Tag: Ministry

A Time for Change

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Ministry

–April of 2002

A Time for Change

Spring is the season of promised change.  Nature changes its dull lifeless winter garb for a majestic robe of dazzling color.  Fresh life pushes back the old and newness abounds everywhere.  Nature certainly has no monopoly on change in the months of April and May.  It is also the time of year that ministers all across the country begin to ask themselves the question, “Is it time for me to make a change?”  Church members, too, begin to hold their own private discussions about the “recall vote”.  Though this process happens every year in thousands of churches and has been experienced by thousands of preachers, it still remains one of the toughest issues pastors and conference leaders face.

Is it really that difficult to know if the pastor should stay or go?  One church leader put it like this, “It really is quite easy to derive the right answer as to whether a pastor should move or not, if you could remove all the emotional issues that surround it.  Things like home, family, friends and financial security.  All these make it very difficult to face up to any change that we know ought to be made.”

 When Should I Consider Leaving?

 1. When I know that my ministry and leadership are no longer effective. 

An effective ministry must be earned, but it is also given to us by those who willingly follow.  When you reach the place where people are no longer following, you are, in effect, no longer leading.  When you are no longer leading, you can’t take the church where it needs to go no matter how capable you are.  When your effectiveness is gone, the platform upon which you build your preaching ministry is gone.  Your sermons may still be well prepared and clear, but they will not strike with force or accomplish their purpose.

2. When I no longer have a vision or a burden for the church. 

When a man has no burden for the work at hand, when he ceases to dream about the future of his church, it is time to go!  God pity the church which must endure a pastor with no passion for his ministry.  The loss of a vision for your church becomes transparent in your conversation, administration and preaching.  The joy and excitement of special days are gone.  New ideas and approaches are a bother.  You have no conscious strategy to build up the work.  You can’t minister effectively without passion and vision.

3. When I realize that the church and I are no longer philosophically compatible. 

Are you on the same wave length with the people you serve?  Have you outgrown them?  Have they outgrown you?  Do the two of you still see ministry in the same light?  Are your goals and methods in agreement?  Have you made a change in values and beliefs that the church still holds dear or vice verse?  If so, it is time to go.

4. When you sense that your work is finished. 

God clearly sends some men to churches for a specific task.  To stay beyond the completion of that task is to tear down what you built up.  To remain and try to do or redo what you have already done, is to heap frustration upon the heads of your people as well as your own.

5. When I know that my credibility isn’t strong enough to stay. 

Credibility is essential to ministry.  You may not have done any intentional wrong and yet problems have eroded your credibility among the people.  As a matter of fact, it may have been someone else’s fault altogether.  Nevertheless, you still can’t minister without the confidence of the people.

6. When I know I am no longer willing to make the necessary sacrifices to see this church grow. 

Somebody has to pay the price for church growth.  You can pontificate all day long about lazy laymen, and it may be true, but nothing will build your church but hard work.  If you aren’t willing to give the leadership, expend the energy and make the necessary sacrifices for growth, it is time for you to go.

7. When I would leave if I had some other place to go. 

Many pastors and leaders would move in a heartbeat if another church or ministry would call, or if another church would call that could offer an equal financial package.  In other words, they are only staying because they don’t have any place to go.  I’ve watched men of God leave churches when they knew it was time to go and have to take secular employment to make it.  They may have lost a parsonage and a pulpit for a while, but they certainly kept their integrity and honesty with God and the church.

8. When my attitude is no longer positive about my present church. 

If you can’t feel good about your work and if your attitude is bad about the church – move!

 How Do I Know Where To Go?

 Obviously, we must seek clear leadership from the Spirit of God.  But, there are some practical things that will help confirm the mind of God in us.

1. Does my social and cultural background fit this church? 

Don’t give this point a religious snub.  Disaster follows the man who goes into a situation that is out of the cultural and social context of his own ministry.  The people will pick him apart, and he will begin to preach at them rather than to them.  Conflict is only a matter of time.  Take heed here!  Finding the right fit in this area has launched some of the most long-term and successful ministries.

