Mark Conner's Space

The Church of Jesus Christ

Over 2,000 years ago Jesus said that he would build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The church is his master project. Nothing else occupies his mind and heart as much as this. The church is not a building, not an organisation and not an event. It is God's people - a community of Christ-followers, empowered by the Spirit to participate in God's mission in the world. As long that is happening, the form and style of the church is not overly important. In fact, it takes all sorts of churches to reach the wide variety of people in our world. 

I love the church and I'm passionate about it becoming all that God intends for it to be. On my BLOG, I have written a host of articles about the church - covering topics such as church governance, mega churches, the emerging church, multi-site churches, church planting, Pentecostalism, and women's ministry.

Click here to start reading (and don't forget to click "Next" at the bottom of the first page of posts to access the rest).

Happy reading :)

Vision Weekend 2012 (Pt.2)

In our last post we talked about our vision for CityLife Church for this year and beyond. Here are some reflection questions as a follow up.

Reflection Questions

1. How long have you been at your current church? What qualities attracted you to the church? 
2. The first disciples “devoted themselves” to a number of practices (Acts 2:42-47). What do you think an individual can realistically expect from the church and what must they be personally responsible for when it comes to their own discipleship? Consider the concept of being "self-feeding." As we mature, we gradually take more and more personal responsibility for our own health and grwoth, rather than depending solely on others.
3. Beliefs are very important but why are practices or behaviours even more important? Consider the difference between “preferred values” and “actual values.”
4. Becoming “fervent” will take more than attending one church gathering on a weekend. Just like no single meal, no matter how good it is, has the ability to give you energy for an entire week, so no one practice, event or activity has the power to get you to a palce of fervencey and keep you there. What are the types of activities and practices that could contribute to our spiritual health and vibrancy?
5. On a fervency scale, where would you describe yourself as a disciple of Jesus right now: cold, lukewarm or hot? What are some factors that have contributed to this? What will it take to lift your spiritual temperature this year?
6. Practices are like habits; they take time and repetition to develop. Reflect on your own experience with stopping bad habits and starting new more healthy ones. 
7. Ultimately, our decisions not our conditions determine our future destiny. What choices do you need to make today IF you want to become a more fervent follower of Jesus? [For those from Citylife, fill in the Journey of a Fervent Follower card with your decisions. You can spend time discussing some sample practices for each of the 4Es with a friend or in your Life Group]

God has a future and a hope for us (Jer.29:11). He has begun a good work in us and he is committed to finish what he has started (Phil.1:6). Let's keep in step with the Spirit this year, co-operating with God's intentions. Who knows that impact that could lead to! 

Vision Weekend 2012 (Pt.1)

The CityLife Story

Every person has a story and every church family has a story. CityLife Church began in 1967 under the leadership of Richard Holland. Richard really loved people and was a person of great faith. The church grew to over 500 people over the next 20 years. Kevin Conner was our second Senior Minister. Kevin’s teaching helped to further strengthen the foundations of the church and during his 8 years of leadership the church grew to over 1,500 people. In 1995, Mark Conner became the Senior Minister and since that time the church has continued to grow and expand its ministries. Highlights include a stronger emphasis on small groups, creation of our LIFETRAX life and leadership development course, the establishment of an effective community outreach ministry, the commencement of new congregations in other locations, and expansion of our mission work around the world.

Our Mission

Our church has a very clear mission that explains why we are here as a group. Our mission is to “raise up fervent followers of Jesus Christ who will reach out and impact communities, cities and nations for the kingdom of God.” This statement is built upon the Great Commandments (love God and others) and the Great Commission (“Go into all the world …”). There are two dimensions or aspects to our mission: Breathe IN (“raise up”) and breathe OUT (“reach out”). This refers to the twin activities of discipleship and outreach.

Where to now?

God has done some amazing things through our history as a church. What’s next? What do you see? What’s ahead? Obviously, we want to continue to take further steps towards our mission so that we have an even greater impact on communities, cities, and nations (read our We Have a Dream statement). The key to this increasing impact is that we continue to see more and better “fervent followers of Jesus Christ.” God’s work in us is the foundation for all that He desires to do through us. It is through genuine disciples that Jesus transforms the world and expands His kingdom.

A Portrait of a Fervent Follower

During this season in the life of our church, we are focusing on our lives as disciples of Jesus. A “fervent follower” is a genuine disciple of Jesus. Last year we intentionally moved to a more qualitative focus. This year our focus is still the same, but we have simplified our portrait of a fervent follower around 4 Es:

We Have a Dream

Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr had a dream for racial unity. Jesus had a dream for his church. We have a dream for our church ...

We see a church filled with fervent followers of Jesus Christ whose hearts are ablaze with love for God, love for one another, and love for a needy world.

We see a church where the Great Commission is the first priority. People share their faith, the gospel is preached, churches are planted, and nations are impacted.

We see a church of great compassion where the needy and hurting are drawn to find hope and answers to their problems. People are healed, set free, and made whole.

We see a church of friendly, loving people who ensure that each person feels accepted, valued, and has a sense of belonging.

We see a church where the very atmosphere is charged with fervent prayer, joyful praise, intimate worship, and a spirit of faith and expectancy.

We see a church filled with the Holy Spirit, demonstrating his fruit, moving in his gifts, and flowing in his power.

We see a church where God's Word is taught in such a way that people align their values, attitudes, and lifestyle to God's kingdom.

The church that we see is so big that people can't ignore it and growing so fast that buildings can't contain it, yet it is so small that each person feels a vital part of it - connected together in a network of hundreds of small groups across the city for care, discipleship, ministry, and outreach.

We see a church with such passionate devotion, radical conviction, and total commitment to the cause of Jesus Christ that the very gates of hell can't stop it!

This is the church that we see … this could be our church, CityLife Church. 

What's your dream?

10 Trends in Multi-Site Church Ministry

A few years ago, CityLife Church embarked on becoming a multi-site church. It has been an exciting journey and we have been encoruraged by the people God has helped us reach and the many people who have had new opportunities to step up into ministry and serving roles. 

Jim Tomberlin is an expert on what multisite churches are talking about these days. Recently he noted 10 trends in multi-site in the USA. 

