too tired to deal with people

Doug Dees found this interesting take on the Christ-centered vs.Program-centered mentality of church. Interesting comment at the end - "too tired to deal with people." That's when blossoming ends. How do we keep from being too tired? Important question for church blossoming.

(amazing grace. how important the sound)

with so much talk going on out there about "being missional" or as we describe it "living sent," it's very important for us not to fail to mention the significance of grace in this process.

i keep finding that people are stifled in living sent for one basic reason - they don't think they are worth being sent or have anything to contribute if they are. this feeling is not steeped in God reality, but rather in the perceptions that we create of ourselves. in order for people to live sent, they must understand two basic principles:

1st - that following Jesus does not mean "pleasing" God as much as it means "trusting" God. what most of us tend to do is weary ourselves with attempts to make God as well as ourselves happy about our lives, rather than trusting that what He did is enough. it is so crucial for followers to recognize and actually live as though they believe that they will never become more than Jesus has already made them to be through the restorative work of His selfless death on the cross. No one speaks more adequately on this topic, in my opinion, than John Lynch in the TrueFaced series that he and several others did. if you happen to catch the 1st teaching component from John Lynch on the TrueFaced DVD, it is solid stuff worth putting in the hands of the people you are equipping to live sent.

the only point of disagreement i have with his teaching in that particular message, and remember my opinion is worth the same amount that we paid for this blog site, is when he states that grace allows us to stand with God with our sin before us ready to work on it together. i would suggest that we stand in God's grace, His arm around us, our sin before us resolved and nailed to a tree so that we are free to live sent in abundance with Him. but i digress.


2nd - that the value of each of us as followers is not appraised, but declared. we live in a very unstable real estate market in Central FL. people are used to appraisers coming and suggesting a value about their home. it sometimes pleases them, and at other times it stresses them with worry over the amount of their mortgage and the potential value of their home. as humans, we treat our spiritual value in this way. we live sent with confidence when we feel confident about the measurement of our behavior. however, it leaves us pleases some days and stressed on others, stifled even. we must remember that Jesus declared our value on the cross - WE ARE WORTH DYING FOR. we have value to plant and water into other people's lives because we have had the King declare we are more than peasants. so, as we live sent in the daily, in our various spheres of influence, we can listen and love and serve and speak hope into the lives of people who share their hearts and lives with us.

all that to say - don't forget to stress the importance of amazing grace as it affects followers and compels them to live sent to share that same message of freedom and unleashing and value with others. don't just say "be missional." make sure you are telling followers why they should be and what enables them to live sent.

frog and toad

Watch this video and then ask yourself, "Am I more like the frog or the toad?"

Then Jesus said, "God's kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time! (Mark 4:26-29)

what is blossom?

…the thought that Jesus intentionally planted and watered into the lives of people, and that He values and even expects His followers to be making disciples as they go in daily life in the same way; by planting and watering into the lives of the people they encounter in their various spheres of living. As planting and watering occurs, both those planting and watering and those being planted and watered into will be ever becoming all that God created them to be. That is, followers who abide in Him, listen to His voice, love like He loves, and blossom the fruits of the Spirit in daily life as they give themselves away into others.

What results, since the church is people (a who, not a what), is that the church (people who follow Jesus together) will blossom into what she needs to be in both a local and global context. Jesus values leaders who give less energy to "growing" their church as a centralized organization and more energy decentralizing the church as people to live sent and pour into the lives of other people (who will then blossom which means the church will keep on blossoming).

Simply stated, followers of Jesus plant and water. God causes the growth.

Therefore, if we give our energy solely into "growing" the church as some programmed organization we simply preserve and manage, we will be attempting something that is not our responsibility and feel the pressures that come with attempting something we are not capable of controlling or accomplishing.

However, if we truly love people like Jesus loves them, we will make disciples as He did. We will see each person as He did, and we will pour into them regardless of what they give back, regardless of whether we see the fruit of "church growth." The goal and purpose would become to be an intimate part of this harvest work that God lets us in on as He grows people to become followers who BLOSSOM the gospel into and thru daily life (Matthew 10:38-42).

How awesome would it be if the church gave herself away so that people blossomed rather than expecting people to give into "it" so that the church "grew?" How awesome would it be if the so-called 98% would live sent in the daily? Then, the evidence of the movement Jesus started would blossom all over the place and change the very fabric of culture.

If the so-called 98% see the overrated 2% (pastors) doing nothing more than getting people plugged into the church organization, then they will equate making disciples with turning people inward toward church activity rather than turning people outward toward living sent and being the church in their daily activity. That would be as irresponsible and inefficient as if we yelled at our plants to grow. It’s kind of like that old Frog and Toad story where Toad yells at the seeds he planted hoping they will grow.

In Paul’s letter to the church of Corinth, he shared some thoughts concerning this concept. He noted that they had become very inward due to their incessant desire to take credit for their growth. This selfishness was the source of the factions that were stifling them as a church called to live among and love the city. What Paul reminded them of was that growth was never in his or their hands. He and others had simply planted and watered. God caused the growth (1st Corinthians 3:6).

>> I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow.

One leader who committed to plant and water said that the shift in focus was evident in many ways, but one in particular was how they as a church family focused their energies with families. He said, "We had been mobilizing families so we could build the church. Now we mobilize the church so we can build the families."

