What do breath mints, kisses and Church decline have in common? The Dutch Reformed Church looses 21 congregations last year!

So, what do breath mints, good kisses, and Church decline have in common with one another?

Well, I'd like to encourage you to come along to the Coronation Ave Methodist Church in Somerset West this evening, 7 November 2010 (if you're in Cape Town!) to find out.  Here's the map - the service takes place at 18.30.

View Larger Map

Well, this quote, from Ed Silvoso, gives a framing clue to what I'll be talking about:

Preaching the truth without love is like giving someone a good kiss when you have bad breath. No matter how good your kiss is, all they will remember is your bad breath!

I have given a great deal of thought to, and spent some time researching, the decline in Church membership and Church attendance.

This story in today's Rapport Newspaper bears out my feeling that South African Churches (and Churches in other regions in the world) are emptying at a rather rapid rate! Across the world Churches are facing two factors:

• Fewer people are joining Churches.
• The average age of members in existing Churches is increasing. 

Simply stated this is not good news for the Church.  Unless the Church can truly touch more people with Christ's love it will continue to decline (either as members leave, like this Rapport Article on the Dutch Reformed Church points out.  Or the average age of congregations will get older and older and eventually the members will die out - this has been the case in large parts of Europe.  England is a good example where congregations are generally quite small and relatively elderly.  One friend suggests that the majority of Methodist Churches in England have only one generation of 'membership' left.  Coffey and Gibss in the their book 'Church next' suggested that 60% of American Churches will die out by 2050).

The gist of the article is that the NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) has lost 10588 members in the last year.  By their calculations this means that the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk has lost the equivalent of 21 congregations of 500 members in one year!  The situation is even more dire when one looks at a longer view - since 1986 the denomination has lost 23.8% of its members.

You can read some of my other posts on Church decline, and some of my research here:

• Church decline and neuroscience - how people decide.
• Is the Church dying or just changing?
• A Church with a mission, or a mission without a Church?
• God is not good and why religion poisons everything.

If you don't feel like reading can I please encourage you to watch this short little video? It is a superb reminder about what we should be doing as Christians and the Church.

If you can't read Afrikaans please use google translate - simply copy and paste the text below into http://www.google.com/translate and translate it from Afrikaans to your language of choice.

Die NG Kerk het verlede jaar genoeg lidmate verloor om 21 gemeentes van 500 lidmate elk vol te maak.

Teen Februarie vanjaar was daar in dié kerkverband 10 588 lidmate minder as ’n jaar vantevore.

Dit blyk uit die jongste syfers wat deur die NG Kerk se algemene sinode se taakspan oor geldsake inge samel is.

Dié syfers is bereken op grond van ’n opname wat in die tien sinodale gebiede gemaak is en waarin gemeentes gevra is om die aantal belydende en dooplidmate in hul onderskeie kuddes te vermeld. Gemeentes het die syfer onder meer bereken na aanleiding van hoeveel mense nog aktief eredienste bywoon.

Ds. Clem Marais, lid van die taakspan, het gesê hy is nie seker dat die syfer 100% akkuraat is nie (dit is nie geoudit nie), maar dat dit wel die tendens van dalende lidmaatgetalle bevestig.

Die NG Kerk se gebruiklike Kerkspieël-proses, waartydens ’n meer wetenskaplike opname van lidmaat-tendense gemaak word, is tans aan die gang. Wanneer dit na verwagting teen volgende jaar bekend gemaak word, sal daar meer betroubare syfers oor die NG Kerk se lidmaattendense beskikbaar wees.

Marais meen een van die vernaamste redes vir die afname in lidmaatgetalle is emigrasie onder dié kerkverband se tradisionele lidmate, hoewel die verskynsel van mense wat na ander kerkverbande oorloop, ook daartoe kon bygedra het.

In ’n artikel wat in die jongste Kerkbode verskyn, wys die ekonome drr. Fanie Joubert en Jannie Rossouw, asook die predikant ds. Fanie Joubert daarop dat die NG Kerk se algehele lidmaattal tussen 1986 en 2010 met 23,8% afgeneem het (van meer as 1 400 000 tot minder as 1 100 000).

Ook in dié artikel word emigrasie as een van die vernaamste bydraende faktore genoem. Die skrywers meen ’n gepaste reaksie op dié verskynsel is vir die NG Kerk om al hoe meer in die geestelike behoeftes van Afrikaanssprekendes in die buiteland te voorsien.

In ’n nuusbrief wat Marais, ook skriba van die NG sinode Namibië, die afgelope week aan gemeentes in dié streek gestuur het, noem hy voorts dat die taakspan oor geld sake se jongste syfers oor gemeentes se finansiële welstand kommerwekkend is.

“Ook wat gemeentes se geldsake betref, begin die bytmerke van die onlangse resessie wys.”

