Our
Current Reality

Prayer-Less Relational Faith – I have a relationship with God but only seem to really pray when I am in trouble or need something. I build relationships with people in my life, but I don’t intercede for them through prayer.

Problems:

1. This lack of understanding or belief in the power of prayer hinders what God desires to do in and through our lives.

2. It leads to an immature, transactional relationship with God rather than an abiding relationship with Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

3. Without having a prayer-filled relationship with God, we do not see the importance of developing prayer-filled relationships with others.

Church-Only Faith – Spiritual conversations are appropriate only in the church. Jesus has called us to share the Gospel, but we avoid Spiritual conversations outside of the church environment because they make us and others uncomfortable.

Problems:

1. When we resist the Spirit’s prompting to start Spiritual conversations or share the Gospel, even though He has promised to give us words to speak, we forfeit opportunities to be used by God to introduce people to Christ.

2. When we allow fear to stop us from engaging in Spiritual conversations and sharing the Gospel, we develop the habit of avoiding Spiritual conversations even with people in the church.

Minimalist Consumer Faith – When I attend worship services, Bible Studies or read Biblical quotes, I am looking for some good advice which I can use to get what I want out of life.

Problem:

1. Biblical truth is often presented in isolated (topical) form without a good understanding of how it fits into the Christian life as a whole, promoting the compartmentalizing of the Christian’s life.

2. There is an assumption that the appropriation of Biblical knowledge by itself will lead to spiritual maturity.

3. This rhythm of engaging one’s faith produces baby Christians who believe in inspiration and education, and turn to God when they feel that they need Him, but experience very little transformation and training in righteousness!

Religious Faith – I believe that faithful Christians go to worship services once in a while and do the best they can to be good people. Jesus is our Savior but doesn’t really require us to relate to Him as the Lord of our lives.

Problem:

1. The church community typically focuses on making converts rather than making disciples.

2. People who don’t live under the authority of God as their Lord:

   1. tend to believe that they can produce good on their own and

   2. use God for the purposes of salvation and blessing rather than living in and through Him.

3. A true disciple would know that:

   1. only God can produce real good in this world,

   2. apart from God we can do nothing good and

   3. there are no good people, only people through whom God does good as we live by faith in Him.

Independent Faith – My relationship with God is a private matter, including my sins so that I will stay out of your business, and I expect you to stay out of mine.

Problem:

1. There is a reluctance among many Christians to enter into a Biblically functioning covenant community and make a commitment that they perceive may interfere with or limit their lifestyle or plans.

2. Without a Biblically functioning community, we will not mature and will continually wrestle with loneliness and self-centeredness.

Self-centered Faith – “God helps those who help themselves” (according to Barna Research, the most quoted “Bible” verse in America among adult and teen believers); therefore, we can self-help our way to Christlikeness.

Problem:

1. Most Christians have not been trained to submit to God and abide in Christ well enough to know that this quote does not come from the Bible.

2. We tend to forget that we are the wrong people to give ourselves advice, and we need the power of a Godly community and mentors to help us grow.

3. Therefore, programmatic ministries where we influence many people simultaneously are generally considered the method of choice.

4. Personal one-on-one discipleship appears to be too time-consuming, energy-consuming, and inefficient.

Mercenary Faith – It is the job of professional clergy to do the work of ministry and the “priesthood of all believers” is not practical or a good thing to encourage at our church.

Problem:

1. We are not “equipping the saints for the work of ministry” and commissioning everyone to serve the Kingdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

2. Because of this, most Christians are living in and through their own guidance and power , and the work of ministry falls to a few faithful people who usually are “paid to be good.”

3. As a result, their experience of the abundant life and their witness to the watching world are diminished, and they don’t experience the power of the Holy Spirit moving through them.

Leadership = Respect, Representation and Control – I have been asked to lead because people respect me, trust me to represent them and want me to be in control.

Problems:

1. There is no incentive to serve people, equip the saints for ministry work and work yourself out of a job when the goal is to be respected and in control.

2. If being in control is the goal, then leaders will focus on making the decisions and doing the work themselves instead of spending time mentoring others.

3. Wanting to be in charge can be a dangerous desire which leads us to trust in our ourselves and the opinions of others more than more than we trust in God’s guidance.

4. Wanting to be respected can be a dangerous desire which can lead us to prove ourselves to others, hide our sin and pretend.

Leaders Have Arrived – As a leader, I am able to help others grow even though I am not being mentored, held accountable, or intentionally discipled by anyone.

Problems:

1. When leaders stop growing, the church starts dying. We reproduce who we are, so leaders who aren’t growing produce a church culture where growth is not normal.

2. We need leaders who serve as models of faith and mentors to others. You can not take people on a journey you are not on yourself.