The multisite model continues to grow in its acceptance as a legitimate and effective vehicle for outreach, volunteer mobilization, leadership development and regional impact with more than 3,000 expressions of multisite church across North America. Even though 50 percent of megachurches have multiple campuses and another 20 percent are thinking about it, the multisite movement has outgrown the megachurch movement. Each multisite church has a unique church-print but there are some common trends and buzzwords emerging from them as we enter 2012.

1. Mergers. This is the next big thing on the church scene, and though not exclusive to multisite churches, these mission-driven mergers are being propelled by multisite churches. Look this year for the first book ever published on church mergers, Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work, co-authored by Warren Bird and me. It will be released this April by Jossey-Bass.

2. Small Groups. Regardless what you call them—life groups, home groups, neighborhood groups, missional communities—small groups are big and an essential complement to multiple campuses.

3. Community Transformation. Church leaders are focusing less on church growth and more on serving their local communities through multiple campuses and collaboration with other like-minded local churches, ministries and organizations.

Mega-Church Downsizes - Cuts Non-Essential Members

[Below is a news release from Lark News. It's exactly that, a lark - "to engage in spirited fun or merry pranks." Enjoy it. It may also be thought-provoking]

WINSTON-SALEM — Julie and Bob Clark were stunned to receive a letter from their church in July asking them to “participate in the life of the church” — or worship elsewhere. “They basically called us freeloaders,” says Julie. “We were freeloaders,” says Bob.

In a trend that may signal rough times for wallflower Christians, bellwether mega-church Faith Community of Winston-Salem has asked “non-participating members” to stop attending.

“No more Mr. Nice Church,” says the executive pastor, newly hired from Cingular Wireless. “Bigger is not always better. Providing free services indefinitely to complacent Christians is not our mission.”

“Freeloading” Christians were straining the church’s nursery and facility resources and harming the church’s ability to reach the lost, says the pastor. “When your bottom line is saving souls, you get impatient with people who interfere with that goal,” he says.

Faith Community sent polite but firm letters to families who attend church services and “freebie events” but never volunteer, never tithe and do not belong to a small group or other ministry. The church estimates that of its 8,000 regular attendees, only half have volunteered in the past 3 years, and a third have never given to the church.

“Before now, we made people feel comfortable and welcome, and tried to coax them to give a little something in return,” says a staff member. “That’s changed. We’re done being the community nanny.”

Surprisingly, the move to dis-invite people has drawn positive response from men in the community who like the idea of an in-your-face church. “I thought, ‘A church that doesn’t allow wussies — that rocks,’” says Bob Clark, who admires the church more since they told him to get lost. He and Julie are now tithing and volunteering. “We’ve taken our place in church life,” he says.

Australian Communities Report

Olive Tree Media recently launched the results from their Australian Communities Report conducted by McCrindle Research to discover what Australians really think of Christian faith, Christians and the Church. Held in Sydney on 4th November, the research was launched by Archbishop Peter Jensen. Mark McCrindle, Principal of McCrindle Research presented the findings to 50 church leaders and business people. Click here to watch excerpts of the presentation and here to download a summary of the research results or purchase a copy of the full report. 

The Research was commissioned in preparation for a new Apologetics Series being produced by Olive Tree Media in 2012 which will tackle the issues arising from the research. 

Some interesting insights from the research include:

• Overall, 1 in 2 Australians do not identity with a religion. 40% consider themselves Christian. 31% do not identify with a religion or spiritual belief, while another 19% consider themselves spiritual but not religious.
• Parents and family have a strong influence on people's perceptions of Christians and Christianity.
• There is significant "warmth" towards Christianity by a large proportion of Australians.
• The church's views on homosexuality, hell and science were seen as potential faith blockers.
• There was a surprisingly high awareness of some of the core teachings of Jesus, although 6% of Australians believe that "Such is life" was a statement made by Jesus (actually it was Ned Kelly!). More surprisingly, 28% of those surveyed had no idea when Jesus lived and 27% believed he lived in ancient times (BC).  

We live in a land of great opportunity. Although only 10% of Australians attend church on a weekend, many are open to a real and living faith, especially when modeled by their peers and friends. Let's continue to pray and believe that the Australian church will reach many more Aussies with the good news of Jesus Christ in these next few decades. 

 

 

 

You Lost Me - Latest Church Research from Barna Group

People are calling it "The Great Departure" - Christian young people leaving the church. Close to 60 percent of young people who went to church as teens drop out after high school. Now the bestselling author of unChristian trains his researcher's eye on these young believers. Where David Kinnaman's first book unChristian showed the world what outsiders aged 16-29 think of Christianity, You Lost Me shows why younger Christians aged 16-29 are leaving the church and rethinking their faith.

Based on new research, You Lost Me shows pastors, church leaders, and parents how we have failed to equip young people to live "in but not of" the world and how this has serious long-term consequences. More importantly, Kinnaman offers ideas on how to help young people develop and maintain a vibrant faith that they embrace over a lifetime.

Kinneman identifies three types of young people who have left church:

1. Nomads - they walk away from church engagement but still consider themselves Christians.

2. Prodigals - they lose their faith, describing themselves as "no longer Christian." 

3. Exiles - they are still invested in their Christian faith but feel stuck (or lost) between culture and the church. 

Kinnaman goes on to offer "six reasons" why the next generation is disengaging from church:

A New Kind of Pentecostal

The word 'Pentecostal' creates a variety of images and impressions as soon as it is mentioned, depending on an individual's background and personal experience. Pentecost was a feast that the nation of Israel began celebrating at the time of Moses. This day also marked the birth of the church as the Holy Spirit was poured out on 120 praying believers (Acts 2). The modern day Pentecostal movement has roots in the early 1900s with an outpouring of the Spirit in Azusa Street in Los Angeles. 

How is the Pentecostal movement morphing around the world today? Click here to read a recent insightful article about this from the Christianity Today magazine.

Click here to read some of my own thoughts on Pentecostalism (there are 4 posts on this topic). 

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: Conclusion

These practices can be seen as a single operating system for your church. Avoid competing operating systems and conflicting information that can cause a breakdown or paralyse ministry. Get an upgrade. Reformat your hard drive and install a clean system. Rewrite your internal code so that everyone is clear about what is important and how they should function. Make these practices an essential part of the style and culture of your ministry.

