Bill Easums Observations

Last week I was in Eugene Oregon at Wayne Cordeiro’s farm working with Leadership Network.  There were two other mentors like Wayne and myself along with around 20 25-35 year old pastors.  All of them were outside of the mainstream, were leading growing churches, and were multi site or were getting ready to go multi site. The conversation was stimulating and challenging.  It was also refreshing to hear stories of growth and reproduction of leaders for the multiple locations.

The event was just another road sign along the way showing how much things have been changing over the past thirty years.  We have gone from mainline to sideline; from print to digital; from local to glocal; from programs to leadership paths. All in all there isn’t much left of the old world except in the old world churches of mainline protestantism.

That begs a question – why is mainline dying and a new breed of thriving churches emerging? There were more new churches planted last year than were closed. There is such a disconnect between mainline and sideline.  All mainline wants to discuss is how to revitalize their churches whereas all sideline churches want to talk about is how to reach the next neighbor for Christ.

I’m off the end of this week to discuss this issue with a Presbyterian church in Toledo Ohio. I’m asked to talk about where the mainline church is going and what the future will look like.  It’s not a pretty picture for those who decide to live in the old world instead of doing like Paul and take the message into a strange new world. The message will never change but the delivery system will. I think multi-site is a trend not a fad because that is the way the church grew the first two centuries.

Bill Easum

www.effectivechurch.com

This year people will spend 2.1 billion on Easter Candy.  You read that correctly- 21 billion.  Thank what could be done with that amount of money to do good instead of putting pounds on the average person.

So the next time you decide to take a bite of that chocolate Easter bunny think how many souls you might help save if you just didn’t do it.  (I know chocolate lovers will hate this post but get over it.)

Bill Easum
www.effectivechurch.com

I just finished a book titled “Just Start.” It is a book right up my alley. I’ve long been a proponent of Ready-Fire-Aim so this book fits me like a glove.  I highly recommend it especially if your church is stuck or declining.

The premise of the book is that in an unpredictable world like we live in today you never learn what will or won’t work until you act.  The authors put it this way – You Act, Learn, and then build.  In an unpredictable future traditional learning and thinking will only get us in trouble.  What we need to is what they call “Creaction.”  Today we create by acting, not thinking.

Now apply this to the Church. Many of our churches are built around a committee structure that tries to analyze this life out of an idea or issue before acting on it.  A committee may spend months, even years, trying to decide if they should attempt a new ministry. In most cases that is all they do – think about it. Instead the authors suggest, in Nike fashion, “Just do it; see what you learn; and then build the future.”

Now I know this is counter intuitive to most clergy.  Seminary, if anything, teaches us to think. It makes thinkers out of us, not doers.  This may have made sense in a predictable world, but not in the kind of world we live in today where much of what we depend on didn’t exist 25 years ago.

So if you want to drive your committees crazy, ask them to read this book.  It just might open some eyes to the fact that if you keep thinking the way you are thinking you will keep getting what you’ve been getting.

If you have a flexible mortgage rate now is the time to turn it into a fixed mortgage even if you lose 2 or 3 percentage points. Many analyst are saying that Before the end of this year interest rates will jump and begin to rise as the Feds ease their grip on the economy and let it find its level.
Why risk 7-10 point rise in your interest rates over the long term just to save a few dollars short term.

Just a heads up.

Well, now I realize I didn’t publish my thoughts of the Conversations You Cant Ignore in the right order. So here is Part IV

All three of the movements we’ve examined the past three days (Emergents, Incarnationals, and Organics) are clearly reactions against the traditional Attractional church that waits for the public to come to it instead of going out to it. Some 80-85% of Attractional churches is either on a plateau or is dying because their primary function is on the care and feeding of the members and the institution. They are more like hospices or hospitals than churches. So it might be in the best interest of most churches in the West to listen to these voices since they clearly show up the fallacies of the institutionally focused church. But do we really need to throw the baby out with the bath water? I think not.

However, over the past decade too much time and energy has been taken up by these conversations. I have no problem with the Incarnational, Organic, and Emergent movements being part of the ongoing conversation as long as we realize they are just one of the many voices in the midst of much larger and important conversation that is coming to the forefront. We will examine this movement in a moment.

