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It has been a few weeks since I posted anything, and there is actually a very good reason for that.  You see, my wife and I had to go to Hawaii on some family business (don’t feel TOO sorry for us!).  However, while there my wife developed pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital.  So the trip to Hawaii was not as good as it should have been.  She was still feeling poorly when we were coming back, but we made it.  Two weeks after coming back, finally feeling a bit normal, she took the dogs out into the back yard, noticed her strawberry plants needed to be watered and stepped over the dog fence with hose in hand.  All she remembers was falling to the ground and hearing her leg bones crunch.  She had three breaks in the bones in her lower right leg and dislocated the ankle.  Well, truth to tell, the only thing holding her foot to her leg was soft tissue.   I know, gross.

So here we are, post surgery, and she is confined to the bed or a wheelchair.  She gets cabin fever, since I am at work most days, so I try and get her out as much as possible.  I have built a handicap ramp off the deck in the back yard, but it is still difficult.  I take her to the mall, doctors appointments, various restaurants and to church.  But you know what has been very positive?  Seeing the world through the eyes of a person confined to a wheelchair.  There are many barriers to getting my wife into all these places.  Some don’t have automatic doors.  Some have no ramp to get over the curb.  Some places have no elevator.  Other places, even though there is no barrier to get inside have very narrow aisles or sharp turns that are not easily negotiated.

What can we learn from this?  First, take a fresh look at your own church and see what the barriers might be.  We have had a wheelchair in the church for a long time so that if needed it is handy.  If you can get one, have someone sit in it and go around the church.  See what the barriers might be.  Can you get into the church?  Can you maneuver through the aisles?  How about the bathrooms?  How would you handle someone who came to a potluck function?  Can they see you, if they are sitting in the church in a wheelchair?  Is there handicapped parking near the door?

You can extend this to other disabilities.  Look at your bulletin (if you use one).  Could someone with failing eyesight see what it says or is it in size 4 font?  Hearing issues?

Jesus had a special place in his heart for those who had physical infirmities.  He healed the crippled on many occasions.  We don’t have that ability, perhaps, but should we not share his heart?

 

“At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.” 

Luke 4:40 NIV

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Nope, this has nothing to do with Acts 2 and the gifts of the Spirit!  But it is a serious question nevertheless. As a bivocational pastor or the pastor of a small church, how necessary is it to be able to communicate in another language?

One of the great loves of my life has been languages and I have spoken several over the course of my life.  I took Spanish as my first ‘other’ language, which was highly appropriate since I was living in an area with a significant Puerto Rican population.  Our city of 125,000 people had about 30%, and speaking Spanish was very handy.  At one point a friend from Puerto Rico told me that I spoke Spanish as well as most of his second generation Hispanic relatives.  Second, I took up the study of Russian.  I intended on a career in the sciences and there was quite a bit of technical literature coming out of the USSR.  God had other plans, but Russian later enabled me to easily read Greek in my pastoral studies.  Lastly, I took a year of Italian since my mother’s side of the family was from Italy.  We grew up using Italian words without even knowing it.  The porch was the ‘piazza’, etc..  Out of those languages the only one I have really maintained is Spanish.  Even though I now live in, literally, the whitest state in the USA, I have a prayer partner who keeps me sharp in Spanish.

Why should you consider studying another language?  Here are a couple reasons:

  1. Building connections with ethnic communities can prove fruitful.  If you have an ethnic community around you, knowing the language can help bridge gaps and help your outreach.  Every small church pastor can use that kind of help.  Learning another language is a relatively cheap investment with potentially big payoffs for the church.
  2. It’s not just the language, it is the culture.  When you learn a language you necessarily learn about another culture.  Even in the context of learning about culture you begin to understand some of the issues on the mission field.  This can lead to increased prayer and concern for the situations of missionaries around the world.  You might even be able to adapt some of those insights into your own circumstances.
  3. New doors of opportunities begin to open.  For instance, many denominations and affiliations offer short term missions trips.  The Church of the Nazarene terms these ‘Work and Witness’ trips.  Knowing another language can make those trips not only possible in your own mind, but can make you more useful if and when you do go.  The prayer partner I mentioned above went on a trip with his church to the Dominican Republic and found that speaking Spanish opened doors for him that would have been closed to a non-speaker.

