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Sharing Your Passion
I pray your ministry reflects your gifts, passion, and calling. You can boldly share your passions without making other ministries look bad.
- Instead of saying, “We don’t do topical series like other churches.” You could say, “We are excited about teaching God’s word verse by verse!”
- Instead of saying, “We don’t do those sermon series mail-outs like some churches.” You could say, “We’re thrilled that God has touched your life in such a way that you’re bringing your unchurched friends!”
- Instead of saying, “We don’t have smoke machines, light shows and worldly music.” You could say, “We are deeply passionate about connecting you with the heart of God in worship.”
- Instead of saying, “We don’t water down the truth.” You could say, “We believe in teaching God’s word as accurately as possible.”
- Instead of saying, “We don’t pass the offering plate like other churches.” You could say, “We have offering buckets by the door if you’d like to give.”
- Instead of saying, “We are not going into massive debt like other churches.” You could say, “We are excited to pay cash for our new expansion.”
You can be who God created you to be and build excitement about your philosophy of ministry without belittling the church down the street.
How have you seen this done well? How are you doing this in your ministry?
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Maybe when we not only stop belittling, but recognize the good that God is doing through other churches around us, then we will become one. Instead of putting “not your grandmother’s church” on your church sign (as I regretfully did 8 yrs ago), we could simply advertise that we are a multi-generational church.
I think the apostle did this well…
he said:
That’s the positive connotation of those principles…
I struggle with this concept… and need help from the Lord on this…
Interesting advertisement from a church in our small community lately….”No Gimmicks, Just Jesus”. Some from our church have taken (credit) for this older generational church taking this angle, since in the recent past we have done various community events and message announcements concerning our activities over the last 6 months that have been more out of the box. My take is that I am excited to see more churches in our community coming alive because of what God has been creatively leading. Coming along side other churches in our community is at the top of our 2009 list of commitments. Thanks Craig.
I do believe it is up tous, as Craig is pointing to. If we constantly promote pratnership, instead of concepts that divide us from others, or raise us up above others, we will have an impact. As Craig is saying, be deliberate in your speech to promote unity, not pit us against them. People are amazed when they hear it and love it even more when we are consistent in it. It does take a little discipline sometimes to saty focussed, but through Him we can do it. Thanks Craig, this kind of stuff is what keeps me passionate about all I’m doing with lifechurch.
I love that you’re calling us out on this. Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Belittling is a symptom. Lifting our church up by belittling another probably comes from a hurt or an offense.
For some reason at times, we also think we need to defend how we do things. This last weekend a guy came to our campus at LifeChurch.tv. He was looking for help from his addiction to alcohol. He received Christ and we hooked him up with some guys to walk with him on his new journey. He said to me, ‘I’ve heard that LifeChurch is a bad place to be.’ No defense was necessary. I simply invited him to come back and check things out for himself and see what God does in his life. No defense, no comparison to other churches. Let’s just love people, see God work, and let them choose if this is the place for them. We sleep better at night when we do.
What I appreciate most about this post Craig is the heart in it and how having a good heart toward other ministries helps determine the approach we take toward them. Maybe it is just my age but frankly, I am tired of fighting battles that “ain’t” worth fighting. Thanks for your heart.
Good advice for any person, no matter what we are talking about. Putting others down to build our selves up is a sign of insecurity with who God made us to be. Thanks for the reminder!
This is great! This is great not only for churches but businesses as well. I many times see businesses proudly stating what makes them or their option better than any of those around them. Many times I venture my time to partner those businesses together so they can each benefit from the partnership. Everyone wins. Both businesses win as well as the customer because all are working toward a goal instead of working to “beat” each other.
This is true in the church world as well. It makes my heart smile when I see ministries partner together to reach people. This way everyone wins. Each church accomplishes more and more progress is ultimately made in reaching people for Christ.
Thanks. This was a word of wisdom to me about something unrelated. The Holy Spirit is cool like that.
Very very well said. I also try to be proactive. I have learned that I can have something nice to say about every church in our city I am aware of. When people ask me about them, I pull out that nugget.
Great post! It’s all about positive confession. One of our pastors has said that if you confess negatively, you are agreeing with the devil. There is no way that I want to be in agreement with the enemy. As you have illustrated here it is possible to speak positively without negative comparison.
you asked where we have seen this done well and i’m having a hard time coming up with an answer. in fact, i can’t say i have done this well myself.
thanks for the challenging, and helpful, post craig. as always, top notch.
Perspective. When we compare ourselves to others we tend to have an inflated opinion of ourselves. When we compare ourselves to Jesus we are quickly humbled by our failings. Spiritual pride is so deceptive and is a constant battle we face as leaders.
