Conference dates and more information will be coming soon!

In light of COVID-19, the Calvary Chapel/CGN Conference “Essential Church: Identity, Power and Mission” will be moving to an online-only format.

We are disappointed that we will not be able to fellowship with you in person, but we feel moving to an online platform is the safest and most effective way to carry out the conference this year.

We are currently in the planning stages of building a livestream package for you, our ministry partners, to advertise your business or ministry on our conference livestream platform.

Stay Tuned for More Details!

Think back with me to the elementary schoolyard. Any time there was a conflict when I was a kid, the “go-to” self-defense was: “You can’t tell me what to do; this is a free country!” Here in the US, we take pride in our freedom, our constitutional rights that no one can take away from us (Apologies to our international readers for the “Ameri-centric” post, but the principles we will consider transcend national identity). Our rights-entitlement is something that is woven into our psyche from the very foundation of our nation. The second line of the Declaration of Independence is said to be one of the best-known sentences in the English language:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

When we read those words, there is something deep within us that sparks up in affirmation, and rightfully so; God-given freedom is something to rejoice over. However, in this article, I would like to pose a question for consideration:

Is standing up for our rights always the right thing to do as a Christ-follower?

In an attempt to answer this question, I would like to first look to our Lord, Jesus Christ. If we as God’s creation have unalienable rights, the God of creation Himself has infinitely more. Jesus, as the eternal Son of God, is rightfully due honor, glory and praise. He has inherent rights to the throne over all creation; He rightfully owns all things. It is His right to execute justice and to demand righteousness. However, the incarnation of Christ is the most radical example of the laying down of rights that the world has ever seen. Jesus laid aside His glory in exchange for humility; He laid aside His honor in exchange for humiliation. He stepped off His throne to be placed in a manger. He sacrificed His heavenly home to dwell in a tent of flesh in the dark and messy world we inhabit. As Paul puts it to the Corinthians:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

As if it was not enough that Christ laid down His rights as God to become a Man, He then went on to lay down His rights as a Man for our sake. Jesus lived His life on this earth, fully Man, yet without sin. He was the only Man that ever walked this earth in complete innocence, yet at the end of His life, He was betrayed by His friend, falsely accused, put to an unfair trial and condemned to death. He was mocked, tortured and publicly executed despite His absolute innocence. In all of this, you will not once see Jesus defend Himself or demand His right to a fair trial, rather, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

In a world that tells us freedom is found in standing up for your rights, the Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ laid down His rights in order to give us true and everlasting freedom.

So, for you and I, brethren, as we face a political climate where many are very fearful that their rights are being increasingly stripped away, how should we respond as Christians? My simple answer would be to let us seek to be like Jesus. That is, after all, what it means to be a Christian isn’t it? We are seeking by the grace of God to follow Christ and to be conformed daily to His image.

When Christ calls a follower, He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians about the rights that he has as an Apostle and as a minister of the Gospel. He shows that he was more than willing to lay down his rights for the sake of the Gospel and for the glory of God saying: “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:12).

My encouragement is this: May we focus less on our rights and more on showing the radical gospel of grace to an unbelieving world.

Sounds good in theory, but how does this work out practically? Am I saying that we as Christians should compromise our principles? Should we be apathetic in an increasingly godless political and moral climate? If we don’t make a stand for righteousness, what kind of world are we going to leave for our children?

Again, let’s consider Christ Himself. Jesus was far from morally apathetic; He did not for a second compromise righteousness. From His birth, there were many who expected Him to take a political stand against the godless oppression of the Roman Empire, to stand up for the rights of the nation of Israel. But Christ rejected the political path, choosing rather the path of sacrifice and grace. His message was not moralistic or political in nature, rather, He called sinners to come as they are to meet with the God of Mercy to be forgiven and freed from the path of sin that leads to death.

As for the world we will leave our children, as Christ prepared to return to heaven, He spoke of the world He would be leaving the children of God in. He said, “If they hated me they will hate you… If they persecuted me they will persecute you” (John 15:18 and 20b). Biblically, the world will become more godless as the return of Christ draws nearer; and historically, the church has thrived under persecution and has struggled in comfort. Though I completely understand and share in the concern for our children, when we step back and look through the lenses of scripture with the scope of eternity in mind, the words of Christ bring great comfort.

So, practically, I would simply ask that we consider what our primary message is.

What are we preaching on social media, in our conversations with friends and coworkers, from our pulpits and in our community groups at church? Are we standing up for our constitutional rights at the expense of the gospel of grace? Are we so busy boycotting a godless corporation that we forget that the unbelieving world doesn’t need political reform so much as the transforming work of God, through the unconditional forgiveness and love that is found in the Gospel? My dear brothers and sisters, this is not compromise. The Gospel is the power of God and the only message that can bring any lasting change in an individual’s life and in the life of a nation.

Will you allow me to encourage you, next time you feel your rights are being threatened, to seek to be more like Jesus rather than our founding fathers? Don’t let your politics overshadow your gospel witness. Please let your tone be love and your message be grace. In this world of darkness, let’s shine Christ.

_{This piece was originally posted on June 16, 2016}

Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe is on the move!

The Bible college originally began at the castle in Austria which was purchased by Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa more than 25 years ago. As nation after nation began opening up to the gospel with the fall of the Soviet Union, CCBCE then moved to Hungary with a strategic vision to bring the gospel to Eastern Europe. With many of these countries now having national pastors and leaders at the helm of mission-sending churches, the frontier of missions for CCBCE is now moving further East.

Where is CCBCE going?

The country of Georgia is located in the Caucasus mountains—a place where east meets west. Georgia is strategically positioned as a bridge between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Seventy-six percent of Georgia’s population belongs to the Georgian Orthodox Church. Georgia was the second country in the world (after Armenia) to adopt Christianity as the official state religion in 326 AD. Georgia borders Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. It is in close proximity to Iran, Iraq, and Jordan where visitors from these nations are welcome to travel freely to and from Georgia for leisure, education, and business.

Doors are opening wide.

Georgia is surrounded by nations that have historically been difficult to reach with the gospel. And yet, the doors of many of these places are now shaking. God is doing a work throughout the world and we believe that He is going to continue using CCBCE to train pioneering leaders to venture into these places and beyond with the gospel. Five years ago, Jed Gourley and his family moved to Tbilisi, Georgia to plant a church. Now three and a half years later there is a growing body of believers. CCBCE will work in conjunction with and under the umbrella of Calvary Chapel Tbilisi.

When is CCBCE moving?

Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe will move this summer. Our Fall 2020 semester will begin in Tbilisi, Georgia, in September.

What will it look like?

The first year of classes will be an experience like no other. As foundations are being laid in this new country, opportunities for CCBCE students abound. By living in Georgia, students will interact with, and serve those who have access to places we as foreigners seldom do. Along with new opportunities that will arise being a part of this new church plant, students will be raised up and discipled in the Word of God through the Bible college programs. Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe will continue to welcome students from all over the world.

CCBCE Programs

ASSOCIATE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES: 2-year Calvary Chapel Bible College program with an emphasis on missions

SCHOOL OF MISSION: 1-year program of cross-cultural training and equipping for missions and church planting

A VISION FOR LIFE: 40-day summer youth discipleship program

Students can apply now!