What language should you learn?  There are two factors that come into play in this decision.  First, what languages would aid you?  look around and see what populations are in your area.  Not only might these be a clue as to how you can minister to your community, but they also are a source of potential help in your learning.  In my own area of Vermont my secondary language of Spanish is not very prevalent.  Making a choice of language in this area I would probably set my sights on French.  We are only about 45 minutes from the border of Canada, and the Province of Quebec speaks primarily French.  The second factor is much more personal;  what language do you WANT to speak?  As an experiment in this language learning my wife and I are starting with Hawaiian.  We happen to have family in Hawaii and love the culture and the people, and want to know more.  It is possible (although unlikely) that at some point we might actually move there.

I should note that it is also possible for you to use the ability to speak another language to enhance your bivocational employment.  You can use it in your current employment as an enhancement (who doesn’t love a waiter/retail worker/driver who can speak another language?).  You might also be able to use it as your PRIMARY employment.  One of my predecessors at my current church spoke French and was employed in Montreal to review an advertising firms work for correct English language applications.  He tells the story of reviewing an ad for hair salon chairs and telling the ad company that advertising “The Best Electric Chairs Made” was NOT going to work in the English-speaking market!

Most of us are pressed for time as it is.  How can you squeeze learning another language into your schedule?  I recently read a book that opened my own eyes into a way of doing just this.  It is ‘Fluent Forever’, by Gabriel Wyner.  With the help of some free and very accessible tools on the web it is possible to learn a new language, even if you have very little time to do so.  (Click here to see the book).

I hope you take the time to consider this as a potentially valuable ‘professional development’ area for your ministry.  It will be well worth the time and effort.

 

“…we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

Acts 2:11 (NIV)

 

 

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At this point in time all of us  (at least in this area of the world) are aware of the technological wonders that can make ministry a bit more ‘user-friendly’.  One of the main ways this has worked in my own favor has been my usage of the resources at BibleGateway.com.  The sources are good and easy to use.  I can cut-and-paste verses or quotes from various commentaries, compare versions and access it even from my phone if need be.

As for other tech, I have preached from printed notes most of the time, but on several occasions I have resorted to using my tablet or and iPad in the pulpit.  However, technology can and DOES have drawbacks.  I came across an interesting article for those of you who might be thinking of going this route.

Check out Brandon Hilgemann’s cautionary tale here, at MinistryTech.com.

Do you have any good cautionary tales of your own?  We’d love to hear them!

 

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Have you ever thought something has gone away and will never return?  I have thought that on a number of occasions and been wrong.  Vinyl Records were overtaken by first 8-Track tapes, then cassette tapes took over.  Cassette tapes gave way to CD’s, and CD’s eventually were supplanted by digital music files.  And then…vinyl came back.  WHAT?!

Back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s the ‘worship wars’ were all the rage.  Churches debated endlessly whether it was better to stick with the old hymns, use more modern music, instrumentation and choruses-heavy worship or maybe do a little of both.  The debates were often billed as being ‘seeker sensitive’ versus ‘maintenance mode’ worship orientations. The discussions often had more heat associated with them than light.  Since I was just starting ministry during this time period I remember having many discussions with other pastors about the best way to proceed.

Last week I found this was one of the ‘old becomes new’ discussions.  A very animated discussion took place on a pastor’s forum I am involved in, and it generated a heavy sense of Deja Vu in me.

So, what is the real answer here?  Is there one?  Well, as a matter of fact, there is an answer. The answer is that it depends on your context.  The problem herein is that this is not a nice, clean answer for pastors.  We want someone to tell us that if we use a particular worship pattern that our churches will grow, we will reach new people, that the church will be healthy and will fit the Biblical patterns established in Acts.  It is akin to the statement often heard when people from various faith traditions get together and they start having ecclesiology debates.  The statement invariably comes out, “Our church follows the New Testament form and pattern better than any other church”.  To which my comment is, “WHICH New Testament church are you talking about?  Acts 2?  The Church at Ephesus?  The Church in Jerusalem?  The Church at Rome?  Galatia?  Philippi?  Corinth?”  Each of these churches was unique in some way, and fit the context of their region.  In the same way, we need to fit our church and it’s worship to the unique circumstances in which we find ourselves.

In my own circumstances we have a  number of people who have been in the church for many years, and who really appreciate the old hymns.  We also have a number of younger people who prefer the newer choruses.  So, we host a blended worship service.  Almost a year ago we tried moving to a much more contemporary format, and frankly it was a disaster.  No one, not even the younger people, liked the format.  For us the blended format is what works.  Some churches in our area find that the contemporary format is more appreciated, and some find that a strictly traditional and even liturgical format is best.

The lesson from this is simple.  Don’t get caught up in these kind of debates which attempt to fix one form or format to everyone.   There is no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ church.  God has made a wonderfully diverse church which has many appearances, and consequently many differing needs.  Pray about it, ask your people, and do an honest evaluation. Then, and only then, decide if a change is needed.

