Pastors and Churches Must Be Risk Takers

God has always sought out men and women willing to take a risk in being obedient to him, and I sense that this is especially true of the era we are living in today. God is seeking men and women to be risk takers in these last days. God is not seeking caretakers to maintain the status quo; he is seeking those willing to take risks. If your church is going to influence the city, both you and the church will have to take risks. Churches will not takes risks unless their pastor takes the risk of leadership and leads the church to take the necessary risks to impact the urban arena.

Recently, I conversed with an urban pastor who told me that the average age of his congregation was seventy-five year old; he continued to tell me that all the church members wanted from their church was to be cared for until they die. Do I even need to explain what is wrong with these members? We each have a choice to make, and we can determine that we will be risk takers for God, or caretakers waiting for the undertaker.

You and I are living in a period in history that Christians and churches must be bolder and possess a greater zeal for the things of God than previous generations, and we cannot be easily discouraged. Cities are being lost to the influences of Satan because the church is not being bold in taking risks. Churches see the cross and shy away from it. Today’s church leaders seek safety and security and their churches are following in their leaders footsteps. All you have to do is look were the urban pastor lives. If he is not practicing incarnation ministry, neither is the church.

I challenge you in words of King David to Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work …of the Lord is finished” (I Chronicles 28:20).

God is seeking churches that will be powerful and dramatically affect their city and society with a biblical worldview, enabling their city to be a better place to live and raise a family. If God has placed your church in the city, he has done so for such a time as this, but it will require both pastor and church to take risks. Jerusalem needed a Temple for the good of the city and the nation. The same is true of your church. The city and the nation need your church to be alive and strong! You must take the words spoken by David to his son Solomon and be strong, courageous, and do the work. Only pastors and churches with the character and faith of an Esther or a Solomon can change their city! I pray you have such character and faith – the city needs you and the city needs your church.

Working in the cities of the world is risking and dangerous, but I tell you that I would rather be in the worse place on earth and know that I am in the center of God’s will, then to be in the safest place on earth and be outside of God’s will for my life! The world’s cities need risk takers who are saved, sanctified, and spirit filled. Without which you will be useless to both Jesus and the cities. The world’s cities need leaders who are well trained, full of knowledge and wisdom, and willing to take a risk and lead their church to impact the cities of this world! The Lord will help you become all of these things, but you have to want it! You have to hunger for it! You have to prioritize your time and energy and make sacrifices! You have to be determined that you will do the work, for there are no entitlements in God’s Kingdoms! God needs you to be a risk taker, not a caretaker waiting for the undertaker; will you take the risks and influence your city for Christ?

Building Trends

The design of church buildings in America have changed drastically over the last two decades, and this is especially true of urban buildings. Two main factors, cost and ministry drive today’s designs. While cost is always a factor in all areas, the cost of land within cities makes it very hard for churches to build new facilities. Ministries being provided through urban churches have changed over the past two decades meaning that the designs of church facilities must reflect these new ministries.

The facilities must fit the context of the community and people where the church is located. Urban churches no longer take the shape of the traditional church. Instead of the traditional sanctuary, new trends call for multiple use worship centers, often allowing less square footage overall and better use of all of the churches space. Remodeling existing warehouses, big box stores, and even old church buildings, new urban churches are moving in and thriving.

New churches have more technology built in than ever before, and it is crucial that church engage a lighting and sound company for advice during the design phase. Many architects do not have the knowledge level for adequately designing sound, screens, and multimedia, all of which are vital in today’s church for meaningful worship and congregational engagement.

Church lobbies have grown larger and designed to accommodate welcome centers, bookstores, coffee and juice bars, and seating for information interactions of members and guest. While churches are more accommodating of infants and young children, adult classroom space is on the decline in newer and renovated facilities as more discipleship and Bible Study groups are encouraged to meet in homes.

Whereas the Boomer generation looks at small urban buildings and sees limited space as challenges, the Millennial leader sees opportunity for creativity and ministry. Millennial leaders view church facilities as tools for doing ministry and nothing more; Boomers struggle with this mentality, as they tend to see the facilities as sacred houses of God.