2. Do my particular gifts and skills fit the needs of this congregation? 

When a man whose ministry style is prophetic, evangelistic, and seeker-oriented, is placed into a situation that needs a healer, the effect is the same as rubbing sandpaper on an open sore.  On the other hand, when a man who is a healer goes into a situation that needs a shaker and mover, frustration will abound.  A good understanding of your skills and limitations coupled with a good understanding of what a church needs will alleviate many heartaches.

3. Do I agree with these people in doctrine and practice?  Do we share similar views concerning the pastor’s role in ministry?

Find out some things about the church up front.  Don’t go in with a hidden agenda and think you will change it.  You may only end up splitting it.  Make sure you understanding and agree with their expectations of your ministry.

4. Has God confirmed this change through providence, common sense, and conviction? 

Ultimately, the inner conviction given by the Holy Spirit that our going or coming is the right thing to do will be what gives us a sense of peace and clarity in any change.  Yet, don’t let personal matters and fears drown His voice.  Don’t ignore some practical facts that are clear to everyone else.  If need be, pray for moving grace, or staying grace, whatever the occasion demands.

What If I Know I Need to Leave the Church, But Moving Seems Bad for My Family?

I’ve watched both sides of this question play out.  One pastor left an idealistic country setting and moved to a large city.  The timing seemed disastrous for his teenage children, but it proved, rather, to be their salvation.  Another pastor left his church and relocated nearby to maintain educational continuity and friends for his teenagers.  He had to leave pastoral ministry for a few years, but he kept a stable environment around his children at a crucial time in their lives and saved his family.  I believe God’s will for a pastor and what is best for his family can be one and the same if we will just have the courage to do and follow God’s leadership.

Whatever you do, make sure you do not short circuit the Kingdom of God by holding on when you ought to let go, or by letting go when you ought to hold on.  Change has been the fresh wind under many a tired pastor’s wings.  It has also been the salvation of many a failing church.

A Word for Men and Movements

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Church, Ministry

–May of 2001

A Word for Men and Movements

Dr. Paul Brand tells a story of his most memorable visitor to his leprosy hospital in Vellore, India.  One day a French friar named Pierre showed up wearing a monk’s habit and carrying a carpetbag that contained everything he possessed.  Pierre was born into French nobility and he had served in the French parliament.  After WWII, while Paris was still reeling from the German occupation, parliament faced a serious problem of thousands of homeless beggars in the streets.  While the politicians and noblemen debated their plight, the beggars starved or froze to death in the street.  Disillusioned with the slow pace of political response, and desperately wanting to help the street people, Pierre resigned his post and became a Catholic friar to work among them.  Failing to interest politicians or the community in the beggars’ plight, he concluded his only recourse was to organize the beggars themselves.  He taught them to do menial tasks better.  Instead of sporadically collecting bottles and rags, he divided them into teams to scour the city.  Next they built a warehouse from discarded bricks and started a business in which they sorted and processed vast quantities of used bottles from hotels and businesses.  Finally, Pierre inspired each beggar by giving him responsibility to help another beggar poorer than himself.  Pierre’s project caught fire.

After years of successful work, Pierre suddenly awakened to the fact there were no beggars left in Paris.  “I must find somebody for my beggars to help!” he declared.  “If I don’t find people worse off than my beggars, this movement could turn inward.  It will become a powerful, rich organization and the whole spiritual impact will be lost.  My beggars will have no one to serve.”

It was this fear that brought Pierre to the leper colony.  It was at the leper colony that he found the solution to his crisis in Paris.  Returning to France and to his beggars, he mobilized them to build a ward at the hospital in Vellore.  “No, it is you who have saved us,” he told the grateful recipients of his gift in India.  “We must serve or die.”

Pierre possessed a crucial insight into what keeps both men and movements alive spiritually.  Good men can get so caught up in wanting God to do something for them, they forget that God’s main work is to do something through them.  The more a person reaches out beyond themselves, the more enriched they become and the more they grow in likeness to God.  The more we turn inward, or “incurve”, the less Christlike, even less human, we become.

Movements are the same way.  When a movement turns its focus inward and concentrates on preservation, it will become stymied and begin the death process.  Even though it may report financial or numerical gains, it is dying all the while.  It has “incurved”.