This is interesting. We are about a 7 year old church plant and in some ways I believe we are still trying to find our identity. And that of course begins with leadership. In some ways we have simply transplanted the identity of others to our context and it has been somewhat succesful. But there is a simple growth formula here. Find out what God has called you to and do it. Personally, I see a lot of ministry obstacles in my own leadership because I am still discovering my passions and gifts. It is wonderful, it is exciting and it is frustrating. But my heart is open to God’s guiding. I am done trying to figure it out on my own.
Good word Craig.
Thanks Craig for this valuable insight. I wish they would teach this in seminary. Being in the charismatic movement I have heard comments from other pastors about “non-spirit filled” churches such as “that church is good but what they lack is the ‘Spirit’. That is one of the most ridiculous things I have heard. Thank you LifeChurch.tv for building bridges in the Kingdom and not walls.
Great thoughts! I’ve recently been convicted of my errors in talking bad about other Churches. I was teaching through Galatians and this is the verse that spoke to me about it.
Gal 2:10
“They (James, Peter and John) agreed that we (Paul and Barnabas) should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.”
We are all called to reach different types of people.
Dan, When I was saved, I went to a very Charismatic church. I had that same “spirit-filled” pride and looked down on other churches. Thankfully, there are many great Charismatic churches without the same false pride I had.
Kenyon, I don’t think it is unusual to be a 7 year old church and still trying to find your identity. It started to become clear to me at about year 9 or 10.
Steve, Great words.
Phil 1:12-18 Paul gives a great report about how God is working through his imprisonment and not once does he come across like his way is the only way or his way is the new way or his way is the closest to God. He goes so far as to lift up other believers even though they may have questionable motives.
Phil 1:18 NLT
Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
Let’s do what Paul did. Get excited about what God is doing for us and also get excited about what God is doing in other churches.
Craig this series really hits a nerve with where I’m living. I find myself being disappointed when i hear ministry leaders who come across as having figured out the “key” to a God honoring, growing ministry yet do it in a non life-giving way to other ministries. Good stuff boss!
I just want to say thanks for sharing this…it’s really encouraging. Your desire for unity among churches has impacted me.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
It’s time that the Church is known for Who we’re “for”, not what (or which other churches) we’re against! Thank you so much for naming this issue in the Church and challenging us all with your perspective.
sweet post.
i think so often we define ourselves by what we’re not than what we are. there may be appropriate times to outline the negative reasons for our practice, but i think more often than not we’d be far better served by speaking positively.
The point of the church is to lead people to Christ, and to lead them to be more like Christ, and there are a variety of ways we can go about doing this. As long as discipleship is our focus who has time to belittle other ways of doing church. The real test of whether a church is doing it job is not the way its people worship on Sunday but the way they live everyday of the week, as long as its people are living more like Christ everyday a church should not feel compelled to conform to any mold.
Happy birthday to LC.tv!! 13 years of changed lives!!! Love you Groesch man.
While I love swerve and most posts I have read on here, I am not sure how I feel about this one. While I understand the whole psychology of positive confession,I don’t think being different is the same as belittling.
The Declaration of Independence is mostly a negative document that lists the gripes that the Colonies had against King George. While they never directly belittle the king, it lists their differences with that system. Even the example used before from 2Corinthians4:2 are filled with “not”.
Just my thoughts, and those of an advertising guru I read,www.mondaymorningmemo.com/?ShowMe=ThisMemo&MemoID=1763
SAW, Thanks so much! You are a great friend.
Jon, You raised a good point. I agree you can hight-light differences in a good spirit.
When I talk about giving material away for free (which is different), I try to do it in a way that doesn’t bash those who sell their ministry materials.
Heart and attitude go along way.
Maybe I’m extra sensitive to this because I used to (and probably still do to some extent) make our church look good at others’ expense.
And you do a great job. Like I said love everything you guys do. I was at Highlands when you spoke Sunday, Completely incredible.
I find that the more that I talk about God’s Church and His Kingdom the less I get consumed with me vs. them. If I stay focused on HIM the competition becomes less. I am able to appreciate what my brother down the street is doing. What he is doing is different than me but it is still furthering the Kingdom…Christ’s Kingdom, not my little structure I call “church”. When my perspective gets here, I realize there is more than enough and all ways need to be reaching someone.
Thanks Craig.
God’s proud and smiling right now, Craig. He loves your heart
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That’s a humbling reminder for me to carefully watch and think through how I express something. Very good word. Thanks.
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