Caught between two centuries, born a Boomer and training Millennial leaders, I find myself grieving the loss of theological architecture. I miss the twelve steps “leading worshipers up into the presence of God” and the beautiful stain glass windows, but I’ve always been a realist. Buildings must be functional. While it looks pretty to have a bride and groom descend the high steps and it makes for beautiful pictures, I have watched pallbearers struggle with carrying caskets down them and the elder and physically challenged struggle to climb up them.

It is a good thing that urban churches are reclaiming old buildings for their use, and it is good that the design is being driven more by ministry and cost. In this post-Christian age in America, churches must use their limited resources wisely. Churches must remember that the apostles did not build huge buildings for their memorials. Church facilities are just a tool, a place for ministry, a place where people can still meet God. It is time for us Boomers to get over it and see this new trend as a positive for reaching people for Christ!

Items that Hinder Church Growth: Sin

As I consult with and try to help dying urban churches, I have concluded that the main reason urban churches die is due to sin.  It is not that churches die of old age nor spiritual attack from the unsaved public, churches are committing spiritual suicide by refusing to deal with their internal corporate sin.  Let me be clear, churches commit self-murder because of sinfulness and an unrepentant heart.  There appears to be four major sins that are paralyzing and killing urban churches throughout America and the world.

First, there is the sin of partial obedience.  Urbanites fear selling out to Jesus and attempt to walk in partial obedience, which is in reality total disobedience.  These churches do a lot “for” God instead of being in a personal relationship of total obedience “with” Jesus.  Because the emphasis is in doing, these churches measure spiritual growth by what one does rather than whom one is in Christ.  These churches become cultish, exercising a “salvation by works” instead of by faith.  These churches commit the sin of partial obedience, which results in the withheld presence of Christ and leads to spiritual suicide.  In First Samuel 15:12-23, we read: “Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul ….When Samuel reach him, Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you!  I have carried out the Lord’s instructions’…Samuel said to Saul, ‘Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’  ‘Tell me,’ Saul replied.  Samuel said, ‘Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel?  The Lord anointed you king over Israel.  And he sent you on a mission ….Why did you not obey the Lord?’...’But I did obey the Lord,’ Saul said ‘I went on the mission the Lord assigned me….The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’  But Samuel replied:  ‘Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams…Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king’ (NIV). God does not honor partial obedience.  Until churches get real with God and walks in full obedience, God will withhold his spiritual blessings and the individual church dies.  Churches are committing suicide through partial obedience, and when the sin is pointed out, like Adam and Saul, the finger of blame is pointed at others.

Second, there is the sin of prejudice.  You simply cannot go to heaven with prejudice in your heart.  For near twenty years now, I have worked with people of all races and cultures and have a real heart for multi-cultural ministry.  My good friend, Rev. Dennis Hall, once asked me what event transformed my life and made me want to be reconciled with people of other races.  I reflected on his question and came to realize that this is how God works in the life of every Christian.  If we allow God to do his work, he removes all prejudices and causes us to seek reconciliation with our brothers and sisters of all races, ethnicities, and cultures.

This is exactly what John is addressing in First John 2:9-11.  “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him” (NIV).

If the Church is to ever win this world it must first seek forgiveness for the prejudice that separates it so severely on Sunday mornings, lest the multitudes of churchgoers miss heaven altogether (First John 4:19-20).  Churches are not only segregated by race, culture, and traditions, they are divided by denominational blindness.  I am reminded of the Presbyterian Church down the street that refused to participate with the Baptist church I served as pastor.  One of the elders told me they only participated with three other Presbyterian churches, and that they sure would not participate with a Baptist church.  If we have a personal relationship with Jesus, he will convict us of all prejudice in our lives and lead us to seek forgiveness.  Prejudice knows no racial boundaries and no race or culture has a monopoly on it.  Prejudice is of this world and not of God.  America’s churches have proven this by developing denominational prejudice, often voiced by mean spirited pastors. 

