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Weekend Experiences, Part 5
Years ago someone asked me these questions. How would you respond?
- If you weren’t on staff at your church, would you worship there?
- If you didn’t know ANYTHING about Jesus, what would you know about him after a normal weekend at your church?
- If you had a loved one who didn’t know Christ, and they had one week left to live, would you take them to your church or another?
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WOW… Great questions. Also gives you something to think about. Thanks Craig!
Malcolm
http://www.completinggodsmission.com
1. Heck yeah! And I’m not even on staff here, but I serve weekly. The relavence of the message is why I would worship at Lifechurch
2. I would know that His church cares for me, that their are people with a heart for serving, and that Christ gave his life so that I may live a more fulfilling life in Him.
3. I’d bring them to Lifechurch in a heart beat, infact I’d probably try and introduce them to you Craig and definately Sprads! I have no doubt that if they attended, the message amd the experience would be so relavent and impactful that they would see God at work there and see that God is a God of love and grace.
Love the Satan SexEd series! Keep pushing the “christian norm” with your messages! We need to hear these things to better equip ourselves to fight the evil one, and arm ourselves with more knowledge to help those who don’t know Christ.
You know, these are some of the best concise questions to really get yourself thinking about what a church actually accomplishes in the short amount of time it has people in the doors on the weekend. Thanks for this series.
Those are some great questions for evaluation. I’m on a team preparing to plant a church in Paris, and I’ll have to keep those in mind as we launch. If we can’t answer those positively we need re-think what we are doing. The interesting thing will be getting the perspectives of French people on those questions, since those are the people we are seeking to reach.
[...] Craig Groeschel postou hoje algumas questões simples que podem determinar a concepção que você tem sobre a sua Igreja, veja abaixo: [...]
1) I attended Bay Area Fellowship for two years before God called me to full time ministry there. I would still be attending and serving today even if I wassn’t on staff. So absolutely!
2) That Jesus must want us to have a blast while were worshiping Him. He must love humor, awesom music, great teaching, and tons of people that are happy to be there. I would also hope anyone who visited would know how much Jesus loves lost people. In my humble opinion, the church should be the funnest, coolest, most exciting, the most unjudgemental, most life changing place on the planet.
3) I’ve taken my lost brother to our church five or six times. He hasn’t accepted Christ yet, but he thinks the church is a pretty cool place and has never felt judged. Something I think is critical to winning a lost person for Christ.
The cool thing is that my answers were the same when I was just a member of the church.
[...] Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) shares three questions on his blog that are valuable in evaluating the quality and effectiveness of your church. [...]
Ok Craig,
I’m not saying this because you are my boss…but
Our local campus staff here recently had a conversation that included at least the first two questions (I hadn’t thought about the third one until now) and everyone of us would worship and be involved. As far as the third question, I’d put the family member on the back of my scooter and bring to church straight away. (by the way…scooters have floor boards and mopeds have pedals) It doesn’t upset me, just a point of clarification…lol.
1. No - but for reasons outside the walls.
2. That it takes money, lots of money, to build these cool places for people to come hang out with Jesus! (sorry)
3. Neither - this question implies that the passage way to heaven is through the doors of a church building/organization. If I understand Scripture correctly, we are each individually called to carry the message of Jesus in our temples/bodies, and that we are individually the “royal priesthood” that bears his name and hope. Taking a lost friend/family who has only one week to live to “church” would be shucking my responsibility to introduce them to our Saviour myself, in hopes the organization could do it better. We are the church individually and corporately, the building may be where we worship, but it is not the sole place for evangelism/discipleship. That is the call of each individual Christian. Right?
Wow ray - how many people have you led to christ?
Convicting questions Craig.
1. Yes
2. Almost always but sometimes unfortunately no. Gotta fix that.
3. Absolutely to my church.
And Ray - I don’t think the question was would you take them to your church as THE method to get them saved - the question was would you take them to your church or someone else’s church - in other words is your church equipping people to do exactly what you are saying - or is there a church that does it better than yours. I don’t think Christ following or evangelism is meant to do alone or in a vacuum - its both personal AND communal. read acts 2!
Hey Dave! Sorry if I misunderstood the question. I am going through a “questioning season” of all the traditions I have been ingrained with being a “preachers kid.” God is taken me on a very exciting journey with Him. My definition of “church”, has become the individuals that make up the Body of Christ, not a local building or gathering area.
Is it the “churches”, as you speak of ( a building for people to come to on a weekend ), responsibility to equip people for the battle field, or does that opportunity fall to the individuals in the Body. Did Jesus focus on going to the temple/church building to equip people to train others, or did he focus on training a small group of individuals.
These are questions he has asked me to seek him for the answers through the Word.
I was on the staff at New Covenant United Methodist Church in Edmond, OK but never felt part of that family, what kept me on staff was interesting work and a personal interest in the pastor who struck me as a very unusual methodist pastor. After the work become boring and I left the job I never went back. At LifeChurch on the other hand I can’t wait to come every week and then leave and go tell others about my experience. If you wouldn’t come to a church that you’re on the staff for without the job, quit … immediately.
Wow those questions got me thinking.
1. Yes
2. I get alot of Christ in the weekends but even more in my small groups (lifegroup)
3. Yes I would fly them all the way over from Australia to bring them to church. Hopefully I could get them back before it happened.
Ray you brought up some great points about what responsibility the church has in followers spriritual growth. And I have to say going on Sunday is just the beginning for me. I find our church is great at trying to lead people into a more closer relationship with Christ through the small groups. Alot of my spiritual growth happens in these small group settings, and lifechurch.tv makes it as easy and inticing as possible to get us connected.
Bon Bon, that is awesome and the reason why I have been looking into Lifechurch.tv and am happy to see God at work there, and also the reason I feel free to ask these questions here. I have been leading a small group for about 8 months and agree, it can start in a multitude, but true growth can only be seen and truly measured in the small atmosphere that Jesus cultivated and exemplified. I just sense a crushing desire to see those people who have been cultivating and growing in Christ to be pushed back out into a battlefield/harvest field ripe and ready for workers! Jesus said “Come to me”, followed by, “Go make disciples.” Pursue Life, Follow Me! - Jesus as found in Matthew 8:22
[...] This is from Craig Groeschel’s Lifechurch blog - three excellent questions to ask about your church’s weekend gatherings: * If you weren’t on staff at your church, would you worship there? * If you didn’t know ANYTHING about Jesus, what would you know about him after a normal weekend at your church? * If you had a loved one who didn’t know Christ, and they had one week left to live, would you take them to your church or another? [...]
Great ?s
[...] Mar 6th, 2007 by ubertech Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv asks 3 good questions… [...]
[...] Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) shares three questions on his blog that are valuable in evaluating the quality and effectiveness of your church. [...]