Loaves in the Storm: Navigating the Joy and Sorrow of Multiplication

                                               

Last Sunday we commissioned Ryan and Stacie Macdonald, their children and pre-launch team to plant a church in Portland, Oregon. It was a momentous moment both for them and for us - a dream 8 years in the forming, now became the beginnings of a journey. What a joy it is to send! what a longing fulfilled to join  Jesus in the redemption of that beautiful and broken city. But after the joy of the moment,  I and others, have felt the storms of sorrow blow in. I've never known anything other than leading in a multiplying church, so these feelings of loss and vulnerability are not new to me. But they are no less real.  And they are not uncommon.

I’ve heard few people talk about the emotional storm that can brew after multiplication, both for those who are sent and for those who send. 

 How do you maintain emotional buoyancy in a post-multiplying storm? I have returned to a chapter I wrote on this in my book, Broken for Blessing, in order to steady my soul. Perhaps it will help steady yours too?

Mark’s Gospel describes the disciples navigating through a storm immediately after the feeding of the 5,000. I’d never noticed any connection between the loaves and the storm, but Mark certainly makes one.

 Jesus tells the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side after the multiplying miracle. Meanwhile, He goes up on a mountain to pray and watches as they make painful progress in the boat because a strong wind is against them. Jesus waits all night before He walks on water to them, and when they see Him they are terrified, thinking He is a ghost. They call to Him, He gets into the boat and the wind dies down to a whisper.

 This is the verse that caught my attention: “And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, for their hearts were hardened.”(Mark 6:32)

They did not understand about the loaves. Sometimes in Scripture, storms are a result of disobedience. When Jonah disobeyed God’s call, the ship he was on went through a terrible storm until Jonah repented. This was not that kind of storm. It was a God-ordained storm of obedience. Some of us have been taught that obedience to Jesus will ensure fair weather and plain sailing. This storm of obedience rips that idea to shreds. Mysteriously, Jesus sent the disciples into the storm to reveal Himself to them. He wanted them to understand about the loaves in the storm. What they learned about Jesus from the high of multiplication was meant to be carried with them into the low of the storm. He was still compassionate. He was still powerful. He was still able to provide for them, this time not with bread to fill their empty stomachs but with bread to nourish their fearful souls. This is true of every storm of obedience. 

But I have found it particularly true of post-multiplication storms. No matter how many you send, it seems to me that you make headway painfully for a while after multiplication. You lose some momentum, which can cause you to lose heart. It’s one thing to lose resources in the process of multiplication, but these losses are another thing altogether.

This is a natural consequence of sending people from your congregation. It’s not just how many you send. It’s who you send: your volunteers, your encouragers, your givers, your worshipers, your leaders. These are all the qualities that make church compelling. Not surprising, then, that it feels like the wind is against you after you send. For those who go, the excitement of the new journey can make way for the storm of loneliness, unfamiliarity, the lack of a large, warm encouraging gathering. 

In the storm of obedience one can start to second guess God's calling.  Didn’t we do what He told us to do? Mark's gospel is clear that Jesus sent the disciples into this storm of obedience.

Over the past 15 years at Southlands, we’ve sent over 300 people to plant 9 churches. Remember, we were a church of around 500 adults and 100 kids when we began sending. Each time we began to recover from the last sending, we felt called to send again. While it’s been a joy to see how the newer churches have experienced growth and life, sometimes it’s felt like we were going backward as the primary sending churches. Other times it was like we were rowing just to stand still. Most of the time it has felt just like Mark’s Gospel describes it. 

"They were making headway painfully with the wind against them."

If you do the math, they had been rowing from the first watch of the night to the fourth. That's about 9 hours. They had gone 3-4 miles, about halfway across the Sea of Galilee. That's about 300 yards an hour! I think it's funny that they were going so slowly Jesus could catch up to them and walk right past them, walking! But it wouldn't have been funny to these disciples, who were terrified and discouraged. 

Losing momentum after multiplication can cause a storm of discouragement and fear to brew in the hearts of the church  and its leaders. Jesus’ command in the storm to “Take heart” was not just an exhortation to the disciples. It was a description of their inner weather system. They’d lost heart: lost their inner buoyancy, something that esonates with me deeply. I should know better by now, but, every time we send, I experience an inner storm and begin to lose heart.

This passage about the storm has helped me enormously in my inner storms after multiplication. I have come to treasure the first three words of verse “He saw them.” Jesus saw the disciples making headway painfully. The word in the original Greek is deeper than simply viewing them. It means to possess significant vision. In other words, Jesus understood the significance of what they were experiencing. He empathized with them and was able to do something about it. The Matthew account of the same storm says that Jesus prayed while He saw them. The truth that Jesus is a sympathetic Savior who is touched by our weaknesses, and that he lives to pray for us in our storms, is a real comfort in heavy weather. I have also learned to take heart in the post-multiplying storm by trying to understand the loaves. The disciples lost heart in the storm because they did not understand the loaves. They were blind to the connection between Jesus’ bread miracle and the deeper significance. Jesus was crystal clear that the miracle was, in fact, a sign that He is the Bread of Heaven. He Himself would be given to fill the emptiness of the human heart. On the cross, His body would be broken to heal our fragmented souls. At the Last Supper, He took the bread, broke it and said, “This is my body, broken for you.” The prophet Isaiah describes the implications of Jesus’ broken body for our souls.

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”  (Isaiah 53:4-6)

Christ’s body was broken to give us peace in our crushing anxieties. His broken body

holds us together when we feel like we are being torn apart in a storm of self-pity, doubt and despair. Because He bowed His head into the ultimate storm on the cross, His broken body is like ballast in the hull of our souls, keeping us afloat when the wind and waves threaten to sink us.