We are now accepting applications for our Fall 2020 semester at ccbce.com

Yes, this is really happening! Beginning this fall, CCBCE is moving to Georgia. As you pray for us, should the Lord put it on your heart to be more involved in this endeavor, please feel free to contact us.

To God be the glory, great things He has done and wondrous things He is about to do!

Apply Now!

In the past five weeks that I’ve been working from home and sheltering in place, the Lord has shown me many things about this season that He can use and is using for good. One is about how important it is to use this time of sheltering in place to reflect upon the nature of the kingdom of God: the “now/not yet” of it.

Even during these difficult times, the bodily life of Christ’s church – and the local expression of His church, of which you are a member – still exists! Press into it!

Do all you can to be faithful to it: Be that one to call a different member of your church family each day to check on them, meeting online for worship services and prayer, interacting with your brothers and sisters on social media, messaging those who prefer text messages, or writing physical letters, which arrive in mailboxes like glorious little gifts! Do all of that, knowing that the day will come when you will be together again: speaking in person, worshiping together in person, singing together in unison, praying together, not just in spirit but in body as well, sharing in the Lord’s table together, and fellowshipping and interacting in all of those personal, physical, together ways.

And as we do this, let it open your eyes to the glorious reality that, similarly, Christ’s kingdom already exists in His Body, His Church!

We are each His kingdom citizens and His citizenry is His kingdom… right now! Yes, this means we are a citizenry, physically sheltering in place in a fallen body, quarantined in a fallen, sinful world. But like the internet, He gave us even more glorious tools provided by the Spirit to be His citizens right now, spreading the message of the kingdom now while we wait for the King to return, and forever cure the virus of sin and lift the quarantine! So while we long for that day, we don’t ignore our kingdom calling and purpose in the discomfort of our current quarantine!

Stay uncomfortable with worshiping and living your church-body life online or via phone or social media.

Don’t let it become your new normal… your permanent perspective or routine. But also be vigorous to do it faithfully and with the power and creativity of the Spirit until this time passes. The same way we should have a level of uncomfortableness in these bodies of flesh and this fallen world, but one that makes us that more aware of our need to be active in it and vigorously doing what we are called to do as His body until this age passes and He returns.

Cheryl will be leading a Training Track on women in ministry at the CGN International Conference on June 24-27! Ladies, this will be a great opportunity to meet and talk to Cheryl! Register now!

***

I entered the role of a senior pastor’s wife when I was only 23. That’s probably the reason that I barely acknowledged it until a woman I met in San Diego brought it to my attention. Her husband was grandstanding at a children’s exhibition that my children were waiting to play on. I hadn’t recognized her until she turned to me. After introducing herself, she informed me that her husband was opening a church in our shared county. Then she gushed, “I can’t wait to be a senior pastor’s wife. What’s it like?”

It was a question I had never considered before.

It took me off guard. Somehow, I had never seen myself or my role as a “Senior Pastor’s Wife”. Yes, I was married to the lead pastor, but that’s as far as my thoughts had ever gone. It seemed to be the least of the roles I held. Foremost, I was Jesus’ follower. Following Jesus had brought me to and into the place I stood. I had hardly noticed the journey or the lookout point where I was standing.

Simply following Jesus, I had fallen in love with a godly young man who had a heart for God’s Word and His people. Simply following Jesus had led to marriage, ministry and children. I had never intentionally directed my life but had sought to be directed by the Spirit of the Lord. Suddenly, I realized that I was standing on a lookout point called “Senior Pastor’s Wife.” Who knew?

I had not been aware of my footing until the woman at the exhibit had asked me what it felt like. Not to sound overly spiritual, but I had had my focus so on Jesus, that I hadn’t really noticed my placement.

It was the same way during my years of childhood. Many people were in awe of my dad. I can’t even begin to recount the times I was asked, “What’s it feel like to be Chuck Smith’s daughter?” I never considered what it was like to be the daughter of “Chuck Smith”, but I could tell you in detail what it was like to be the daughter of my dad. To me, my father was not an idol, he was a loving even doting father who sung to me, prayed over me, laughed with me, and was a constant source of security in my life. Ask me what he was like, and I will define him by the relationship we shared. I knew him only from a distance as Chuck Smith, but I knew him intimately as my father.

So, I knew the role of senior pastor’s wife only from a distance, but I knew the relationship I shared with Jesus intimately. “Senior Pastor’s Wife” was only a precipice, a lookout point and a location. Following Jesus was an objective, a purpose and a lifelong adventure that would always be moving, curving and climbing.

“Pastor’s wife” is the call or placement of Jesus for me; it is not my identity, nor does it define me.

I am first and foremost a follower of Jesus. For me, personally, this is a great relief; I don’t have to know or perfectly execute the role of the senior pastor’s wife. I don’t have to memorize lines and dialogue. I don’t have to wear the right costume, move my hands in a certain formation, and know where to stand on stage. Even in this place, my lifelong objective and purpose have not changed; I am a first and foremost a follower of Jesus.

Perhaps like me, you never saw your life heading to this place—Senior Pastor’s Wife.

Nevertheless, here you are. You might be wondering what is required of you or if there is a specialized handbook for this place that will give you all the instructions you need. There is not. Why? Because, being a senior pastor’s wife is a call, a placement, a location rather than an identity. What you do in this place stems from who you are in Christ. Who you are in Christ stems from the self-discovery inherent in losing yourself in Christ and thereby finding the person He created you to be.

Personally, this vital understanding of Jesus’ call on my life had made all the difference in my perspective, personal interactions, participation and enjoyment of this place.

Undoubtedly, there are unique challenges and unique benefits in this place, even as the lagoons in Hawaii are unique to the precipices of the Grand Canyon. It requires different attire, but not costumes. It requires different activity and concerns, but not acting. From this vantage point, the view gives a special perspective, but not an exclusive perspective.

Placement as a senior pastor’s wife is a divine call.

It is the way in which God, the divine and loving creator, has purposed for me, and you, to serve Him. Since it is a call, it has a purpose, His enabling power, and potential fruitfulness already resident. Since it is a call, it deserves our attention, our appreciation and our carefulness. Since it is a call, it cannot be ignored or refused, but humbly accepted.

This is what I’ve learned over the past 38 years as a pastor’s wife, and what I saw modeled by my mother in the 50 or so years I was able to watch her minister in this call.

There is so much to explore, enjoy and experience in this call. Just to reiterate, it is not a superior call—every call of God is priceless! However, it is a unique call. Like every great call of God, it is the divinely chosen way for you and me to serve our great God and Savior.

It was early September of 1996, and the fall semester at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe was just about start. I was on a flight from Los Angeles, California, to Munich, Germany, flipping through a phrase book trying to learn how to say, “yes,” “no,” “please,” and “thank you” in German (my two years of high school Spanish were of zero help at this point.) I had no idea that I was just starting the ride of my life. I would stay at CCBCE (then at Schloss Heroldeck in Millstatt, Austria) for my final three semesters of Bible college and be in CCBCE’s first graduating class.

As a student of CCBCE, one of my favorite aspects of the program was the opportunity to get to know so many missionaries and church leaders in Europe.

—Servant leaders who have been out on the front lines doing hard work for years upon years upon years. I was also able to visit many different countries and see God working across Europe, to see Him move in various cultural contexts. I visited cities which had never seen a single protestant church—let alone a Bible-teaching one—in their history. This was true in hundreds if not thousands of cities across the continent.