Die totale lopende inkomste van die NG Kerk se 1 133 gemeentes het in die vorige boekjaar met net 2,3% gestyg, vier uit elke tien gemeentes het die jaar met ’n tekort op hul boeke afgesluit en al hoe meer gemeentes raak afhanklik van basaarinkomste soos wat ander bronne van inkomste opdroog.

“Moet jy moedeloos word weens die oorwegend negatiewe tendense?” skryf Marais.

“In die gees van die Luisterseisoen dink ek almal moet dit hoor as ‘stemme’ wat ‘van buite’ na ons kom. En in hierdie ‘stemme’ moet ons probeer om ook Die Stem van die Here God te onderskei … Die Here is immers met ons op pad. Deur ’n proses van geloofsonderskeiding moet ons by Hom hoor hoe ons geloofsrespons moet lyk op hierdie droewige prentjie,” skryf Marais.

Tonight I will be making the case that as Christians we need to find a way to give the world a good kiss!  In other words we need to expose the world to what the Good News feels like before we preach about it.  We must engage the world in love before we expect them to make a decision about God's love.

I have previously spoke about the Luke 10 Model of sharing God's love here.  You can also read about it in chapter 8 of my book 'Transform your work life'. Download a few chapters of the book here.

What does the Gospel 'feel' like?

In our little book 'Transform your work life' (written by Graham Power and myself) I wrote:

God longs for Christians to get practical and creative about making the ‘good news’ real for the people... We should not be asking ‘what does the good news sound like?’, rather we should ask ‘what does the good news feel like, and what does good news look like?’

What does the Gospel feel like!?  That is quite a challenging question!  It has lingered in my mind for some years now as I have tried to bring an experience of the 'good news' of God's Kingdom to the people that I live with, work with and encounter in my life's journey.

Worship on Sunday is critical - as John van de Laar rightly points out it is the orientation that should shape the rest of our week.  The exact quote from his great new book 'The Hour that changes Everything' is this: "How you worship defines how you live"

The question for this post is, however, what kind of worship does God require for the other 166 hours of the week?

Here's an excerpt from chapter 3 of 'Transform your work life' -

Did you know that Jesus had a ‘mission statement’ for his ministry on earth? You can read it in Luke 4:16–21. It is interesting to see that all the things that Jesus came to do were practical, tangible expressions of God’s love for the world. I have heard so many sermons on this passage that I sometimes forget just how practical Jesus intended his ministry to be. When Jesus said He had come to bring ‘good news to the poor’ (Luke 4:18) what do you think He meant? Let us approach it from a slightly different perspective: what is good news for a poor person? I have been in need a few times in my life, and I can tell you when you are poor good news is not a sermon! It is good news when you have food and money to pay your bills, it is great news when you get a job that pays you a salary with which you can support your family and yourself.

One of the big failings of the contemporary church, and that means you and me, is that we do not always bless the people around us in tangible and visible ways. When someone is ill we say things like, ‘I’ll pray for you’ – while this is an expression of care, I can assure you that the person would feel so special and loved if you took them a meal! I know that God longs for Christians to get practical and creative about making the ‘good news’ real for the people around them. We should not be asking ‘what does the good news sound like?’ Rather, we should ask ‘what does the good news feel like, and what does good news look like?’ This is Jesus’ way!

As you think about the people among whom you work, what would be truly good news for them? Is there a single mother who is battling to make ends meet? Perhaps you have a co-worker who is struggling to cope with his workload, or maybe someone whose child is ill – what could you do to make the ‘good news’ visible and tangible for these people?

Sometimes it is the simplest things, like a phone call, or a visit, that make people feel loved and cared for. At other times you will need to be a little more creative and sacrificial in what you do.

So, here's my question - what does the Gospel 'feel like' in your context?  What can you do to help the people you love and meet experience the Gospel before you speak to them about it?

Exposing people to the transforming love of Jesus WITHOUT the evangelical stereotypes!

I love Jesus! I love the ways of Jesus! I have experienced the transforming and liberating power of the person and way of Christ in my own life and I have seen how it transforms persons and communities.

The Jesus I know is loving, just, inclusive, caring, affirming, understanding, compassionate and life giving! I long for more people (and systems) to be transformed by the truth and power of Christ!

Sadly, however, Christians have not done too well when it comes to exposing people to the love of Christ. We have tended to be overbearing, judgemental, 'holier than thou' and sometimes just plane weird about our faith!

One of the other HUGE problems with traditional evangelism is that it tends to be more interested in 'souls' than it in people - pretty much like the high school boy who makes notches on his bedpost for all the girls he's kissed. Jesus is not that way. Jesus longs to engage whole persons, and to find ways of transforming all of who they are. Jesus brings life, life that heals bodies, creates justice and establishes news ways of living with others.