An Anchor for our Souls

The second verse of Edward Mote’s hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock” is one of my favorites:

“When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on

His unchanging grace, in every high and stormy

gale, my anchor holds within the veil.”

What a vivid description of how Christ is an anchor for our souls. But what does that mean? What is the basis of that promise? 

It’s taken from Hebrews 6:19 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

 Christ is an anchor for our souls because he has weathered his storm of obedience on the cross,  and can strengthen  us as we weather ours. But don't miss that He is a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was the priest who blessed Abraham, confirming God’s oath to bless him and multiply him. "I will surely bless you and multiply you." So, the promise that is an anchor for our souls is not just a personal, priestly promise. Rather, it is a commissioning promise with global implications. It is a promise that God will lead us on a multiplying mission to all nations! The storm of commission includes the pain of sending and leaving people you love, the cost of giving of your best, the insecurity of uncharted waters, the cold wind of stretched resources, the icy fear of possible failure or rejection.

But God’s promise is that as we obey Jesus our Great Commissioner, we experience Jesus our High Priest,

who calms our fears, undergirds our insecurities and strengthens our frailties. Christ has gone before us, completing His mission on earth. He is a wise forerunner who can now help us navigate the same journey. Not only does He help us in the storm of temptation, but Christ also strengthens us in the storm of mission!

This is a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. We may still have moments of panic or discouragement. However, I have found real comfort in the even-keeled presence of Jesus, which in turn has made me more even-keeled. The One who slept through storms with his head on a pillow in the bow of the boat is able to give us anchored emotional buoyancy, whether we are the sent ones or the sending ones.

And mark my words, in His time, the storm dies down to a whisper and the wind fills our sails again.  

More than a Prodigal: a tribute to Carl Tuttle

Yesterday we hosted the memorial of my friend, Carl Tuttle, at our church. Carl was world renown in the Vineyard movement and beyond, for writing worship songs that became standards in the Charismatic renewal of the 70's and 80's. Gifted with an ability to write simple, intimate choruses of adoration to God, they birthed a waved of contemporary worship around the world that accompanied the powerful ministry of John Wimber. His songs were anthems that breathed the Vineyard movement. Carl travelled with Wimber extensively, writing and recording albums that sold hundreds of thousands of units. When I am in the UK, I still hear stories of how powerful their conferences were, marked by Carl's worship, the Wimber's teaching and signs and wonders that followed them. Carl and his wife Sonya spent a season leading a church in Santa Maria, which Carl always told me was the happy time of their marriage and ministry. But after Wimber died afrom an aggressive form of cancer, they moved back down to Southern California for Carl take the role of senior pastor of the movements' flagship church, Anaheim Vineyard. 

This was a large and famous church and Wimber's shoes were impossibly big to fill. Carl writes in his book, Reckless Mercy, that he did not have the structural integrity to cope with the pressure of it all. Tragically, he fell into harmful patterns of addiction, losing his marriage and eventually his ministry. 

 I first met Carl at one of our Sunday evening services. He had been literally and spiritually in the desert for 15 years. He was living out in Palm Springs painting houses and was a worship leader for hire out in a little church there. After a few subsequent connections he decided to move from the desert back to his old stomping ground in Orange County, to re-establish his painting business and join our church. There was no offer of ministry at all. Carl desperately desired restoration to God and his people, more than to ministry. I really got to know him when he painted our old  house. It was a massive job to strip and re-paint  a 110 year old house with lead paint. He gave me a great deal and didd a fine job! During that time I came to know a man carrying a huge weight of sorrow and regret, but who also had a fantastic sense of humor. He was easy to be around but I wondered whether his was genuine repentance or merely regret. 

At this point Carl was persona non gratia in Vineyard circles and the rumors about his notoriety made me quite wary. The thing was though, I saw a genuine humility and contrition in Carl. He never asked for formal ministry. In fact, he was willing to leave a paying ministry gig to land at our church. (That right there is always a telling sign of genuine repentance. The other telling sign was that he was willing to go through our membership process. I remember a few ex-Vineyard people arriving at our church, partly because Carl was there, and grumbling to Carl about the formality of the process. Carl wouldn't tolerate it. He would reply, "Just look at us? You don't think us Vineyard people need a little bit of discipline in our lives?" He had a humorous candidness about him. Eventually he co-led one of our community groups and I can remember him leading one song on stage - but he never grasped for it. He was simply one of us, and he was deeply loved. 

I remember calling Sonya, Carl's ex-wife,  one day. I wanted to hear the truth about Carl from the person who had experienced him at his worst. She was amazing. She simply went through the list of rumors about him saying, "That and that is true, but that and that is not true. He never did that. don't believe them. she added that in all his ups an owns, he had always been a faithful and generous provider to her and the children." That clarity meant so much to me, and I am grateful to Sonya for refusing to bless the rumors, even though she had been the most hurt by Carl's actions. 

One day Carl came to me and asked if I would help to mediate a meeting between him and Carol Wimber. I have written about this more extensively in my book Broken for Blessing. Carl carried 15 years of guilt and shame and he wanted to ask for Carol's forgiveness for his destructive actions towards her and the broader Vineyard family. Marvelously, Carol was quick to forgive him. She had had a dream around that time about welcoming back prodigal sons. I watched her from that day appeal to her church and broader family to welcome Carl back with mercy and love, which they did with open hearts. I realized that many had been offended on Carol's behalf.  So, when they realized that she was no longer offended, they dropped their offense. It was marvelous to see. What I did not realize, is that this would mark the end of his time at Southlands Church. Carl loved us, but longed to be united back with the spiritual family that had formed him so deeply. How could I stand in the way of such a family reunion? He was restored to ministry in the Vineyard soon after that and spent a number of happy  years co-pastoring a church in Costa Mesa and traveling as a speaker and worship leader. 

