growth – John Markum

Preacher Mistakes

Posted on January 23, 2013 by johnmarkum

Unfortunately, this is a subject that causes a certain amount of regret on my part, as I’m certainly guilty of many of these from time to time. There are statistics out there about the rate of pastors and church leaders who fall out of ministry due to immorality or discouragement. I’m not talking about those mistakes, per se. Rather, what are some of the more root mistakes that lead to pastors and church leaders getting frustrated, fruitless, discouraged, or even disqualified? You may not find this list mentioned by any leadership stats. But the things that make a lot of preachers become a statistic often begin with some of these. And even if you don’t work for a church, these are probably common traps we all have tendencies to step into. Continue reading “Preacher Mistakes”

Discipleship is a Process

Posted on November 24, 2012 by johnmarkum

Discipleship doesn’t happen overnight because it is a process.

As Christ-followers, and especially church leaders, all too often we get frustrated when people we want to see grow spiritually, don’t. Also people often get bogged down in their own spiritual life and feel “stuck” in a rut, not knowing what to do to move forward in their spiritual walk. And yet, there are still others who think they are spiritually mature based on how long they’ve been in church or how much Bible knowledge they hold.

But there is far more to it than that. I’ve created this graph and explained the stages in it below so that, as a follower of Jesus, you can answer three important questions:

Where am I spiritually?
What is my next step?
How can I help others take their next step?

I’ve also lumped these stages into 4 categories: Pray, Serve, Teach, Lead. And each progressing category includes everything in the preceding category. To be clear, it’s not that we shouldn’t “Serve” people who are Hostile toward church or the Gospel, it’s just that we’re unlikely that we’ll be given a chance to. So here are the different Stages I’ve listed in the graph above. Each one includes a description of these people to help you identity them (or yourself), problems likely to face as we try to love them toward Christ, and an appropriate response toward them in light of all of that.

PRAY

– Hostile

Expresses anger toward God, church, or religion in general. Usually has a specific issue that serves as their “soapbox” against these things.
Problems: Unreceptive toward any message. Outspoken against the church.
Response: Do not fight. Give these people good, despite their hostile feelings and actions.

– Annoyed

Less anger, more just complaining. Still makes a big deal about specific issues, although likely to have a conversation about those issues.
Problems: Argumentative. Likely to get to the point of not wanting to talk about it anymore.
Response: Have conversations on their terms. Continue to maintain a non-defensive posture. Continue showing good, despite their aggravations. Agree with legitimate complaints without justifying dark places of “church history” (Inquisitions, etc.).

– Ambivalent

Beginning to see the difference in our church. Speaks neither good nor bad. This person “tolerates” us.
Problems: Easy to forget about this person.
Response: Continue demonstrating grace. Talk about things the church is doing. Begin inviting to different opportunities. Expect a “no” response. Don’t act disappointed. Continue showing grace anyway.

SERVE

– Curious

Still showing reservations about God, church, etc. Now asking questions.
Problems: Many questions relate to things that don’t make sense to them, “well why do you guys ________?” This person is curious, but still somewhat skeptical.
Response: Bless this person! Encourage their curiosity. Validate their process. Give context to the answers you give. Thanks them for coming if/when they show up for a service or small group. Help them make connections with others. Encourage them to return.

– Seeking

It’s all starting to make sense to this person. They’ve decided that we’re not all crazy, and they are beginning to feel the Holy Spirit draw them, thought they probably wouldn’t know it as that.
Problem: This person can resist the Holy Spirit and regress.
Response: Give Gospel personally as well as in various “experiences”. Continue showing grace. Answer questions. Let them know you missed them if they skip a service/small group.

– Saved!

This person just stepped across the line of faith! They have been reborn!
Problems: Now the real work begins!
Response: Celebrate! This is why we do what we do. Encourage them toward baptism, and strengthen connections they’ve made. Give some next steps/follow up to this person, as they are likely to have a “now what?” posture.