A further problem with conventional evangelism is that it operates on the principles of propositional truths - in other words, it says things ABOUT the person, nature and character of Christ and then challenges people to make a decision to accept or reject these truths without having experienced them. The postmodern mindset does not deal all that well with 'absolute' truths that have not been experienced. There are simply too many things, people and powers that try to convince us of their competing truths.

Ed Silvoso once summed up these two notions in this way:

Preaching the truth without love is like giving someone a good kiss when you have bad breath. No matter how good your kiss is, all they will remember is your bad breath!

I think that statement is quite true for many attempts at evangelism I have heard about - we expect people to that Jesus is love, when they do not experience that love, or even see it in the Church. We tell people that Christ is merciful and just, and sadly they are exposed to judgmental and unjust Christian communities... The list could go on and on.

Well, I have recently come across a model of facilitating an encounter with the person and nature of Christ that is transforming my ministry! This is a method that does not require an extensive knowledge of the Bible. Neither does it manipulate people or simply try to reach their 'souls' - rather it seriously attempts to encounter them with the love and grace of Christ!

It is called 'L10T' (Luke 10 Transformation). Here's a great video that explains this approach to 'evangelism'. I have been involved in developing the model and the videos for it. There is a great DVD series that one can do with one's Church, cell groups, or even just watch by yourself. (The quality is not great - I tried to keep the video file size to 6 MB, so please do contact me if you require a higher quality version).

Here's a summary of the model.

Here’s a link to download the powerpoint slides that have the headings, scripture verses, and they also have sections on the ‘Luke 10’ transformation principles.

Briefly stated, the Luke 10 paradigm shift is significant. One of the mistakes that we make in the contemporary Church is that we tend to approach persons in the following manner:

• Preach to them, if they respond,
• Minister to them, then once they respond to our ministry,
• we become their friends (i.e., fellowship with them, get them into 'small groups'), and finally,
• if they respond appropriately to all of the above we then we ‘bless’ them (e.g., make them members of our Church, baptise them or their Children, do their marriage ceremony, offer them financial support, allow them to hold ministry positions in the Church etc.).

The reality is though, that in our contemporary post-modern culture, very few people respond to being 'preached at'. Amazingly, when you read Luke 10 (where Jesus sent out the 72 disciples to do ministry he took exactly the opposite strategy)...

Jesus said when you enter into a city, find a person of peace and bless him - so blessing comes first.... If we can find tangible and real ways to share God's love and blessing with people by addressing their felt needs, this is a much more effective witness than 'preaching'. So, for example, in South Africa we feed people (without preaching), we simply feed them because God would not want them to be hungry, and they feel 'blessed' when people feed them.

Then Jesus said when you've blessed the person of peace, stay in his house and eat with him - that’s fellowship. We need to find ways to engage with people on their level and in their primary location (e.g., instead of trying to first bring people into Churches, lets get to know them and love them where they are. Whether that be in a school, or an office building or their home). Relationships are key to facilitating faith, after all, what God gives us in Christ is not 'doctrine', but the truth of transforming love in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Then having fellowshipped with persons we minister to them, this is where we pray for persons to be healed, for them to find wholeness, for the marriages and children to be whole etc. Ministry flows out of a relationship of trust (point 2 above) and an experience of God’s blessing (point 1 above). People are open to being ministered to, and to receiving God's grace, when they trust us, and they have already experienced God’s blessing.

Finally, as a last step one will ‘preach’ - this is the discipleship phase, not the evangelism phase. I have experienced that this is much more in keeping with 1 Peter 3:15 (give an account of the hope that lives within you...) than it is 'preaching'. In Luke 10 Jesus instructed the disciples to share the truth only once people had been blessed, included into a community, and experienced God’s healing, love, and provision.

Anyway, this is the methodology of ministry that I apply in my ministry. So, I operate according to 5 ‘new’ paradigms of being Church and being a Christian, but my functional methodology is the Luke 10 methodology (Bless, fellowship, minister, then preach)... This has been quite a change for me since as a Pastor I was accustomed to always preaching first. However, I have come to recognise that the ‘old Church’ methodology is no longer as effective in the post-modern context.

If you would like to read more about the theology and biblical perspective that shapes this form of ministry you can see the following link that I wrote on my blog about a year ago...

I would encourage you to watch the video above, download it (you can use 'kissyoutube') and share it! If you're interested in getting the DVD material to run it with your group, or in your Church then please email me. I'll gladly put you in touch with the folks who are distributing it.

So, what do you think? Is this a tool that could be useful in your setting? Can you spot any problems we may not be aware of? Any advice or help you could offer would be very much appreciated!

Reflection on work and worship. Qik Video.

This is a first attempt at posting a short daily (or not so daily, as the case may be!) reflection on my blog. I find that my days get so busy that the only time (and place) where I can record a short reflection is whilst I am driving between meetings! So, take a look at the scenery as I drive!

