A Caution On Being Missional

When I began this blog I was reminded that the scriptures teach that in the abundance of council there is wisdom. I have endeavored from the outset to invite the best practitioners I knew who could help the church become all that God had created her capable of becoming.

Dr. Charles Arn, "Chip" as he is called most often has been a friend and colleague for the past 30 years. As the President of Church Growth Inc. he is devoting his life to helping churches make disciples and see their communities transformed not only here in america but around the world. He is the author of many books and training modules to help pastors and leaders 

The Engaging Church Seminar

Learn How Your Church Can Make

A Difference In Your Community

better understand and accomplish the mission of the church.

When I was asked to go to Arizona for a year recently I took the opportunity to invite Chip to come out and do a seminar to help train our leaders. It was more than we could have expected.

He travels extensively around the country conducting seminars and consultations with churches and denominations. I invite you to go to his website and see when and where Chip will be teaching and bring some of your leaders along. It will accelerate your vision accomplishment.

Chip is the guest author on this weeks post. If Dr. Arn can help you he can be contacted through his website www.churchgrowth.inc. You will also find a great resource section with books videos and other resources to help you in your leadership.

A Caution On Being Missional

As an instructor at Wesley Seminary (Marion, IN), I teach a class called “The Missional Church.”  It is a joy to see “lights go on” in the hearts of students when they consider the priority of believers to share the message—and experience—of God’s love beyond the walls of their church.  The “missional movement” is bringing many church leaders to the important realization that Christians are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their world.

Dr. Charles "Chip" Arn

I have observed, however, that after reading books by missional authors and viewing videos 

of missional teachers, some students seem to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  That is, they conclude that the ultimate goal of a “missional church” is to go into the community to do good works in the name of Christ and the expansion of “the Kingdom.”  And whether these needy folks ever come to faith, and membership in a local church, is not a criteria to define “success” in their missional endeavors.  

For example, a missionally inclined blogger recently lit into Andy Stanley’s “5 million dollar bridge.”  North Point Community Church, a church known for its commitment to outreach and evangelism, has grown to the point where parking has become problematic.  Stanley told his parishioners of the need to ease traffic congestion by constructing a bridge off of the main thoroughfare into the church.  His letter to members included the following paragraph:

Andy Stanley

Is it [the bridge] worth it?  It all depends.  If our mission is to be a church that’s perfectly designed for the people who already attend, then we don’t need a bridge.  But if we want to 

continue to be a church unchurched people love to attend, then yes, it’s worth it.  From my perspective, this is not a “nice to have” option.  Honestly, I don’t want to raise money for, or give money to, something that’s not mission critical.  I believe creating a second access point allows us to stay on mission.  

It seems obvious that Stanley’s commitment, as pastor, is to make disciples and assimilate them into the local church. But the missional blogger responds:

This makes me sick. This is completely un-missional. Missional churches are not attractional churches. Missional churches send out their parishioners as missionaries to the world, not bring them to church over a five million dollar edifice set up to speed up their exit and entry. 

In their zeal to create the Kingdom of God in the world, some who “buy into” the missional movement seem to have (or develop) a bias against the established church.  Their commitment is to “bring the Kingdom of God into the community.”  But, the success of those kingdom-building efforts does not seem to be evaluated on whether those who are exposed to “the Kingdom” are ever reached and assimilated into active membership and participation in a local church.

Dr. Charles Arn
Leading A Seminar

A commitment to the great commission (Mt. 28:19-20) demands a “high view” of the church—that the church is absolutely essential.  It is not a Body of Christ; it is the Body of Christ.  Not just a bride, but the bride of Christ. The Church is held to be the central part of God’s plan for the salvation and discipling of people and nations.  New converts must not only believe in Jesus Christ, but must become responsible members of the Church.  If the Bible is to be taken seriously, we cannot hold any other point of view.  Becoming a Christian means becoming a part of the Body.  In fact, unless non-Christians believe and become part of the Church, personified through the local congregation, the ultimate value of our “missional” activities must be questioned.  This is the high view of the Church.  A low view of the Church is that whether or not you belong to the Church is more or less a matter of choice.  If you like it, you belong; if you don’t, you don’t.  

