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Churches, Softball, and Satan Part I

by Tim Stafford

 

So there I was at another “pastor’s meeting.” (It just never ceases to amaze me that the condition of the church has grown to a corporate entity; no matter how many times I read the words of Christ at the end of the book of Matthew, I just cannot pull the rabbit out of the hat, that says, “Go into all of the world and make corporations.”  It just simply is absent from His words. But I digress.) Anyway, so I am in this meeting and the subject of the church softball team comes up. “This year, I am determined to win the city championship,” says the senior pastor, “it falls in line with our vision to provide quality programming for the whole family.” OK, this just sounds like every other boring idea that comes from the mouth of the church’s CEO. Then, it happened, the guy said the thing that sent this free thinking theologian into a flat spin, he said, “Winning the championship will really help put our church on the map in our city and ultimately that means more people in the services which means more resources for the work of God in our community. ”Ok, so who came up with this model of church growth?  Let us take a minute to talk about churches, competition, and Satan.

 

I am deeply bothered by the modus operandi of the church today. The facts are that the number one issue for churches in America is the number of attendees last Sunday, and how does that number compare with last year, and, most importantly, how does our number compare with the numbers of the other churches in town? The problem that I see in this model of positioning is that it fails to answer the most basic of human questions. How are the people doing within the walls of my church? Let me give you an example. Recently, I talked with a new pastor who had just taken over the senior leadership position in the church after being an associate for quite some time. I said to him, “So, what are your immediate plans?” He answered, “My vision is that the church will triple in 3 years.” So then, I asked the most obvious question, “How will you handle the discipleship issues that come with this kind of growth?” His replied, “We will cross that bridge as it comes.” NO YOU WON’T!!! This is the fundamental problem in churches today. We have created a huge conglomerate of high maintenance, low impact converts, and we have very few disciples.  This is due, in large part, to the competitive spirit that has entered the church. We have come to a place that we are more comfortable saying that we have 5000 members and ignoring the fact that only 200 are growing in Christ or involved in ministry of the church. I personally have tried to entertain the habit of answering the question that is often posed to me “How many are in your church? “ with the answer “We have 200 solid, growing believers.”  This is not only the truth, but it also helps keep me focused on the real matter at hand, that is the gospel. Jesus never said in scripture, “I have sought to be the best carpenter that I could be and when I became the best carpenter, then I earned the right to speak into the life of another lost soul. “ Jesus focus was to touch people and not to alienate them. In Part II, I will continue to discuss the competitive division in the church and then give some clear cut answers to what I think is the most important problem for the church to face, and meanwhile, I encourage you to quit your church softball team and get involved with “winning” others to Christ after Christ’s own model.

 

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Pastor Tim Stafford a local Christian School teacher in Las Vegas, NV. he hold a Bachelor of Arts in Music and in Theology and is currently studying for my Masters Degree in Education. He has also tendered a long career as a, independently contracting musician and is currently continue to play in many different genres in the Las Vegas Music Scene. He have been married for 10 years and have two awesome children.

 

 

  

  

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