What Do You Want? (part 1)

I am a grace man. Truly I am. All I want is the world to know about His grace and the complete work.

However, when dealing with pastors who want to leave all church growth to God I get wound up.  I seriously want to spit bricks.  The United Kingdom is in too much of a mess to sit down, sip lemonade and say “que sera sera”.  We need large, healthy, growing churches – churches that change lives, churches that heal the sick, churches that both challenge and welcome the surrounding community, churches where people are getting born again, are grasping the gospel and living the kingdom.  Churches which are not just healthy but safe.  Churches which don’t have a large back door (you will always have some people leave – even Jesus had Judas, you can’t please everyone!) but that are mended nets – whole and secure, keeping the caught fish.

I have a dream.  It is a simple dream.  I dream of a church that is everything Jesus died for.  Miracles are common in this church as everyone in the church is equipped to minister supernaturally.  Lives are changed in this church as the gospel is the central message and foundation to everything the church does.  In short, I dream of a church that looks like Jesus.

But dreams are easy to say.  Anyone can dream.  I am not opposed to dreaming, not in the slightest – I am a dreamer and I want everyone around me to dream and dream big.  Part of our church’s vision statement is “Building disciples who dream big”.   But dreaming can easily become pipe dreaming (a phrase I only recently learned comes from the people who dream after smoking an opium pipe!  We need to be dreamers, not stoners!) unless we make the necessary choices to see those dreams come true.

Easter Sunday 2013 is now gone.  Although I am overwhelmed by the fact we saw 6 salvations, countless healings (including a man healed of MS), and 20 new people at Tree of Life, I cannot rest on my laurels.  I cannot say “Look that at” because we are absolutely not there yet.

This year I have already been to one leadership conference (One Way, at Kingdom Faith – with James Galloway, Clive Urquhart and Colin Urquhart.  Absolutely inspired me to ensure that our church systems are robust and that I am raising leaders – something I am committed to anyway, but we all need fired up and given more wisdom on how to do it!), I have signed up to a leadership training course, we are hosting our own leadership conference in just a few weeks, I am then off to another pastor’s conference with George and Hazel Hill (who have planted 3000 churches in their lifetime!) and then another conference in October.  I am doing everything I can to learn about leadership and pastoring a growing church.  

Why?  Because I want it to happen.  And I know it will not happen by me closing my eyes and hoping and praying.  It simply won’t.

In 1 Cor. 3.9 Paul says about the church, “For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

He opens the statement by saying he is a co-worker with God.  Here’s a little bit of Biblical wisdom for you: co-workers WORK.  There is no church growth without work.  Save us Lord from lazy pastors.  Sometimes I outline my schedule of work to other pastors and they cannot believe how much I travel, visit and prepare for everything we do.  But it is only by working with God can we build the churches of our dreams.  So many people have a dream, but never put it to work.  That makes you a stoner not a dreamer.  Get off your backside and do something.

For me I always work with the dream, the scheme and the theme.  The dream is the end product – that is where I am going  The scheme is the blueprint – that is the plans to do it.  The theme is the step I am taking right now.  Now most people get confused because the theme doesn’t match the dream, and a lot of people lack the humility to live the dream by taking the first step of their dream.

For example, you might have a dream to pastor a church of 3000.   I know I do.  But unless I am prepared to pastor a church of 10, I will never get there.  There are no churches of 3000 in this nation that will phone you up and invite you to suddenly be the new senior pastor.  And if they did you wouldn’t have a clue what to do anyway, and would lose and hurt, and seriously injure a great deal of people.  So what is the first step?   For me, it was building a church website and putting an invite in the local paper.  One person came to our first meeting.  We had no denomination, no back up, no covering, no help, no money, no wisdom, no nothing.  But we treated that one person like a princess – loved her, taught her the Word.  And then there were 5 (six months later, mind you), and then 7 and then 10 (double digits was revival in those days!), and it took on from there.  All the time I was working as a teacher, working as a postman, my wife was working two jobs most of that time just to pay the bills.  It did not look like my dream, but it was the first step towards our dream.  It takes guts, character and wisdom to take that first step.  It is my firm belief that most people know what the first step is, they just need to take it.

Your dream might be to lead worship in front of thousands.  Guess what – your first step is when everyone else is going to the party, everyone else is watching the cool TV programme, you are sitting in your room on your own strumming and plucking, reading and praying.  It doesn’t look like your dream, it doesn’t feel like your dream – but it is the first step to your dream.

You might dream of preaching like your hero – so go and learn more about the Bible.  Go and study the Word, sign up for a course, systematically read the Bible.  It won’t look like your dream but it is the first step to your dream.

Today – find out the first step.  Before the end of this week, take it.  If you want to build a Paul-kind of church, you need to be a worker.  Make a decision that you want your church to grow.  God wants your church to grow and He is willing to be a co-worker with you, so why not make the choice to be a co-worker with Him!

In the next part of this article, we will look at gardening!  But until then – what is the first step and take it.  Let me know if this inspires and challenges you because that is what I am praying and believing for!

Do Yourself a Favour!

It’s Easter Sunday tomorrow.   That is the single most important day of your calendar as a pastor and leader.

People will come to church who have never been before or only been occasionally.

There are many things you could do to make this service great.  Advertise, encourage people to invite friends, plan a new series and start it this Sunday to draw people in to returning next week.

It’s probably too late to make major changes this late in the day, but if you are pastor or preaching tomorrow, let me tell you one thing you can do.  One favour you can give yourself.

