a leadership, technology, and innovation blog for pastors and church leaders
“Heart for the House” is a phrase that is common at Hillsong. It speaks of the loyalty, honor and single-mindedness that is felt for the local church. In this segment, I asked Joel to explain how they develop a “heart for the house.”
Today our guest blogger is Vince Antonucci, author of “Guerrilla Lovers: How to Change the World with Revolutionary Compassion” and a great example of someone who is willing to do things that aren’t being done, to reach those who aren’t being reached. Vince is currently starting a church on the Vegas Strip, but I asked him to tell us a story from his book of when he started a church service in a bar. Here’s Vince:
When we started the service in the bar, one of our people, Samantha, couldn’t help but notice the pregnant bartender. It turns out that she was an ex-stripper. Apparently, there’s not much call for pregnant strippers, so she had to find a new job, which is why she started bartending at this pub. But feeling like a guerrilla lover, not only couldn’t Samantha help but notice her, she also couldn’t help but start talking to her each week, and she couldn’t help but begin praying about how she could ambush this lady with God’s love. The answer God gave her was… a party.
She began sharing her idea with some of the other Forefront women and everyone quickly jumped on board. They had to act fast, because the bartender was only a few weeks away from her due date. So Samantha and a few other ladies from our church went shopping and bought a boat load of baby-shower presents. Samantha called the bar manager and asked her to call the pregnant bartender in an hour early pretending it was really busy and they “needed extra help.” The manager complied and the bartender came rushing in … to a nearly empty bar, except for five women and a table full of presents and food, and a huge, “Surprise!!!”
She stopped in her tracks and just stared, not quite able to comprehend what was happening. When she finally got it she was even more stunned. She couldn’t understand why people she didn’t know would throw her a party. And not only were these people virtually strangers, they were Christians. Aren’t Christians against strippers, against bartenders, against women who get pregnant outside of marriage, and against parties? She was confused, and grateful, and pretty much speechless. Samantha says, “I think she had that feeling you get when you don’t know God or that He loves you, but then you discover for the first time that maybe he does. I think she felt that.”
And, by the way, that’s a great example of a guerrilla lover ambush, and I’m convinced that it’s the way we can have a real impact on people and the world.
The world is changing faster every day. Too many Christian leaders are working off old assumptions rather than new revelations.
When we assume that our way of doing ministry is best:
To reach people no one is reaching, we have to do things no one is doing.
If you think the way everyone else is thinking, you’ll do what everyone is doing.
It is time to let go of old assumptions about how to reach people.
What assumptions about church and ministry are you shedding?
When we’re entering into a new season, I always challenge our leaders to have a higher threshold for chaos.
Systems tend to produce predictable outcomes. When we are innovating and growing, we never know what the outcome will be.
Many “great” ideas bomb. Then God seems to bless some average ideas in a big way.
While we are willing to allow things to get a little messy, we also work hard to make sure we are students.
Our church is currently moving into a season of discovery. Once we discern what God wants us to know, we’ll recruit the right people. Then we’ll build systems and enjoy the ride—until God leads us into a learning and chaotic period again.
Personally, these are my favorite times!
When a ministry enters a new season, we must open the door for new leaders.
The “old guard” often resents new seasons. I’m a big believer in working hard to lead the tenured believers toward new life. Sometimes, though, they refuse to move forward.
In those times, we have to help people grow. If we can’t help people grow with the new direction, we need to be willing to allow some people to move on.
During these transitional seasons, I’m always looking for new leaders. Often they arise from right in front of you. There could be faithful people that were serving under others who seem to rise from nowhere when there is a new chance to lead.
When the current changes, keep your eyes open to new people God will raise up.
Even a good ministry system will eventually limit what God wants to do if the system doesn’t evolve or totally change.
(By system, I mean any program, structure, philosophy, or culture that shapes and helps produce a desired outcome.)
Once people operate within a system long enough, they often start to do ministry out of “muscle memory.” They tend to do the same things and work with the same people, but the results often start to slowly (or quickly) diminish.
Because this is what “we’ve always done,” people might think we just need to do what we did—better. In reality, God might want you to de-construct some ministry philosophy or system so you can hear His new direction.
For example, years ago we were doing everything you could think of at LifeChurch.tv. God directed us into a season of focusing on only five things. This philosophy served us well for about four years. It allowed us to focus on our core ministries without being distracted by lots of less-than-our-best efforts.
After a few years, it became obvious this season was coming to a close. What used to seem freeing started to become limiting. After prayer, we intentionally broke the established system to learn something new.
When I want to lead into the future, I usually look into the past to see what I can learn from any patterns.
Sensing it was time to make some changes in our church culture, I prayerfully reflected over the different seasons of our church.
I noticed a distinct pattern that repeated itself at least seven times. (I’m not claiming this will be true for everyone, but might be true for many ministries.)
Phase 1: We create something new (new ministry or new innovation).
Phase 2: We recruit and train leaders for the new initiative.
Phase 3: We build systems to support the new effort.
Once the ministry system (or leadership structure) is in place, the ministry runs somewhat effortlessly for a while.
It could be months or even years that God seems to bless this season of ministry. Eventually, it seems that God slowly (or quickly) removes His blessings from what we “we’re doing” forcing us to seek Him for something new.
I’ll write all week about this.
Have you noticed anything similar in your ministries?
Once God has done a work in a ministry and changed the culture, it is important to celebrate it.
It is fun to look back and see how far God has taken you. Once you acknowledge what He has done, it builds your faith that He can do more.
I praise God that He has made us more kingdom-minded, more missional, more generous, and more honoring.
Because of what God has done, I can’t wait to see what He is going to to.
What do you have to celebrate?
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