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We’ve been talking about what Pastor Bobby Warrenburg defined as four culture shifts that need to occur if churches are to be intentionally disciple-making and wrote about the first one:

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

With respect to mission, this last is the most important: can we move from an addition culture to a multiplication culture?

Jesus was firmly committed to a multiplication strategy, else why would he invest so much time in just 12 men? His last command, which we know as The Great Commission, included, “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” And he has just commanded them to make disciples. So if we are making disciples, our disciple (Jesus’ disciple!) isn’t finished until that disciple is making disciples. Paul’s instruction to Timothy includes four generations:

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. (NLT, emphasis mine)

Paul -> Timothy -> Trustworthy people -> Others

We have talked before about lasting ministry: there’s no better way to ensure that our ministry lasts than to invest in others who will continue to carry it on! In 2 Timothy 2.2, there are no permanent students. A culture with permanent teachers and permanent students is an addition culture. A culture where students become teachers is a multiplication culture. That’s the meaning behind Colossians 1.6:

In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world… (NIV)

Fruit is an apple. Bearing fruit and growing is an apple tree! I’m more interested in apple trees than plain apples! Or, as someone said,

“We can count the number of seeds in an apple, but we can’t count the number of apples in a seed!”

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Yesterday I introduced what Pastor Bobby Warrenburg defined as four culture shifts that need to occur if churches are to be intentionally disciple-making and wrote about the first one:

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

Today, let’s think about shifting from a collection culture to a mobilization culture.

This is a subject I’ve written about extensively, contrasting “gathered” and “scattered,” what he calls “collection” and “mobilization.”

Hugh Halter, writing in his book And: The Gathered and Scattered Church, notes that most churches regardless of size: from home churches to mega churches are much better at gathering than scattering, of collecting than mobilizing. 

I’ve shared before that Neil Hudson from The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) in his book Imagine Church makes the case that people are already scattered. The trick is to use the church’s gathered time to equip their people for their scattered time. To help them realize that the places God has already put them are where God wants them to live out their faith. First, the church has to make the culture change we’re advocating here.

For example, In Imagine Church, Neil talks about a church which liked to send out mission teams into the poor areas of their city, followed by a member of the team telling of their work during a Sunday morning service. One day an elder’s wife realized, “I’m a medical doctor. I see more of those people in a week than the rest of the mission teams do in a year. And no one has asked me to tell my story on Sunday morning!”

Neil’s colleague, Mark Greene, in The Great Divide, talks about the church member who lamented: “I teach children’s Sunday School, and they bring me up to the front of the church and pray for me. Five days a week I teach in the public schools, and the church has never prayed for me for that!”

Back to another aspect of the college illustration from yesterday: students don’t “gather” or “collect” in colleges indefinitely. Colleges know that they are training the vast majority of their students for life away from the school. The students graduate (especially this time of year!) and are automatically mobilized into the job force to use their education. 

May our churches do the same!

And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach. (Mark 3.14, ESV)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Philippians 2.14, 15, ESV)

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My friend and fellow disciple-making coach Ray Bandi recently told me he’d heard Pastor Bobby Warrenburg share four culture shifts needed in churches if they are to become disciple-making.

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

I will be sharing my own thoughts on these over the next few days.

First: attendance versus transformation

We’ve been talking about transformation, which, after all, is God’s plan for us:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind… (Romans 12.2, NKJV)

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4.22 – 24, NIV)

But transformation cannot be achieved by having people merely attend events and services. We’ve talked about this before. Here’s another analogy: college students attend football games, but no one is transformed, and no degrees are granted to those who only go to games! College is four or more years of intentional effort, usually in small group environments with requirements and accountability. 

Yet attendance is precisely what most churches major on. Listen to pastors talk with each other, and most of the conversation has to do with Sunday mornings: how many are there, how many services are required, and in what style, etc. The phrase one hears most in church is, “We’re glad you’re here!” One pastor friend used to say, “Give us one hour on Sunday, and your week will go better.” 

I’ve said before that I’m not against Sunday services! Many important things happen there: worship, community (before and after!), basic instruction, inspiration, and motivation. But it’s difficult to impossible to train for transformation in a large group environment. My friend Ron Bennett, whom I quoted yesterday, likens it to golf. He says a church needs the large group on Sunday morning (driver), mid-sized groups (long irons), small groups (short irons) and one-to-one (putter). Attendance at large groups is not enough. As I wrote a few days ago, you don’t learn to play piano by attending concerts!