Third is the sin of personal preference.  Urban churches are dying, not for the lack of people, but because the membership holds onto its sin of personal preference.  Humanities carnal nature causes people to develop personal preferences with no biblical basis.  We all have them.  I prefer a certain style of music, preaching, and worship and you have your own preferences.  Urban churches, much more than rural churches, must desire to worship God with people who have dissimilarity preferences and be willing to let go of individual preferences in order to worship with people of other cultures, ethnicities, and social status.  Is God so limited that he can only be praised with hymns, southern gospel, or contemporary praise?  Is God so small that he cannot hear the litanies, the benedictions, and the free prayers lifted in a multi-cultural gathering?  Does God require a traditional organ and piano, or will he accept worship coming from a praise band with flashing lights and a smoke machine?  God is large enough and creative enough to receive worship from all cultures and in a multitude of styles and format.  God has no preference; he only wants to be worshipped – truly worshipped.  Churches that do not truly worship God will die, not because God wills it, but because the church commits spiritual suicide.

Fourth, there is the sin of “religious capitalism.”  In most churches, there is a desire to reach people to grow the church.  The capitalistic mindset seeks to operate the church by selling religion for self-gains.  Capitalism is only bad when it feeds greed, and greed is the root sin imbedded in religious capitalism.  It is the exact opposite of what Jesus modeled in his incarnate life.  Jesus did not reach people to grow the synagogue or the denomination.  Jesus reached out to people to meet their need.  While the ultimate human need is spiritual, Jesus loved all people and met their human need in order to meet their spiritual need.  Through meeting the individual’s need, Jesus touched the spiritual need within the person.  Dying churches, perhaps out of desperation to survive, reverse Jesus’ model at their own spiritual and very real demise.  These churches forget that the greatest need of a person is to have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ; these churches seek people to “come” to their church and help them grow.  The motive is for self-preservation, to bring money in to pay the power bill, mortgage, and pastor.  The need for survival blinds these churches to the model Jesus lived out, a model of true servanthood.  To further complicate the issue, these churches often accept people into their membership who have already helped to destroy other churches, ignorantly speeding their own death – by suicide.

Dying churches must look inward to find the answer to their failure.  It is not the fault of society, of a godless culture, or the changing times.  Churches die because church members allow sin to remain in their lives and slowly poison the church.  Full repentance is the start of revitalization for dying churches.

Items that Hinder Church Growth: Lack of Vision

I am appalled at the lack of vision within urban churches.  Recently, I sat in the sanctuary of an urban church with a well-known pastor in our city.  He shared about the mess the church was in when he came, spoke of the growth of the congregation under his leadership, and pointed gingerly at various parts of the sanctuary as he talked.  After about fifteen-minutes I asked, “Where do you see this church in five years?”  He grew quiet, but eventually said, “I don’t know.”  I explored the topic with him in detail, but this pastor could not tell me any part of a vision for his church or for his people.

In traveling throughout the country and talking with many pastors over the past few years, I have noticed three distinct types of pastors.

The first type is building his ministry.  Sadly, many of today’s pastors are busily building a self-made career, climbing the church and denominational ladder to an empty throne of false hero worship.  These pastors have their groupies of younger pastors wanting to catch the hero’s coattail on their way up the ladder too.  As a young man, I followed this path.  However, in my late thirties, I grew to understand its vanity and God’s desire for a greater relationship with me that transcended into so much more than I could ever have gained on my own.  This type of pastor has but one vision, and he is the center of it.  Yet the gospel is preached and God uses the message to reach others.  Even though the motivation is wrong and the vision is self-centered, God can still use this man to help save people.

The second type is reaching the community for Christ and meeting human needs.  I stood in front of a church in Monroe, North Carolina with a pastor who pointed north, south, east, and then west as he explained how the church had worked to remove drugs and prostitution from their community.  To hear this pastor talk, this was his community and God wanted it cleaned up and rehabilitated.  He had presented his people a method for reaching these goals, which included buying some of the neighborhood houses so they could better control what went on in their community.  His church was packed to overflowing as the community responded to his love and care for their daily challenges.  He had a God-centered vision.  Like Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, this pastor had a vision for his community and it was a God-centered vision with people at its heart.  This man not only preaches the gospel, he lives it and people's lives are made better and eternally changed.

