Some
years ago the London Transit Authority was receiving a lot of complaints
because their buses were driving past customers who were standing at the bus
stops. The Transit Authority put an explanation in the paper that has become
infamous with public relations departments. The explanation said, “It is
impossible for us to maintain our schedule if we are always having to stop and
pick up passengers.” Clearly, that company had forgotten its purpose.
Of
the five thousand new companies that are started each year, only one thousand
remain two years later. After five years, only two hundred are left. Corporate
consultants say that the common denominator among all those failed companies is
that they have no clear purpose; they lack a specific goal and direction. Steven
Covey, famous for the Franklin Covey time management system once said, “The
main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Today,
I want to remind you, as well as myself, that the main thing in any church is
to reach people for Jesus Christ. The mission of the church is given to us by
our Lord in Matthew 28:19-20. We are to introduce people to Jesus Christ and
help them grow spiritually. Evangelism (sharing the gospel) and discipleship
(bringing people along in the gospel) should be the driving force behind
everything we do.
Andy
Stanley wrote a book not too long ago called “The Seven Practices of
Ministry.” The basic outline and
summary has been posted in my office since we started Paragon. Here are the seven.
1.
Clarify the Win. When all is said and done, what is it that
we want to look back on and celebrate? What is the goal to be accomplished?
2.
Think Steps, Not Programs.
Your programs should take people somewhere, not simply fill up their
time. Ask yourself, “Where do we want our people to be? What do we want them to become? Is our
programming designed to take them there?
3.
Narrow The Focus. Focus
is the key to achieving excellence and making an impact. Each ministry
environment should be designed to do no more than one or two things well. (DO A FEW THINGS WELL)
4.
Teach More For Less. The less you say, the more you will communicate. Learn to say only
what you need to say to the people who need to hear it.
5.
Listen To Outsiders.
The needs and interests of insiders have a tendency to determine the
agenda for the organization. Focus your efforts on those you’re trying to
reach, rather than those you’re trying to keep.
6.
Replace Yourself. One day someone else will be doing what you
are doing. Embrace the inevitable
and prepare now for the future.
7.
Work On It. To
maintain your relevance, your sanity, and your effectiveness, you must carve
out time in your schedule to step back and evaluate what you are doing and how
you are doing it.
I must admit, in the last three years,
that piece of paper has become white noise in my office. It is something that I forgot was
there, even though it is posted right over my desk.
Since our family meeting back in June,
I began to think over these seven and I really began to think a lot about
them. Clarify the win… why do we
do what we do? Think steps on how
to achieve that win. Focus on the
win and keep the main thing the main thing. Don’t settle for what has happened,
but evaluate it and make sure your target win is up front and center.
Our win at Paragon, our main thing,
like I said earlier, it to reach people for Christ and see them become fully
devoted followers of Him. As I
“work on it” I have seen that we can improve in these areas. You see, we minister in a city with
85,000 people living in it and that doesn’t even include the many we can
“reach” in west ABQ. In the three
years we have been in existence, we have see 80 people get baptized. While I am excited for the 80 and what
God has done and is doing in their lives, there are a lot more that need to be
reached.
As I have evaluated, I have seen myself
and others become a little too focused on the upcoming services and less
focused on the gospel and taking it out.
That has to change. As a
church, we have never been called to get people to come to us, we have been
called to go out to all of them.
When Jesus says in the book of Acts to go to the uttermost parts of the
earth, that does not exist inside the walls of the church, it just starts
there.
That is why the leadership of the
church, and many spiritual leaders outside of the church, have been praying for
God’s direction for Paragon. We
want to make sure we are staying on mission and doing what we originally set
out to do… not to become just another church in Rio Rancho, but to reach Rio
Rancho and the surrounding communities for Christ. We desire to make a difference in this world by responsibly
using what God has given us in the ways of our time, our treasure, and our
talents.
Through these two months of prayer, we
feel God is leading us to make some changes at Paragon. In the very near future, we will be
making changes to our worship services, our kids ministry, our adult ministry,
how we “make disciples,” and even where we meet.
While change is rarely easy, I am
excited about what is to come and how God will use these transitions to glorify
Himself. I cannot wait to see how
God will use us to reach this community in a whole new way.
If you have any questions or comments,
please feel free to contact me. I
cannot promise that I have all of the answers, but I can tell you that we have
sought God’s direction in this and have not made any of these decisions out of
haste or desperation.
We want to reach more people for Christ
and believe this will be a great new start in the process of seeing that take
place.
THANKS!