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

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My friend, Navigator Ron Bennett, describes four components of a spiritually mature disciple with specifics under each one: Commitment, Competence, Character, and Conviction, depending on one’s stage of development: child/infant, adult/mature, parent/leader (see 1 John 2.12 – 14).

Today I want to talk about competence. I was discussing with Len, a man I’ve been leading through Every Man a Warrior, how he might implement the next step in his growth: leading another man through the program. We always remember, of course, that programs don’t make disciples: people make disciples–programs are merely tools. But Len will tell you that Every Man a Warrior has been a very useful tool in his growth.

Len has a young man in mind, and the question is, how do we invite someone to enter into a discipling relationship? With Ron Bennett’s framework in mind, there has to be a basic Commitment on the part of the young man: commitment to the Word, Ron says, and, I would add, a basic commitment that he wants to follow Jesus. He might not even know the importance of the Word at this point.

Given some level of commitment, and assuming a strong relationship with Len, one point of encouragement might be, “Do you want to become competent? Competent as a husband and father, eventually? Competent to deal with life as it comes at you? Competent in some of the basic skills and disciplines of the Christian life? To be sure, our relationship with God is the foundation and learning that God wants such a relationship is fundamental. Given that, how do we pursue that relationship? And can we feel competent in our ability to meet with God through the Word, learning to listen and respond to God?

The sad thing is that we expect competence in all other areas of life. People can perform at their jobs and teach others how to do their work. Most parents teach their kids how to drive, cook, and do other basic life skills. How? Because they are competent. The Army can take kids off the street and in a relatively short time teach them to operate complex machinery under wartime conditions. Why would we expect competency everywhere EXCEPT in our Christian life? Why would we want to be spectators instead of active participants?

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things… Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. (Philippians 3.12 – 17, NIV, emphasis mine)

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4.11 – 13, NIV, emphasis mine)

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Author and pastor John Ortberg in describing some early conversations with his mentor, Dallas Willard, confessed that even as a pastor, he had no idea how transformation happened.

But if you have been reading these blogs, you know how it happens! Scripture is clear:

Train yourself for godliness. (1 Timothy 4.7)

I was reminded of this again as I finished listening to The Talent Code, which talks about how Deep Practice, Ignition, and Coaching develop “talent” for anything from playing soccer to doing mathematics to playing a musical instrument or singing.

John Ortberg finally learned from Dallas Willard: “Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely.”  (From The Life You’ve Always Wanted) Dallas Willard said, “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.” (From The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship)

Transformation results from a combination of God’s work through the Spirit and our cooperation through discipline. The farmer can’t make the seed grow, but the farmer does have to prepare the ground and plant the seed.

And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. (Mark 4.26 – 28, NKJV)

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Continuing yesterday’s theme of helping kids actually have daily time with God as opposed to talking about it, my friend Ray Bandi in New Hampshire told me, “Teaching is not telling people what you know but helping them do what you can do.”

I am corresponding with a young man I met at the Math Olympiad in 2018 and saw again this year. He works really hard, but he’s not really good at working the problems yet. This year, he didn’t solve any of them so I emailed him and offered to tutor him. He accepted, and I started by presenting Problem 1 from this year’s set and giving him a hint. After five email exchanges, he finally submitted a short, correct solution. 

At each exchange, I commended him for his persistence, told him how he was going to learn how to do this, pointed out that he used a lot of words to try to cover the fact that he didn’t know what he was talking about, gave him another hint, and asked him to try again. I was determined NOT to tell him what I know (the answer) but help him discover it on his own. He finally did. The story isn’t over by a long shot, but I am hoping that if I am patient with the process, he will learn to do (creative) mathematics.

I believe good ministry (lasting ministry) is like what I’m doing with the young man. To be sure, knowledge is important, but doing is more important. Jesus said so repeatedly. To change the metaphor, you don’t learn to play the piano by attending concerts. It’s building people brick by brick, and, I’m telling myself, patience is required…for math, for discipleship!