But Carl's deepest longing was to be reconciled to his flesh and blood family. By God's mysterious grace, this happened. Carl moved to Colorado after a series of debilitating strokes. His ex-wife Sonya, nursed him until his death and he was surrounded by his children and grand children. Strange that it would take illness for this to take place. God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Chatting briefly to Sonya yesterday, I could see that though they were not re-married, the reconciliation with Carl was deep and genuine. what a remarkable woman of grace she is to welcome her prodigal husband back like that. 

I spoke briefly at the memorial about how Carl is more than a prodigal. Without underplaying the damage he caused to church, family and friends, Carl stands as a powerful model of reconciliation to us. For many of us, stuck in relational stalemates, we can learn from this humble, broken man, some powerful gospel lessons that will get us unstuck. I see 6 ways Carl pursued reconciliation that are a model for us to follow. 

1.Carl owned what he could own without excuse. No blaming others for his sin. His sin was bigger in his eyes than the sin of those against him. He genuinely looked at the speck in his eye as more serious than the log in the other's eye. This is rare. We get stuck when we cry "Mercy!" for ourselves, and "Justice!" for those who have wronged us. That results in a relation stalemate.

2. Carl refused to play victim himself and make others villains. He knew it was more messy than that. Carl overlooked offense without bitterness saying he deserved it. When people would say terrible things about him he was not overly defensive. He didn't agree with them all, but he would shrug and say, "I kinda deserve it."

3. Carl extended much mercy because he had received it. Although he had a lot to repent of, he also forgave those who had wronged him, knowing Christ had forgiven him generously. He resisted offense like the plague. He uprooted bitterness and banished vindictiveness over time through repeated forgiveness and remembrance of God's kindness to him.  He allowed God to vindicate him where he was not guilty. 

4. He paid the price of reconciliation Carl knew that forgiveness was one thing, but reconciliation was another. It required the wronged party to desire relationship. I saw this happen over time in profound ways because he was willing to make restitution to those he had wronged. I saw this first of all with his ex-wife, Sonya. She told me personally that he was financially generous to her and their children. He was not into cheap grace.  I think this is one reason why reconciliation was possible.  

5. He treasured intimacy in his final years with those from whom he had been estranged.  Carl longed to end his days with his spiritual family and his flesh and blood family, and God granted him his desires.  He died surrounded by family and friendships that had spanned more than 5 decades. In the truest sense, he died a rich man. 

6. He didn't waste the pain. He realized that some would not reconcile but he did what he could to live at peace with all people. He had this saying, "Don't waste the pain." He didn't expect his sin to be absolved in a pain free life. Instead, he lived with consequences, and learned from them. He was genuinely a softer, more humble, more grateful man at the end of his days. 

I watched God break relational stalemate after stalemate in Carl's life. This is not primarily because of Carl. It is because Christ himself is our peace, having destroyed the dividing wall of hostility between those traditionally hostile to each other. (Ephesians 2:14) The reconciling power of the cross is what I want to magnify here, more than Carl's reconciling powers. But Carl was willing to navigate through the rubble of that hostile wall that Christ has broken down, and so must we if we are to enjoy reconciliation in our strained relationships. In this sense, Carl is more than a prodigal. He is a model of reconciliation, worthy of imitation. 

Rumors of the Quiet Revival

Walking under a London bridge near Waterloo, covered with artful graffiti, I spot a Bible reference verse amidst the vibrant urban colors. 

John 14:6 

No verse attached. Just the reference. For those who have eyes to see and hearts to explore, the reference is the famous claim and invitation of Jesus in John's gospel. 

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me."

The quiet, yet unmistakable truth claim amidst the graffiti speaks of a deeper movement afoot across the UK and Europe. They are calling it The Quiet Revival. 

The UK Bible Society was the first to coin the phrase after ground breaking research data released a few months ago that church attendance in the UK was experiencing a drastic up-swing. 

Co-author of The Quiet Revival report, Dr Rhiannon McAleer writes, "The Quiet Revival shows that the most dramatic church growth is among young adults, particularly young men. In 2018, just 4 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Today, says The Quiet Revival, this has risen to 16 per cent, with young men increasing from 4 per cent to 21 per cent, and young women from 3 to 12 per cent.  

The report shows that what people believe about Church decline is no longer true. ‘These are striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline. While some traditional denominations continue to face challenges, we’ve seen significant, broad-based growth among most expressions of Church – particularly in Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago." (the whole article here The Quiet Revival)

Here in the USA, at least in the circles that I run in, the rumors of the Quiet Revival abound. Some are skeptical. Many abound. I was curious to see what it felt like being on the ground as we visited the UK this past month. We spent 10 days investing in around 50 churches from 13 different UK and European nations. 

Here are 8 signs that the rumors are not an exaggeration.

1. I saw young men walking the streets of London carrying Bibles. I’ve never seen that before in the 30 years I’ve been visiting here. We know that Bible sales are on the up, but the boldness to carry a Bible publicly seems remarkable.

2. Every church we were with said that their Alpha courses (exploring Christianity) were better attended than ever and Christians were more bold in inviting people to church and sharing the gospel.

3. We witnessed a growing hunger for God in prayer, especially prayer between churches. In our Advance Movement family of churches 85 leaders from about 20 churches travelled from Wales, N. Ireland, Scotland and all over England for two days of prayer and fasting.

