Meet the Needs

It is so easy for a church to become busy with all kinds of programs that are basically irrelevant, including worship services and sermons that are basically irrelevant to the people in the pew. It is time for us to be on target and relevant to the people we serve!

The methodology for this is simple. We must meet the needs of the people where they are hurting or where they are struggling.  There are multiple crises in American society today-family problems, social problems, depression, financial crisis, individual conflicts, etc.  It is time for us in the Church to understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ comes to meet these needs!  The exciting thing about doing ministry to meet needs is that people will come, their lives will be changed and our ministry will be revived. The goal should be to simply help people out with their lives by showing them the gospel of Jesus Christ through the lives of his followers.  When people experience the love that Jesus taught through the sharing and caring of others, they come to know Christ as he wants to be known.   

In order to do this, the planning of church programming must always include the question:  “Is this going to meet needs?”  Or better yet, “Whose needs will this programming serve, and is this the focus we are willing to maintain?”  (This includes worship planning! But that’s another topic.)  If there is not a good answer to those questions, then the planning for that program should be thought out again and perhaps be taken in a new direction.

So in our highly secular society, how do we find what those needs are? We look around us at our friends, family, co-workers and community at large.  Where are people hurting?  What is lacking in the community?  What is causing a conflict or difficulty?  What are people saying?  We need to pay attention to the people around us and listen and observe.  Ask questions, offer ideas, think outside the box for solutions to problems that will help and serve others. 

Single mothers, teen drug use, family conflicts, grandparents raising grandkids, cancer victims and their caregivers, dementia patients and their caregivers, disabled children or adults, --the list of needs within our communities goes on and on.  And the Church can provide help and support in many ways to these problems.  Sometimes it is simply a support group organized, and sometimes it will require a more concentrated effort to establish a rehab center, or an urban garden to provide fresh vegetables for an area.  But a group of committed Christians who truly want to share the love of Christ can come together and find ways to meet the needs of people in their community.

In our rapidly changing society the Church should be the constant stability and source of help and hope for the future.   We will do this by consistently bringing the gospel of Jesus to our world through meeting the needs of people.

How To Reach The People

Like Paul and the early Church, we are involved in reaching new people. The great commission that Jesus gave is to go and reach new people. This should always be at the front of every pastor’s mind. But too often, our goal is simply to maintain, to avoid criticism by key leaders in the local church, to make sure our denominational leaders are happy with us and hope that our Church will do well enough to pay the bills and the local pastor.

This is not the goal of being a pastor of a local church! Our goal is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. It is time that we make evangelism our priority again. It’s time that we started evaluating our worship services, church activities, sermons and programs on the basis of whether or not we are reaching new people and making new disciples of Jesus Christ. I have found in our society that many of the techniques we have used in the past, such as simply inviting people to church, are not adequate to reach the secular community that we are a part of today. It is not the goal of American society to go to church on Sunday mornings. There are too many other options for what to do on a Sunday morning. We are no longer in the 1950's. Our world has become increasingly secular and the things that the Church is doing is often thought to be totally irrelevant by our secular society.

So, what are we called to do? The answer is simple. We are to follow the teachings of Jesus, and bring his love to people through helping and servicing their needs.  We are to teach people how to follow Jesus Christ, and deepen their spiritual work and understanding of his gospel. We are to be a Good Samaritan Church as Jesus taught in Luke 10. In this way, people can find success and a deep satisfaction in their lives.  It is time that we as pastors become enthusiastic about reaching new people for Christ!

Keeping Church Relevant in the 21st Century

Sunday I attended the closing worship service for a mainline protestant church in a busy part of the city. Certainly it had ceased to grow and the number of participants had declined but that was not because the church was not needed. It was because the church was not being presented in a way that is relevant to people of the 21st century.

This church was start in 1948 and was a church that grew just by inviting people to come. The main way the church related to the community was simply by having worship and Sunday School classes on Sunday mornings.  You gained new people by simply inviting them and it worked! Churches grew all over the country by doing this.  However, times have changed!  The old techniques can work for some but not for most people today. The old techniques simply do not cut through all the cultural changes in this century. I’ve found that in order to help contemporary people find Jesus Christ in their life, they need to not just hear about it but to experience that life changing power.  They need to experience the ministry and love that Jesus taught.

In the 10th chapter of Luke, Jesus made it clear that, to be his follower, we must care for and love other people. We must be like the Good Samaritan and stop and help. Churches today have given up that Good Samaritan ministry and too often just opted for having worship. Worship in some churches is stable and acceptable, in some it is profound and exciting, and in some it is entertaining. However most of the approach to worship today is still out of the 1954 model --singing the hymn and songs and saying the scripture. This is just not reaching new people!

The tragedy is that the best way to reach new people is by communicating the basic message of the gospel -- that being a follower of Jesus Christ allows you to be successful and happy.  It works, but we have to deliver the message not in a guilt-driven pattern but in a way that shows how the gospel of Jesus Christ helps all of us in every day of our life. It help us do parenting better, it helps young adults work through major adjustments, it helps retired people put their lives together after they no longer have a vocation, etc.

It is time for the Church to do ministry that reaches out and really helps people where they hurt, just as the Good Samaritan illustrates.  We have to emphasize the results of following Jesus Christ.  When people experience the love of Christ in their lives, they want to know more and want to spread that experience to others as well.  This is how the church will bring new people to Christ today.  All of the worship, programming and ministry of any church must flow out of that understanding and that mission.