They are not:

• Church growth principles, though they have an impact on how you grow.
• The same as your mission, but can be are strategic in helping you accomplish your mission
• The same as your values, but they determine how you apply your values.
• Theological principles, but they compliment your passion to teach truth with relevance.
• The only practices, though they are the some of the most critical.

See them more as DNA and your distinct ministry style. Use them to remind your team members how and why they do what they do.

These seven practices can help you to:

• Protect the simplicity of your organisation.
• Keep your staff and volunteers moving in the same direction.
• Create environment that are focused and relevant.
• Evaluate the success of your ministries and programs.
• Export your style of ministry to new and existing churches.

I hope that you gleaned some helpful insights the this book review.

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: #7 Work on it

Practice #7 – Work on it

Set aside some quality time to step back evaluate what you are doing and how effective you are being. ALL of us work IN our ministry. That’s what we do. But are we consistently carving out time to work ON our ministries? It is essential to work ON your ministry not just IN your ministry.

Everyone needs training and practice, even the best and most talented people. Without it, the fundamentals start to break down. It isn’t enough to play the game; you have to work on your game too. It’s the same with ministry. No matter how long we’ve served or how successful we’ve been – if we are not consistently evaluating both our performance and our strategies, at some point we will begin to become ineffective.

Self-evaluation is not a new concept. Even God took time at the end of each day during the week of creation to evaluate his won work (Gen.1:31). He also later evaluated Adam’s situation and saw that it was not good for man to be alone. We are all grateful that God took time to work on the system that day. The point is, no matter how good something may seem to be, a consistent time of evaluation can produce tremendous benefits.

Confronting the Facts

It is amazing how honest evaluation can lead to some pretty ugly observations. There are always areas that need improvement. It could be as simple as improving performance or as complex as creating more effective systems. Either way, you have to face what Jim Collins calls “the brutal facts.” It is important that there be no sacred cows or sacred programs and that everyone is encouraged to make suggestions and take suggestions. Everything must be up for debate and must be defended against your mission and values. This is the only way to stay aligned with your core purpose. Hopefully, at the end of the day you have asked the tough questions and arrived at the right answers. For all of this to work, there has to be an environment of trust.

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: #6 Replace Yourself

Practice #6 – Replace Yourself

You can stop at practice number five and your organisation will last a good, long time. However, if you want your church and/or ministry to stand the test of time, then you have to be replaced. Just talking about this creates a lot of emotion for people. However, if you don’t eventually replace yourself, the church will fall apart.

One day someone else will be doing what you are doing. Whether you have an exit strategy or not, you will exit. So embrace the inevitable and prepare now for the future. On that day, everything you’ve done, everything you’ve dreamed, and everything you’ve built will be placed in someone else’s hands.

When we attempt to hold on, we encourage our organization to be built around a personality; when we strategically replace ourselves, we allow the organization to be driven by vision. Learning to hand off leadership to the next generation is vital to the longevity of any organisation, especially the church.

In order to replace yourself, you have to see the good of the organisation as more important than your own. You have to be able to resist the natural reaction to protect yourself and your position. For an organisation to grow, you have to have great leadership and great leadership needs to be developed through a system of apprenticing replacements and duplication.

Tear Down the Leadership Walls

John Maxwell popularized the concept of the “leadership lid” – which refers to anything that keeps a leader from growing. Effective leaders identify their limitations and to whatever they can to grow through them. Any ministry will have a difficult time growing beyond the lid or leadership capacity of its leader.

Andy Stanley talks also about leadership “leadership walls” – that prevent others from reaching their potential. A leadership wall can directly stunt the growth of those on a ministry team and ultimately create a leadership gap in the ministry. Lids may stop leaders from growing up but walls keep leaders out. They form a barrier that blocks the development of future leaders in your organisation.

If you fail to develop a strategy to replace yourself, you will …

• Force talented individuals to remain in the wings
• Cause potential leaders to exit the organization
• Stifle needed insight from valuable team members
• Hinder your ability to recruit volunteers
• Limit the growth of your programs and ministries.

Every leader needs to take an honest, objective look at anything that may create a barrier to the growth of the church’s staff and volunteers. The same characteristics that make a leader effective may adversely affect his or her ability to reproduce other leaders. Replacing yourself requires a shift of thinking as a leader that includes facing some personal tendencies that could be unhealthy for your ministry. Start asking, “What keeps those around me from growing as leaders?” not just, “What keeps me from growing as a leader?” 

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: #5 Listen to Outsiders

Practice #5 - Listen to Outsiders

Focus your efforts on those you are trying to reach, rather than just on those you are trying to keep.

Listen to outsiders for answers, not questions. Listen to outsiders and make adjustments.

Churches are full of ’insiders’ even though most of them start out as ‘outsiders’. If you don’t listen to outsiders you will be driven by the complaints and demands of insiders and ultimately the amount of people you reach will dwindle.

Watch them and listen to them and they’ll tell you what they think and want. Then figure out how to use that information. Don’t be so concerned about keeping the people you’ve got that you neglect the people you are trying to reach.

This requires you to admit that you don’t have all of the answers.

 

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: #4 Teach Less for More

Practice #4 - Teach less for More

The less you say the more you will communicate. You will be more effective if you only say what you need to say to the people who need to hear it.

Most people confuse quantity of information communicated with the quality of implementation. We think that the more we tell people the better they’ll do. Sometimes we think ‘more is better’ when often it is just ‘more’. Instead, boil things down to the basics and do them with excellence.

Teach people to love God and love others. Get the right information to the right people in the right position. Everyone doesn’t need to know everything.

It’s better to say one thing well than to present a scattering of many things less effectively. The quantity of information presented does not necessarily equate to the quality of implementation achieved. Sometimes we think that ‘more is better,’ when in actual fact we should ‘teach less for more.’ Have one central topic or idea for your message and deliver it clearly.

No single message needs to cover everything that needs to be said about a biblical text or topic. Have a more open-ended approach that sees your message as part of an ongoing conversation rather than the last word on a matter, with everything tied together. Leave people with some work to do – questions to answer, reflections to make, and discussion to engage in.

[These first four practices keep your organisation in alignment so you don’t pull off course. These are about making changes in the organisation. The next three practices require personal change for the leader, and sometimes, that’s a little more difficult]

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: #3 Narrow the Focus

Practice #3 - Narrow the Focus

Focus is the key to achieving excellence and making an impact. Each ministry should be designed to do one or two things well. Don’t try to do everything; do a few things well. This applies to the number of things you do and also the way you do the things you do. Keep each of your steps focused and make sure it does only what it was created to do. You can sometimes ruin something by trying to get it to do something else.