After graduating, the staff asked me to stay on board and teach an elective class. (In retrospect, I’ve always felt bad for the students who took that class, but those who survived were hopefully no worse for the year.) After returning to the states, my wife and I spent some years ministering at Calvary Chapel Vineland, New Jersey, before heading back to CCBCE in 2004.

Upon returning to the college (now as an ordained pastor), I was given the great privilege of working with some of the most amazing men and women of God in the world.

The teaching staff of CCBCE has shared God’s Word with students who come from all across the States. We’ve had students from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Japan and China; students from Brazil, Russia, Cuba, a great many European countries, and even from Canada, to name a few places. While living in Europe from 2004 to 2013, I was able to share God’s Word in 12 different countries. Needless to say, I’m spoiled.

Fast forward to today. I’m sitting at my desk in Rogers, Arkansas, where I pastor a fantastic little church. I’ve just returned from another trip to CCBCE, and I was—not surprisingly—thoroughly blessed by my time with the students and staff at the college’s current location in Budapest, Hungary. I’ve had the pleasure of being either a student, teacher, pastor or guest lecturer for more than 20 different semesters of Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe. I’ve been given a unique perspective to see so much of God’s work through CCBCE from the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

Over the years, literally hundreds of CCBCE’s students have taken their own missionary adventures to serve our great Savior across the planet.

Others have returned to their native countries—that much more prepared and equipped to do the work of the ministry—where they’re now teaching others about the love of God. It’s amazing to see how our college has impacted and is impacting so many lives and eternities in so many different places. Former “CCBCEer’s” have spent time ministering on every continent (except—to my knowledge—Antarctica). CCBCE’s reach includes the fact that we have former students dealing with Russian immigration and the polar vortex as they declare Jesus in—no kidding—Siberia.

It was Dr. Robert Moffat, who, in the early 1800s shared with Dr. David Livingstone what he often saw in Africa: “the smoke of a thousand villages,” where no message of the gospel, no missionary or no mention of Jesus had ever reached. What’s staggering is that there are seemingly thousands of cities across the continent of Europe where the same can be said still today.

There is much need, and CCBCE has continued to be a constant bridge for the gospel over the years.

Every semester of CCBCE’s history has included a variety of outreaches where students serve at various Calvary Chapels, meet some wonderful saints and share the good news of Jesus with the world. These students are given what I was given all those years ago: an opportunity to see God at work in ways that they’d never be able to see without first taking a step of faith, getting on an airplane and frantically flipping through a foreign language phrase book. I hope these students have stories of their own, and that they become just like me: super spoiled as they are given opportunities to be part of God’s great work through His people across the planet.

Legendary actress Sophia Loren was quoted as saying, “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.” I’m not going to say that I owe everything to my time with CCBCE; that would be silly. I will say that God used all those semesters in so many ways to help shape me into who I am today. For that, I’m spoiled, and because of that, I’m grateful.

^{The CGN International Conference is focusing on this year’s theme, “Commissioned: Urban Ministry in a Post-Everything World,” on June 24-27, 2019. Visit cgn.calvarychapel.flywheelsites.com for more information.}

Henry David Thoreau once described cities as “millions of people being lonesome together.” Have you ever considered how important cities are theologically? It is fascinating when you begin to realize God’s heart for cities.

Let’s take a brief journey and unpack just how important cities truly are to the glory of God:

The Scriptures begin in a garden and end in a city. The Bible begins in the book of Genesis with the creation of a glorious garden in Eden and culminates in the book of Revelation with the city of Jerusalem coming down, a new heaven and new earth.

The cultural mandate in Genesis 1:28 is an urban mandate. Timothy Keller writes:

“Even in the midst of the garden setting of Genesis 1-2, [urban] perceptions emerge. A perfect creation completed by God and unmarred by sin stood poised to begin its historical development. And in that setting God calls Adam and Eve and their future descendants to rule the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28). This calling has been aptly termed the cultural mandate. It is a calling to ‘image God’s work for the world by taking up our work in the world’ (Spykman 1992:256). But it could just as easily be called an urban mandate.”

God’s plan for cities was twisted by sin. So much so that cities can be built specifically to express our independence from God and “make a name for ourselves.” Babel is literally and figuratively the apex of sin in Genesis 1-11. Timothy Keller says:

“The quintessential City of Rebellion is Babel. It’s the original sin city. The first skyscraper is built in clear defiance of God. The original mandate of God to humankind was to be ‘miners’ of all the riches of creation. They were to turn to the natural resources of the physical universe and the personal resources of their own creation in the image of God. They were thus to be culture builders, developing science and art and civic life, building civilization that glorified God as its source and ground. Now we have a city dedicated to ‘mining cultural riches’ for human glorification and to show its independence of God.”

God responds to this apex of sin in Genesis 11 by graciously calling a man named Abram in Genesis 12, through whom God would bless all nations. Contrary to the rebellious city of Babel, Hebrews 11:10 says Abraham “was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”

When Israel entered the Promised Land, God appointed 48 specific cities to be set up. Keller continues: “Compassion, justice and righteousness were to mark the teaching to come from these forty-eight cities. They were to be Torah centers of instruction by the Levites… They were to exemplify the larger Israel’s vocation to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests (Ex 19:5-6).” Some of these cities were cities of refuge, where people could seek asylum when they committed specific acts like manslaughter.

The geographical center of God’s activity on earth in the Old and New Testaments was not just a region or a country, it was a city – Jerusalem.

Psalm 107 shows the sorry state of someone without a city, and God’s grace in placing people within cities: “Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in” (Psalm 107:4-7).

Jesus was born in a small village, but the expansion of His ministry clearly moved in an urban direction, ultimately journeying to the great city of Jerusalem.

Jesus’s love for the city is expressed not only by his death but in his tears. Keller again says, “Reading through the Gospels, we find only two times when it is recorded that Jesus wept: once over the death of his friend Lazarus, and a second time over the city of Jerusalem. The spiritual condition of the city moved the heart of Jesus. He himself was born in a village but died in a city.”

The spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ was strategically aimed at cities. When you study the book of Acts, you see a particular mission strategy aimed not primarily at suburban or rural contexts, but in the larger metropolitan and cosmopolitan areas beyond Jerusalem.

Paul’s missionary journeys and his ensuing letters were focused almost exclusively on the major influential cities of Asia Minor. Even at the end of Acts, we read of Paul’s great desire to journey to the most influential city of the day, Rome.

Our eternal dwelling is neither open countryside nor cloud-based, but an urban setting. Abraham sought the city “whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Revelation 21 describes and depicts the apex of God’s redemption, as a city! His redemption is building us a city – the new Jerusalem…and the current Jerusalem, The Holy City would be the shadow of the great city to come, where Jesus would reign eternally on David’s throne.

Fascinating, isn’t it?? In fact, when you start studying this, you find that the word city is cited some 1,250 times in the Bible – 160 times in the New Testament (polis in Greek) and 1,090 times in the Old Testament (ir in Hebrew).

The Greek word for “city” (polis) is where the words “polite” or “polished” come from. Greeks considered people who didn’t live in the city to be unpolished and impolite. The Latin word for city (civitas) is where we get the word “civilized.” For the Romans, to live in the city is to be civilized, whereas people in the country were uncivilized.