The scripture that is mentioned here is Col 3:23-24. This is one of the paradigms for National Transformation - you can make your work worship! And in doing your work for the Lord you can reclaim your sphere of influence for the Kingdom of Christ, which is a Kingdom of justice, mercy, and grace! If we truly believe that Christ wants to save all of creation, then we need to live and work to see people, systems and place brought into loving submission to the will of Christ.

I would love to hear your feedback!

A jet-lagged reflection on our Latin American trip... A simple strategy for national transformation.

We arrived back in Cape Town about three hours ago. I've unpacked my bags, got the first load of washing in the machine, Megie is back to work and I'm taking an hour or so to catch my breath and fetch Courtney from school. I'll go into the office later this afternoon.

If you look back over my blog you'll see that I have been out of South Africa for almost a month in total (starting with a trip to London for the Global Prayer Leaders' Network and Unashamedly Ethical meetings). It has been a busy time - yet it has been extremely rewarding and worthwhile. In these weeks I have been encouraged and blessed by the many wonderfully faithful and diverse expressions of courageous, Christ-centered, obedience I have experienced.

The last two weeks have been a time of challenge and growth. Ed Silvoso's perspective on the role of one's everyday 'working life' in relation to God's purposes for transformation and healing of the world have made a significant impact upon me. I guess that in some ways he has a unique foundation in that he comes from South America (Argentina) and so understands issues of poverty, struggle, and of course the ideals and principles that inform and drive theologies of liberation (i.e., God's love and option for the poor, the evil of greed and wealth, the suffering and abuse that stems from oppressive economic and political systems etc.). Yet, he has also spent a great deal of his life living in America and working among evangelical Christians (his brother in law is Lius Palloa the 'Billy Graham' of Latin America). So, he understands the energy and passion that comes from the evangelical perspective on the faith. I found his emphasis on God's sovereign power to work with and in the world to be a healthy and refreshing addition to the frequently dry, secular hummanist, purely social Gospel teaching (which is so frequently my point of departure). In him I found a healthy balance between God's power and capacity to bring about healing and change, and the human person's responsibility to seek God's guidance, will, power, and grace to be a partner in bringing about transformation.

I have written about Ed Silvoso's 5 paradigms before (you can listen to a broadcast I prepared for Radio Pulpit on this subject on this link '5 paradigms that can change your work into worship' (6MB, MP3). He seems to be able to keep the balance between reliance upon God and individual and corporate responsibility for national (and even global) transformation.

This week we had many opportunities to share our vision for eradicating systemic poverty by addressing systemic corruption. This is not only a matter of moral choice and complaince with the laws and systems of a particular nation state, rather it is about deal with the corrupted human soul, finding freedom and sufficiency in Christ and operating from that base of Christ-centered renewal and healing to discover person transformation and renewal, to work towards the renewal and transformation of one's family, one's social group, one's workplace, one's neighbourhood, one's children's schools, the local economy, and even broader afield to transform that laws and values of one's nation, continent, and the world.

William Wilberforce, Charles Wesley, Ghandi, Nelson Mandela - these are all examples of people who allowed their faith to impact more than just their personal lives! Rather, they sought to discover what was right for them and all other persons, and even the rest of creation, and work towards making that a reality.

Our time in Montevideo, Uruguay, was truly encouraging. On the Friday evening we had about 250 business leaders, politicians, and pastors together. On the Saturday we held a workshop for about 400 persons including pastors, business leaders and politicians. We shared something of Christ's dream for our world, and of course their city and nation, and then offered some tools, insights, and encouragement that could help them further along that road.

Our task is quite simple, we share a vission of what the world could be like, we activate the imagination, do our best to inspire hope, give a few glimpses of possible strategies (mostly gleaned from research about the particular area and context, coupled with success stories and prototypes from other similar contexts in the world), and then do some basic teaching, create a network of locally driven, locally 'owned' relationships, and then follow up from time to time to see how we can bless and support that work.

We place a fairly strong emphasis on the fact that the strongest testimony that the Church can give concerning the love of Christ is not full services, but rather it relates to addressing the concrete and felt needs of a community (e.g., hospitals for the sick, jobs for the poor, social restoration for divided communities etc.) In order for this to take place there needs to be a strategic partnership and relationship between Pastors and Christians who are leaders in various spheres of society that we call 'the marketplace' (i.e., politicians and elected officials, educators, health workers, business people, youth and social workers etc.) Unity and strategic co-operation are the key to achieving maximum success in any community or area. As such we will often go into a city or region and set up meetings where we bring together top politicians, business leaders, the heads of denominations and Church organisations, and simply spend time helping them to get to know each other, find forgiveness and healing from past hurts and struggles, and dreaming of the way forward for their region.

Well, I'm back home and so excited to be with my family!!!! Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us.