Narrowing your focus may seem limiting but when you think about it, it really frees you up to do more. You just do one thing really well. Be on guard for competing visions or cross-purposes. Keep a refreshing simplicity and efficiency in your church and its ministries. If you try to do everything you’ll end up with nothing.

Key concepts and thoughts: 

• Jesus knew his mission and kept focused even though many other needs were NOT met.
• Everything naturally drifts away from simplicity to complexity.
• We tend to add but we rarely subtract. As a result, we have to be committed to continually "narrow the focus"
• A narrow river has great power and depth. A shallow river has width but not depth and is reduced power (in fact it can stop and become a lake or a swamp).
• Complexity makes organisations "dumber".
• Narrow the Focus is to do LESS. Create a NOT To Do List
• What are we doing that is working but are getting in the way of even more productive activities?
• Be prepared to say "we don't do that" ... either "ever" or "now".
• What you don't do informs the things that you do do.
• We could do that, but we've chosen not to.
• Be prepared to say "no" a lot and to say "not now" more often.
• Be prepared to do fewer things much better.
• Don't ADD without taking AWAY something.
• Complexity tends kills the spirit of evangelism in a church - resources are consumed by providing for the insiders and there is nothing left for the outsiders.
• Make the hard choices on what works best over what is presently working.
• Be prepared to cut off excess programs and prune core programs to make them work better.
• The more you narrow the focus, the more relevant is the program to the audience. It provides better specific personal connection. Do less, do it better.
• Identity gets built around programs - killing programs can be messy and personally painful.
• Big change is less painful than small change - at least in big change you see the benefits, whereas in small change you only feel the pain.
• Know the ONE thing that a ministry or program is there to achieve. Define the focus. 

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: #2 Think Steps Not Programs

Practice #2 - Think Steps not Programs

All church ministries and/or programs should take people somewhere not just fill their time. Ask yourself, "Where do you want your people to be?" "What do you want them to become?" "Is your ministry or program designed to take them there?"

Figure out how to change lives then do that one step at a time. In baseball, the ultimate goal is to get to home plate but you have to get to first base first then figure out how to get to second and third before getting to home. Thinks steps, not programs.

Don’t mistake activity for progress. Programs can lead to life change or they can just become a way of life. If all your activity isn’t taking people where you want them to go then it’s just a waste of time. In fact, you’ll frustrate people by giving them a clear vision, without a strategy for achieving it.

A good step is – easy, obvious and strategic.

1. If it’s not easy for people to do, then they won’t do it. You can blame their lack of commitment if you want, but ultimately it’s your fault because you expected too much of them. If steps are easy you increase the likelihood of achieving your goal.

2. If it’s not obvious, your people may go the wrong way. You don’t want them to have to guess what the next step for them is.

3. Each step has to be strategic. It’s part of a strategy for moving people from one place to another. If a program isn’t a step that is part of a strategy, then it can waste a lot of time and money. It’s often good things that knock you off target. A flood is simply a river that couldn’t decide where it wanted to go.

7 Practices of Effective Ministry: #1 Clarify the Win

Andy Stanley is the Senior Pastor of North Point Community Church, a thriving multi-site church in Atlanta, Georgia. He has written a number of very helpful resources for churches and church leaders. One example is the book Seven Practices of Effective Ministry. 

In this book, the authors, propose that clearly articulated and established principles enable you to work through the fog of information and emotion in order to find clarity and make the tough calls. They provide a context for all discussions and decisions. Ministry is more of an art than a science. We need to know what to ask not just what to do. 

Here is a brief overview of the seven principles:

Practice #1 - Clarify the Win

It is impossible to know if you are making progress if you are not clear on the destination. This requires examining each and every church ministry, event and program and asking the question, "When all is said and done, what is it we want to look back on and celebrate?"

Do you know what a win is in your church or ministry? It’s difficult to tell when things are working well in church. A win is more complicated in church so knowing what a win looks like is all the more important. Do you have a scoreboard so you know when you’re getting ahead and your people know when to cheer?

No player in any sports team is confused about the goal. They may not reach it but they know what it is. If you give people a good goal then most of the time they’ll work hard to get there. But if the goal is unclear, they’re forced to guess, or worse, decide for themselves what a win really is. With or without a goal, people will work hard to get somewhere. The question is: Are they getting where you want them to go?

How do you clarify the win? Just ask yourself, ‘What is the most important thing?’ ‘Life change’ is our obvious goal but how do we measure that? Figure out where and how life change happens best and move people there.

In baseball the goal is to get to home plate. That’s where a win occurs. You have to decide where a win best happens for you. Is it your Sunday morning service or somewhere else? Once you know where it is, then you have to take the necessary steps to get there. Give people a clear target and they’re more likely to hit it.

Clarifying the win simply means communicating to your team what is really important and what really matters. By being intentional about defining a win you don’t accidentally communicate the wrong win or keep your team guessing about what is really important. Nothing hinders morale like separate agendas pulling against one another.

Exponential Conference: Multi-Site Church Insights

The Exponential Conference is an annual conference in the USA focused on motivating and equipping church leaders and especially church planters. This year's theme was On the Verge, which is the title of a new book by Alan Hirsch and Dave Ferguson. Podcasts of previous year conferences are available now, with this year's sessions coming soon. 

I attended this year's conference and it was very good, with a great variety of helpful workshops. A few of the workshops that I attended were related to multi-site church strategy. Click here to read a document summarising 10 insights gleaned. 

May God's church continue to make a positive difference in our world ... through all means and strategies possible.  

Don't forget the Elderly!

People frequently say, "Its a young person's world" and it many ways it is. Youth culture dominates our world and especially the entertainment industry. Yet, the largest and fastest growing demographic in many parts of our world is the elderly. With life expectancy continuing to grow, we will continue to see more and more seniors as part of our communities.