But first. We should all be indebted to these folks for bringing to our attention so elegantly the fact that Western Christianity is nowhere near what Jesus had in mind when he sent his disciples out into the world to build his church.  We should be willing to concede that most churches in the West are spiritually dead and are beyond revitalization or turn around.  Their only hope is resurrection. That is why I wrote A Second Resurrection. They are in need of resurrection. However, these movements are not the primary conversation in which we should be engaged.

So, let’s turn to two other major players in this ongoing conversation that have the potential to eclipse all three of these movements, as important as they are.

The Reproductive Movement

The Reproductive movement focuses primarily on advancing the Kingdom of God by multiplying itself and its people in any way possible. Their primary focus is on transforming the world by reproducing disciples rather than building large institutional churches (even though their efforts are more likely to result in large churches). Most of these churches are heavy into planting churches that plant other churches and multiple-site forms of ministry because they believe this is still the best way to make disciples. Mission shapes everything they do and believe including the purpose and meaning of “ecclesia.” Reproductives believe Christians are called and blessed only to be “sent” into the world to be a blessing to it. Mission is the totality of what the church is.

The most prominent leaders of this movement include folks like Bob Roberts, Dave Ferguson, and all the people involved in church planting movements like Exponential.

The Reproductives realize reaching the world will take the combined effort of all forms of Christianity. Therefore the movement embodies the best of the Incarnational, the Organic, and the Emergent values without throwing the baby (institutional church) out with the bath water. They believe we must plant as many churches as possible in as short a period of time as possible. Rather than the institutional church, their emphasis is on planting churches that will plant other churches in order to transform the world. Their emphasis is on the process of reproduction of Christians and the transformation of societies rather than building buildings. These leaders also realize that in today’s world big may not always best, so they embrace the multi site route as well.

There is one thing the Reproductives need to do. They need to get together and bring about one huge movement that will change the course of the world. So I have to ask – “What’s keeping you from forming a Reproduction Bank where people of all persuasions can donate to the cause of planting church planting churches?”

For my review of Robert’s book, The Multiplying Church and Fergusons book, The Big Idea,click here.

To learn about Exponential go to http://www.exponentialconference.org

So far we have examined the Emergent and Incarnational Movements. Today we examine the Organic Movement.

The Organic Movement

The Organic Movement is a kissing cousin to the Incarnational movement and a distant cousin to the Emergent movement. Compared to the other two movements it sees little to no need for the institutional church. But unlike the Emergent movement, and more like the Incarnationals, the Organics are more literal in their interpretation of Scripture and truth.

Although there are several voices for the Organic movement the most prominent voice is Frank Viola and his two books (with Barna), Pagan Christianity and Reimaging Church. His third book in the series, Finding Organic Church, isn’t on the same plane as his first two books). The first two books are meticulous, interesting, and disturbing looks at the New Testament understanding of the early church and how it compares to Western Christianity.

Although Viola is also a reaction against all forms of the institutional church, he stands in direct opposition to the Emergent folks because he takes a literal approach to the Scripture. His book documents the problems with the institutional church that functions more like a business than the living organism it was created to be.  His major criticism of today’s church, other than it being totally non-biblical, is the passivity and the elitism of today’s Church. I should stress here  that if Viola’s work does nothing more than awaken the church to these two sins his books have done their job.

Viola feels that most of the practices of modern day Christianity are totally foreign to Scripture and are lethal to the development of the kingdom of God. Every church leader ought to read this book and respond to its criticism of modern day Christianity. I agree with most of his argument. It’s his conclusion I disagree with. Whereas I agree the present form of Christianity isn’t biblical and needs to be trashed, I question whether what he suggests can survive much less thrive within our institutional context. So I’m not ready to give up on the institutional church even though I’ve been a constructive critic of it for more than three decades.

For my extensive review of Viola’s book Reimaging the Church and Pagan Christianity click here.

Over the next few days I will be exploring some of the key conversations occurring within Western Christianity.