The Western church needs no more urgent message than the message of servanthood.  We share a planet with three billion people who earn less than $2 per day.  We live in a world in which 40,000 children die every day from hunger and disease.  Our inner cities are filled with millions of people who have no saving knowledge or understanding of Jesus Christ not to mention serious educational and physical needs.  All the while we are spending record amounts on ourselves and on the edifices in which we worship.  Maybe we need to listen to Pierre and be reminded that the need to serve is fundamental to Christian life and that the act of serving is the very thing that keeps us alive.  “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Recommitting to the Great Commission

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Ministry

–April of 2001

Recommitting to the Great Commission

Standing before the open door of this new millennium, the church has never faced so many challenges on so many different fronts.  Rather than moving forward as salt and light, our response has been paralyzed by uncertainty and fear.  It has been easier for the church to look inward toward developing inner piety than to look outward with the intent of sharing our faith with the world.  However, it is from this inward focus that the Holy Spirit faithfully seeks to turn the church.  Those He turns will become the missionaries of this our present day

Emerging Trends

What should the church expect to confront?  The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has projected four major challenges or trends for the church in the 21st century.

1. Massive urbanization.  This century opens with a population of approximately six billion people, half of whom live in large cities.  Half of that number is under 25 years of age.  The holiness church has become far too comfortable in suburbia and has in all reality lost touch with the inner city.  To fulfill our calling and remain relevant, we must reconnect and re-engage the population of the world’s great cities with the gospel.

2. Aggressive secularism.  Secularism has turned former Christian nations into post-Christian countries.  Its onslaught has affected the emerging nations of Southeast Asia, and economically strong countries like South Korea, where one Korean elder said, “Materialism is eating the heart out of Korea’s prayer life.”  Secularism roots God out for economic prosperity and so-called intellectualism.  These are two fronts the church must face with answers.

3. Expanding non-Christian religions.  The expansion of Westernize has created militant and aggressive propagation of non-Christian religions.  Hinduism and the Muslim religion are enjoying significant growth even in the United States.  Though these two religions are not typically evangelistic, they have become so, due to the influence of the western world and its threat to their way of life.  The church can no longer ignore these as Eastern problems, but must prepare to evangelize those who embrace Eastern religions on Western soil.

4. The rise and fall of new political ideologies.  The fall of communism almost caught the church unprepared to move through the opening in the iron curtain to evangelize a new frontier.  China or the Middle East could be next, or it is also possible that doors that are now open may quickly close.  The church must be sensitive to the Spirit and ready to move in either direction.

 Some Things Never Change

Though these and other challenges will always confront the church, some things will remain the same.  God has not changed, nor has the need of every human heart.  The gospel is still the answer to the deepest need in all of our lives, regardless of culture or political persuasion.  God has offered no other cure than the cross of Christ and its redemptive message.

The Great Commission hasn’t changed.  We are not commanded to understand all the challenges of tomorrow, but we are commanded to confront those challenges with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and do so in every corner of the world.

 Equipping for the Task

If the church of Jesus Christ is to meet the challenges of the 21st Century, then those of us in the church must move quickly to restore the primacy of evangelism and recommit ourselves to the Great Commission.  This issue of the Revivalist unveils part of the plan we are implementing here at GBS to renew our historic commitment to world evangelism with an emphasis that permeates every aspect of campus life.

Let me challenge you and your church to re-engaged in evangelism.  The effectiveness of the church lies in her faithfulness to the commission.  The “Spirit and the Bride say come…”

Let’s add our voices to the chorus and call men and women everywhere to repent and receive the Gospel.

A Serious Saintliness

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Ministry

–April of 2000

A Serious Saintliness

Henry Drummond, while preaching in chapel at Harvard many years ago, said, “Gentlemen, don’t touch Christianity unless you mean business.” Drummond’s voice seems very much out of vogue in modern day religion, but he was right on target then and now. The common admonition of our day is to “lighten up” and not take religion too seriously. J.I. Packer has compared the modern route in religion to something similar to the “hot tub experience.” “The hot tub experience,” says Packer, “is sensuous, relaxing, sloppy, laid back—not in any way demanding…but very, very nice, even to the point of being great fun.” Packer concludes that many today want Christianity to be just like that and take great pains to make it so.