For the church, I believe that God's desire is for 'young and old' to partner together in relationships and kingdom purposes (see Acts 2:17). Too often churches merely mimic the culture by constantly segregating people into different age groups - kids, youth, young adults, married and seniors. Although there are some benefits in congregating with people who are at a similar stage of life, in doing so we can miss the benefits of inter-generational relationships. There are great benefits when adults minister to children and youth. If we can merge the enthusiasm of the young with the wisdom of the aged, what a powerful force the church can be.  

Seniors provide a ready-made demographic of people for us to reach out to. I pray that the church around the world will give more prayer and thought to what we can do to share God's good news with elderly people - many who are lonely and isolated. 

Yes, let's be relevant to and reaching out to the next generation ... but let's not forget the elderly!

P.S. Click here for a good article by Tony Campolo on church staffing and the elderly. 

FOCUS 2011: Following Jesus

CityLife Church has recently finished an eight-year season of working towards a Vision 2010 Statement that was a way for us to take seriously our Mission to “raise up fervent followers of Jesus Christ who will reach out and impact communities, cities and nations for the kingdom of God.” This year, we move forward into a new chapter in the life of our church. Our Mission remains the same but we will shift to a more qualitative approach to ministry. 

After His resurrection, Jesus spent a lot of time with his disciples preparing them for their mission after he would return to heaven. In one meeting on a mountaintop, he gave them a clear PLAN. Many people call it the Great Commission (see Matt.28:16-20). This plan contains one urgent command – “make disciples!” Other aspects such as “going,” “baptizing”, and “teaching” are supportive to this single clear mission. This is the FOCUS we have chosen for 2011 and beyond: FOLLOWING JESUS. It is about being and making disciples. Of course, all of this is only possible through the POWER of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:7-8). 

FOCUS 2011

As we FOCUS on FOLLOWING JESUS, we will be looking at five important ACTIONS that are interrelated in this pursuit. FOLLOWING JESUS requires these ACTIONS:

1. Surrendering to Jesus as Lord

Jesus loved crowds of people but he didn’t come to build a crowd. He came to gather together a group of disciples who were passionate about and committed to him and his kingdom purpose for the world. Although he called people to come, to follow, and to believe, ultimately he called them to surrender the leadership of their lives to him.

Our goals for this year in this area include:

• Encouraging full surrender of every area of life to the loving leadership of Jesus (Mt.16:24-25. Lk.14:25-35).
• Creating a stronger focus on Jesus Christ in every aspect of personal and church life (Col.1:15-20, 27; 3:23-24).
• Fostering a radical obedience to the commands of Jesus as the ultimate act of worship (Jn.14:15. Lk.6:46-49. 1Jn.5:2-3)

2. Contributing in Service

Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and give his life for the benefit of others. He calls us as his disciples to do the same.

Our goals for this year in this area include:

• Encouraging a serving attitude as a basic outlook for life (Jn.13:15. Gal.5:13. Phil.2:3-5).
• Assisting in the discovery, development and use of God-given gifts and abilities (1Cor.12:7. 1 Pet.4:10).
• Emphasizing a balanced use of time between family, work/study, community and church activities (Eph.5;15-17).

My Church

I pretty much grew up in church. When I was a kid our family went to church three times every Sunday - Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon and Sunday night. When I was nine years of age (back in 1970), my family travelled to America where my dad was one of the speakers for multiple church conventions and camps up and down the West Coast. I attended over 800 meeting in eighteen months! Overall, for me, church involvement was a pretty positive experience. I made a lot of friends, came to know God for myself, discovered some of my own gifts and abilities, and grew as a person.

What about you? Maybe you had a similar experience as me or maybe you have only recently got connected to 'church.' Or maybe you have had some hurts or disappointments along the way. In may ways, churches are like families - they all have a degree of dysfunction.

Whatever your experience, God created the church for our benefit - not just for his. I shared with our young people a few weeks back, four benefits that church can bring to your life:

1. Friends.

Jesus called people to be 'with him' - to hang out together. Church is not something you go to (an event or a building) but rather something you a part of (like a family). Every human being asks the question: "Where do I belong?" We were created for community and we move in tribes or herds. Church can be a terrific place to make great friends. I met my wife, Nicole, through church and have made lots of other really good friends for which I am truly thankful. 

Friends have a big influence on us (Prov.13:20. 1 Cor.15:33). Be friends with everyone but run with those who are headed in the direction you want to go. 

2. Faith.

Other questions we have are: "Who am I?" and "What do I believe in?" Church is a great environment to discover God for yourself. This is often a journey that takes time. We all have questions and doubts, just like Thomas, but God does not condemn us for them. He reaches out to us to give us reasons to believe (Jn.3:16). 

Six Mega Themes for the Church in 2010 (Barna Update)

A recent report by the Barna Group highlights six mega-themes in the church that have emerged in 2010. Click here to read the full report. Here they are:

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.

2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.

3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.

4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.

5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.

6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

Have a read of the report and let me know what you think.

FOCUS: What People Need from their Pastor

What People Want from their Senior Pastor

REVEAL also included research about what people expect from the Senior Pastor (or Senior Minister – SM). People view the Senior Pastor’s responsibilities as:

1. Serving Advocacy. The SM is expected to be the chief promoter and champion of serving opportunities. They identify and encourage the use of people’s gifts and talents. They attract, develop and motivate ministry teams. They promote and create enthusiasm for serving activities. They create a welcoming and friendly environment for this to occur.

2. Spiritual Challenge. The SM is expected to provide sound doctrine that is biblically accurate, to model and reinforce how to grow spiritually, and to challenge the people to grow and take next steps.

3. Pastoral Care. The SM is expected to counsel people facing major life decisions, minister to the sick, dying and bereaved, and provide guidance to individuals about spiritual development.

4. External Focus. The SM is expected to be a recognized voice on important local issues, to be involved in issues of global significance, and to motivate the church to recruit new members. This includes representing the church to other organizations.

5. Preaching and Vision Casting. The SM is expected to preach inspiring sermons and to cast a vision that captures people’s hearts.

6. Unity and Stability. The SM is expected to maintain harmony, handle troublemakers, avert/resolve problems, and help ensure that the church is financially stable. They are to be a stabilizing force  

When studying the influence of each of these responsibilities on church satisfaction, the following insights were made:

1.Preaching and vision casting have the biggest impact on satisfaction with the senior pastor (51%). This is what people want most from their senior pastor. Its influence is three times greater than the next category.