The third type of pastors has no vision for the church or the community.  This type pastor scares me and angers me at the same time.  God’s Word is clear, where there is no vision the people perish.  Yet there are large numbers of pastors that have no vision.  I believe this is because being a visionary is hard work.  Receiving a vision requires spending much time in prayer before God.  It takes face-to-face (F2F) time with God.  It takes God size glasses to look at a run down neighborhood and see the “heaven” in it.  It takes a visionary to look at a drug-ridden section of the city and see how God can transform the area, to look in the face of poverty and see the potential for creating wealth, and to look in the penthouses of loneliness and see joy and happiness.  Visionaries are needed in our cities across this nation and throughout the world, but visionaries have to spend time F2F with the Heavenly Father.  Visionaries learn to see through the Father’s eyes what can be.

A pastor who is a visionary can move into the most hellish part of the city and change it into a suburb of heaven.  Visionaries are not fearful of the flames of hell, for they understand the power of God to transform the bad into good, to reclaim the broken, and when necessary to create out of nothing.  If God has given you a vision for the cities, God will give you a strategic plan to bring that vision into reality.  God is a strategic planner, and He makes stuff happen through his visionaries.  There is no safer place in all the universe than being in the center of God’s will, and no worse place in this life than being outside God’s will.

What do you do if your pastor is building his own ministry, unconcerned about the real hurt and pain in your neighborhood?  What must you do when your pastor has no vision?  Pray and pray hard!  We are living in the last days, and we do not have time to be playing denominational games.  We need to be about the Lord’s work of going throughout our cities and making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Pray for your pastor, pray for your church, and pray for God to give you a vision for your city and the courage to help make it become reality.

Items that Hinder Church Growth: Leadership Failure to Respect Time

Urban centers are fast pace with events happening all throughout the city every day, and Sunday is no exception.  Cities experience professional sports teams, concerts, conventions, etc nearly everyday of the week.  This causes the avid fans to make a hard decision, and sometimes the length of a service becomes the determining factor for attending.  Some urban churches become proactive in helping members and guest attend.  One church I know located near a stadium where professional football games often start at 1:00 pm, has timed their worship to end at 11:30 a.m.  When games are being played at 1:00 pm, they throw a big “tailgate party” in the parking lot allowing worshippers to eat and still make it into the stadium for the kickoff.  Members and guest can attend worship and not feel the need to skip church to make the game.

Churches can fight against urban social events, or use the events to advance the cause of Christ, taking advantage of the event for outreach opportunities.  Worship leaders need to understand the urban mindset of worshippers.  Churchgoers want:

•  worship and discipleship at times convenient for them.
•  accessible parking and ease of entrance, with no waiting, lines, or delays.
• greeters, ushers, and staff that are polite and efficient.
• their worship leaders to be well educated.
• up to date with use of technology in worship and teaching.
• able to equip correctly interpret and mentor Scriptural application to modern urban life.
• all worship and discipleship to be accessible and high quality.
• to use technology to communicate events and happening in real time.
• accessibility to staff 24-7

In summary, churchgoers want convenience, quality, and technology blended into services and training.  Pastors and staff want better pay, better working conditions, and personal recognition, but often resist learning new technology, continuing education, and “putting themselves out there” to meet the needs of city dwellers.

Urban families have numerous demands that pastors should take into consideration.  Divorced parents often are shuffling children back and forth between parents, many people work on days of worship, and household chores demand much of the weekend time.  In the case of my wife and me, we find ourselves squeezing in time with our adult children and their families, household chores, and serving as power of attorney for my mother who is in the later stages of Alzheimer’s.   

When pastors fail to understand and respect the worshipper’s time constraints, the pastor hinders the growth of the church.  Urban churches must creatively develop unique ways to allow members and guests to worship and to experience discipleship training.  Churches must not make worshippers feel bad when they are unable to attend a set time of worship.  The key is to offer more worship times, not less, to develop online discipleship training tools, and to create Bible Study and fellowship times very throughout the week.

The problem with dying churches, especially in urban areas, has more to do with church leadership making bad leadership decisions than any other single factor.  Churches can no longer expect the faith community to fit restrictive preset times and structure and must embrace flexible efficiency in order to experience growth.

