I have read several stories about people who committed themselves to unfiltered truth and ended up simply being a jerk that hurt people. No, this commitment had a filter on it so that the truth was spoken when it needed to be spoken. This experiment lasted for almost 2 years until the author felt like he was finally being honest. There were a couple of things about the article that stuck with me and I haven’t been able to get them out of my mind for the last couple weeks.

First, it reminded me of a lesson from a college professor of mine named Kenny Boles. He said that, “We lie because we do not think the other person can handle the truth.” I know that anyone who has seen “A Few Good Men” can hear Jack Nicholson’s voice in their head saying “You can’t handle the truth!,” so I must tell you that my professor said it years before that movie. But whichever person said it first doesn’t matter because it is wise counsel in either form. Sure we lie to get ahead and cover our mistakes but the underlying issue is that we do not think the other person can handle the truth in the manner we think they should. In his article he stated that telling people the truth about why they didn’t get invited to a particular party was the hardest. Being honest with people about their “issues” is hard.

Second, the first part of the article I found the most interesting. He said the hardest lies to stop telling were the lies he told himself. I see it all the time, we lie to ourselves about our relationships, our weight, our attitude and a host of other things. Do you know what I am talking about? There is the possibility that I do not face the truth because I cannot handle it. I do not want to admit that my marriage is failing, my spouse is abusive or completely unChristian in their actions or maybe I do not want to admit to my mistakes and shortcomings in any way.

For me the question today is very simple; In what ways am I lying to myself? What truth do I refuse to see because I cannot handle it?

The first step of growth in many of our lives is to face the truth. Unfortunately that is easier said than done. Maybe a commitment to the truth would do us all some good.

In the spring of 1991 I was asked if I would be willing to preach a sermon even though I was a freshman who had never preached a single sermon. The whole story is that my girlfriend at the time was on a traveling music team at the college I attended and she asked their leader if I could preach the sermon that week. The leader and I agreed and I had about a month to prepare a sermon. I prayed, I studied the scripture, I thought and I wrote. Like most 19-year-old college freshman, I had the world figured out and had a complete grasp on what the world needed to hear.

Eventually the sermon was written by hand a several pieces of paper. I preached through it again and again in my room. I asked a fellow student to read it and give me his thoughts. I do not remember what he said but I am sure it was something like, “Brilliant. Simply brilliant.”

The Church was a couple of hours away and we actually drove up the night before. I stayed in a house with a couple of young children. I remember making small talk with the parents while keeping my thoughts on the sermon continually. The next morning I practiced and prayed one final time. Then off to Church to unload my brilliant ideas in a sermon that I was sure would be talked about for years in this congregation.

After arrival the team sang and played and led the congregation in worship to begin the program. Finally, I was up. I walk to the podium and hung on for dear life. I almost threw up. I felt light-headed. I forgot most of what I was going to say and started to wing it. I explained everything I knew about God, the Bible, Jesus and the Christian life. Glancing up at the wall clock I saw it had only moved about 8 minutes. Reaching deep in my soul I found myself telling the congregation about the death of my best friend and how God had given me hope through my faith. Three minutes of emotional story telling and I was done. I preached or spoke or rambled something for 11 minutes. Those poor people had not been treated to the best sermon ever, but rather the exact polar opposite.

When the service was over I hung my head, swallowed my pride and walked sheepishly to the back door to shake hands. I heard things like, “I like short sermons.” I heard small talk about the weather and sports. No one really knew what to say to me. It was difficult and embarrassing for everyone like a bad first date. Then after everyone appeared to have left but the music team and myself, one couple came up and said, “We want to thank you for your sermon today.” The woman was crying and told me about how she had recently lost a sibling and was struggling to make sense of it. She appreciated what I had said and it was a comfort to her.

I was shocked. Really? That sermon helped? I hadn’t even planned to tell that story, but thought it might generate pity if they congregation thought I was grieving. That sermon? Yep. That sermon help.

On the ride home I remember being amazed at my God. He took that awful sermon and touched someone’s life for good in that congregation. He took that sermon and touched my life.