2. Spiritual challenge is a secondary influence on satisfaction with the senior pastor (17%). The SM is expected to be the church’s chief theologian and a spiritual role model.

3. Pastoral care (9%), unity/stability (11%) and serving advocacy (12%) have less impact on satisfaction with the senior pastor than preaching and vision casting. These areas are important but their impact on satisfaction pales in comparison to preaching and vision casting.

4. External focus does not influence satisfaction with the senior pastor. External focus, although something people expect, has no influence on satisfaction with the senior pastor.

5. The drivers of senior pastor satisfaction are the same for everyone – no matter where they are on the spiritual continuum. What people want from their senior pastor does not differ based on spiritual maturity. Every time the senior pastor gets up to preach, they are responsible for speaking one message to a group of people who are at different stages of spiritual growth. Preparing an effective spiritual message for such a diverse crowd is like preparing a math lesson for a group of students with education levels ranging from primary school to university. It is impossible to be equally effective for all of them, yet this is the expectation.

What People Need from their Senior Pastor

The research revealed three key findings:

1. Spiritual challenge is the senior pastor’s most significant driver of spiritual growth. Spiritual challenge has by far the most powerful effect on spiritual growth for all three movements. Great preaching and vision casting is definitely what people want from the senior pastor but it is not, by itself, particularly influential on spiritual growth. On the other hand, spiritual challenge, delivered through teaching, counseling or leading the church – is clearly what people need from the senior pastor in order to grow. The SM must challenge people at all stages of spiritual growth to take the next step.

2. The most spiritually mature people need more from the senior pastor to help them grow than those at earlier stages of spiritual development. As people mature, they need more from the senior pastor. The most mature, need serving advocacy, unity and stability and external focus.

3. Pastoral care does not contribute to spiritual growth. Pastoral care is needed at particular times – for example, during a life crisis – but it is not something needed to spur on spiritual growth.

In conclusion, people want great preaching and vision casting from their senior pastor but people need spiritual challenge in order to grow. The ability to deliver spiritual challenge is the senior pastor’s most influential driver of spiritual growth.

What do people want from Preaching and Vision Casting?

The research revealed four insights:

1. Spiritual challenge is what people want from preaching and vision casting. People are hungry for spiritual challenge.

2. Sound doctrine and modeling influence everyone on the spiritual continuum. Everyone strongly desires biblical teaching and a senior pastor who models growth.

3. Challenge and next steps are important for all believers.

 4. Serving is significant for those in earlier segments of spiritual growth.

Other Insights

The senior pastors’ leadership role (80%) had four times the impact on satisfaction with the church’s role in spiritual growth compared to the role of teaching (20%). In other words, the senior pastor’s leadership of the church – which means making and executing the kinds of decisions that create an environment of spiritual challenge and spiritual guidance in all ministries – drives satisfaction with the church’s role in spiritual growth by a margin of four to one. Day-to-day decisions   about how to lead the church – specifically the decisions that deliver spiritual guidance to the church – have an even greater impact than the very best sermon.

The spiritual growth of a congregation depends on having a senior pastor who does two things: (1) delivers spiritual challenge through both teaching and leading; (2) demonstrates through daily decisions and behaviors that the role of leadership is the one deserving the senior pastor’s greatest time, energy and attention. Being a great leader is more important than being a great teacher, when it comes to the long-term spiritual growth and viability of a congregation.

A concluding statement from Greg Hawkins on the research: “as church leaders, we need to give people a place to belong and a pathway that guides them on their journey toward intimacy with Christ. We catalyze their spiritual growth by helping them understand the Bible in great depth, by challenging them to apply the Scripture with specific next steps and by modeling how we are taking those steps ourselves.”

The above material has been summarized from the book FOCUS: The Top Ten Things People Want and Need from You and Your Church by Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson (Willow Creek Resources: Barrington, IL, 2009). 

FOCUS: What People Need from their Church

What people want and what they need may be the same thing or they may be different. Sorting out wants and needs is an important task for any church leader. Understanding what people really want from their church is an important starting place. We need to understand why motivated people show up every week. What do they want from their church experience? Knowing this helps you determine whether there is an “expectation gap” or not. 

The following insights were gleaned from surveying 80,000 people in 376 churches who took the REVEAL spiritual life surveys between October 2008 and March 2009. The churches represented a broad range in size, style and theological persuasion (including Pentecostal churches).

The five big categories that drive church satisfaction and spiritual growth are:

1. Spiritual Guidance (54%). This includes the church helping people understanding the Bible, developing a personal relationship with Christ, encouraging personal responsibility for spiritual growth, leaders modeling growth and showing how, and challenging towards growth and next steps.

2. Belonging (31%). This includes the church helping people to feel like they belong,. Assisting in time of emotional need and providing places for connection with others.

3. Accountability and Impact (9%). This includes the church helping people develop relationships that encourage accountability, providing opportunities to grow spiritually through relationships, and empowering people to male a significant impact in the lives of others.

4. Ownership (6%). This includes the church setting clear expectations for what it means to be apart of the church and inspiring a sense of ownership and commitment that leads to active engagement in the life and mission of the church.

5. Serving. This includes the church providing a strong serving culture and opportunities to serve those in need.

Here are five conclusions from the research:

1. Spiritual guidance has by far the biggest impact on people’s satisfaction with the church. People come to church hoping to know and become more like Christ. This drives more than half of the combined impact of all five categories.

2. Belonging is also a powerful drive of satisfaction with the church. This accounts for approximately one-third of the circle of impact.

3. The influence of accountability/impact and ownership on church satisfaction is limited. 

4. Serving did not emerge as an influential category. Serving others is not on the radar screen for most people when they think about what makes them satisfied with how the church helps them grow spiritually.

5. The drivers of church satisfaction are the same for everyone – no matter where they are on the spiritual continuum. Spiritual guidance and a sense of belonging are what everyone wants from church.

Wants are optional. Needs are essential. What do people need from church? Here are the three conclusions from the research:

FOLLOW ME: What's Next For You?

There is nothing more difficult to gauge or measure than spiritual growth. However, we must do our best to try. After conducting the REVEAL survey with over 6000 of their own church members and another 300 people who had left their church within the previous year, Willow Creek started involving other churches in the research. Specifically, they surveyed 80,000 people in 200 congregations. The focus this time was extended to include research into what people really want from their church, the barriers they face, and what draws them closer to Christ.