As we lead our congregations forward in a re-commitment to focusing beyond the walls of our churches, I hope we will keep a balanced notion of Christ’s ultimate objective, and thus ours: to seek and to save those who are lost (Lk. 19:10), and to be an instrument of Christ in building His Church (Mt. 16:18).

http://letsbuildabridge.com/note-from-Andy.pdf

http://everydayliturgy.com/being-missional-build-a-five-million-dollar-bridge

Keeping The Main thing the Main Thing

All of us have marveled at the impact of Billy Grahams ministry on individuals, communities and yes nations. Through the years we have admired the clarity with which he preached the good news never wavering from its simplicity. We have marveled at his faithfulness and conviction in preaching the Gospel of our Lord and he is an example to all of us who claim to be Christ followers. Now in his later years he was interviewed on January 21 of this year. This quote from the article is a once again reminder to all of us. We don't get to determine the mission of the church. That has already been set. Our task is to keep that main thing the main thing.

"But the most important issue we face today is the same the church has faced in every century: Will we reach our world for Christ? In other words, will we give priority to Christ's command to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Or will we turn increasingly inward, caught up in our own internal affairs or controversies, or simply becoming more and more comfortable with the status quo? Will we become inner-directed or outer-directed? The central issues of our time aren't economic or political or social, important as these are. The central issues of our time are moral and spiritual in nature, and our calling is to declare Christ's forgiveness and hope and transforming power to a world that does not know him or follow him. May we never forget this."

Interview by Sarah Pulliam Bailey  1/21/2011 10:17AM
Christianity Today

The Rise And Fall Of Leaders

I have the opportunity to be fed by many great Christian leaders whose insights whose insights have helped me in my ministry.

I received a very helpful article written by Dr. Joseph Mattera www.josephmattera.org. He hosts a blog as part of his Website that has many unique and helpful insights to help pastors and leaders. With every study showing the increase of failure among leaders this article is not only timely but helpful.

It is reprinted without changes to the content with his written permission. If you would like to reprint this article you need to have his permission. I found his organization to be most helpful in facilitating my request and I'm sure he would be glad to hear from you.

Introduction


Dr. Joseph Mattera

Scripture is replete with examples of how leaders rise and fall. One of the reasons why I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God is because it so honestly and accurately portrays the plight of human beings regarding their reasons for success and failure. It adequately portrays the dark side of the saints of old and is not like the common biographies of great people in history that are more hagiographic in nature than historic (that is, they don’t reveal the failures of the person).

From what I have observed many, if not most, leaders do not end well. The following reasons have to do with long-lasting success or failure. Some may experience both for a short period of time but not end up that way in the long term.

The following are 11 reasons why leaders are promoted by God for lifelong effectiveness:

I. They are promoted by God to be used by God to complete a particular assignment

God promotes who He chooses (Psalm 75:6-7). There is no other explanation. There are some folks that we know who are very effective and very godly leaders who are not very well known. Then, there are well known leaders who are not very effective or godly. It is a divine mystery to why God gives some people more of a public platform than others. Like Paul said, no person should boast or brag as if they themselves have elevated themselves; everything we have received has come from God. Thus we should not be jealous of others or become worried about the amount of influence we have (Proverbs 3:5-7; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 2 Corinthians 10:12-18).

II. They have learned to live a life of brokenness and dependence on God instead of living a life based on their own strength and giftedness

I have been in full-time ministry for almost 30 years, and one thing I have found is that the true people of God who have a track record of long-time success all have one thing in common: they have allowed the Lord to break their strong wills and soften their stubborn hearts. Like Jacob of old, they walk with a limp (Genesis 32:24-31). Anyone who has allowed God to deal with them will walk with a limp. I don’t trust any leader who doesn’t walk with a limp!

III. They have learned from the lessons of the past

All of us will go through great challenges in our lives. The book of Proverbs tells us that a person who accepts correction is wise (10:8) but a fool refuses correction (15:5). In the arena of life, not only will wise people like our parents or pastors attempt to correct us, but the situations of life are also orchestrated by God so that we are conformed to His image (Romans 8:28-30). The wise person learns from both people and life experience and doesn’t repeat serious mistakes.

IV. They have learned from the lessons of what others have experienced

Effective leaders do a lot of reading of other successful leaders, and do a lot of listening when in the company of wise, great leaders. We have to do more listening than speaking and make time to fellowship with great minds by reading the books of those we want to emulate.