4. Regular testimonies of salvation and healing. We saw one lady at a @newgroundchurches conference arrive on crutches and leave carrying them. No smoke and mirrors. Her friends vouched for her. She had been healed by Jesus.

5. A significant increase in cultural diversity in churches and leaders from different cultures being raised up.

6.Churches were all leaning freshly into multiplication: of disciples, leaders, meetings & churches.

7. Churches taking big steps to serve their cities through compassion with favor from civic leaders

8. Worship was unpolished, passionate, participative, not performative. A genuine hunger for God’s presence.

May the quiet revival spread deeper and wider and spill over into the nations! 

Is your Church playing Broken Telephones?

Our Easter weekend was one for the books at Southlands Brea. From our Good Friday gathering through to our three Sunday services, I am grateful and amazed at the life that was found at the foot of Christ's blood stained cross and His empty tomb. The baptisms, the salvations, the army of joyful volunteers hosting the great throng of guests and the faithful so warmly. Thank you, sincerely, to all who served and all who attended. 

One conversation I had with a newly married couple from our church has lodged in my heart though. It is why I am writing this piece in reflection. They recently relocated to another city and church about an hour away because of work.  I was saddened to hear of this, but recommended a church I know  in the area they were moving to. They came back to worship with us on Good Friday, which was a joy, and the husband said to me, "We have had some concerns about the church you recommended to us." I probed further. He replied something to the effect of, "I think they are editing the gospel for the sake of reaching their culture." I asked for an example. He replied, "For instance, they have changed the lyrics of the song "'Christ Alone,' from "And on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied,"  to "And on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified."" This lyric change was emblematic of larger concerns they had with lack of Biblical integrity in the church. 

Although disappointed to hear of this,  I actually felt really proud of this couple for their discernment. They were looking beyond the vibe, the excellence and the popularity (this church has all of these) to the substance. Let's be honest, this is rare.

In my Easter message, I preached from Paul's entreaty to the Corinthians to keep the gospel as 'the most important thing.' 

"When I came to you I preached the gospel to you  as the most important thing. For I passed on to you what I received," that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and was raised ion the third day, according to the scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) 

Paul then goes on to say that he has heard that some of them have stopped believing that Christ was bodily raised from the dead. He is horrified that they have changed the message that he had passed on to them. without the resurrection, the gospel bears little resemblance to the original message, Paul contends. He is emphatic that if there is no empty tomb at the center of the Corinthian's,  their gospel is empty. "If Christ has not been raised, we are false teachers, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins, and in fact, you are to be more pitied than anyone!"(v 17-19) Understandably strong words by Paul.

Andrew Wilson, in his commentary on this chapter, sums up Paul's warning as follows: "Christianity is nothing without the risen Christ. If the corpse of Jesus had been found in the Middle East, it would not just mean that the walls of Christianity needed repainting , it would mean that the whole house had come crashing down. If Jesus is still dead, then sins have not been forgiven. If Jesus is still dead then we are all lost, hopeless liars. If Jesus is still dead then we are not just mistaken, we are to be most pitied. Christianity cannot survive a dead Savior.'

It's as if the Corinthians had been playing a game of broken telephones, in which one person whispers a message to the next and each time the message is passed on, it changes, leaving the final message with no resemblance to the original. Paul will not tolerate the 'lost in translation' message, and clearly restores the miscommunication back to the original integrity of the message with this emphatic affirmation:"But as it is,  Christ has indeed, been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." (v 20) Jesus' resurrection guarantees our resurrection, and that changes everything! This is at the heart of the gospel message.

Why were the Corinthians changing the original message? In short, their culture was generally gnostic. They had allow view of the metal world and a high view off the spiritual world. This meant that they believed in the immortality of the soul but not the body. That sounded implausible Perhaps, too Jewish. They edited their message to suit their culture. And we are prone to do the same. Which is why a church would feel tempted to play broken telephones with a concept like wrath. It is not the material world we struggle with like the Greeks, it is the idea of a God who punishes sin that were struggle with. It seems so judgmental and unkind. And yet, if we look at the cross, we must admit that Jesus the Lamb of God, was experiencing God's wrath on our behalf. he was taking our punishment as a substitute, absorbing God's righteous anger against our sin,  to give us peace. "We considered him stricken and afflicted by God, yet it was the Lord's will to cause him to suffer. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his stripes we have been healed."( Isaiah 53) This is not being pedantic. If you remove substitutionary atonement from the gospel, you have lost the gospel. 

I want to ask you whether your church has been playing broken telephones, editing out the hard parts of the gospel for the sake of so-called cultural relevance? Cultural relevance at the expense of Biblical faithfulness, is a fool's errand. 

Instead, I commend two antidotes to Biblical Broken Telephones. 

First, the Creeds. I want to Make Creeds Great Again! This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. This confession is what the Church has agreed upon throughout the ages, that defines Christian Orthodoxy. Protestants, Catholics, Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians agree upon this confession. Hold your church up against this creed, for a start. If it does not affirm it, it is not a Christian church, period. I have found this to be so helpful,  particularly when contending with progressive Christians who have an issue with our stance on sexuality, gender, the sanctity of marriage or life. The first thing I ask is, "Do you affirm the Nicene Creed before we have a discussion?" Very often I find that they cannot. "They say something like, "I do not see God as father. Or I do not believe that Christ died for sins, or that Jesus is the only God. It is then that I realize, we are not agreeing about the fruit of Christianity because we have different roots. Theirs is a version of Christianity that falls outside the bounds of historic Christian Orthodoxy,  which means they are coming to different conclusions about the fruit of their faith. If they do affirm the Creeds, then I am more than happy to have  discussion about the fruit of our faith. 