 

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Cor 12:27 (NIV)

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So many words in the Christian lexicon are important, but many of them are meaningless outside of the Church.  We have a language of our own and although useful for communication between ourselves they are not useful when communicating with people not in the church.  Communication is always a two-way process, and if we are not speaking to people in a way they understand then there is no real communication.  So much of it comes down to one simple word in our glossary…’relevance’.  According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary ‘Relevant’ has the following definition: “a :  having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand  b :  affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion relevant testimony  c :  having social relevance”.  In order to meet any of these meanings it is necessary for communication to take place.

How do we as pastors make ourselves relevant?  The first step is to examine our language and see if people can understand what we are saying without using cryptic language.  John Wesley tried hard to achieve this very goal. “I design plain truth for plain people. I labor to avoid all words which are not easy to be understood, all which are not used in common life.”   This was part of the great character of the man in his preaching style.  If the least educated person in your congregation cannot understand what you have said, then you need to go back and rework your sermons so that they do understand.

Different people have different learning styles as well.  Some of your listeners may be stirred by your words, others by the images you convey, still others may write notes on your sermon to review later.  Some others may learn from the visual cues or resources you use.  Endeavor to provide all learning styles with something they can take away.

Keep your sermons simple.  Boil them down into one sentence or one thought.  Don’t try to cover the entirety of the Gospel message in one sermon.  As “Gold Five” said to “Gold Leader” in Star Wars, “Stay on target!”.

Always provide an action item or a challenge at the end of the sermon.  If people can take away something and then you tell them what they can do with the teaching in a practical sense, then they don’t have to try to read between the lines and potentially never get started.  For instance, after one sermon on evangelism I introduced a concept called ‘Use It and Lose It!”, in which I gave everyone present three pens with our name and address on them.  They were instructed simply to use the pens during the week at a restaurant, bank, work or some other place and then to leave them behind.  They were then to pray about the pens and those who might use them.  No confrontation, no memorizing of scripture, no fancy debate techniques.  By the next week all the pens we had given out had been used and prayed for…and people were asking for more.  Some people came back with wonderful stories spurred by this simple action.

And perhaps the most important item of all, spend time yourself getting to know what the social trends are within your community and setting.  Jesus knew the news of his time (“…Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?” Lk 13:4 NIV) and used it to connect with people.  Know what TV shows and movies are being watched.  Know what music is being listened to.  Know what political views are being expressed and which sports teams are adored (or reviled).  Simply knowing these things and being able to speak about them will create connection points for you.

Being relevant is important, and it is really simpler than you might imagine.

 

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Pastors as a group are not well known for risky behavior and especially behavior that may impact their church growth.  There is an old joke about the church being about 10 years behind the curve when it comes to innovation.  Sadly, that may be closer to the truth than we are likely to admit.  In my own small circle I know of churches who are just now introducing such things as lyrics projected onto a screen during worship.  In a meeting just this last week we were talking about music, and I remarked that what we refer to as ‘the new choruses’ were actually published almost 25 years ago!  (“Master Chorus Book” by Ken Bible)

The concept of risk is something with which we as bivopastors should become friends.  There are a few things we should know, as a basis, though.

First, risk is risky.  Duh!  Any particular action taken may or may not succeed, and in many cases the action will fail.  This is not bad, though, if we learn from our failures.  It is only bad when we do not learn from our mistakes.  Thomas Edison is said to have tried 10,000 experiments as he was inventing his light bulb.  When asked about his failure he said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Second, just because it worked (or didn’t work) somewhere else is no guarantee it will do the same thing in our context.  As stock brokers are prone to say, ‘past performance is not a guarantee of future earnings’.  Seeing something working in one place, like a Willow Creek or Saddleback Church, does not guarantee it will work for you. This is probably more a problem with context than with execution.

Third, a slightly tongue in cheek definition of ‘insanity’ is ‘doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result’.  One of my favorite movies is ‘The Princess Bride’.  No matter how often I watch it, though, it always ends the same way.  If I expected it to end a different way as I watch it over and over again…there is something wrong!  Yet, in the church we often do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.  I knew of a missionary years ago who boasted that they had given out 20,000 tracts on a street corner over a period of two years.  When I asked how many responses they saw, he told me that 2 people  had come into the church.  That is a response rate of .01%.  Yes, those two people are precious to God, but almost certainly the missionary would have been better off trying something new.  ‘We have always done it this way’ is a death knell for a church.