Make an appeal for salvation.

At the end of the service, clearly explain what Jesus did and how to become a Christian.  Then boldly ask if anyone would like to make that step today.  Then invite them forward.  Then…

1.  Pray with them.  Lead them to Jesus

2. Record their details.  Name, address and phone and email as a minimum.  Then call them in the week.

3. Lead the church in a little rejoicing.  Let them know heaven rejoices.

What if no one responds?  My first answer to that is stop being so negative.  What if someone does?

My second answer is this: even if no-one responds … you are creating a culture where people expect altar calls and expect non-Christians to actually be in church.  That can only help you build a growing, missional church.

Spirit Filled

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It’s not enough for one man to be Spirit filled and flowing in the gifts. 
It’s not enough for there to be a man of God to come to and bring people to when emergencies and problems arise.

The fivefold ministry must return to its Biblical purpose and mandate and equip people to minister and serve supernaturally. We must be releasing people into the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We must be enabling people to walk into the callings and destinies that God has given them even from inside the womb. 

The world is never going to stand back and say “what an awesome man”, “what a glorious prophet”, “what an anointed apostle”. But if the awesome man, the glorious prophet and the anointed apostle do what God called them and designed them to do and equip and inspire and challenge the Christians to live in love and peace and life, and minister supernatural life and deliverance and healing everywhere they go, then the world will stand back and go “what an awesome church”, “what glorious Christians”, “what an anointed co-worker”… and then we will impact the world in such a way that Jesus will be able to return in our generation.

That is why one of our unmovable, unshakable pillars at Tree of Life Church – in every Tree of Life Church – is “full of the Spirit”. Not just the pastor, not just the Conways, but every single person full of the Spirit. 

We need to ensure our churches have gateways where people can receive the Spirit on a regular basis (different people – let’s not fall for the old “we leak and need top up” nonsense) and we need pathways in which people can understand the gifts and how to flow in them.

We have a two week course called “Prophetic Workshop” in which we get people baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues and prophesying. I am currently writing an 8 week course on how to discover your giftings in the local body of believers. This is something we are going to do deliberately, intentionally because it is how we want our church to look.

When you decide that your church needs to be like this: you need to decide the gateway and pathway for yourself.  Will you give altar calls for the Holy Spirit baptism on Sunday mornings?  In the small groups?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  Think about these things in the light of your situation – there is no right or wrong answer as long as there are gateways.

We have one month every year in which we preach and teach on the Holy Spirit and His gifts.  Then we will give public appeals to be filled with the Spirit each week.  We will then have further open appeals in the week.  I am in the process of ensuring all our small group leaders and lead someone in the baptism of the Holy Spirit in a quiet, calm, no-nonsense manner.  Your situation may be different, but you have to have a plan.

A gateway is the way in, but a pathway is the way along.  Some people may come to your church from a church where tongues is a swear word – or (even worse) a kooky charismatic church where tongues was misused and prophesy was abusive.  How are you going to teach and train those people how to flow in the gifts in a way which is encouraging, comforting and edifying to the entire church?

The way you do this must be deliberate – it cannot be haphazard.  Take some time this week to make a plan – a God-inspired plan – and then when you are confident with it, communicate it to your leadership and put it in place.

Every pastor should be able to answer these two questions succinctly and accurately:

1. How can I be baptized in the Holy Spirit?

2. Where can I learn more about the gifts around here?

Selah!

Social Media

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One of the key facets of planting a church is social media.  We have a very tight social media strategy that involves key posts every day of the week.

On Monday, we celebrate the weekend.  If people are becoming Christians, getting healed, or have stories of how God has helped them, then that is shared.  We celebrate the people who invite people, the people who are serving above and beyond what you would imagine, and we tell you who the superstars of the week are!

On Tuesday, we always promote our leaders and just praise them so people get an idea of what it means to be involved in Tree of Life Church.

On Wednesday, we post a reminder of our purpose, vision or culture.  Our purpose is to “inspire you to dream, challenge you to live the dream”, our culture is “Full of the Word, Full of the Spirit, full of the nations, full of love”, and our vision is to build a church on the complete work of Christ that inspires and challenges people to dream big and live their dreams.  So we pick at that, reinforce it, elucidate on it.

On Thursday, we start to get people excited for Sunday (and Saturday now!).  We tell people why our church services are going to be awesome.  Why not only should they not miss the service but they should round up their unchurched friends and drag them with.

On Friday I share some personal stuff about my life.  People like to know that stuff!

On Saturday, it’s all about the weekend.

Sunday I rest from social media apart from to go on a few friend’s pages and see how they are doing!

Everything we do on social media is deliberate and intentional.  That way we are building a community.  Over 200 people a month find our church website from a social media site.  Over 300 people go straight to listen to a message on our church website from a social media site.  There is power in this.  Real power to influence and help people to know who you are and know what you are.  In this age, brand is everything and social media is a great way to share the brand and brand values.

Church Planting Today

There is still a need for hundreds and thousands of new churches in the United Kingdom.  Churches that will do whatever it takes to impact their community and their nation.  Churches that will change the world.  Churches that will be full of the Word, full of the Spirit, full of the nations and full of love.

If God is calling you to church plant, then in all your learning and preparing, make sure you do it!  Do what God has called you to do – don’t let the opinions of others ever stand between you and God’s call.

Paul said “if I was trying to please man, I would not be pleasing God.”  Stop giving a rip about what people are happy with you and not happy with you and do what God calls you to do.