V. They get adequate counsel

Proverbs teaches us that before we go to war we need an abundance of counsel. To be effective you must learn to hire staff based on your weaknesses, while concentrating on your areas of expertise and strength. The smartest people in the world are those who know and have access to the smartest people they can possibly surround themselves with.

VI. They have adequate coaching and mentoring in specific areas of need

I have an inner circle of people and receive coaching in numerous areas of my life. I don’t have the time to read every available book or get every available degree, so I constantly receive coaching and mentoring from others with more expertise than me in areas like administration, finances, law, nutrition, health, emotional well-being, marriage and relationships, etc. If I didn’t have people who constantly coached me then I would be a disaster and would greatly limit my leadership ceiling!

VII. They are accountable to others

If you desire long-lasting success then you must have accountability regarding your finances, marriage, personal relationships, how you do ministry, strategic planning, and the like. Because all of us have a dark side, we need to have open relationships with people God has assigned to us and give permission to speak correction into our lives.

VIII. They live a balanced life that includes emotional and physical health

Jesus was both human and divine. Many of us forget that we must take care of our emotional and physical health, not just run on spiritual fumes and anointing! We are called to love our neighbor even as we love ourselves. If we do not care for ourselves we will burn out and not be able to be a blessing to others! We need to set physical and emotional boundaries that limit our activities and what we say yes to, so that we will remain a blessing to our families and have time to minister to the Lord for self-renewal.

IX. They know how to read, interpret, and discern the hearts of other key people around them

This is not something that can be taught. Great leaders have an intangible, intuitive ability to read other people accurately. They usually know who to trust and who to partner with. Often, they can tell when God is connecting them to someone instantly, even without meeting that person before!

X. They have a heart after God more than a desire for promotion and ministry

For long-lasting success we need to come to a place where we truly desire to seek God and know God more than making Him known! Only then can God trust us.

XI. They have prudence in the governance of their ministry

A person once told me that he heard Billy Graham met with his team many years ago and decided on certain core things they would always follow for the success of their ministry:

a. Excellence in administration (vision without administration is only a pipe dream!)

b. Never be alone with a woman who you are not married to.

c. Never exaggerate: they vowed to call their ministry what it really was. If there were 50 people in a meeting then they would say publicly that there were 50 people at the meeting; don’t say there were 150 people, etc.

d. Have financial scrutiny and integrity. Hiring outside independent auditors as if they were IRS agents checking the ministry’s books is something every leader should do on an annual basis.

Reasons for the fall of leaders:

I. They live out of their natural giftedness and spiritual anointing but do not build on character and integrity.

First Corinthians teaches that the Corinthian Church lacked no gift (1:7) yet they were also carnal, acting like mere babes in Christ (3:1-4). It is no accident that, after the great chapter describing the manifestations of the Spirit (12), the next chapter is fully devoted to love (13). Paul says that if we have faith that can move mountains but have not love we are nothing! Matthew 7:21-23 tells us that we can do miracles and still miss the Kingdom of Heaven! We need to focus on living a life in which the love of God is fully integrated into our character and habit patterns. This is the only way we can build a long-lasting foundation.

II. They have not learned how to process pain

Because leaders are targets and often experience betrayal they need to learn to give adequate time to process the pain they feel when someone leaves their church or organization. If we do not fully process and face our pain then these unresolved issues will spill over and cause anger, resentment, sarcasm, and bitterness that seep into our lives, cause great dysfunction, and cut off the ability for ministry longevity. We have to learn to grieve, mourn, and process pain until we fully face it and fully forgive before we move on to the next phase of our lives and relationships.

III. They are emotionally immature in certain areas of their lives

Any area of our lives in which we were traumatized--even as a young child--will cause us to stop growing emotionally until we actually face the trauma and allow the Lord to release us from it and heal our hearts. Often this means we also have to forgive folks, whether they are still alive or dead.

IV. They are quick to form an opinion and judge others

V. They are not aware of their dark side and so live in self-deception

We purposely allow areas of discomfort to be rationalized away or pushed aside so we can paint our own picture of ourselves, our worth, and our ministries. Often, the reality of who we think we are does not line up with who God made us to be. Exhibition A is watching the tryouts for American Idol. Some people have no skill in singing and yet they are convinced, based on years of dreaming certain things, that they will one day become a superstar. Simon Cowell of American Idol may be rude and blunt but at least he gives people a shot of reality!