How do we use risk to our own benefit?  We need to embrace the uncomfortable.  Yes, change is difficult, and sometimes painful.  We then decide to learn from our mistakes, rather than retreat from them or wallow in our own misery.  If we are successful, so much the better.  Never let a good failure pass you by!

Encourage your people to try new things.  Give them permission to fail!  Let them know that the trying is the important part, and you will not be mad at them for failing if they are doing something new and worthwhile.

Take a look at your current ministry, what you are doing and why you are doing it.  If it is not working or if it is requiring much effort for little in terms of results, don’t be afraid to cast it aside and try something different.  Realistically a small church cannot ‘do it all’.  It must pick and choose the ministries it can offer in a strategic fashion.  Those ministries it does, it must do well.  There are certain core ministries EVERY church must supply, however.  A worship service of some sort is essential, as is a missions program, an outreach or service ministry and an opportunity for prayer.  Beyond these, everything is up for grabs.  Notice I did not define what those particular ‘essential’ ministries look like.  These are more or less defined as missional priorities rather than a fixed format.  Worship could be home groups, a formal church setting, a live band with a worship leader in a park or a coffee house.  Outreach could be a nursing home ministry, a school Bible club, servant evangelism or collecting box tops for an Native American school.  In addition, some ministries simply have a life span.  It may be that once worked no longer does and it is time to change.  That is okay.

The one thing to keep in mind here above all else is that if you do not take some risks, the chances for growth are exceedingly low.  Failure is seldom fatal, but is merely another opportunity to learn.

 

‘ “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.’

John 4:34 (NIV)

 

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Since starting my work as a Police Chaplain there has been a phrase that seems to recur frequently, and which sums up well what we do as chaplains. That phrase is, “A Ministry of Presence”.  Reflecting on this phrase, however, brings home the realization that a ‘ministry of presence’ applies to not only a police chaplain or any other chaplaincy, but the ministry of the bivopastor and to all believers, in general.  Every believer can have a ‘ministry of presence’, if they keep a few guidelines in mind.

  1. Make yourself available.  Unless you are actually available, people will not come to you.  Pure and simple.
  2. People need to know you are available.  Unless they know you are there and available they will not come to you. You don’t need to hang out a sign or a shingle, but simply be open.  Over time people will know that you care and are available.
  3. Be ready to listen, more than talk.  People often need someone to talk to, many times they don’t want anything more than this.  That is OK.
  4. Let God work in the background.  It is often said that God works in mysterious ways.  This is true, and He works effectively!  But we must let Him do His work and not try to change things by our own efforts. Your goal here is to bring God’s comfort to someone and perhaps be one of the persons in the chain to lead them to Christ.  But that is not your immediate goal.
  5. Don’t judge the person you are talking to.  Their life may be sinful, their habits dirty and their attitude terrible, but you need to let God do His work without judging the person based on appearances.  They are loved by God, and that is enough to know.
  6. Have resources ready.  Do I really need to say this? Have a Bible, a New Testament or at least a Gospel of John handy at all times. An index card in your wallet with names and phone numbers for resources you think might be needed may be enough beyond that.  Remember, it is alright to let people know where you are coming from theologically, and to know that no one is going to require you to practice outside your faith tradition.  It would be disingenuous to ask a Christian, for instance, to pray to the god of the Muslims or to Buddha. In my work as a Police Chaplain I am identified as not only a Chaplain by my uniform and name tag, but wear crosses as collar insignia, identifying me as a Christian, though I minister to everyone equally within those bounds.
  7. Cover it all in prayer.  This is the most important part.  Without prayer it will at the very least not be as effective as it could be.  At worst, your ministry will be dead in the water.  BE ready to pray with the person who comes to you, but ask their permission first.

These are all things any person can do.  They do not require extensive Bible knowledge or specialized evangelism training.  You don’t have to be a mental health counselor.  You just have to be there.

 

“For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.'”  
Psalms 122:8 (NIV)

 

 

 

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mindfulLately we have had some interesting happenings around my secular job.  Yesterday I walked in to work and found we had a mandatory meeting across the parking lot at the Middle School library.  Upon arriving there I learned that our ‘Wellness’ coordinators had booked a meeting for our department to have a lecture on ‘Mindfulness’.  If you have not followed this trend then be assured it is coming to a venue near you!  Our presenter told us that mindfulness is being presented around our School District to all the employees as a way of reducing stress and therefore contributing to our overall health and happiness.  According to one source, mindfulness is defined as ‘a technique in which one focuses one’s full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings, and sensations but not judging them’.  We went through three exercises in which we were encouraged to focus on certain thoughts.  Afterwards, in speaking with another participant who is also a Christian, we were both struck with the same thing; this was really prayer, but without God!