The city is home to both the politician and the poor, the collegiate and the criminal, the businessman and the beggar. People throughout time have both fled to the city for refuge, protection, commerce, philosophy, education, fashion, political power, judicial decisions, and industry and fled from the city for serenity, solitude, and retirement. The city is a melting pot of diversity—not merely in race—but also in religion, theology, politics and socioeconomic differences. Those who live in the city are bound by its successes and failures, must live an integrated life where they eat, live, work and play all in one unified territory.

In 1900, 10% of the world’s population was urban. By 2005, more than 50% of the world’s population had become urban. And the trend is accelerating. 2007 was the tipping point, where for the first time in all of eternity, more people lived in cities than in rural areas. And that trend will never reverse.

HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?

4 WAYS CHRISTIANS IN THE CITY MUST LIVE

1. Intentionally, not Accidentally

That encompasses how we pray, where we work, play, shop and recreate. Do you work intentionally to best steward the Gospel in the context of your city? Would you be willing to switch professions in order to better steward the Gospel? Those who live in the city must live with a Gospel intentionality. Whether we are on public transportation, in an Uber, working in a co-op or grabbing artisan coffee with other professionals, we should have a focus on bringing Christ into the dark places we encounter on a daily basis.

2. Distinct, not Divorced

Think of how we typically approach the world. Christians are so freaked out about the world, and I understand it. There are evil people out there, and germs, and we have to do SOMETHING. But notice how we approach the world. It’s usually one of four ways:

Lighthouse: The rhetoric these Christians use is that the church, like a lighthouse, is a shelter from the rocky, dangerous and pervasive evil that lurks all around, like a ship in a harbor. The lighthouse beckons all those desiring to live righteous lives to come and seek refuge from the storm. The church, therefore, acts as a functional bunker protecting the church from the sin (and the blessings) of the city. The church as a lighthouse has difficulty bringing redemption to the city because it is not participating in the cultural, social, political, economical, educational or philosophical amenities the city prescribes. Often these churches will have their own private schools, their own soup kitchens, their own ministries that attempt to bless the city; but they fail to come alongside civic programs that are making great strides, simply because these lie outside of the established church. The emphasis is to be a shelter from the city.

Picket Line: Taking the mentality a step further, the church as a picket line sees the city as wicked, depraved and beyond repair or redemption. This church would reject anything the city contributes like art, music, education or holistic civic programs as beyond redemption and erroneously work against the city, rather than embracing what can reflect the goodness and glory of God. Christians who live this way galvanize themselves and create a dividing wall of hostility, often taking strong political stands in both moral and nonmoral issues. The emphasis is to be separate from the city.

Mirror: On the other end of this continuum is the church that acts as a mirror to the city. This church takes all its cues and commands from the current culture. It is the church that only longs to be relevant at the price of Biblical truth, to be comfortable at the cost of being righteous, to be ecumenical at the expense of having convictions. Christians who “cut/ paste” the world’s system have difficulty expressing the redemptive nature of the Gospel and rather emphasize a social gospel that lacks a spiritual Gospel. The emphasis is to be the same as the city.

City on a Hill: Jesus employed this analogy to speak of His preference to how Christ followers should live in culture. A city on a hill stands out and cannot be hidden or separated from the world. It is a high and lofty ascent of splendor, holiness and majesty. It is a beacon of hope for those in darkness, despair or lost on a weary journey. In the midst of our city, we are to stand out as a city within a city, one that stands apart and is desirable and redeeming to all those who reside nearby.

In fact, go back and reread what Jesus said about being salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16). Jesus wasn’t saying we need to be saltier and more lit. He said we already are the light of revelation and redemption in a dark place. We are the preservative agent that brings flavor to a dull and dying world. We don’t have to try harder—intrinsically this is who we already are.

3. Attentive, not Oblivious

How many of your coworkers grew up in Christian homes? What is God doing in your neighbors’ lives to draw them closer to Christ? Who in your classroom is in a place right now that could use steady, persevering prayer on their behalf? We must be attentive, not oblivious in the context God has placed us in.

4. Toward Need, not Toward Comfort

God’s desire is that Christians would be in the city, to be a light shining in the dark places of crime, fear, injustice, poverty, disease and brokenness. His followers, living as His ambassadors, will model His communicable attributes and speak of His unfailing love and grace expressed in the cross of Christ. As salt, Christians can preserve and bring flavor to the bland rhetoric and empty philosophies of this age. We can love our God and our neighbors as ourselves, as we surrender our rights and desires and lay down our lives to bless the city.

Does God want to do something great in our lives? Perhaps. Does He want to do something great in our city? For sure. And He desires to use us collectively to further His kingdom. So we have to wake up to this reality and stop sleeping in the light and hiding out like a terrified cell group.

Aaron Coe, a former NAMB missionary church planter and current executive director of the Send NYC church planting advocacy organization in New York, said a key factor is that Christians simply need to return to the cities with their families and influence:

“If people move back in, live out the gospel, see people come to Christ and plant churches, then we’re going to start to see massive transformation happen. We’ve got to cast that vision, let people know that there are opportunities…it’s not for the cities’ sake, it’s for the whole nation’s sake. Because what happens in the city…so goes the rest of the country.”

May we see the need and be willing to plant our lives, the Gospel, our families and even new churches in the hardship, joy and beauty of urban centers.

Nothing excites me more than to see new churches planted. New churches mean souls being saved, lives being changed, God being worshiped, more churches being planted and the kingdom of God growing. Who isn’t excited about that? I’ll be at two conferences in Mexico this month where church planting will be a focus. Pastor Jonathan Domingo in Ensenada and Pastor Mike Vincent in Rosarito are passionate about church planting, and their respective churches are amazing at it.

It’s my firm belief that every church should be multiplying. Regardless of size, resources and staffing. According to recent studies, there are 148 million unchurched people in the U.S. alone. Las Vegas comes in at number five in the top 10 most unchurched cities in the U.S. So, I would say now is a good time to plant a church! There are three simple steps that any senior pastor and leadership team can take to help them move in the direction of church planting multiplication.

1. PRIORITIZE

The first and most obvious step is to make church planting a priority. My life is no different than any other senior pastor. There are a thousand things every day that can consume my attention, with another thousand tomorrow. One of the most challenging tasks as a leader is to wade through the milieu and crystalize priorities. I try to achieve this by focusing on four things: prayer, preaching, people and purpose. Those four responsibilities are non-negotiable and one day before God, I will be held accountable for how I’ve handled each one.

With respect to purpose, I believe it’s the responsibility of the senior pastor to know and carry out the mission of the local church he leads and to keep the congregation and the leadership team focused on that mission. You may call it vision or mission, but ultimately, it’s the same thing. What is it that God has absolutely called you to? Our strong conviction is that multiplying the local church in a national and international context should be a priority for every senior pastor. You don’t have to go any further than the Great Commission to see this mandate. Going into all the world and making disciples means that those disciples will gather together. And when they gather together, they are the local church ultimately reaching their community.

Therefore, all efforts to reach the lost in any context comes back to establishing churches.

There’s no legitimate reason for any senior pastor to discount this as a priority. Resist the temptation to fall into the “I can’t” category. I can’t plant churches because I don’t have the resources. I can’t plant churches because I don’t have enough leaders. I can’t plant churches because I don’t know how to train people. You get the point; there will always be an “I can’t.” You’re only in the “I can’t” category if you choose to be. I have seen some of the most unlikely pastors and churches used by God to multiply the local church in ways that can only be understood as supernatural.