TEACH

– Infant

This person is a baby Christian. They know little of the things of God, and require a lot of work.
Problems: This is messy! You might as well expect it.
Response: Use messes as teaching opportunities, and continue showing the same grace you did before they came to Christ. Feed this person’s insatiable appetite!

– Child

Getting the hang of the basics. Also has an annoying habit of getting into trouble! This person should begin “feeding themselves.”
Problems: They are going to test boundaries.
Response: They need structure and grace. They’ll also want to do more “adult” things. Encourage this, by giving increasing opportunities.

LEAD

– Adolescent

This person is not fully mature, but they are starting to contribute (i.e tithing, serving, etc.).
Problems: Makes mistakes less often, has a risk of getting comfortable and complacent.
Response: Continue to disciple. Cast vision to this person about making other disciples. Help them get to the place where they are “teaching others also.”

– Adult/Parent

This person has started to disciples others. We would consider this person spiritually “mature” regarding their conduct and understanding of spiritual things.
Problems: Possibility of going “rogue”.
Response: Keep connected to the vision of the church and leverage their maturity to lead others (small group leader, ministry leader, etc.).

– Grandparent

This person has discipled someone who has matured to the point of discipling others.
Problems: Minimal. This person may get frustrated with others who have not matured to the point they have.
Response: Consider this person for staff/Leadership Team. Encourage this person to continue making reproducing disciples.

Use this to grow in your spiritual life, and to help lead others to do the same.

Blessings,

Pastor John Markum

We’re All About the Numbers

Posted on March 16, 2012 by johnmarkum

If you are a “church” person or church leader, you’ve likely already formed an opinion regarding the title of this post. You may have thought of contemporary “growth strategies” for how to more effectively fill seats on weekend services. Or perhaps you made a judgment that churches who are “all about the numbers” are weak doctrinally, and weaker still in their discipleship, teaching, and preaching. Allow me five minutes to explain why my church is crazy about the numbers.

First of all, you should acknowledge that “big” churches are not intrinsically bad…

Jesus had upwards of 20,000+ people following His ministry at various points.
3,000 came to Christ in one “service” on the day of Pentecost.
5,000+ were in the church of Jerusalem within a few short months.
The church of Ephesus mentioned in Acts 19 likely consisted of several thousand people.

The fact that numbers are used to give us a picture of the metric growth of the church as it spread should be an indication. Now, there is such thing as an inappropriate view of the numbers. True, a church growing in number is not necessarily healthy. But it is also true that a healthy church should grow. Growth is a result of health. Not the other way around.

I’m all about the numbers because each number represents a real person. A life. Someone that Jesus died to save. The numbers of people coming to my church, are real people with real needs, searching for real answers that are available by a real God. The numbers are not simply measurements and benchmarks that we give high-fives over.

The numbers tell stories of people who were far from God that were awakened with life in Christ. They tell of the couple that was on the edge of divorce who found grace, forgiveness, and forbearance through the love of Christ. The numbers tell me about the woman who walked in feeling too broken to come to God but decided to try anyway, and gave her life to Jesus and found freedom and hope. The numbers tell me of a couple about to call it quits after living together for a year, who are now married, happy, healthy, and passionate about the lives being changed at our church and the change that Jesus made in them.

The numbers speak! It’s not just 1, 2, 3, 4… It’s Tyler, Marcus, Randy, Brian, Josie, Tiffany, Karla, Jason, Sarah, Andrew, Todd… It’s not about me, or an ego boost, or a fist-bump after the service. The numbers are an objective non-biased worship to the God who is redeeming people in our community. Someone once made the comment that they don’t count people in the services of their church because “it’s not about the numbers anyway.” They were asked if their church counted the offering, which was an awkward but obvious, “yes.” The other person simply pointed out that you count what matters to you!

We count people, because people count to us. So am I focused on the numbers? You better believe it. We love people. And we love the change that the Gospel brings to their life. We want to see more lives changed by the Gospel. And we’re going to continue to do everything we can to reach them. We’ll stop at nothing because they matter to God and they matter to us… count on it.

Blessings,

John