VI. They live for the future and are never living in the present

Many leaders live miserable lives because they are always yearning for something more. Unfortunately, they are never really living in the present but only in past regrets, and the future. Thus they never stop to enjoy and appreciate the people around them, instead taking advantage of them so they can reach their illustrious “future.” I am sick and tired of some of the prophecies that come forth about some glorious future that may or may not come to pass in our lifetime. I think we also need prophecies getting us to appreciate what God and who God has put in our lives today so we can begin to maximize our gifts and release our great potential. If we don’t appreciate what God is doing in the present He can’t trust us with a more glorious future (1 Thes. 5:16, 18)!

VII. They use people instead of loving people

Many are the leaders who view the people around them merely as objects to serve in the church--to tithe or to be some kind of blessing to bring them and their organization to the next level. God is looking for leaders who will celebrate and not exploit the people He has entrusted to them!

VIII. They have a heart for ministry more than a heart for God

Those who only seek God or study the Bible to preach a message are truly missing it. I have found that when I seek God just to delight in Him, He pours amazing messages into me for the church and gives me all the strategy I need to go to the next level. God chose King David because he was a man after God’s heart!
 
IX. They do not receive correction or coaching from others

I have been with leaders who did not want to hear any negative things about their life or ministry. Hence, they never grew and often failed and left their positions in Christ. We need each other not only for moral support but even so we can effectively hear from God as a hermeneutical community.  Those who can learn from the community of people God has surrounded them with will grow the fastest. This is one of the things I admire so much about Bill Hybels. He radically changed the way he did church based on an honest church survey that he calls “REVEAL.” If he wasn’t open to hearing from God from his community then he would still be attempting to employ unsuccessful strategies to make disciples in his local church today.

X. They seek and need the approval of men more than the approval of God

Dr. Mattera has a podcast.You can 

connect to it through his website

Many who are involved in ministry have never dealt with the need for approval from a father who abandoned them. Thus they are ministering more out of a need for respect and affirmation than to please God. Consequently, they will live without limits and say yes to numerous ministry endeavors that God didn’t lead them to do. They will also push their 
churches to fund projects more because they desire a monument that points to the success in their lives than being motivated to expand the Kingdom of God. These leaders often burn out and have terrible family relationships because, ultimately, they are “driven”  personal need more then being led by the Spirit of Christ.

How's Your Churches Ethos?

HOW'S YOUR CHURCH ETHOS?

Dr. Bob Orr
Teaching young Pastors in Training

For nearly 30 years of my life I have traveled around the world visiting 30 different countries training pastors and the laity from their churches in the principles and practices of growing a church and doing so primarily by conversion growth. I have seen congregations that span the depth of diversity in denominational or non- denominational identity, churches that were old or relatively new, churches that were small, medium, large or mega large in size, churches that span the wonders of the diversity that differing cultures provide and churches that have been growing are plateaued or are in decline.

These churches have taught me much more than I believe I have ever taught them and to these pastors and churches I am in debt for this posting.

Andong Presbyterian Church

The genesis of this posting arises out of a time when I was on my way to do a seminar but had an uncertainty as to what I would say since the topic was very generic. I had brought enough material with me that after talking to the executive in more specifics I could teach whatever he wanted. My question on the plane however was "What does a growing church look like?" To be specific, yet honest, I immediately recognized that I was going to be speaking to pastors who came from a great diversity of situations. As I reflected on my assignment I started to reflect on what I had observed and learned from my experience. I asked myself if there were common denominators that transcended this diversity. This led me to articulating a principle and looking at how I had observed it’s outworking.

Principle:

We do not cause growth; we create the favorable environment in which growth can occur.

This principle tries to capture the essence of the scriptural admonitions that we are “co-laborers with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9) and that we can plant and water but it is the Lord who gives the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:7)

Definition:

Congregational ethos is the environment, that within a church, is conducive to the edification of, and the joyful participation in, the life and ministry of the local church, and at the same time providing a powerful attracting force that attracts, holds, and wins the unchurched/unbeliever to Christ and his church.

Using this principle the list that follows are my observations as to what I have seen in growing churches regardless of location, size, age, or culture.

The value of this list would be to take it and ask a simple question; “How well do I as the leader or how well does our church reflect these qualities?"