Commit to church planting as one of your top priorities and communicate that. Communicate it in your mission statement, on your website, in the studies you teach, the events you lead, and when you equip the people for the work of the ministry. If you are passionate about church planting, your people will be too.

2. PREPARE

Second, prepare yourself, prepare your church planters and prepare your church. I see myself as a perpetual learner in the church planting process. Because it’s a priority, I want to be as educated and experienced as possible. That means learning not only from personal steps of faith but also from others who have experience.

Maybe more than ever there are excellent resources to develop a pastor to become an effective church planter. I believe the adage, “Leaders are readers,” is especially true for pastors. It works like this, “Prepare yourself so that you are able to prepare others.” And the importance of preparing others cannot be overstated. I have heard Calvary pastors say, “If a church plant succeeds, you know it was from God; if it fails, you know it wasn’t from God.” Well, what if the failure of the church plant was a failure in adequately preparing the planter? This might not be a comfortable question to ask, but I think it has to be asked.

We have two church planting programs. The first, is our national program called Pipeline and the second, is our international church planting arm called Calvary Church Planting International. Both programs utilize a classroom, internship, launch coaching approach to prepare and support church planters and their teams for successful plants. Our national program based out of Las Vegas is being consolidated into three Pipeline workbooks – Learning, Coaching, Launching.

As you make church planting a priority and prepare yourself, take the preparation of your church planters seriously. Find solid resources and customize them for your mission and context. No need to reinvent the wheel, but also no need to send out unprepared people. If you’re serious enough to take these steps, then it proves you are passionate about planting churches; and at this point, it will be evident to the people you are leading. Your passion for planting will come through in team meetings, in home group settings, when you’re praying and as you’re teaching the Bible. In other words, the people are going to get it. Frame the mission clearly. Pray that the people in your church become as excited about planting churches as you are. They may not be the planter or part of the planting team, but they are the prayer backbone and support arm for the churches that will be planted.

Next month’s article will be part two of Successful Church Planting focusing on the importance of establishing solid partnerships with some closing thoughts.

When Jesus told Mary that He wasn’t inclined to intervene to rescue the honor and reputation of a family that was about to suffer the consequences of their own pride, her culturally produced response moved Him to change His mind.

The cultural dynamics that were at play in this incident were very similar to those that our new neighbors from around the world live by. When this well-known event is viewed through the proper cultural lens, it’s apparent that it wasn’t primarily water turned to wine that unveiled His glory.

In this fourth and final part of a series, I conclude by examining the final two—and most important cultural beliefs and actions that were at work, and how the entire incident was actually a summary of the Gospel for people from honor and shame cultures.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE #8

As important as an elderly person’s honor and FACE is in the eyes of those who are younger than they are, it’s even more important that every person honor and respect the FACE of their parents while they’re still living.

In fact, respecting and if necessary, saving the honor and FACE of our parents is one of the “weight-bearing pillars” of God’s creation.

Honoring our parents—which includes saving their FACE when they are in danger of losing it— is the fifth of the ten commandments, and it’s the only one that includes a promise of blessing for those who obey it.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE #9

It may be helpful to view a person’s FACE like a commodity that is in their own hands, and that they exert a high level of control over. Because this is true, under certain circumstances, a person can intentionally choose to place their FACE into the hands of someone else, trusting that the other person will act in a way that preserves or possibly even increases this valuable treasure.

Taking the step to intentionally place your FACE into the hands of someone else is the cultural equivalent of the “nuclear option.” It exerts the most pressure or leverage possible to move a person to act on your behalf.

With your FACE now in their hands, if that person doesn’t make every effort to help you and thus save your FACE, they risk losing FACE themselves!

So, Mary wasn’t just telling the servants what to do, she was actually playing her FACE card on Jesus—applying the maximum amount of Jewish, honor/shame cultural force possible.

BY SAVING MARY’S FACE, JESUS ALSO FULFILLED THE LAW

Whether she realized it or not—and I think she did—she was also bringing a force greater than a Jewish cultural norm to bear on her Son.

As powerful as the culturally acceptable placement of her FACE into His hands was, it was His responsibility to fulfil the fifth commandment that ultimately moved Jesus to do something that would honor His mother by saving her FACE.

CHANGING WATER TO WINE WASN’T WHAT REVEALED HIS GLORY

Apparently, when the master of the feast, (similar to the wedding coordinator or food and beverage manager for the reception), tasted the wine, he didn’t know that the wine had been completely depleted, and that what he was now tasting was plain, old water just a few minutes before.

He expressed surprise at the quality of wine the family was still serving at that point in the wedding feast, which would have increased that family’s honor in his eyes and others that he interacted with.

By turning the water into high quality wine, the family’s deserved shame and loss of FACE was covered, and even more importantly, He also honored His own mother by saving her FACE and fulfilling the law—which was basically honoring His own words.

John summarized all that took place by stating that this was the first sign that Jesus did and that it revealed His glory to His disciples.

Based on the cultural dimensions that I’ve tried to describe as succinctly as possible, I don’t believe it was His ability to turn water into wine that His disciples perceived as a revelation of His glory.

It was what that supernatural display of power accomplished for people that were unaware of an impending disaster that their own pride actually created.

HE COVERED THEIR DESERVED SHAME AND BESTOWED UNDESERVED HONOR

Not only was the family’s deserved shame covered, their honor in the eyes of those that mattered to them was actually increased, not just maintained by what Jesus did.

For those living in honor/shame cultures, this was the perfect sign to begin with in order to help people understand the good news that Jesus came to cover both their guilt AND shame before God and to graciously bestow God’s righteousness and honor upon them.

His disciples needed proof that He was uniquely glorious and their witnessing of this sign and what it actually accomplished must have been burned into their hearts and minds.

In summary, this is what they saw:

. A self-generated disaster that was produced by pride.

. A deserved loss of honor and the condition of shame that they would now live in, along with a potential lawsuit that could devastate them financially and increase the shameful condition they had already brought upon themselves.

. Jesus personally stepped into the environment/context/scene they created that was on the verge of going horribly wrong and diminishing or destroying them emotionally and materially.

. He exercised His power to do for them what they couldn’t do for themselves.

. The one with all honor and power exerted His power to cover their shame and graciously bestowed a greater level of honor than they could ever achieve by their own efforts in the eyes of those that mattered to them.

Although they wouldn’t have understood it fully at that time, His turning water to wine and what it accomplished revealed crucial components of the Gospel for people from honor and shame based cultures.

Enjoy the complete series.

When there was no more wine to supply to the guests at a wedding they were attending, Mary approached Jesus and subtly told Him to do something to help a family she cared about.

The cultural operating system that was at the base of their interaction is very similar to those that our new neighbors from around the world navigate by, which is why I believe John 2:1-11 provides some amazing on-ramps for sharing the Gospel with them.

In this third part of a series, I continue with viewing this incident through nine non-Western cultural glimpses (Enjoy Part 1 & 2 of this series).

“And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’…His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you'” (John 2:4,5).

A RESPECTFUL, BUT CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD, “NO!”

Knowing that Mary was actually prodding Him with a motherly request, Jesus makes two points in His response to the meaning of the words she had just spoken to Him.

First—using a title of respect for an older woman, (think of the word “ma’am” in our language), Jesus tells Mary that the situation isn’t something that He feels compelled to be concerned with.

