Another great main session (Ed Stetzer, Nancy Ortberg, Bob Roberts, John Bishop), another unedited minddump of my session. Enjoy, but please read at your own risk:
Ed Stetzer
What does the Dangerous Church look like in the future?
find Ed’s notes at www.edstetzer.com
“Don’t believe the hype” — we all bring our own biases and assumptions when we predict the future
Many who promote bad news have a program to fix it
Be more cynical
Culturally, the Dangerous Church will have:
• seized economic opportunity
hard economic times often lead to increased church attendance
• addressed sexual brokenness
sexual confusion won’t go away, it will increase
most churches don’t know how to address it in biblical ways
• wrestled with gender inclusion
be able to explain your position biblically
• faced increasing intolerance
let’s not call it persecution
we no longer have home-field advantage
From a Church perspective, the Dangerous Church will have:
• navigated the “post-seeker” context
churches are re-focusing as the model proves ineffective
• regained confidence in the gospel
is there something wrong with our understanding of the gospel?
the emergent movement and reformed movement are both seeking a better understanding of the gospel
• addressed evangelical confusion
a lot of people fall under that label
decide what “evangelical” means and live it out faithfully
• rethought discipleship
people think they’ve grown spiritually without any identifiable changes in their lives
• worked through denominational catharsis
denominations matter
• found networking strategies
within and across denominations (Leadership Network, for example)
• implemented new innovations
multi-site movement
ministry-based evangelism
Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it.”
The Dangerous Church will be around — let’s find where God is at work
Nancy Ortberg – http://www.tyndale.com/NancyOrtberg/
Innovation is not a soundbite, a gimmick, or a stroke of luck. Sustained innovation in the church is imperative because of the gospel. We never more reflect the nature of God in our churches when we insist on innovation that is not a gimmick. We innovate not to be famous but because the gospel of Christ transforms people.
Innovation reminds us that the gospel is always provocative. Always.
Leadership is more about managing tensions than solving problems.
Tension between innovation and infrastructure:
Don’t elevate innovation over infrastructure — people who are wired for infrastructure are not second-class citizens.
A culture of innovation embraces little steps and big steps.
Tension between passion and humility:
Passion brings confidence, and that’s good. But without a corresponding humility, we’ll go in the wrong direction. We must live in the tension of passion, boldness, confidence, and humility. Leaders who are innovative must get comfortable living in tensions.
Innovation happens best in teams. Team is the word the world uses for the biblical concept of community. You are holding back innovation if you’re not using teams as a leadership strategy.
An ego in check says, “I will put people on the team who are better than me.” Bill Hybels models this at Willow Creek. If the ceiling on the gospel at your church is you, we might as well go home right now.
Can older leaders pull back to empower younger leaders, place them on their shoulders, encourage and correct them?
As a leader, you set the tone. You need the right values. (Lencioni: Core values cause pain.)
Learn to ask questions well (You can show interest or contempt with the same question). Questions challenge and provoke thought & change.
Learn to let people take risks and fail. Failure is OK except when it’s a result of bad execution or lack of effort.
The biggest thing that stands in the way of risk: FEAR.
Fear and curiosity are at odds with each other.
Learn to invite collaboration – the team doesn’t exist to execute your plan
Learn to trust
In our unchurched culture, there’s not room not to be innovative. To solve the serious problems of our world, it’s going to take innovation.
Monvee – tool from a church — check it out.
Hope is where innovative leaders live because hope is deeply tied to the gospel.
Bob Roberts – Northwood Church
The elephant in the room: The church is exploding … just not here.
The global church is exploding and they don’t have any of our STUFF.
What does it mean for the gospel to radically transform lives?
Missions is not an add-on thing. It’s about the kingdom of God.
Most of us don’t even know how to talk with the unchurched, the rest of the world.
If we’d follow the Great Commission, we’d see the world turned upside down.
The Great Commission says, “As you are going, make disciples of all nations.”
How did the early church make disciples so quickly when it takes us so long? Their decisions were abandoned decisions to be crucified with Christ.
We ought to go where hell is breaking loose.
Abraham didn’t become a rabbi. He followed God and made disciples in his context.
Gospel >> Disciple >> Society >> Church
We’re all focusing on reinventing the church … forget it! It’s a waste of time! Reinvent your disciples and you’ll reinvent your church.
The Church Around the World About Themselves vs. the West
We focus on the Holy Spirit and in the West they focus on pragmatics
We have an obedience to the Word of God instead of a deep theology of the Word of God
We have gratitude toward Abraham but we have a focus on Ishmael — Muslims will come to Christ
We don’t care that much about developing a particular type of church — they don’t care about house churches or megachurches — just do whatever
We have an integration of faith and life in everything
We have a glaring absence of money so we trust God for everything
We’re driven by living saints instead of dead heroes
It was never about how much money you have — it’s about obedience. God’s gonna do it with or without you. Your only response is obedience.
John Bishop – http://www.livinghopechurch.com/group/johnbishop
We have to go back to what matters to God.
“I submit to you that your plans sometimes trump God’s purpose. Sometimes we plan God out of it. Our 5-year plan puts the Holy Spirit out of the equation.”
The Dangerous Church will be less about a great idea and more about a broken heart.
We’ve become a country club.
God does his best work in our weakness. And yet we hate weakness.
I’m not a method guy. I think you need to listen to the Spirit of the Living God.
People are drowning in the sin, so don’t think you need to candy coat the gospel. The gospel is the power of God to transform.
Paul to Corinth: “I fear that you’ll be led away from your pure and simple devotion to God.” — Us!
The lamest thing John has ever heard: pastors who say, “We don’t count people.” Do they count their offering? I guess money counts and people don’t.
Often, the methods we use in church aren’t meant to reach people, they’re meant to stroke our egos. (Making visitors stand up so we can count them …)
We have to be less about competing with each other and more about celebrating each other’s wins. The church is the hope of the world.
Do pastors think God can’t take care of the church? Stop worrying and start praying.
People want to see unity and love, not fancy programs. Celebrate each other’s wins, pray for each other.
We’re lukewarm. We’re indifferent.
“I used to think God was a part of my story. God’s showing me that I’m not that big. It’s His story and I get to be a small part of it.”