The Morphing Protestant Scene

We all know our world has radically changed over the past few decades. I first wrote about this change in 1993 in my book dancing with Dinosaurs[i] where I described the change as a “crack in history” into which everything was disappearing, never to be seen again. Since then our world has morphed from a rather bland, simple, play-by-the-rules world to a wild and wooly no-holds-barred world. Nowhere was this wild ride made any more evident than on 9/11 and the 2008 financial world crises.

In the midst of this wild, unruly ride, several conversations are taking place that Christian leaders can’t afford to ignore because each one challenges the fabric of Western Christianity as we know it today. So we better pay attention. My goal in sharing them with you is not to criticize but to report what’s at stake.

The Primary Players in These Conversations

The primary players in this conversation are multiplying like rabbits and some of them have the possibility of becoming full-fledged movements. Each of these groups has a different spin on what type of church is needed to address the unfolding 21^st century culture and has the potential to play an important part in the shaping of the 21^st Century church. Over the next few days I will examine one or more of these players. For now, let me list them- The Emergents, Incarnationals, the Organics, The Reproductives, The Missionals, and The Sim Cards.

The Emergent Movement

Emergents are a growing group of disenfranchised pastors who are beginning non-traditional churches in protest to what they found in mostly evangelical traditional churches. They are hard to pin down because they practice a “both/and” approach to most issues. They prefer shades of gray instead of absolutes.

The best way to describe this movement is to start with their basic message: Emergents believe that it is no longer possible to hold on to the tenets and practices of modern-day Christianity for two reasons: one, they are flawed, and they don’t relate to today’s world; and two, the postmodern world requires a new view of faith and new kind of Christian—a postmodern faith and a postmodern Christian.

Emergents believe the more conversations they have the closer they come to truth. To them truth is more beauty than absolute fact. Truth is messy and beautiful but never objective or eternally certain. Emergents speak with passion and urgency but never with certainty.

The primary leader of Emergents is Brian McLaren although Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt are also strong voices for the movement.

Brian’s writings today are quite different from what he was saying when I first met him for coffee over a decade ago. Later we crossed paths at the church where he was pastor before pursuing his Emergent agenda. The worship and ministry of his church was much like what I would see all over the country in a thriving non-denominational church.  Today, his writings ask the questions many of us have been afraid to ask and in doing so he pushes orthodox Christianity to its limits. I doubt if what he writes today would be acceptable at the church where he was once the pastor.

I first met Doug Pagitt when he was working with Leadership Network.  I remember sitting next to him in a workshop on equipping leaders for ministry. Midway through the workshop (which I thought was excellent) Doug leaned over to me and whispered, “This is bull#@#,” and he left the room not to return. Normally I wouldn’t think much about it but he was on the staff of the group putting on the workshop. Not long after that left Leadership Network and birthed Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis, a church squarely in the Emergent camp.

During the month of September, I had a month long-fruitful, online conversation with Tony Jones, who was at the time the Executive Director of Emergent Village, and author of The New Christians.  I recommend his book, especially Appendix B “A Response to our Critics.” During our conversation Jones made it clear that Emergents believe that no one comes to God except through Jesus. For the most part my conversation with Tony settled some, but not all, of my concerns about the movement.

However, the Emergent movement has provided a marvelous conversation for all of us because they have revealed the ugly truth – the established Christian church in the West is basically apostate and dead. And they offer a way forward for many disenfranchised church members. For that we should be grateful and enjoy the conversation.

However, some recent events have occurred that don’t bode well for the Emergents: the defection of key players such as Dan Kimball and Scot McKnight; the release of Tony Jones from the position of Executive Director; and the dropping of the name “Emergent” by many of the leaders because of its negative baggage.

Nevertheless, Emergents will play a part in shaping the 21^st century church but a much smaller part than most people think (see Phyllis Tickle’s book, The Great Emergence[ii]) because; their approach to truth appeals mostly to the intelligentsia; they are too unorganized to grow sustainable, reproducing congregations (most Emergent churches are relatively small congregations) ; and a modern movement as decentralized as their leadership is becoming will find it hard to sustain itself (no movement has succeeded without a central figure leading the movement).

For my review of A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren go to http://bit.ly/NxfndZ. You can also see reviews of five more of McLaren’s books by going to our website at www.churchconsultations.com.