He wants her to know that He’s there only as an invited guest and feels no compulsion to do something to alleviate the consequences that will be produced by the family’s inability to plan correctly.

Second—Jesus tells her that He is living in accordance with a predetermined time schedule in which key aspects of His character are already planned to be unveiled, and for these reasons, He is not inclined to do what she wanted Him to do.

In other words, to put as simply as possible, He is telling Mary that He feels no compulsion to do what she wants Him to do.

MARY PLAYS HER “FACE” CARD TO HER SON

But hearing her Son’s two reasons for not feeling inclined to act, didn’t stop Mary from trying one more time to get Him to do what she desired.

When Jesus respectfully declined her request for His help in doing something she clearly couldn’t do by herself, Mary turned to the servants and instructed them to do whatever Jesus told them to do.

This is the most important moment—the pivot point—in the story.

By saying what she did to those servants, she introduced her own FACE card into the situation.

Without understanding seven more basic facts about honor/shame cultures, along with the way people in these types of culture would understand obedience to one of the 10 commandments, those from Western cultures will never fully grasp why Mary’s instructions to the servants moved Jesus to do what He just said He wouldn’t do.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 3

In honor/shame cultures, the concept of FACE is crucial. A person’s FACE is the personal dignity, respect and fundamental honor they possess in the eyes of other people, especially those that are part of the group that person’s identity is derived from and anchored in.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 4

In honor/shame cultures, dependence and interdependence are virtues, not weaknesses. Needing others and being needed by others at many levels, including the maintaining of FACE, increases the depth of relationship and cohesion between the members of the family or group.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 5

Thus, in honor/shame cultures, every person has the implicit and unspoken—but clearly understood by all—responsibility of doing whatever possible to try to save the FACE of someone else that is in danger of losing it, whether they know the person or not.

This responsibility is significantly amplified if the person who may lose FACE is part of the group their own identity is drawn from or a part of their larger, relational community.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 6

In honor/shame cultures, if you have the opportunity to save someone else’s FACE and you choose not to do so, it isn’t just that person who will lose FACE, the one who neglected to help will too!

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 7

In honor/shame cultures, the older a person is, the more FACE they have because their value to the group increases with age. Older people are viewed as full of wisdom because of their life experience and the volume of knowledge they possess in so many important areas of life.

They are highly respected and diligently sought after for counsel and advice by younger people. The older a person is, the more needed they are and the more they are viewed as the sages, statesmen and mediators whose contribution to the group is just as valuable as before, but in a different way.

The seven cultural glimpses that I’ve described thus far are essential for understanding what was actually taking place below the surface of what took place in this incident.

Mary’s command to the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do was the result of her understanding of these fundamental dynamics of her own culture, along with the final two that I will cover in my next post.

Is it possible that the first miraculous sign Jesus did, turning water into wine, might actually provide some easy access points to Gospel truths for our neighbors that come from other nations?

I believe so.

But before I lay out my reasons for why I’ve come to that conclusion, here are a few obvious and logical questions that I believe naturally spring forth from what is recorded in John 2:1-11:

. Why did Jesus use a word to address His mother that was apparently not mother-like?

. Why did He turn around and do what He just told His mother He was not inclined to do?

. And the biggest question of all: Why did He turn water into wine as His introductory miracle rather than something much more mind blowing like walking on water, healing a man born blind or raising someone from the dead?

I’m convinced that the answers to these questions and the reason why John summarized the event the way that he did, can only be fully discovered and understood by viewing what took place through nine non-Western cultural glimpses.

The following is what that looks like.

NOTE: If you’re not familiar with the broad descriptions of cultures as either Guilt/Innocence based or Honor/Shame based, watch a very informative five minute video below that will bring added clarity to what you’re about to read.

“On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding” (John 2:1-2).

Based on Mary’s actions that are described in these verses, it appears that she had been invited to a wedding feast that was being put on by friends that she cared deeply about.

Jesus and His disciples were also there as invited guests.

THE CRISIS

“And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine'” (John 2:3).

If Mary was there as a close friend of the family, she was probably doing what most of us do at the wedding of a family member or very close friend—helping out in whatever way possible to ensure that the wedding is the source of joy that the family, including the bride and groom, long for it to be.

As the traditional components of the wedding unfolded, including the distribution of wine to the guests, Mary discovered that the wine supply had been completely consumed. Culturally, wine was served throughout a wedding feast.

It was one of those components of a wedding that is taken for granted and not even noticed, unless it was no longer available. Its sudden absence would draw much more attention than its presence in the eyes of all the family members and guests.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 1

Contrary to our individualistic culture’s conviction that the primary purpose of a wedding is to fulfill the lifelong dream of the bride-to-be, in a collectivistic, honor/shame-based culture, a wedding is an entire family event that is also a community event, and that provides a unique opportunity to reinforce or increase the honor and prestige of the family in the eyes of those that matter to them.

In that specific culture at that time in history, running out of wine was viewed as a catastrophic event.

Not only would it bring shame and dishonor on the family, but some scholars believe that it also opened the door for them to have a lawsuit brought against them by those they invited–that it was considered as equivalent to committing fraud.

How is that possible?

Because the family putting on the wedding was giving the appearance of having sufficient resources for the number of guests they invited, and its accompanying honor, when they clearly didn’t.

Regardless of whether legal action was taken or not, the family that was unable to keep the wine flowing at the wedding they were hosting would actually be destroying the one thing that mattered the most to them–their family honor in the eyes.

MARY’S FIRST ATTEMPT TO SOLICIT HER SON’S HELP

Knowing that the wine was gone and understanding the damage that could be done to people she cared about, Mary went to her Son—not to a member of the family that was putting on the wedding or to the master of the feast—and told Him that the wine was gone.

Clearly, she believed that Jesus had the ability to do something to avoid the impending disaster that was about to envelop a family that mattered to her.

Jesus knew immediately and exactly what His mother was asking Him to do, even though her few words just presented a fact, not a request.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 2

This is an example of one of those interesting dynamics of culture and language.

Words, especially spoken words, are not just conveyors of ideas or information. They are also tools that can be used to get someone to stop or start doing something, even though the words used aren’t giving a direct command to the other person.

Words are containers that carry and express both explicit and implicit meaning.

To a cultural outsider, it appears as if the main purpose of words is to provide information or declare a fact.

But to a cultural insider, those same words not only provide information or facts, they can also be a command or a request to act.

In the next post, we’ll see that Jesus understood what His mother was actually doing, what His response was and the extreme cultural leverage she used on Him to get Him to do what He said He wasn’t inclined to do.

Enjoy the first part of this series as well!

By God’s permission and design, people from around the world now live in my community and have become a part of my day to day and week to week sphere of life.

I regularly interact with a Sikh gentleman from Punjab state, India, a hard working cultural Muslim man from Iran and various culturally Muslim men from Bangladesh. My guess is that at least 60% of the people living within a mile of my house are Spanish-speaking cultural Catholics, originally from Mexico or a central American country, and who only speak English when they are at work or out and about around town.

Where you live may not be as ethnically diverse as my community, but it’s probably moving in that direction.

As a follower of Jesus who takes the Bible seriously, I’m not discouraged about the changing ethnic makeup of my community and my country–I’m actually excited about it. Why? Because I’m convinced that the God I serve, the God who has revealed Himself through His written word, is intentionally permitting these precious people from around the world to relocate in to our communities.