What is the bottom line difference? When we focus on planting and watering and letting the church blossom, people no longer are seen as patrons of our work, but partners in the work and valuableparticipants in planting and watering and seeing the church blossom.


5 thoughts to consider as we converse about BLOSSOM:

_make sure you are building a bridge between your philosophy of the church and your practical approach to daily ministry. Be open to processing how to do more than gather people. Ask yourself what would you have to change to equip them to live sent.

_the church blossoms when you equip and unleash people to pour into other people. Let the people be the church by pouring into the lives of people they encounter in the daily, simply listening to them and including them and loving them and speaking the hope of Christ into their lives.

_you hear this blossom stuff, and you might think, "that's a bit extreme." We're not saying dig up the whole plant and throw it out, though, unless of course it just can't bear fruit anymore. What we and others have actually found is that when you commit to plant and water into lives you end up finding balance in every facet of ministry. You end up valuing people like God values them and seeing life like God sees it and surrendering the things He does not value (things we tend to give too much energy to). Thus, your philosophy of ministry and your theology and your ecclesiology and your missiology and your whateverelseology become focused in Him and are grown to reflect His heart to see His gospel blossom in everyday lives.

_what if the role of the pastor is not CEO, but waterboy? What if we should be doing less of telling people what they should be doing and more of resourcing people for what they could be doing and in many cases are already doing?

_the evidence of success for a church is not determined by how many gather, but by people living sent. Are you doing everything you can as a church leader to help the 98% know how valuable they are and how much wisdom they have in Christ to listen to and speak into others? When we get rid of the 98% mentality and 100% of us trust the value Jesus has declared about us (that we are worth dying for), then leaders will be secure enough to unleash people and all of us will be confident enough to speak and do what the Spirit whispers to us to speak and do. That’s when the church becomes what Jesus intended. That’s when she blossoms.

blossom 2007 pics

Here are some scenes from blossom 2007. Most of these shots are from Jake Ramsey. Thanks Jake!

some closing thoughts from blossom 2007

• Appreciate connectivity, willingness to be one, in order to blossom we have to work together, be honest, authentic
• Blossom is a step in the process, more than an event, let’s interact throughout the year
• Very helpful to hear from conversations, so much good stuff, too hard to absorb it all, looking forward to reviewing via podcast
• Apostles in waiting are ready to be sent, don’t know they can go, Jesus has given them permission to go so let’s send them
• Invited by a friend, encouraged by being at blossom, how do I move forward, watch for God at work, couldn’t go to sleep last night, someone said “we believe in you and want to invest in you”, looking forward to the future memories
• Sidebar conversations are the best, what is caught is best
• Stressing over church planting – don’t worry about planting churches, plant gospel seeds, if God is in it, it will happen even if I am a bad gardener, we can’t create churches – only God can… our job is to water
• Be ready at all times
• Get out of the conference mentality – we have access to each other – blossom through what ever medium we can
• Always ask, what can I do for you? – It sets the tone for relationships and disarms hostility
• The cool thing about being the village idiot is that no one feels threatened by you
• You become what you hum. Movements are set to music. Practical baby steps first.
• Reproducingchurches.com is nothing more than an address to a site that connects and builds people who want to blossom as new church expressions
• Let’s not go plant a church, let’s go be the church into people’s lives
• Paul probably did not know a difference between gospel sowing and church planting
• We don’t need anything to start a church, church is not stuff – church is people
• Don’t under estimate the significance that we have as leaders to simplify the task – we have the power to inspire people if we simply remind them that they are capable of it
• The church will not blossom until people understand that all you have is all you need
• The heart and essence of blossom is releasing the 98% - the things we are talking about are principle based. Blossom is not about the paid clergy. Let’s figure out how to get the 98% together and blossom them
• Blossom is not an end in itself. Many of us get together once a month. We find trust in relationships. We are doing this together. We’ve got to be releasing people. Who are the people in our relational base that we send out and connect them relationally? We know that God is putting this deep passion in our lives for something – not coming to get something, but to give it a way
• Yearning for a day when there is trust, love, commitment and vision for seeing a whole, region, state, nation and world coming to know Christ
• The first thing that has to happen before we can blossom is that we have to die to our selves. A seed has to die before it can blossom. What can I do? Look for opportunities to be a blessing to someone else.
• Blossom has allowed us to process information to increase the likelihood that it will be but into practice.
• What are the next steps?

some thoughts on the future history of the church

How are people planting and watering now, and how will that affect how the church blossoms in the coming years? if we were 25 years ahead ... all » looking back, what would be the future history of the blossoming of God's church? Mark Weible, a church plant strategist for Central Florida, and Jason Dukes, pastor and church planter of WestpointChurch.org, lead a conversation on the topic.



• Language and constructs have shifted as evidence of transformation
• Church is full time, but less busy
• Evangelism and discipleship are re-united
• The gospel is being proclaimed the way Jesus did
• The 2% (pastors) see themselves more as water boys to the 98% than as CEO
• Christ-followers are partying with people the way Jesus did
• Leadership development happens as you go
• Structure supports mission
• People understand that their value is declared and not appraised
• We sow and reap people living sent
• Cultural arts with community causes
• Living sent in our spheres of influence: family, neighborhood, marketplace, world, web

Welcome

This blog was created on the last day of blossom 2007. How are you living sent?