Tis the season to......

.... remember our purpose....

Hello Emmanuel,

I believe Emmanuel is a healthy church doing healthy ministry to grow healthy disciples.  Outreach is going well (over 300 came to Breakfast with Santa), Missions is as strong as ever (the Youth just donated 86 coats to Saul's Homeless shelter), Visitors are still visiting (we are still averaging over a first-time visiting household a Sunday), people are turning to Jesus (19 baptisms this year) and people are growing with each other (22 new members joined and 2 new Small Groups started this year).

That said, I would be less of a leader if I didn't push us a little bit to increase our understanding of what healthy church looks like, especially during a time of year that a church can lose focus by all the busy-ness of doing church.  Time for me to be bold (that means some of you may disagree with the following.  But, as usual, I'm ok with that.  Just don't throw anything at me).

I'm under no illusions that there are more than a few people who like personal attention from the pastor.  In this case, that would be me.  I go around on Sunday morning and shake as many hands as I can.  To be truthful, I don't do this to appease the person wanting my attention.  I greet people because I believe hospitality is a key component to making disciples.  However, I do realize that some people just LIKE me.  I can't avoid this.  God just made me like-able (and humble).

As a result, if I miss a handshake or I somehow miss someone, that someone just might feel slighted because the really cool pastor didn't shake their hand.  I even get teased about it at times.  Yet behind the teasing, I believe there might be some very minor hurt feelings.  This leads me to a dilemma.  As we continue to grow, I will slowly miss more and more people on Sunday morning.  And when the day comes when we average 500, 1,000 or 5,000 in worship (don't laugh), my handshaking will turn into the need for carpal tunnel surgery.  And while some of you will try to solve how I can shake every hand on every Sunday, I want to take a different route..... one that we decided to take 3 years ago.

Pastor-Driven Churches vs. Purpose-Driven Churches

I won't go into this too deeply because of the extent in which this was discussed over the past 3 years.  But if you want to get inside my head, read The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren.  It is a book that helped me unlock one of the keys to church growth and disciple-making.  If a purpose of 'being church' can be ingrained in a congregation, that purpose can do much more to grow God's Kingdom than can any one person.  In addition, a strong purpose can last longer than any one person (I WILL eventually retire).

To continue the example of the Sunday morning handshaking, the gist is this:  I don't greet you because I want you to know me or like me.  I greet you because I want you to know that you are welcomed in God's sacred space.  It is a purpose-driven handshake, not a personal-driven handshake.  Now most of you already know that you are welcomed in God's sacred space.  This is why my handshaking is sometimes biased toward new people in the church.  Because they may NOT know they are welcomed.  So if you are an established member in the church and you already know Jesus and I walk away from you to greet a new person, please understand my motives.  I'm not trying to make different friends or ignore you.  I'm trying to make new disciples of Jesus.

The other truth is this:  if you are an established member who already knows Jesus, the structure is in place to make sure you have the opportunity to be nurtured.  While I may still do some nurturing directly (preaching, teaching, visiting), most of the nurturing I do is to equip leaders to establish purpose-driven ministries that are created to nurture you (like Small Groups).  

Make no mistake that my leadership is deeply imbedded in every ministry in the church.  I may not be on the front lines of many ministries.  But behind the curtain you would see my face and my determination to lead, lead, lead.  So while opponents of Purpose-Driven Churches may claim it's an excuse for pastors to do less work.  I would claim that pastors of Purpose-Driven churches do just as much work, but get much more accomplished long-term.  It is just that most of the work is behind the scenes.  The focus of the church's work is on the Purpose ('making disciples of Jesus Christ'), not on the Pastor (the mostly-like-able guy who preaches too long).

So if you've ever wondered why my face isn't on the front page of the website (is it even anywhere on the website?) or on a billboard out by the road, now you know.  Or if you wondered why I am not involved in every Small Group or leading most of the ministry programs or why I'm not making every announcement at every event or why I am not personally fixing every problem that occurs among the 12 different ministry teams or the 220+ people, now you know....

Emmanuel is a Purpose-Driven Church..... even though I am so dag-gone like-able (to most people)...

and THAT is why I believe we are a healthy church doing healthy minsitry to make healthy disciples of Jesus...

God is Good,
Pastor Joe