And He has already told us what His “end game” plan is going to be. At some point in the future, He will receive worship from at least a portion of every people, tribe, tongue and nation that He originally created to uniquely reflect His glory.

I’m overjoyed at the reality that participation in the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His followers to make disciples from among every ethnic group is no longer limited to those who leave everyone and everything behind and relocate to faraway places for the sake of the Gospel.

Oh, He still calls some of His servants to be missionaries, to leave everything behind and go to those faraway places, and He is still calling the rest of His people to send and care for those who obey and go.

But He is now giving those of us who send and care for missionaries the added opportunity and privilege to participate directly in fulfilling the Great Commission by reaching out with His love and truth to our new neighbors that He is bringing to us from around the world.

In order for us to communicate His love and truth effectively to these precious people who He also created in His image and likeness, but whose cultures are radically different than our own, I believe that God calls us to think about and study what the culture of His Kingdom is, what our own cultural values are, and what the cultural values of our new neighbors are.
When we take the time to do that, we discover that:

. Western culture in general and American culture, specifically, is fundamentally different than both the cultures of the vast majority of the rest of the people that live on this planet, and the cultures and values of the people that are recorded in the Bible.

. By understanding and viewing God’s word and truth it contains through a non-Western lens, we can increase our hunger to worship Him for His goodness and grace for all people, AND our ability to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the most life-changing way possible with those from other cultures.

In my next few posts, I will unpack the first miracle that Jesus did, turning water into wine at a wedding.

But I will do so through the non-Western cultural lens through which those who were there at the time, and the vast majority of the people on our planet today, perceive life through.

Even more importantly, my prayer is that by understanding these things, when given the opportunity, you’ll have the ability to share the Gospel with those from other cultures using an emphasis that you may not currently be familiar with.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do [it].” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw [some] out now, and take [it] to the master of the feast.” And they took [it]. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the [guests] have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him (John 2:1-11).

“Is there one key conviction or one fundamental ingredient that local churches who send well have in common?”

Due to the scope of the ministry the Lord has bestowed on me and the number of relationships I have with leaders of local churches and many of the missionaries from those churches, I’ve been asked that question in one form or another dozens of times over the past few years.

Yes, there is one key ingredient: conviction or mindset that I’ve observed is almost always present in every church I know that sends and actively cares for their own members that God calls to be missionaries.

Although I’ve answered the question in a variety of ways over the years, these days my default answer makes use of an illustration that I first heard many years ago from a friend whose heart beats in unison with mine for God’s glory among the nations.

AN EIGHT-SLICE PIE OF MINISTRY

Think of a local church as an uneaten pie cut into eight equal slices, sitting snugly in the pan it was baked in. The leaders of the church have determined how many slices there are and what ministries each slice represents.

In most churches, the eight-slice pie of ministries looks something like this:

Slice one: Nursery, toddler and children’s ministry through the fifth or sixth grade

Slice two: Junior and senior high school ministry

Slice three: College/young adult ministry

Slice four: Women’s and men’s ministry

Slice five: Small group ministry

Slice six: Outreach (local, domestic, international)

SUNDAY MORNING ADULT SERVICES-TWO OF THE SLICES

Slices seven and eight: Two slices are dedicated to the Sunday morning ministry to adults because the energy and resources committed to make it the best experience possible is substantial.

. From the thoroughly studied and powerfully presented message by the pastor

. To the diligently prayed through song selection and the prepared and rehearsed worship team

. To the faithful, behind the scenes efforts of the audio and visual crew

. To the greeters, ushers and parking lot attendants

The reason why this is true is easy to understand; the Sunday morning adult services receive much more attention than the other ministries because they are usually the first slice of the church’s ministry pie that most visitors will taste.

This reality, coupled with the fact that each of the single-slice ministries are promoted a few times each year from the pulpit during the Sunday morning services, provides a fairly clear declaration that Sunday morning is actually two slices of the church’s ministry pie.

WHEN GLOBAL MISSIONS IS A PART OF ONE OF THE SLICES

In a church where the leaders view the ministry pie in this way, global missions is viewed as part of the “outreach” ministry slice-not significant enough to warrant having a whole slice dedicated to it. And the frequency and number of references to global missions during the Sunday morning adult services reflects the importance the leaders have assigned to it.

Although there are always exceptions, when a local church views global missions as just one part of one of its ministry slices-or even if one whole slice is dedicated to it, the odds are that the missionaries that go to the mission field from that church will be sent, but usually not cared for in a manner worthy of God.

WHEN GLOBAL MISSIONS ISN’T A SLICE, BUT THE PAN THE PIE SITS IN

Keeping the pie illustration in mind, the key conviction or ingredient that churches that send well have in common, isn’t a larger slice or even more slices of the ministry pie dedicated to global missions.

Instead, it’s their view that global missions isn’t a slice of the ministry pie at all; it’s actually the pan the whole ministry pie sits in.

These church leaders and all the members of the church are convinced that participation in God’s global purposes is a foundational reason for their existence and should therefore permeate and give meaning to all of the slices that make up their ministry pie.

All slices of the ministry pie in this kind of church are continually reminded that the church as a whole and their specific ministry serves an important role in what God is doing around the world, and they are also kept aware of the progress God’s kingdom is making among the variety of ethnicities and languages He’s created.

Every ministry slice, including the children’s ministry, knows who the missionaries are that the church supports, especially the church’s own members that have been sent to the field; they are kept updated regularly, and they are praying for them.

When God’s heart for the nations is in the DNA of a local church and global missions isn’t a slice of the ministry pie, but the pan that holds the whole ministry pie together and that every slice rests upon, missionaries will be sent well.

Esther needed a Mordecai moment and message–and so do many local churches today.

“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

In the first two posts in this series, I laid out the reasons for why I believe God has commanded every local church and every one of His followers down through history to participate at some level in making disciples from among every ethnic group that He Himself created. Yet despite that goal-embedded command, the guaranteed end game outcome He has already revealed, and the unique ability we have to know how much progress has been made in obedience to the command, only a small percentage of local churches in the United States actually participate in one of the fundamental purposes for their very existence.

To be totally honest, this reality is both confusing and frustrating to me.

Not long ago, I pleaded with the Lord once again for His wisdom to understand how it’s possible for Bible-teaching churches to be apathetic about participating in global missions. And I also asked Him to show me what I can do to help local church leaders to begin taking the Great Commission as seriously as our missionary God does. As I cried out to Him, He directed me to the verse listed above. Not just the easily applicable portion of the verse that has helped many Christians view their circumstances through a sovereignty of God lens, but the whole verse.

I plunged more deeply than ever before into thinking about the situation Esther found herself in at that moment in time, and Mordecai’s bold and prophetic declaration to her. From there, I began thinking about the situation local churches find themselves in, especially in the United States, and my mental and spiritual alarm bells went off.

I saw the following similarities between many of the specifics of Esther’s situation and those of a local church in America, and they are too much alike to be coincidental.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ESTHER AND LOCAL CHURCHES

1. By God’s design and plan from eternity, Esther was the bride of a king at a specific moment in time, and every local church is the bride of the King of Kings at a specific moment in time.

2. Through God’s orchestration of events beyond their control, like Esther in her days, every local church in the United States today lives in a position of privilege with a standard of living that places them in the top one percent of the people on the planet. This includes a level of comfort and safety that few others on the earth enjoy.