Second, I commend to you Tim Keller's concept of Middleware from his book, Center Church: doing balanced gospel ministry. he describes how churches tend to grow. The first is through what he calls 'hardware', which he describes as Biblical faithfulness.Hardware churches are courageous.  The second way is through 'software,' which he describes as 'cultural relevance.' Software churches are creative. But he proposes that the best way for a church to grow, is 'middleware,' which he describes as the point at which Biblical faithfulness is bright to bear on a changing culture in such a way as they can and want to receive it. Middleware avoid playing broken telephones through courageous faithfulness, but they also pass the message on effectively through creativity and winsomeness. Lord, help us as we trust in the power of Your gospel.

From Consumers to Partners: in praise of church membership

After three years pastoring at Southlands Brea, I was asked to take the helm of the team that led this intrepid and depleted church in 2010. We’d navigated an economic recession, fought a lawsuit over the sale of our church building, and led through the purchase, remodeling and move to our new premises in a new county. It was the perfect storm.  To add to the doldrums, the church had planted 12 times in 14 years prior to this. We were the little church that would. We were willing and eager, but closer to breaking point than we were willing to admit. 

I’ve written extensively about how we pushed pause on planting for three years in the hopes of winning home games, not just away games. This was a key move in our long term health and sustainability. It occurred to me yesterday though, after our 15th annual members meeting, that I’ve never written about our decision around that time to institute formal church membership. 

I know, this is a controversial topic. Images of pastors campaigning for popularity, contentious voting and power plays by deacon boards, most likely make you want to scroll on rapidly. But before you do, let me say that our church membership doesn't practice congregational voting, although we do make decisions collaboratively.  We are elder governed rather than congregationally governed. When I talk about church membership, I am really talking about people who have committed to becoming partners in the gospel.  And to be honest, when I look back at 15 years of church membership practice, I think it has saved our church from consumerism,  passivity and perhaps even implosion. Besides prayer,  I would venture to say that church membership is the single most important practice that makes our church vital and viable. It has moved the crowd towards community, expanded the core towards the fringe, and shifted consumers to becoming invested partners. 

So, what are the Biblical reasons for it? 

1. Accountability After Pentecost there were 3000 people saved and added to the church. (Acts 2:41) Added.  The new believers voted with their feet. They said, "You can count me in and you can count on me!" Those that were added were devoted to their church community. (Acts 2:42) That's what members do. They make themselves available and accountable. 

2. Health The apostle Paul's teaching on the Church as the Body of Christ describes a heathy body as one whose members are both connected and active. (1 Corinthians 12: 1-8) While baptism makes us members of the universal Body of Christ, we see in the Bible that individual believers walked that out in local churches under local pastors. A healthy body member, according to Paul then, is both connected and active. 

3. Safety When the apostle Paul's tells the Corinthians to put the immoral brother among them out of the church until such time as he repents, he is implying that he was a part of them. You cannot put someone out unless they were first in. This is not a vindictive act. It is an act of love and protection towards the flock. We have had two do this on a few occasions with abusive people, vindictive people and heretic people, who are doing harm to God's people. It is never a pleasant task. But it is necessary for the safety of the flock. (1 Cor 5:11-13)

4. Sanity If, as the apostle Peter writes, shepherds are to give an account to Jesus, the Chief Shepherd,  for how they cared for the flock, surely they need to know who is in their flock? I can love and feed anyone, but I can only shepherd those who have placed themselves under my care. It is those for whom I will give an account. So, membership is for the safety of the flock and the sanity of the shepherds. (1 Peter 5:1-3)

 How practically do we implement it?

1. Stick 6 (Courtesy of Vintage Church) We encourage visitors to stick around for 6 weeks before they decide to join us or not. During that time they will have 3 opportunities to meet pastors and hear about the church and make a decision: a newcomers lunch, a potential membership class and a one-on-one membership interview with an elder. 

2. 3 practices We call all our members to commit to 3 practices involving their time, talents and treasure. ( not original , I know, but memorable) we ask them to commit to a community group, to tithing, and  to serving in a volunteer team once a month.  We welcome new members in publicly every two months. 

3. Celebration We have an annual membership celebration where we tell stories of God's grace and growth, have a quality meal, give detailed feedback about finances, and talk through new decisions, new leaders, or new vision. We receive feedback from members. Members are first to hear and first to give feedback.

4. Non mandatory We have just under 400 members at Southlands Brea (there are more in our other Southlands churches) and this is about half of our average Sunday adult attendance. (which means, I'd guess,  about 1/3 of everyone who calls Southlands home) So we serve many who are not members. we do not force people to become members. Many of these people do serve and give. But we are working towards it becoming a majority culture.

Finally, membership has been a a culture we've had to contend for, because in Southern California, the largest church groups do not practice it. (Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, Friends, independent mega churches) People are fearful that it will be weaponized to control them, or suspicious that we will be legalistic. Basically, there is a fundamental fear around commitment in our casual Christian culture.  But membership has been worth contending for, because it runs so counter to this culture, moving consumers towards being more committed gospel partners. If you lead a church I would commend it to you as a vital discipleship practice for a more vital church and mission.

Lead with Zeal: recovering an undervalued leadership virtue

 Many years ago I decided I wanted to be more of a thermostat than a thermometer leader. I wanted to set the tone and temperature of the room I was in rather than test it. I haven't done that perfectly, but if I've  done it all well, it's been because this often under-valued virtue we find in the Bible called zeal.   

If I ask you to think of a zealot, who comes to mind?  Perhaps you think of someone with misguided or unbridled passion for a cause. Maybe a placard waving protester or a hell, fire and brimstone preacher shouting at passers' by from a sidewalk?  Perhaps even a worship leader who gets carried away, losing all track of the time and the congregation?  