Observations From A Consultant About The Elements Of A Conducive Ethos.

1.   A leader who genuinely loves God and loves people and it is evident.

Dr. Cho In His Office
Muti-generational people all comment
on the atmosphere and positive experience

v I have seen in growing churches that the pastor is deeply in love with the Lord and his/her walk with God is both a source of their personal strength, which gives them a spiritual authority, and a reservoir that overflows in a love for God’s people. These shepherds love the Lord and love God’s people.

2.   Positive up-building language.

v  There are problems in every church, growing or not, and the leader can make things worse by their defeatist language. Leaders who are making a difference understand the effect their words have on the psyche and the behavior of the people in their congregation and seek to have their words “acceptable in his sight”

v  Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

3.   Members who are conscious of the role the church has made in their personal growth.

v  It would seem obvious but rather than acknowledging it we tend to ignore it. People evaluate their participation in the life of the church on a personal cost-benefit matrix. So when you listen to the words coming from the mouths of persons in growing congregations the testimony of their lips extols the blessings and help the church has been in their growth and development as disciples of Christ.

4.   An inspiring worship experience.

v  Regardless of the style of worship (There are good examples of growing churches in every style category) people come to church each week hoping to be “built up” rather than “beat up”

A wonderful Assembly of God in India.
Reaching Muslims and Hindu's with the gospel

v  With many churches in many denominations seeing between 30 and 50% of their members who could attend not attending on a weekly basis it is a conclusion that can be reached that they deem whatever they are doing to have greater value than coming to the worship experience.

v  In growing churches the language of persons is that the worship experience inspires and energizes them for their life and service.

5.   Values and vision in harmony.

v  Vision is like a seed that gets planted and when it takes root it bears fruit. Just like the parable Jesus taught about the soils and the seed (Matthew 13) only seed sown on good ground bears fruit.

The Kissi church welcomed 43 new converts
from their work over the previous 3 months
Less than 2 yrs old it has over 200 adults already

v  An example might be a vision that includes having every member identifying the 8-15 people God has supernaturally and strategically placed in their lives (their oikos) with the hope that every member would take this responsibility seriously. We know however that if the value “that lost people matter to God and need to matter to us” is not broadly held this vision will be like casting the pearl of vision away for it will go unheeded and unfulfilled.

6.   A care centered infrastructure.

v  Growing churches have learned that we are the body and we care for one another. This is reflected in formal ways (deacon ministry, small groups, home visitation) and informally through the deep relationships people have with one another where the love that Christ would give is given.

7.   A building that exudes warmth and welcome.

v  The building or place where you meet does not necessarily cause growth but it can be a growth inhibitor.

v  Focus groups with the unchurched affirm this reality; the building can inhibit first time visits and cause first time visitors to not  come back. The issues of building/facility are many but a good question to ask the members relates to their comfort in inviting their unchurched friends to come to church with them. If the members know they have a very poor nursery for example, they will be reluctant to invite friends who have small children.

8.   A belief that the best days of the church are now and to come.

v I have used a simple exercise in hundreds of church settings. I go to a White Board, Blackboard or any other easily seen medium. I draw a line and at one end of the line I write Past. At the other end of the line I write Future and somewhere in the middle I write Now. I ask people to duplicate this on their paper and then put an X on the line as to where they believe the best days of the church were or are.

v I have noticed that in growing churches the majority of the people are putting their X somewhere between today and the future for they truly believe the best days of the church are yet to be and they are excited about seeing that future realized.

v In declining churches there is a belief that the best days of the church have already occurred and today is an attempt to try and recreate that time. There is a resistance to any ideas that alter the status quo. The X in our diagram is normally somewhere between today and some point of time in the past

9.   An expectancy that God will work. (God stuff)

v What makes the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ different than any other social organization is that the miraculous does happen as the God who is the same yesterday and forever delights to show himself strong on behalf of His people.

v This is evidenced in testimonies from individuals as to how God took the impossible and made it possible, how He answered prayers when we were about to give up hope.

v It is seen as people who come to the church and have their lives transformed by the gospel and go from darkness to light.