3. Both have access to unrivaled resources, rights and power that few others have, and relationships with people that have some level of influence.

4. Both live in a comparatively cozy bubble, insulated from the awareness of, or exposure to the day to day rigors that are a part of the lives of the masses outside the cocoon.

5. Because of all of the above and more, both are in need of a jolt of reality from God about the responsibility that comes along with receiving the level of grace He bestows upon them.

ONE MAN, ONE MESSAGE–FOR TWO VERY DISTANT MOMENTS IN TIME

I’m now convinced that God didn’t just send Mordecai to wake up Esther with a sobering message at her moment in time; He used Mordecai and a shockingly similar message to wake up each local church at this moment in time.

Because he knew God’s already revealed end game plan for the distinct ethnic group of people that we know as the Jews, Mordecai knew that the decree to commit genocide on them would not be successful. He knew God was going to rescue those called by His name, but he didn’t know how the rescue would be accomplished.

Mordecai had already challenged Esther to go to the king and intervene on behalf of her people. He had also heard her fear-laden description of what happens to those who approach the king without previously being summoned by him.

In response to Esther’s explanation for why she was reluctant to do what he had exhorted her to do, Mordecai’s proclamation contained these five God-generated truths that are exactly the things Jesus knows each local church, especially those in America, need to hear.

FIVE TRUTHS ESTHER HEARD THAT APPLY TO EVERY LOCAL CHURCH TODAY

1. God has already revealed His future plans to rescue people from a specific ethnic group. In Esther’s case, it was the Jews, in our case–He is going to rescue the people called by His name that come from within every ethnic group that He has created (Acts 15:17).

2. God has placed your church in the privileged position you currently find yourself in, and it is for a purpose larger than your own interests.

3. God invites your church to be an active participant in bringing about the guaranteed outcome that He has already revealed in His word.

4. To accept the invitation to participate could require putting your church’s current status/way of life at risk, with no guarantee that it will continue as it is. For Esther, it was literally her life that she had to be willing to risk. For a local church today, it could be the death of doing church the way that we do.

5. Recognize that although your church can choose to ignore the opportunity to bring about God’s guaranteed outcome, not participating will bring severe consequences. For Esther, it would have been her and her family. For local churches today, it could be their very existence as His true bride in their local community.

Esther heeded Mordecai’s message, invited others to join her in prayer and fasting, accepted the risk and by faith stepped into participation in what God was already going to do.

May the leaders of every local church heed Mordecai and his message and follow Esther’s lead!

Jeff Jackson is a workshop speaker for the 2018 Missions Conference, happening this week, January 2-5. Tune in to watch live!

On more than one occasion during the time between His resurrection and His ascension, Jesus told His disciples to go to the ends of the earth, preaching the Gospel and making disciples from among all NATIONS. The most concise form of this directive is found in Matthew 28:19-20 and is commonly known as the Great Commission.

When the Great Commission is coupled with the fact that the book of Revelation describes a future point in time in which Jesus will receive worship from disciples that represent every NATION He Himself created, two important points become obvious.

THE GREAT COMMISSION IS A UNIQUE COMMAND

First, what we refer to as the Great Commission is actually one of those unique commands that includes the ultimate goal that obedience to it is designed to produce.

Second, by recording that goal-imbedded command for us, and then describing a time in the future when that goal will actually be achieved, God has made it possible for us to measure how much progress we’ve made in accomplishing the mission we’ve been given.

But in order to gauge our success in carrying out the command, it’s essential to know what the Greek word is that our English Bibles translate as NATIONS. Without knowing what the original word was, and what it meant at the time Jesus used it, we could make the mistake of thinking He is referring to countries or nation/states as we know them today, like Mexico, Vietnam, Russia, India and so forth.

WHAT DOES THE WORD “NATIONS” REFER TO?

The Greek word that is translated into English as NATIONS is ETHNOS. The core concept it communicated had to do with people viewed as members of groups that were distinct in some way from other groups. These groups were comprised of people that had a shared language, culture, religion, history or even physical features, all of which distinguished them from other groups.

ETHNICITY is the word in our language that is the closest to the core meaning of the Greek word at the time the New Testament was written. ETHNIC GROUPS is the term we use to describe people viewed as members of groups that are distinct in various ways from other groups.

Although on a few occasions, the word ETHNOS does refer to countries as we know them, whenever we see the word NATIONS in our Bibles, the simplest way to ensure we are as close as possible to the meaning Jesus; and His disciples would have assigned to the Greek word, we should think of ethnic groups, NOT countries. Thus, the command and the guaranteed outcome is for those who already know Him to participate in making disciples from among every ethnic/people group.

QUESTIONS THE COMMISSION AND THE GUARANTEED OUTCOME PROVOKE

Aided by modern technology, complex research methods and specialized terminology that enables progress to be measured, it’s now possible to categorize all the people on the planet into different groups based primarily on language, along with other key factors.

A few different ministries, some of which are listed below, compile this kind of information and thanks to their efforts, we can now answer the following Great Commission-related questions more accurately than ever before:

. How many different spoken languages exist on the earth today?
. How many ethnic/people groups are there?
. What country or countries do these groups live within?
. Has the group ever been presented with the truths of the Gospel in their heart language, the one they think in, pray in and use when speaking with their family members at home?
. Have any of the people within the group become disciples of Jesus?
. Is there a community of Jesus-disciples within the group that gathers regularly and has the vision and the resources to make disciples among their own people without outside help?

KEY WORDS AND DEFINITIONS

The ministries that do People Group research and provide the statistics don’t all use the exact same definitions or categorize using the same criteria. With that in mind, here’s a bit of a composite of the three most relevant terms and what each term refers to:

ETHNIC/PEOPLE GROUP (PG): The largest group through which the gospel can flow without encountering significant barriers of understanding and acceptance.

UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP (UPG): When the percentage of evangelical Christians within the people group is less than two percent.

UNENGAGED UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP (UUPG): A people group that has no intentional disciple making and church planting strategy taking place to reach them. Without these things, they are still considered UUPG’s, even if the group has been adopted and is receiving focused prayer. (All UUPG’s are by definition, UPG’s, yet all UPG’s are not necessarily UUPG’s)

When the actual statistics produced by the different ministries are compared with one another, the bottom line looks something like this:

. There are 16,839 distinct people groups in the world
. Of that total, 6,997 are categorized as Unreached (UPG’S)
. At least 1,347 of them are considered Unreached Unengaged People Groups (UUPG’s)

Based on some of God’s people taking the command and it’s guaranteed completion seriously, and due to the radical leap forward in a variety of technologies that has taken place in the last 40 years, we are the first generation of Christians in history that can accurately measure the impact of our obedience.

Yet as in so many other instances with the realm of how God works, the privilege of knowing how much of the task has been accomplished and how much more remains, brings with it the responsibility for every Christian and every local church to actively engage in helping to make disciples from among those people groups that are still UUPG’s.

Knowing all of this, it should be inconceivable that any followers of Jesus or local churches could be apathetic, and yet they are. Which is why I’m convinced they are in need of a Mordecai message and moment.

To begin participating in helping that guaranteed outcome to be a reality, here are some great resources:

. Operation World
. The Joshua Project
. People Groups Info
. Finishing the Task

Finally, here’s a short video that summarizes the statistics.