For two negative views of Emergents see the following
D.A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, Zondervan, 2005.
R. Scott Smith, Truth and the New Kind of Christian, Crossway, 2005.

I’ve been asked this question twice in my life.  The first was about the murder of President John Kennedy.  I was in Cranfils Gap Texas where I was the pastor of the Baptist church.  The second was the terrorist attack on 9/11. I was in Columbus, Ohio at a hotel next to the airport holding a seminar with Tom Bandy for judicatories from all over the country. I was giving a presentation when someone entered the room and said a plane just flew into the Pentagon.  From there it went down hill.  Five days later we were still stuck in Columbus because all airline traffic was halted so we rented a car and drove to Baltimore where we were scheduled to give another seminar.

It’s not normal to remember specific days in your past- unless something very unusual happens.  May we never have any more of these unusual days.

Bill
www.effectivechurch.com

Most of you know I’ve been absent most of July after my wife had a stroke.  But I’m slowly getting back into life and ministry.

This post is two-fold: an update on Jan and a comment on the state of affairs in our country.

Jan is progressing more slowly than the therapists would like.  But she is talking more and beginning to make a sentence now and then. Yesterday she actually picked up the spoon and fed herself- once.  That’s a start.  She is holding her cup now and drinking on her own. But she is still bed ridden.

I’m at the point of trying to find my way forward with life.  Everything I read says I have to put a life together for myself. Not an easy feat when you live with a stroke victim which I doubt will ever be able to come home.

Now to the state of affairs in our country. Two words sum it up – childish mess.

So now is a good time for some of you to either re-read or purchase our book, Ministry in Hard Times, published by Abingdon.  It will provide you a way forward in turbulent times like we are going through.

Here are the contents:

1. Living in a Wildcard World
2. Strategic Dreaming Trumps Hard Times
3. Now’s the Time to Return to the Basics
4. The Hard Times Budget Formula
5. Budget Items You Always Cut in Hard Times
6. Overcoming the Beast
7. Budget Items You Always Increase in Hard Times: Worship and Children’s Ministry
8. Budget Items You Always Increase in Hard Times: Evangelism and Marketing
9. Budget Items You Always Increase in Hard Times: Continuing Education and Servant Ministries
10. Budget Items You Always Increase in Hard Times: Small Groups and Spiritual Formation
11. Leadership in a Wildcard World
12. It’s a Waste of Time if…..

Here’s the url   http://bit.ly/qKKRfX

The world I grew up in taught there is one way to do everything and one size fits all. That’s the heart of the industrial world of Modernity.

However, just the opposite is true today. You know that if you own most any kind of software or cell phone. Almost everything today is undergoing decentralizing. That’s the nature of the beast.

 However, with decentralizing there has to be an overarching mind at work that holds all the pieces together otherwise there is chaos.

Visa is one of the best examples. No office or headquarters or even paid personnel just the software (the mind) that makes sure whenever a purchase is made with a Visa card it goes through the same channels to the right place. Visa cards are good all over the world; a vender is empowered to accept the card as long as the DNA of the mind are followed.

The same is true in the church. No matter how decentralized a church becomes, there is still one mind that guides or controls the outcome depending on the style of the one with the mind. I personally like leaders who guide better than control. When the leader guides rather than controls growth happens much more quickly. It’s called empowered. But not matter how decentralized the church becomes the team has to have the same DNA as the leader. When that is the case empowerment occurs throughout the organization.

One of the best examples in the church world is the multi-site approach to ministry. No matter how many sites there are they all have the same DNA if they are to avoid chaos. Even when the DNA is the same in all the leaders there is still a form of controlled chaos. Dee Hock, founder of Visa, describes it as Chaordic.

One of my favorite examples is Community Christian in Naperville. They are decentralizing all over the place with multiple locations even out of town but the same mind guides all the decisions because they all have the same DNA. They call it The Big Idea. Every campus uses the same message and graphics no matter what city the campus is in. The more decentralized a church becomes the larger it can become as long as there is one mindset underlying it all.

So how does this square what how you are leading your church? Do you have a tight grip one what happens or do you allow diversity as long as it contains the DNA?

BillEasum
www.effectivechurch.com
easum@aol.com