That experience has led me to believe that God will take anyone willing to speak for Him and use their words for good. God does not require perfection to serve Him, simply a willing heart. In the end, we may feel like we have failed when in reality God succeeded through us. Making an effort for God is always a winning move.

Today is the 15,705th day of my life. I figured this out by basic math and the help of Google (for leap year additions).

There are reasons to be sad about today. With each passing day my kids get older, I gain more weight, lose more hair, have more aches & pains while I am slowly losing touch with pop culture.

But I am thankful for today – because it is a gift from God.

The Bible says in James 4:13-14 “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ (14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

My mist may be vanishing into thin air, but God gave me today. For today I am thankful.

It was my second year of college and one of my older classmates had invited me to the Church he attended. Since I did not have a regular preaching gig yet I accepted the offer and visited his Church that Sunday morning. He not only attended but was teaching a Sunday School class before the worship program. I must admit that I have sat through some terrible Sunday School lessons in my time but this one lesson he taught made a deep impact on my life. For part of the lesson he talked about a book he was reading for a class written by William Law called “A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life.” It was originally written in 1728 and was then given a new forward by Elton Trueblood in 1951.

I remember very specifically his lesson was about chapter two of the book. That chapter is entitled “The Importance of Intention.” It is only 4 pages long and can be read very easily. My friend and my teacher took this one chapter and explained it and then attached it to one story in the bible that he applied it to. I can’t remember the exact Bible story he used but I do remember the beginning of the lesson. He focused on the concept that Law had taught hundreds of years before on the matter of intentions.

Here is the simple principle – Our intentions guide our actions. Intentions are those attitudes that guide our emotions and actions. People who intend to run a marathon will begin training for a marathon. People who intend to read the Bible will develop a plan to read the Bible. The opposite is also true. The reason many people never change their actions is that they never intended to. I am not training for a marathon because I have no intention of running one. People who never read the Bible have no real intention to do it.

All this begs the question: “What do I intend to do with my life?” Do you have any intention to serve, to read, to study, to attend, to become, to do anything for God? The harsh reality is that you and I will never accomplish anything we do not intend to do first, because intentions guide actions.

After his lesson I went out and bought the book. To be honest, it is the only chapter I have ever read completely in the whole book. That’s okay, that single concept has helped me to get a handle on my spiritual growth. Start with an idea, develop an intention and start working on the action. It’s that simple.

A conference speaker made a statement that has influenced my life and ministry beyond what he could have ever imagined. Maybe it touched me so deeply because I was new into marriage and new into ministry. His words were clear and true and have helped to guide my life. He said, “Anything that truly exists can be measured.” That may not sound like much to you but he went on to explain what he meant. I can talk about my Church and say it has a “heart” for evangelism and if that is true I will be able to measure it by the number of visitors my Church has, the amount of money spent on outreach, the number of personal invitations offered and several other pieces of information. Then he continued his line of thinking. I may say I am a good husband and if that is true I will be able to measure it by the number of times I tell my wife I love her, by the gifts I purchase her, by what I am willing to sacrifice for her and the way I respond to her love language. Then he took it one step further. I might say that I am a good Christian and if that is true I will be able to measure it by the fruit of my life, my obedience to God’s word, my commitment to Christ’s Church and a number of other metrics.

Edwin Louis Cole underlined this same truth to me a couple of years later in his statement, “We tend to judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions.” I have also heard it asked another way, “If I was put on trial for being a Christian (or good husband or good parent or good anything) would there be enough evidence to convict me?” Unfortunately, I meet people who frequently view themselves as devoted followers of Jesus despite all evidence to the contrary. I meet men who claim to be a good husband or father whom I have never seen do anything to demonstrate that characteristic. Their ideas and intentions are always good but there is no action to validate them.

It is a slippery slope of the mind. We convince ourselves that we are something and then we ignore all evidence to the contrary. We base our ideas about people on our feelings rather than real action. So I must continually ask myself, “Is this real information based on facts of just a figment of my imagination?” Because anything that truly exists can be measured.