If we know the Scriptures, we probably think of the warning against zeal from the book of Proverbs. 

         "Zeal is not good without wisdom, and the one who acts hastily sins." (19:2)

The Bible provides living examples of this in Simon Peter, whose misguided zeal led him to cut off Malchus's ear at Jesus' arrest. Another example would be  Saul who described himself as zealously obeying the law and persecuting Christians. Not to mention Simon the Zealot, who was trying to overthrow the Roman government before he began to follow Christ. I think it is because we have read about and experienced unwise zeal that we tend to view zeal as a whole with suspicion. And so we choose wisdom over zeal and knowledge over passion. But what if wisdom without zeal was also not good? What if zeal was, in fact, a Biblical imperative for Christian leaders? 

Many years ago, a leader called Ray Johnston gave me some unforgettable insight on leadership. "There are two kinds of leaders that help God's people move upwards. I understand them in terms of rocket launching. There are those with a guidance system  - that's wisdom -  and those with rocket fuel - that's zeal. The best leader's have both guidance system and rocket fuel. They are rare."  

Is it possible that your guidance system needs some rocket fuel? 

 It's fascinating to me that the once zealous Saul doesn't reject zeal after his conversion. Instead, as an  apostle, he commends it, even more, insists on it for leaders of Jesus' Church.  

"Let the one who contributes, contribute generously; the one who leads, lead with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness." (Romans 12:8)

In other words, of all the virtues Paul could have chosen to describe how Christian leaders should lead, he  chose zeal. That is notable. You and I need zeal to lead! And then, in case we were not yet persuaded, he writes a few verses later, now speaking to all who serve in the church, "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor as you serve the Lord." (Romans 12:11) So then, zeal is an imperative for all servants of Christ, but particularly for leaders. We also note that zeal is something we can lose as we serve the Lord, but are able to keep. "Keep your spiritual fervor as you serve the Lord."

So, if leading with zeal is an imperative for all leaders, what is it and how do we keep it? 

First, zeal is not merely passion for a cause. I would describe Biblical zeal as spiritual fervor for God, his people and his priorities. God is a zealous God and he wants his people to be zealous for Him and his purposes. Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah, so often read at Christmas time, gives us a glimpse of God's zeal in sending His Son to save and rule the world. 

"For unto us a child is born, and he shall be called the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, the wonderful counsellor and the everlasting Father. He shall reign on David's throne, and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this." (Isaiah 9:11-13)

God was enthusiastic about sending His Son. Fervent about saving us. Earnest about bringing about his eternal rule through Jesus. There is absolutely nothing half-hearted about God. He accomplishes his purposes with zeal. Too often, especially in the educated West, because we equate zeal with a lack of education or wisdom, we cultivate a kind of curated disinterest, as if being too passionate isa sign of  immaturity.  But this is far from God's character. Think of Zephaniah the prophet's description of God's zeal for his people. 

"The Lord your God is with you, he will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his live and rejoice over you with shouts of joy!" (Zephaniah 3:16)

So, how do we ensure that we never lack zeal but keep our spiritual fervor as we serve the Lord? 

First, let's beware of zeal comparison. That is a sure way either to depress us or make us proud. Elijah the prophet, after defeating the prophets of Baal, complained, "I have been very zealous for the Lord. I am the only one faithful in all of Israel." (1 Kings 19) God graciously corrected him. You are not the only zealous one, Elijah. There are 7000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Elijah was likely looking for certain signs of zeal, but zeal looks different in different people. It's not always calling down fire and slaying false prophets. So let's beware of zeal comparison, especially those of us who are more intense or extroverted. 

Second, let's imitate the zeal of Jesus as our model. In the account of the Jesus cleansing of the temple in John 2, his actions reminded his disciples of  this verse in the Psalms, "Zeal for your house consumes me." (Psalm 69:9) Jesus' zeal was certainly radical. He turned the tables of the money changers. But before turning the tables, he spent the night at Mary and Martha's house, making a whip. His zeal was not an uncontrolled temper tantrum, but rather a deliberate plan for purity.  Jesus' zeal was about God's priority for purity in his house.

Jesus was also zealous for hospitality. His insistence that his father's house would be called a house of prayer for all nations, meant that any mechanism which kept the Gentiles from worshipingYahweh had to be radically death with. We should also be zealous for this kind of hospitality too. Then we see Jesus zealous for healing. He didn't only turn tables. He healed the lame and the sick in the temple.  We should also be zealous for healing. Finally, we see Jesus being zealous for freedom. He would not let people stop the children running through the temple to worship him, shouting 'Hosanna. Blessed is the King!" 

Following in the footsteps in Jesus, leaders are also called to be zealous for purity, hospitality, healing and freedom. Our zeal tends to flow easily towards some of these pursuits, but few off us are fervent about them all. Let's ask for Jesus' zeal for His father's house. Let's not play wisdom off against zeal. Refuse to be too cool to be zealous.Too studious to be zealous. Too mature to be zealous. If you want to lead in God's house, you're going to need  zeal. Let's ask Jesus for God's zeal to consume us again, just as it consumed Him.  

 

Living in the tension between self-care and self-denial

                                                    Camino de Santiago north of Porto, Portugal  

I see a spiritual director called Bill once a month, who has a been a profound gift to me for the past 7 years.  Some time ago Bill said to me. “You need to give yourself more to self-care.” 

I found myself having a visceral response towards that advice.