Somehow a system of belief that culminated on a rugged cross has been reconfigured into a well-marketed program of “let us help you feel better about yourself and teach you how to enjoy life to the full.” This hedonistic spin on Christianity is in direct contradiction to what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. The yearning for happiness, rather than holiness, found so widely among Christians professing a superior degree of sanctity is sufficient proof that such sanctity doesn’t exist. John Wesley said of the members of one of the early Methodist societies, that he doubted that they had been made perfect in love because they came to church to enjoy religion instead of to learn how they could become holy.

Real saints are serious about real holiness. I don’t mean a couple of trips to an altar or the regular verbalization that “I’m sanctified.” I mean real sanctity. Holy people seek to be separate from all that stains their world or dirties their lives. They are free from all sinful thoughts, impure motives and questionable activities. Through the power of Christ and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, they have found true inner goodness and authentic clean living.

A call to real sanctity needs to be taken up with great intensity in our day. All the praying, sacrificing and pleading with God will not bring revival until we take seriously the call to holiness. If we choose to fill our minds with pornography, violence, immorality, hatred, promiscuity and self centeredness and call it entertainment, then we can be certain that God will not hear our prayers. We cannot expect a divine visitation if we are unethical in business, corrupt in our speech and careless in our commitments. Let no one be fooled. True Christianity makes serious demands on out lives. It is impossible to have a heart in one condition and produce fruit of an opposite condition. A holy heart will affect our actions, just as our actions reflect our heart.

Saints are serious about obedience. The apostle said, “For this is the love of god, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” (1John 5:3) Someone has high rightly said that it is impossible for a man who loves God to say, “No, Lord,” because if Christ is truly our Lord, we cannot refuse him. Jesus said it this way in Luke 6:46, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” In the salvation process God radically and immediately reorients our lives to Christ so that He is truly Lord of our lives.

Saints are serious about servanthood. Paul reminds us again that “our life is not our own,” but it is “hid with Christ in God.” We are told that “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.” It is only in the context of servanthood that our lives can become something beautiful for God and resourceful for others.

Richard Foster may have summed it up best when he said, “The desperate need today is not fro a great number of intelligent or gifted people, but the desperate need is for deep people.” Dr. Foster, I couldn’t agree with you more.

Giving Away Your Money

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Ministry

–Winter of 1999

Giving Away Your Money

Money has been a favorite topic of conversation for Christians since the earliest days of the Church. Scripture itself gives a significant portion of its content to the subject. Money ranks near the very top of subjects most often mentioned in the Bible; only idolatry is mentioned more.

Most of us have a fairly good understanding of why the Bible has so much to say and so many warnings to give about money. We have all seen what the power and influence of money can do. We have watched as those who craved it and clutched it became so twisted and bent that their chances of being a blessing and making it to heaven are indeed as probable as a camel getting through the eye of a needle. On the other hand, we have seen the example of those who have held it loosely and given it generously to the benefit and blessing of thousands.

“Why do some people and their money part so slowly, while others give with such freedom and ease?”

The Old Testament has numerous passages that refer to God’s people giving a tithe (tenth) of their money back to God. Upon close examination, one will find that the tithe doesn’t have its origin in the law. The first in the Bible was given by Abraham 430 years before the Mosaic Law was revealed. The reason Abraham tithed was to acknowledge God’s sovereignty (Heb.7:1-10). He tithed as a testimony that God owned everything in his life. This is a practice that Jacob took up as well. Since the minimum amount mentioned in the Bible is a tithe, it would seem that if we cannot return to God this small amount we are acknowledging that the whole has not been surrendered. The giving of the smallest requirement is an outside indication of an inside spiritual condition. It is our testimony that God owns everything in our lives.

So the bottom-reason people struggle over giving is the issue of sovereignty. Does God own it all or is it mine to do with as I please? When God told his people that they did not love Him, His proof or evidence was that they had withheld the tithe from Him. At the heart of giving is the heart. Giving indicated more than anything else who is really in control of our lives.

Are there biblical guidelines for the giving of our money?

A very simple study of God’s Word will produce a number of principles that should guide our giving. The first principle is that we should give “willingly”. II Cor. 9:7 teaches us that we should give to God with a willing spirit, not reluctantly or from a sense of pressure. Cheerful giving can only stem out of a love for God and a desire to advance His cause. Gifts given from a willing spirit bring untold blessing on the giver as well as the recipient.

Another principle in giving is that we are to give “liberally” (II Cor.9:6). Our giving should be marked by generosity. Our frame and reference should not be, “How little can I give and still give.” Giving should be as generous and liberal as our means will allow.