So what do you do if your leadership does not respect your time or makes you and others feel guilty that you cannot make or stay for events?  First, commit this issue to the Lord in prayer.  Continue to pray until the Lord gives you a clear directive.  Second, talk with the pastor about your personal time restraint.  Be truthful with both yourself and the pastor.  Sometimes the hardest part is being truthful with oneself, but it is never easy speaking with the pastor about such matters.  Some pastors think they have more to say than they really do, while others think that what they have to say is more important than anything else.  Third, take the information gleaned from your conversation with the pastor and continue to pray concerning it.  Continue praying until the Lord gives you another clear directive.  Fourth, when the Lord speaks to you, act on His directive.  Often the Lord directs a person to leave their current church instead of creating a major issue.  Remember, God deals harshly with those who raise their hand against God’s anointed.  On the other hand, you may discover that your pastor is already aware of the issue and he may enlist you to help resolve the issue.  If this is the case, be patient, change takes time. 

Items that Hinder Church Growth: Lack of Visibility and Audibility

Churches throughout the country are loosing youth and adults due to the “decision makers” failure to modernize the church’s technology.  Today’s worshippers want to see the speaker on a screen or large flat monitor, and the sound must be crisp, clear, and easily understandable.  Worshippers want quality that exceeds older “sound systems.”  Youth and adults today have come to expect high quality media.  Audiences quickly loose interest in media that is poor in quality, and often view it as laughable.  Sound and video projections should never distract from conveying a quality service and message.  Yet many church leaders fail to understand the need for clear visibility of the minister and worship leaders, as well as clear audible sound.  This requires some of the latest equipment and properly trained operators.  Decision makers and worship leaders destroy worship and eventually the church through a failure to understand that the congregation of worshippers wants to hear and see what is taking place.

One church where I occasionally worship has such outdated equipment, but to complicate the problem, they seldom use it.  When a congregation or soloist is singing, or the children are performing a play or musical, the screens are normally used.  However, when the pastor starts to preach the projectors are always off and the screens remain blank.  Worshippers are often moved by the facial expressions of the pastor.  The leader conveys the seriousness of the message or the love of Christ through facial expression that generally cannot be detected in larger facilities.  Churches that choose not to “magnify” the pastor’s image deprive the listeners of much of his communication.  There is a reason business deals are made face-to-face and not over the phone.  Pastors who do not allow their image to be magnified are faced with an increased pressure to use the spoken word, as facial and body language are removed from their ability to communicate.

One woman shared with me how her eyesight had diminished over the years.  She said, “When the pastor preaches, I can’t see him clearly anymore.  So I focus on the large cross behind him; I just focus on the cross and listen.”  While there is a message in this woman’s statement, it is sad that this woman could no longer see her pastor and his body language.  This is exactly what many churches do to the worshippers.  Fortunately, this woman’s church was able to install large screens and now she can once again see her pastor as he preaches.  Worship is more meaningful to her in the waning years of life and she can see the love and care once again in her pastor’s face as he comforts and encourages her through God’s Holy Scriptures. 

Contrary to popular belief, quality sound, lighting, and media tools are not just for the youth – although the fog machines might be.  As people age, their ability to see and hear usually diminish as well.  This is one reason baby boomers have aided the sale of large flat screens and surround sound for their home entertainment, and expect no less from their house of worship.  Younger adults and youth have grown up with the latest of technology, and they equally expect their church to use the latest technology to enhance their worshipping experience.  Sadly, this is a time in life when the Word of God is needed to comfort and sustain Christians in finishing the race of life.  So if you have opposed quality sound, lighting, and media in worship thinking it was just for the youth, think again!  Everyone likes to hear and see what the pastor and worship team is trying to communicate.  Great sound and visual aids, and yes even the fog machines, is about getting the message of Jesus to the masses who need salvation, discipleship, and comfort.  Let us see what we can do to improve the communication in our urban churches.  This Sunday, take a different look at how your church uses sound, lighting, projection, etc and see if you can suggest to your leadership team how your church might improve worship.