Many insights emerged including one of the top answers to the questions “What’s the most important thing you want from your church?” as being ”Challenge me to grow and take the next step in my spiritual life.”

Spiritual Catalysts

Fifty factors were assessed as to their impact on spiritual growth. These fall within four categories of spiritual catalysts:

1. Spiritual belief and attitudes. Foundational beliefs are critical. Key beliefs include: salvation by grace, he trinity, a personal God, Christ is first, the authority of the Bible, identity in Christ, giving away my life and stewardship. Two beliefs catalyze growth across all three movements across the spiritual continuum: “Jesus as first in life” and “the authority of the Bible. “

2. Organized church activities. The catalytic power of the church is limited primarily to the first two movements of spiritual growth. Church activities provide an ‘on ramp’ to spiritual growth.

3. Personal spiritual practices. Reflection on Scripture is the number one factor across all three movements.

4. Spiritual activities with others. Spiritual community is a critical catalyst for spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth is not linear or predictable. It is a complex process as unique as each individual, and it progresses at a pace determined by each person’s circumstances and the activity of the Holy Spirit.

Other Insights

From the wider church surveys, it was discovered that 32% of people fell into the struggling, unhappy groups of “Satisfied but Stalled (15%),” “Dissatisfied and Stalled (7%),” and “Dissatisfied but not Stalled (10%).” 

People who are Stalled spiritually fall mostly in the earlier segments of spiritual growth. People get “un-stuck” by re-engaging in spiritual practices.

Dissatisfied people are present in all segments. Usually these feelings arise from three unmet important elements in the weekend services: (a) “Relevant Bible teaching to help me with everyday life,” (b) “Is challenging and thought-provoking,” and (c) “Provides in-depth study of the Bible.” Addressing these unmet expectations will resonate with all people, regardless of their satisfaction with the church and no matter where they are on their spiritual journey.

Two other breakthrough discoveries were: (1) Christ-centered people show enormous capacity for increased kingdom impact and (2)the Bible is the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth.

REVEAL Survey (Part 3)

Twelve bonus discoveries were made from the survey:

1. Growing up in a church is the leading reason people begin to explore Christianity. Other reasons relate to personal feelings of emptiness or struggle.
2. People begin attending their church primarily because of a personal relationship or recommendation.
3. Expressions of gratitude toward God and dependence on God rise dramatically across the spiritual continuum.
4. People’s feelings/attitudes about the importance of spiritual practices in their daily lives advance significantly along the spiritual continuum.
5. People openly acknowledge that significant barriers, like addictions or emotional issues, impede their spiritual growth.
6. As they advance along the spiritual continuum, people express a growing need for a spiritual community that “holds me accountable.”
7. There are many reasons why people serve, but most importantly they feel it is an expression of their faith.
8. The number one evangelistic activity for most segments is talking about prayer or offering to pray for non-Christians.
9. More than half of those surveyed said that they used the Internet at some point in the last year to advance their spiritual growth.
10. The Stalled and Dissatisfied segments are significantly more likely to say they are considering leaving their church.
11. Six church attributes are most important to people, although satisfaction levels vary considerably (provides compelling worship services, helps me develop a personal relationship with Christ, challenges me to take the next steps in my spiritual life, helps me understand the Bible in greater depth, helps me feel like I belong, and helps me find a spiritual mentor). .
12. People say weekend services are important to their spiritual growth, and they especially appreciate the singing/worship experience.

Now check out: FOLLOW ME: What's Next For You?

The material in these three BLOG posts has been summarized from the book REVEAL: Where Are You? by Greg L. Hawkins, Cally Parkinson and Eric Arnson (Willow Creek Resources: Barrington, IL, 2007). See also www.revealnow.com

REVEAL Survey (Part 2)

Willow Creek were shocked with the findings from this survey and spent more than two years assimilating the research. The results have led to a total rethink as to how Willow Creek is coaching Christ-followers. Specifically, they have made three strategic changes:

1. They Changed Their Message to the Congregation. They realized that they had been wrong in thinking that their job was to meet all of the spiritual growth needs of their congregation. They have endeavored to shift people from dependence on the church to a growing interdependent relationship with the church. They now let people know early on in their journey that they need to look beyond the church to grow. Getting a weekly dose or two of what the church has to offer (even if it is great) will never be sufficient spiritual nutrition for survival, let alone growth. They now see that their people need to learn to feed themselves through personal spiritual practices that allow them to deepen their relationship with Christ.

2. They Now Coach Next Steps. They are endeavoring to shift the church from a spiritual parent role top that of a spiritual coach. Like attending a gym and meeting with a trainer, each person needs a personalized workout plan. One of the church’s initiatives is to create a tool everyone can use to assess the current state of their relationship to Christ (‘spiritual fitness’) and then to recommend a customized growth or ‘workout’ plan that provides direction fort their next step spiritually.

3. They Have Extended the Impact of their Weekend Services. Weekend services are very important on the early stages of spiritual growth but have less value for those further along the spiritual continuum. They are experimenting with ways to provide more additional follow up resources for those who would like to go a little deeper on a particular topic.

As a result of these changes, Willow Creek are moving beyond merely asking “How many?” to asking, “How did this event help people grow?” and “Which segment of people was this event intended to help, and did it actually help them?” They are also moving beyond asking, “How are you?” to deeper questions such as: “How is your relationship with God?” “What is helping you grow spiritual these days?” “What ministry is making a difference in your life and how?” and “What could the church do differently that would help you grow more?”

Speaking at a leadership conference, Bill Hybels summarized the findings this way: “Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for. We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.”

Tomorrow - 12 bonus discoveries ...

REVEAL Survey (Part 1)

Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, led by Bill Hybels, has conducted surveys every three years to assess the quality and impact of their ministry.  After moving into a new 7,200-seat auditorium in 2003, they conducted one of their most extensive surveys ever. Their focus in the survey was less on “how many?” but more on “where are you?” – are people moving towards deeper love for God and people? They endeavored to measure spiritual growth, defined as “an increasing love for God and other people.”

The survey results revealed six insights:

1. Involvement in church activities does not predict or drive long-term spiritual growth. Church activities alone do not create spiritual growth. But there is a “spiritual continuum” that is very predictive and powerful.