 “Bill," I responded,  "I think I understand what you are saying but I cannot tell you how many times I have had people say something like, 'My therapist says I cannot love others unless I first love myself and so I am going to prioritize self-care for now.' This usually means they stop serving, stop connecting regularly with Christian community and begin becoming very self-absorbed, even self-indulgent. How does this counsel line up with Jesus call to “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me? ” (Matthew 16:24)

Bill responded, “I can see how immature people can abuse that kind of counsel.  But you are not that kind of person. You are highly responsible. And I still believe you need to consider giving yourself to more self-care for the sake of serving others. If you don’t care for yourself there will be nothing left of yourself to deny.” 

This began a time of reflection for me on what self care did and didn’t mean. It seems to me to be an important truth in-tension for those who follow Christ. I found a helpful piece from British theologian John Stott on what self-care does not mean. 

'Loving yourself' is not Jesus' 3rd Great Commandment:  John Stott

 "Unfortunately, many Christians seem to have allowed themselves to be sucked into this self-esteem, self-love movement under the false impression that the Mosaic command, endorsed by Jesus, that we love our neighbor as ourselves is a command to love ourselves as well as our neighbor. But it really is not. Three arguments may be adduced.

First, and grammatically, Jesus did not say, ‘the first commandment is to love the Lord your God, the second to love your neighbor, and the third to love yourself.’ He spoke only of the first great commandment and of the second which was like it. The addition of ‘as yourself’ supplies a rough and ready, practical guide to neighbor-love, because ‘no one ever hated his own body’ (Eph 5:29 ). In this respect it is like the Golden Rule to ‘do to others what you would have them do to you’ (Mt 7:12 ). Most of us do love ourselves. So we know how we would like to be treated, and this will tell us how to treat others. Self-love is a fact to be recognized and a rule to be used, not a virtue to be commanded.

Second, and linguistically, the verb is agapao, and agape love means self-sacrifice in service of others. It cannot therefore be self-directed. The concept of sacrificing ourselves in order to serve ourselves is nonsense.

Third, and theologically, self-love is the biblical understanding of sin. Sin is being curved in on oneself (as Luther puts it). One of the marks of ‘the last days’ is that people will be ‘lovers of self’ instead of ‘lovers of God’ (2 Tim 3:1-5 ). Their love will be misdirected from God and neighbor to self. Let’s put this silliness to bed.

But then, how are we to regard ourselves? How are we to avoid the extremes of self-hatred and self-love? The cross of Christ supplies the answer, for it calls us both to self-denial and to self-affirmation.”

Whatever we are by creation we must affirm: our rationality, our sense of moral obligation, our sexuality (whether masculinity or femininity), our family life, our gifts of aesthetic appreciation and artistic creativity, our stewardship of the fruitful earth, our hunger for love and experience of community, our awareness of the transcendent majesty of God, and our inbuilt urge to fall down and worship him. All this (and more) is part of our created humanness. True, it has been tainted and twisted by sin. Yet Christ came to redeem it, not to destroy it. So, we must gratefully and positively affirm it."

Stott goes on…

"Whatever we are by the Fall, however, we must deny or repudiate: our irrationality, our moral perversity, our blurring of sexual distinctives and lack of sexual self-control, the selfishness that spoils our family life, our fascination with the ugly, our lazy refusal to develop God’s gifts, our polluting and spoiling of the environment, the antisocial tendencies that inhibit true community, our proud autonomy, and our idolatrous refusal to worship the living and true God. All this (and more) is part of our fallen humanness. Christ came not to redeem this but to destroy it. So we must strenuously deny it."

So, we are to avoid the extremes of self-hatred and self-love by managing the tension between self-denial and self-affirmation. That’s a good start.

Affirming Self-Care

But, practically, how does self-affirmation flow into self-care? How do we take care of ourselves without becoming self-indulgent, without getting curved in on ourselves?

It seems that this tension is held beautifully in the life of Jesus. 

In Mark 6 :30 after the brutal death of His cousin John, Jesus said two his disciples, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” 

Jesus’ self-care consisted of retreat, solitude, rest, eating, recreation, beauty and friendship. V 31 It was in response to grief, tragedy, busyness and depletion. "Many people were coming and going and they did not even have time to eat." Self-care recognizes signs of physical, emotional and relational depletion early, and makes plans to replenish them. 

What fills your tank? What do you look forward to? If the answer is nothing, you are in danger of redlining on reserve. Sabbath is God's gift of self care and his common grace is available to us all to replenish our bodies and souls. 

Signs of poor self-care are boasting about busyness, emotional numbness, mental foggyness, masking of pain with media/sugar/alcohol/tobacco/spending, procrastinating about our health,  the desire to stay in bed longer than usual, a refusal to rest on our day off, an inability to say no, irritability, when ministry becomes merely a job, reluctance to exercise, neglecting grooming, lack of romance or emotional connection with our spouse, daydreaming about vacation, a lack of joy! 

Do you have a wise, mature, sacrificial disciple of Jesus who can call you out on this without leading you into self-indulgence? Who is your friend, who sees it as their role to care for you rather than unload on you? God wants us to have a happy, holy, healthy self to give away! We take care of ourselves for the sake of serving others. 

In Praise of Self-Denial

What about self-denial? In some ways it is noble to say, “Yes, you’re right. I work too hard. I am bad at self-care. But to admit that I am bad at self-denial  stabs at the core of what it is to be a Christ-follower. “If anyone would be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” 

Mark 6:34 tells us, that when Jesus went to ashore for his retreat, "He saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send them away so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.” “You give themselves something to eat,” he responded. How many loaves do you have. Go and see.”