10.       Momentum

v John Maxwell claims the power of momentum is more valuable than an additional staff person.

v Rick Warren talks about learning to ride the wave

v Donald McGavran talked about looking to see what God was blessing and doing that.

v From the studies on Church life-cycles it has proven an easier task to keep a church growing than it is to get the church either off a plateau or reverse its decline. My dad worked on the Launch pads for the Shuttle. He learned from the scientists that it takes almost 90% of the fuel to simply help that rocket clear the tower. An illustration par excellence of the difficulty of overcoming organizational inertia

v The question that destroys momentum is to look at something working and ask how can we keep it going.

v The questions that build momentum are different. These questions are “If we were starting today would we do it like we are doing it now?” or “If we were to increase our results by 50% above our current level what changes would we need to make.

v The church or person who thinks they have arrived has just made the decision that will forfeit the future.

11.       A passion for excellence.

v Television has made this issue an issue that churches that want to grow must take seriously. Television has increased the expectation of quality.

v Growing churches regardless of their current size have embraced that we must give our best and strive to do everything with excellence.

v Excellence is not perfection but it is a consciousness that we give God and his church our best and we are striving towards excellence.

v When I church settles for a “good enough” mentality it easy to let quality slide

12.       A staff that genuinely loves their work and love working together.

v I have seen in growing churches the affirmation of the Lead pastor for his staff and the loyalty and love for the senior pastor from the staff.

v Beyond that, there is not a competitive but a cooperative environment that allows a synergy to develop that multiples the effort

13.       A vital prayer ministry.

v Pastor Jim Reeve from Faith Community Church http://www.go2faith.com/ loves to say, “Without God we can’t and without us God won’t”.

v Prayer acknowledges that without His blessing we labor in vain and it puts us in a place where as we surrender ourselves to be transformed and used by Him  we find ourselves doing that which on our own would never get done.

14.       Positive ministry experiences.

v It has been rightly stated that the only thing we tend to learn from failure is not to do that again. So you can go to churches that have not grown and make a suggestion and the first response is “We tried that (or something like that) and it didn’t work”

v Failures have the tendency to develop an organizational pessimism and a resistance to any new ideas.

v Motivation towards ministry comes when people have positive experiences in ministry

15.       Church is fun. (Social as well as religious significance)

v You have heard the phrase “the church that prays together stays together”. While I would never and by saying what I am about to say discount prayer it is also true that “the church that plays together stays together”

v The friendship factor and all that is implied by friendship is a characteristic of growing churches.

16.       Process orientation. (Believer and non-believer).

v  Norton and Engel developed the decision model included here to reflect on the journey persons take from their lost unchurched estate to faith in Christ.

Engel Scale

v  Growing churches appreciate this process and provide steps to help people on their journey.

v  People in today’s world are farther away from God than previous generations. Studies have shown the decrease in religious training among the youngest generations when compared to previous generations.

v  This places a demand on churches to expand the scope of their programs to take into account the varying starting points and the steps in the journey to life transforming faith.

17.       Non-competitive diversity.

v In declining churches there is expectancy that everyone will be involved in everything and this restricts the ability to expand both the kind and scope of programs offered.

v In growing churches there is expectancy that the diversity will in and of itself at the same time be both exclusionary and inclusionary. There will be persons who don’t and shouldn’t participate in certain activities. Participation should be based on those activities that give you the best opportunity to grow or serve.

v There is a willingness in growing churches to say yes to those activities which working together with what we already are doing will expand our impact. There is in a real sense a Gestalt as the new contributes to the synergy that makes the church effective in accomplishing its mission.

18.       A sense of expectancy.

v Hope is a uniquely Christian virtue. The persons in growing churches believe that where they are and what they are is not their destiny. They know that God is not finished with them yet. They believe the promise of being changed from glory to glory will be realized in their experience.

19.       A positive congregational self image. (Morale).

A church meeting in a home in 

the middle

of a Leper Colony. 

Passionate worship 

led by the only instrument 

they could afford; a single drum

v What a congregation believes about itself will have an effect on its ministry.

v If the self-image were based on past failures it would be expected that the willingness to risk would be diminished.

v If the past has damaged the self-image the solution since we can’t change the past is to first ask what lessons did we learn and then ask the DL Moody question. “What would God do in us or through us if we were totally committed to Him.

v This is a case were the answer is a spiritual one for we are not who we think we are and we are not even who others think we are we are the church of the living God and we are who He says we are and we can do what He says we can do. So our future is based not on what is seen but on faith, which sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.