The Power of Bible Stories

Stories are such an important part of the Bible. The Old Testament is filled with the practical stories that have become the foundation of so much Christian teaching. There are some great stories like David and Goliath, Moses and the 10 Commandments, and Joshua and the Wall of Jericho.

New Testament stories map out for us the basic experience of the Christian faith. Such as, The Birth of Christ, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection and all of the different miracles that Jesus performed. They all become classics for us. Just as important are the parables that Jesus taught.

Any speaker today, that wants to be heard, knows that utilizing stories helps the listener to remember the message much better. We hunt for good illustrations for sermons, or speeches. We cherish the classic stories of our own journey through faith which we use to explain our convictions, who we are and where we are going. It’s so important that we realize how precious these stories from the Bible are.

It’s interesting that the stories that stick with us and are our favorites are the same ones we use to teach others. I’d like to hear your ideas about the importance of stories and which stories you have found most influential for your Christian Journey. For me, the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection are, of course, the key to my understanding of salvation. But it’s the story of The Good Samaritan that Jesus uses in the Book of Luke that I use to illustrate what we’ve come to know as “The Great Commandment”; to love God, love our neighbors and ourselves. That story, in many ways, explains so much of what it is to be a Christian. 

What are your favorite Bible stories?

Creativity in Ministry

As we seek to do our task of reaching people for Christ, building the Christian community, and ministering to countless needs in our society we need to be as creative as possible in order to do it well and avoid serious mistakes. Creativity is not necessarily something that is taught in seminary but every effective pastor has to learn how to be more creative.

I’ve found that one of the most creative groups in our society the Walt Disney Company. Disney is an example of magnificent creativity. That’s why for the last 8 years I have had a Creativity Conference in Orlando Florida for clergy and laity, which is held in cooperation with Disney employees. Many of the teachers for the conference are Christian Disney staff or executives. Their teaching provides one of the best resources in developing creativity in all areas of life, especially in ministry. 

Our next Creativity Conference is on January 20-22. We will be meeting at Winter Park United Methodist Church for workshops, keynote speeches, and discussion panels. We will do one day of the conference at Walt Disney Theme Parks. 

For more information please visit our website or email me for any questions. I hope you will join us!

Reaching the Large Number of Singles in America

Approximately half of the adult population in the United States today is single. Yet, as we examine the attendance in churches we find that our churches are not reaching that half. How do you minister to singles today?

As I provide training for Singles Ministry, I’ve found that this ministry fits into several obvious demographic categories:

Young singles, just out of college, twenty-somethings:   They are much more secular than older age groups. They have issues they are dealing with as part of being a young adult today and being single that are complicated. Relationships are very important and precious to them and yet sometimes are difficult because of our skeptical society. We must find a way to help these young singles and help them know about Jesus Christ.

Single because of divorce:  The ministry to reach those who have gone through divorce needs to be done in a very caring, recovery type ministry. It can be one of the most productive ministries that a local church can do. Because there are so many people with this need, it can be a significant way that the Church not only ministers to people today but leads them to an active participation in God’s Church. I have found that one of the most productive ways in building new attendance in your local church is Divorce Ministry.

Older singles mostly due to death of a spouse:  Most of these older singles are financially stable with retirement funds and inheritance. However, some who have had some financial struggles in life find those difficulties magnified at their older age and they are stressed intensely.  Most churches have nothing directed toward this single age group such as a Widow and Widower Ministry, Older Divorce Ministry, etc. in which these people could be reached.

In each case, the Church across America is not doing a good job in ministering to and reaching any group of singles. With our attendance waning and our membership declining, Singles Ministry can be one of the most effective evangelism approaches a local church can have. The prospects are unlimited. We need only to be sensitive to their needs and we can reach them for Christ.

Because this is complicated at times, I’m regularly offering training in Singles Ministry. The next Creating and Effective Singles Ministry Training will be done February 21, 2015 in Tulsa Oklahoma at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Visit online to register or for more information.

Are We Making Children a Priority?

Every pastor has found the occasion to use the famous quote by Jesus, where He said, “Let the little children come to me and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14) Certainly, Jesus was being very directive to those of us who would lead his Church today.

One of the tragedies of the Church today is that children’s ministry is so easily neglected. When budgets are cut, we cut out of the children’s ministry. When we are looking for staff, we staff first, the choir, then finance office, then the youth director, then a personal secretary for the pastor and maybe, sometimes later we hire one of the parents to do a little part-time work for the children’s programs.

It is so easy to neglect the children. We would not call it neglect, because we know there are parents who will take care of the needs or there will be some kindly grandmother who will teach the third grade Sunday school class. Maybe we can find someone who will do the children’s sermon. With a lot of persuasion and arm-twisting we recruit the workers for Vacation Bible-School and the Children’s Christmas Program. It seems that in the work we do in the church, it is so easy to put children’s ministry near the bottom of our priority list. This is ironic because most pastors have spent a good part of their lives trying their best to be good parents to their own children and to see that they had a good Christian education.

Most pastors realize that to have young families as a part of your church, you must have an effective children’s program. Yet, we as pastors, along with the partnership of older lay leaders of the local church, often put children’s ministry as our last priority.

I believe that Jesus’ advice about children is to the Church today. It’s time for us to change our priorities and make children’s ministry at the top of the list!

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Make plans to join us now for The Next Generation: Children, Youth and Family Ministries Training Conference at First United Methodist Church Arlington, Texas on October 22-24, 2014. We will feature workshops and keynote topics on the most effective way to minister to children, youth and families. Please invite your laity and leadership staff for this very important event!