Jesus exhibited a powerful ability to deny himself, motivated by compassion for people. He allowed his retreat with his disciples to be interrupted because he was concerned that the crowds were like ‘sheep without a shepherd.’ He cared for people spiritually and physically, not out of abundance but out of his lack. He pressed into His father for miraculous power to nourish spiritually and physically hungry people and God met him profoundly. 

 Verse 45 tells us that he did not forget his retreat. Immediately after the miracle,  He dismissed the crowd and told his disciples to get into the boat.  But he was willing for his routines to be interrupted and and margins to be invaded for the sake of people. He had a rhythm more than a routine.

How do we know if we are poor at self-denial? We have an inflexible routine that cannot be interrupted by people, we have an inflexible threshold of service that cannot be stretched by unique demand, we are motivated more by duty than compassion, we only give to people out of abundance not out of lack. We resent people arriving at our house unannounced. We are extremely boundaried about serving beyond our defined ministry responsibility. 

So, let's ask for the Spirit's power and wisdom to live in this healthy tension. We need help  to willingly deny ourselves for the sake of others, for that is the last thing our flesh wants to do.  But let's not forget to care for ourselves for the sake of serving others. Because if we don't there will be nothing left of ourselves to deny. 

Tea with the Queen : a tribute to Carol Wimber-Wong (1937-2025)

 I was saddened to hear of the passing of Carol Wimber -Wong this past week. I am also so grateful for her faith legacy and wanted to post a tribute to her for the way in which her life and ministry impacted mine. I am praying that the blessed hope of the resurrection would comfort and all who mourn her death and that her life would inspire thousands to keep following hard after Jesus. This is something I wrote about Carol in 2013 and it remains as meaningful as ever to me today. 

"While I have always wanted to see leaders raised up to make a kingdom impact, my vision for cultivating young leaders with profound character was catalyzed and clarified over a cup of tea in 2013. I don’t even like tea, but I was excited at the privilege of having a cup with Carol Wong, who had been married to John Wimber—the founder of the fellowship of Vineyard churches. John died in 1997 but, by then, God’s work in the Vineyard had left an indelible mark on the worldwide church in terms of worship, healing and the prophetic.

A number of years after John died, Carol married Ken Wong, a close family friend who had also been wid
owed. In fact, Ken was the doctor who treated John during his battle with cancer. I visited them with a friend named Carl Tuttle. Carl had joined Southlands a year prior and was a worshipleader who had first met John and Carol as a teen. Even though at the time Carl was a young Christian who could barely strum three chords on the guitar, John asked him to start leading worship in the Bible study that would one day become the first Vineyard church. Carl eventually grew to be a prolific songwriter with a number of his songs becoming Vineyard standards around the world. He was also the man who took over leadership of the Vineyard in Anaheim after John became ill. Carl eventually had a breakdown and left the Vineyard under a cloud of suspicion and resentment.

He lost his marriage, his ministry and many friends during that tragic season—including his friendship with Carol. Fifteen years later, Carl was penitent and hoping to build some of the bridges that had been broken. I reached out to Carol in the hopes of being a bridge builder. By God's grace this happened. Carl and Carol were reconciled and she welcomed Carl back as a prodigal son to the Vineyard family. He was restored in both relationship and ministry, partly because o0f that meeting that day. 

But I got much  more than I bargained for because having tea with Carol was like having tea with the queen. Sitting in their Yorba Linda home, Carol and Ken told me how they had recently been invited to Yorba Linda Friends Church’s 100th anniversary. It’s a remarkable thing to be able to celebrate a century of gospel impact. Yorba Linda Friends has an amazing record of faithfulness, extending as far as India, where they are the largest builder of schools among the Dalit caste.

Like any church, though, their tapestry has a few dark strands woven into the stunning pattern of their history. One of those strands was added at the end of the 1970s when the church asked the twelve families from a single Bible study to leave the church. The group had been meeting in the home of Carl’s mom and was led by John and Carol. They had begun exploring intimate worship, saturated by the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was an intoxicating time for these folks but uncomfortable for a church more cautious about the charismatic. In these rather messy circumstances, the Vineyard was planted.

Sitting in their lounge, Ken and Carol told me how delighted they were, more than thirty years later, to be invited to Yorba Linda Friends’ centenary celebrations and to be publicly honored as a movement that God had birthed and multiplied. I believe this kingdom gesture will have immense redemptive ripple effects in the time to come.

But here’s the part that arrested me. Carol tells me that they were sitting there at the 100th anniversary when she turned to Ken and had the following conversation.

“Kenneth, these people haven’t seen the miracles we’ve seen. They haven’t enjoyed the worship we’ve enjoyed. They haven’t heard the prophecy we’ve heard. But they’ve done something we didn’t really do.”

“What’s that?” asked Ken.

“They raised sons and daughters who love and serve God. They discipled their kids,” she replied.

Then she turned to me with royal fire in her eyes and said, “We thought if we loved our kids enough and if they were anointed enough, it would be enough. But it wasn’t. We didn’t really discipline our children. Don’t choose between powerful encounters and discipling the next generation.”

It was a statement of honor towards Yorba Linda Friends, and a humble admission that as a people hungry for the power of the Spirit, we’ve often been guilty of valuing anointing over character, sudden over slow, converts over disciples—breakthrough now over maturity one day.

I don’t believe we’re called to ignore one at the expense of the other. An expectation of God’s power breaking in now is vital to capture the imagination of the next generation. But I wonder how differently we would live and lead if we thought, “What would this mean in a century’s time?” And I wonder how different our churches would look if we placed as much value on a lifetime of anointed plodding as we did upon one moment of power."

An excerpt from my book,"Broken for Blessing : the underrated potential of the medium-sized multiplying church."