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. (Isaiah 28.10, NKJV)

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Continuing the story of the conversation with the young man I introduced yesterday, who is enjoying our mentoring relationship and thinking about doing the same for someone else…

Josh will be leading a vacation bible school for teenagers this summer: five evenings with 60 – 70 kids. I asked him, “Will you be including daily time with God in your teaching?” He responded, “Oh, yes! We will be talking about that.” I countered, “Are you going to talk about it or are you going to do it?”

I explained that when I had 10 days with seminary students in Haiti, I taught them the first day how to have time with God. Then I assigned them a daily reading for each of the rest of the days, and we shared what God was telling us first thing every class period. As one of my graduate school professors used to say, “People don’t do what you EXpect; they do what you INspect!”

I also encouraged Josh to figure out a way to keep them going after the five days. Maybe give them another set of readings and set up accountability among the kids. For example, some men I was meeting with used to text each other daily with the main thought from our time with God.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3.13, NIV)

The kids won’t remember much of what Josh tells them, but some may continue the practice of daily time with God if Josh teaches them how, encourages them during the week, and sets up accountability mechanisms to keep them going.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28.18 – 20, NIV, emphasis mine)

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Another gem from Seth Godin, whom I’ve quoted and recommended before:

It’s the blockbusters that get all the hype. The home runs, the viral videos, the hits. It’s the sudden shifts, the ideas that change everything, the fell swoops. Fell swoops seem like they’re worth chasing, but a hit isn’t a strategy, it’s an event. Nice work if you can get it, but hard to plan on or build on. It takes patience to avoid planning on swoops. It’s more productive to live in a house that’s built out of bricks, one at a time, day by day. (May 22, 2019)

The application to ministry is obvious, at least to me! I’ve written before about the folly of relying on big events. This is just another word picture on the same thing.

I was encouraging a young man yesterday on the importance of investing in others, just one person at a time. He’s beginning to get the picture and to think about doing that himself. He asked me, “How long do these mentoring relationships last? I expected just one conversation with you (by phone) when we started nearly a year ago and here we still are!” I replied that I was honored to invest in him, a 33-year-old, who will be doing ministry long after I’m gone.

The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. (Hebrews 7.23, ESV)

None of us is going to be here forever: that’s as good a reason as any to invest intentionally in the next generation, brick by brick, one day at a time-building blocks, not blockbusters!

He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. (Mark 3.14, NIV, emphasis mine)

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

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I had lunch with a friend earlier this week, and I was in the last hours of completing a painting project. All projects are exciting at the start, but they quickly turn into drudgery and “How close are we to being done?!” As I get older, this is more and more the case. So I asked him to pray for me, and he graciously launched into the most encouraging prayer, asking for energy and joy.

Energy and joy! That’s a compelling combination. June was away at a retreat, and she let me know around 2p that she would be home around 5:30. So I went into high gear, finishing (at least finishing “enough”) just two minutes before she pulled in. (Timing is everything!)

Be cheerful with joyous celebration in every season of life. Let joy overflow, for you are united with the Anointed One! (Philippians 4.4, Passion Translation)

I like that verse: “be cheerful…in every season of life.” A good word. And I learned that good cheer brings energy as well.

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Some of us don’t often think about the next life. Things are pretty good here and now…until they’re not. Last Wednesday, I was enjoying a silent retreat at a quiet, mountain retreat center near here. June was taking Babo, our less than 20-pound dog for his evening walk when he was suddenly attacked by our neighbor’s German shepherd. Here’s June’s account as she shared with a friend the next day:

Babo and I had a very traumatic experience yesterday as our neighbors’ German shepherd attacked Babo and would have killed him if I hadn’t screamed at the top of my lungs until the dog dropped Babo.  We spent hours in the Pet ER and finally had to leave him overnight because they were so backed up.  They had to shave the wound area and clean it.  Amazingly, no sutures needed.  But he is badly bruised and does have puncture wounds, one severe.  We have to keep him quiet and Bob will be gone all day today, so I am on nurse duty.  Bob and I left the ER last night around 10:30 and went back at 6:30 this morning.  Must run…my puppy needs me.  By the way, this was one of the worst things I have ever been through!  I sobbed for an hour…I know you understand.

As I write this a few days later, he is recovering nicely despite some significant bruising, and for that we are thankful.

Back to the new earth. Here’s part of Isaiah’s vision:

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind…no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress…The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 65.17, 19, 25, ESV, emphasis mine)

If the wolf won’t hurt the lamb, I’m adding, “German shepherds will not attack small dogs!”