II Cor. 8:13-14 gives us a third principle. The principle of giving sensibly. Our giving should be guided by good sense. We are not to endanger the welfare of our own family and personal responsibilities by giving beyond our means. Paul admonished the Corinthians, “not to get yourselves into trouble in order to offer relief to others.” Rather share what is fair and appropriate so that none, including yourselves, will have any lack.

Paul gives a fourth principle in II Cor. 9:5-7. The principle of giving thoughtfully. Paul lays down some excellent advice on “planned giving.” Giving should not be spasmodic and emotional. It should be well thought through. We should plan ahead for special offerings and other gifts. Making provision in advance for giving is a sure way to make giving a greater blessing for all involved, as well as a way to insure that we do have something to give. There will always be times of “special direction” from the Spirit in our giving for which we may not be prepared and for which He will provide the extra funds in ways to increase our faith. Generally though, people who make plans to give not only accomplish their plans but give far more less strain than those who do not.

A fifth principle that we rarely ever hear about is the principle of proportionate giving (Lk.12:48). If I could change our church our manuals I would change the section on giving to read, “We covenant with Christ and one another to give proportionately beginning with the tithe of our income.” Our giving should not be regulated by the tithe. The tithe ought to be the base or minimum level of our giving. Jesus said, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.” Proportionate giving may well be the standard for New Testament believers. None of us has to be an accountant to know what ten percent of our income is, but each of us has to a person on his knees before God if we are to understand our obligation to give proportionately.

Proportionate to what you say? Proportionate to the accumulated wealth of our family? Proportionate to our income and the demands upon it? Proportionate to the keenness of our awareness of those who suffer and are needy? Proportionate to our understanding that our God owns all? The answer, of course, is in proportion to all of these things and any others God may enlighten us with. The widow’s mite teaches the clear lesson that giving is not measured by the amount we give but by what we have left over when we have given.

The last principle is the principle of giving sacrificially (Lk. 14:33). I remember taking an offering one time in the Philippines among rural farmers who were very poor. They had no money, but still wanted to give. So they gave their rice, eggs, chickens, goats, and pigs. Literally, taking the food from their mouths to give. God expects us to give at times until we feel it. In all reality, we have never really given, until we have felt the self-denial of a sacrificial gift.

Where do I give?

Most Christians receive an unbelievable number of financial appeals each week. They have become frustrated and confused and even angry about so many letters “asking for money.” Many requests are indeed counterfeit, but not all are promotional rubbish. Many represent fine Christian organizations with real legitimate needs.

How do you know which to support? Let me offer you four suggestions that may serve as guidelines in choosing where to send your money.

First, in all your giving make sure that you are faithful to support your local Church. Studies indicate that twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the giving. If every member would be faithful in his giving, the local Church would have more than enough for its own ministries as well as the others it may support.

Secondly, understand that you can’t give to everything and ask God to carefully lead you in adopting a few ministries as your own. This will allow you to follow more closely the work that they do as well as get better acquainted with the workers. This gives you a feeling of being a “team member” in advancing God’s work through these particular ministries.

Third, use wisdom and discernment in choosing what you will support. Blind giving is like blind loyalty; it can be a mistake. Make sure you know what their doctrinal position is and what kind of people serve on their board and on their staff. Ask if it has as annual audit by an independent auditing firm.  Request a copy of its most recent audit or financial report if you have reason to question how funds are used. If it is not worth forthcoming, then you may have real reason to suspect something is wrong. If it is a sending agent and collects money for others, ask how much stays in the home office for administrative purposes and how much goes to the field. Our giving must be done without a lot of strings attached. However, giving is a spiritual investment for which you have a right to know how it is being spent.

Fourth, pray over every gift given and continue to hold the ministry up in prayer. Stay in contact with them and follow the results of your giving. This can be a wonderful way to see how your giving is making a difference.

Jesus made it clear that we could not serve God and money. He also told us that where our heart is that is where our treasure would be. The wonderful thing about being changed by His grace is that we can be free from the power of money and become men and women who are only stewards of what comes into our hands. This is liberating as well as exciting. We can make a difference for His kingdom in so many ways and places as we follow His guidance in our spiritual investments.