Now, that is kind of a strange thought, isn’t it?  How can you pray, without praying TO someone?  Frankly, twenty years ago this would have been immediately derided as a New Age indoctrination.  Parents and staff would have been complaining to the School Board.  Newspaper, TV and magazine articles would have been devoted to the subject.  Grated, this is Vermont, so even back then it might have been ignored or viewed as ‘progressive’. But now, we have a staff member who is paid to do this specific job.

So, what is to be our stance on this?  I will be the first to say that if we believe that this practice is dumbing down Christians into some Eastern religion technique, or even atheistic/agnostic psycho-babble, then we need to engage it directly.  But if we look at this as a way that NON-Christians are being given a first step into a relationship with God, and that God may use it to speak into their lives…then maybe we should think of this as an evangelistic tool.  Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God”.  If being STILL is a first step, then the second step of ‘knowing God’ may very well be the next thing to happen.  God’s prevenient grace can work in ways that we may find to be…unusual!

Just to be clear, there is a distinct difference between Eastern meditative techniques and those of historic Christianity.  The Eastern techniques, especially those from Buddhism, are essentially an ’emptying’ of the mind, in order to connect with the ‘universe’, whereas Christian mediation focuses on taking the mind off ‘self’ and filling it with God’s presence.

Many of the best of the old time hymns were framed around the bawdy songs sung in the bars.  The early Holiness preachers used the familiar tunes to catch hold of the sinners there and provide an in-road resulting in their salvation.  Could it be that we need to use the ‘frame’ of the ‘Mindfulness’ movement to catch the attention of the sinners around us, to see them saved?

Thoughts to challenge us…

 

“Be still and know that I am God”.    Psalms 46:10

 

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disastersThere are many events happening in the world around us and we would be remiss if we did not address them from the pulpit.  Some are good, some are bad.  The question is, how do we address them in a way that undergirds what we do in our preaching?

As I write this we are going through one of the most tumultuous Presidential election cycles in memory.  With less than a month to go until we vote, people’s minds and the news are occupied with the likelihood of one or other of the candidates getting into office.  On a local level, last week there was a horrendous traffic accident taking the lives of five promising high school kids.  Our entire state is grieving.  If I we to go into the pulpit and not mention any of these things people would be thinking, if not saying, that the sermon was detached from everyday life and the impact would be blunted.  On the other hand, if I simply preached using these as main points people would think that I was simply giving a secular speech.  There is a fine line to walk here.

First, do not ignore the events around you.  Whether it is a natural disaster such as a hurricane, a tragic accident or a nationwide occurrence such as an election, these are on people’s minds.  Jesus used current events as illustrations.  ‘ 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” ‘   Luke 13:2-5 (NIV)  Using current events keeps your sermon fresh in people’s minds and makes it relevant to their lives.

Second, use current events as illustrations, not the main point of your sermon.  The events should always serve a specific purpose in the sermon.  If they don’t, don’t use them or find another way to use them.  Maybe it would be better to mention them in the pastoral prayer rather than in the sermon.

Third, don’t go into more detail than needed to make your point.  Your congregation probably has enough knowledge of the events to know what you are talking about without too much detail on your part.

These few simple rules should help you as you make your sermons timely, pointed and relevant.  Have some more thoughts?  Please leave a comment!

 

 

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newspaperreadStaying current on world and local events is a mandatory activity for pastors.  In the life of the bivopastor it comes a little more easily, since you are ‘out in the world’ more than someone who is tied to an office.  On the other hand a fully-funded pastor can be more intentional about the process.  Either way, it has to be done.  How can a bivopastor make sure they are up to date?

  1. Set a time daily for a quick update on news and events.  It can be listening to the radio on the way to work or reading a trusted website on your phone at lunch.
  2. Talk with the people around you to get an idea of what they consider important.
  3. Subscribe to a newspaper, either a major daily like the “New York Times” or a local paper like the “St. Albans Messenger” in my locality.
  4. Aim for a broad view.  Don’t just focus in one area, get an overview that covers many types and kinds of events.
  5. Don’t read the comments on websites.  Most are useless and reactionary and will only serve to raise your blood pressure.
  6. Mix in a foreign news source every so often to get a different perspective.  My favorites are “BBC America” and “CBC” (Canadian) news programs.

In addition to keeping you current and knowing what people are concerned with, the news can provide you with many cutting edge sermon illustrations.  Look for them and if needed take notes.  You won’t regret it.

 

“I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”  Luke 13:3-5 (NIV)