2. Spiritual growth is all about increasing relationship to Christ. The spiritual growth continuum has four stages:

(a) Exploring Christianity – “I believe in God, but I’m not sure about Christ. My faith is not a significant part of my life.”

(b) Growing in Christ - ”I believe in Jesus, and I’m working on what it means to get to know him.”

(c)  Close to Christ – “I feel really close to Christ and depend on him daily for guidance.”

(d) Christ-centered – “God is all I need in my life. He is enough. Everything I do is a reflection of Christ.” 

3. The church is most important in the early stages of spiritual growth. Its role then shifts from being the primary influence to a secondary influence. The church’s main activities (weekend services and small groups) decline in importance as people advance along the continuum. Personal spiritual practices begin to become more crucial at the later stages of growth.

4. Personal spiritual practices are the building blocks for a Christ-centered life.

5. A church’s most active evangelists, volunteers and donors come from the most spiritual advanced segments.

6. More than 25% of those surveyed described themselves as spiritual “stalled” or “dissatisfied” with the role of the church in their spiritual growth (with many of them were considering leaving). Both segments voiced complaints about the need for more in-depth teaching, more connection opportunities, more serving options and more of about everything else they felt was missing from their church experience. 

Tomorrow - a strategic response ...

7 Prophetic Shifts

This last weekend I shared a Church Vision Update at CityLife Church ... God calls his leaders to create movement by guiding His people forward towards God's purposes for their lives (see Deut.1:6-7; 2:3). To do this, leaders need to talk about where we have come from (the past - history and heritage), where we are now (the present - what God is saying today), and where we are gong (the future). 

Our church has just finished an eight year period of working towards Vision 2010, a statement we crafted back in 2002 of what we saw our church could become. Through God's grace and a lot of hard work, we have reached a number of our targets, while others we have made good progress towards. Goals are good, but they are not God. Vision 2010 was never established as a measurement of whether our church is succeeding or not, but rather as a way for us to take seriously our mission as a church. 

As we move forward into 2011, we believe God is directing us toward more of a qualitative approach, rather than such a quantitative one. It is time to focus on seeing our church becoming better not just bigger. It's time to focus more on church health not just church growth. This direction has been confirmed by a recent extensive survey we conducted with our church partners. No doubt, there are many areas we can improve on as a church. 

Back in 1995, when I became the senior minister of our church, I sensed God speaking to me about making a number of "prophetic (or strategic) shifts" in our church. A "prophetic shift" is "a change of thinking, inspired by the Holy Spirit, resulting in a change of behaviour that produces a greater effectiveness in fulfilling the purposes of God for this moment in history." This last weekend I review these seven shifts, highlighting their continued relevance in the life of our church. [To read a full summary of the 7 shifts, click here. Further and more in-depth details are in my book Transforming Your Church] 

Like changing to a higher gear in a manual vehicle, these shifts help to create spiritual momentum in any church community. May each one of us keep in step with the Spirit at this time ... as Jesus continues to build His church and the gospel of the kingdom spreads to the ends of the earth. 

Ancient Future Church

How did the early church grow from as few as 25,000 people at the end of the first century (100 AD) to as many as 20 million people two hundred years later (310 AD)? Now that's a question worth thinking deeply about. While considering this question we must note that Christianity was an illegal religion during this period (at best they were tolerated, at worst they were persecuted), they didn't have church buildings, they didn't have all of the Scriptures as we know them (the canon was still being formed), they had no professional leadership, they didn't have youth groups, worship bands, seminaries or commentaries, and they made it hard to join the church. 

In his book, The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch proposes that what they did have was what he calls Apostolic Genius - the inbuilt life force and guiding mechanism of God's people - and the living components or elements that make it up (a kind of missional DNA). Hirsch sees six ingredients as follows: Jesus as Lord, disciple-making, missional-incarnational impulse, apostolic environment, organic systems, and communitas (groups with a mission beyond themselves).  

Could it be that the key to the future of the contemporary church is to get back to our ancient roots. Maybe, we need an 'ancient future' approach. We need to look back in order to move forward. After all, God always includes in the beginning of something the seeds of its ongoing effectiveness.

For those serious about seeing the church become all that God intends it to be in our generation, Alan's book is essential reading. In addition, I would highly recommend The Forgotten Ways Handbook, which is a practical guide for implementing the concepts presented in the book. This is an excellent resource for church leaders or ministry teams seeking to become more missional.

The Global Shift

Rick Warren recently said ...

The last 50 years has seen the greatest redistribution of a religion ever in the history of the world. There is nothing even to compare to it. For instance, at the beginning of the 20th century, in 1900, 71% of all, quote, "Christians" lived in Europe. By 2000 only 28% claimed to be Christian, and I'm sure it's far smaller than that who actually even go to a church.

On the other hand, Christianity was exploding in Africa, Asia and Latin America. If you want to know the future of evangelicalism, it is in those continents. To give you an example, in 1900 there were only 10 million Christians in all of Africa -- 10% of the population. Today there are 360 million Christians in Africa, over half the population. That is a complete turnaround on a continent that's never, ever been seen or done in history.

You may be surprised to know that there are more Christians in China than there are in America, by far. There are more Presbyterians in Ghana than there are in Scotland, where they came out of with John Knox. There are more Baptists in Nagaland, a state in India, than there are in the South here in America. There are more Anglicans in either Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria -- any of these -- than in England. There are 2 million Anglicans in England. There are 17 million Anglicans in Nigeria.

The Church of England is a misnomer. It is now the Church of Africa. I have been involved in the ordination of many of those Anglican leaders. They have spread all over. Last Sunday there were more Christians who went to church in China than all of Europe combined. That is a fundamental shift. If you want to know the future of Christianity, it is the developing world. It's Africa, it's Latin America, and it's Asia.

In fact, there are about 15,000 missionaries now working in England from Brazil, China, Korea, other countries that you used to think, well, those would receive missionaries. In fact, Brazil sends out far more missionaries than either Great Britain or Canada combined. So that's a fundamental shift.

That's all I'm going to say about the future of evangelicalism. It ain't here. Okay?

[To read the complete transcript of this interview with Rick Warren, click here]

I can only agree. The non-West is leading the world in evangelism, church growth and spiritual vitality. We in the West have much to learn from what God is doing in Africa, Asia (including China) and South America.