Beautiful Church Research Questions - please tell me your ideas ..I NEED THREE TEAMS OF TUTORS TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS BECAUSE I NEED IDEAS FROM ALL THREE.

BEAUTIFUL CHURCH

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SIX STEPS TO VIBRANT CHURCH GROWTH

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God reigns!”

Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)

RON DOTZLER

STEP 1

GOD’S HEART FOR THE UNCHURCHED

AND HOW THE CHURCH MUST RESPOND

STEP 1 CHAPTER ONE

UNLEASHING THE POWER OF CHURCH

HIS BEAUTIFUL CHURCH TRANSFORMING A BROKEN WORLD

“The local church is the hope of the world.”1

Wow.

This truth resonated in my heart from the moment I first heard it stated at a leadership conference. I wanted to believe in the incredible power and potential of the local church to reach a lost and broken world, but I knew the hard facts—the church in the USA was experiencing significant decline. I knew we could do better, but the answers eluded me.

“There’s nothing like the local church when the local church is working right.”2

Again, my spirit soared. The church could change the world if it was working right.

Bill Hybels, the speaker, gave language to what I was feeling for years as a pastor in my church. The local church, in its imperfect earthly form, is still the hope of the world. While all of eternity hangs in the balance, God still sees his beautiful bride as carriers of his salvation message to a broken, lost and hurting world.

I love the local church, and I’m convinced that church vibrancy and conversion growth matters. In my 28 years of ministry, my prayer has been for God to unleash the power of the local church to fulfill the kingdom mission to impact those far from Christ. God’s heart is pleased when he sees his beautiful church transforming a broken world.

A FAULTY CHURCH MODEL

Several years ago, I attended a conference hosted by a prominent church. The helpful workshops left me excited to implement all I’d learned when I returned home. Without warning, one of the speakers from Europe shocked me when he predicted a sharp decline in attendance of the North American church. His announcement left me reeling.

I leaned back in my chair, trying to process his statement. Why did this pastor have such a grim view of the church? How could he be so bold as to make such a negative futuristic claim?

Without missing a beat, the pastor asked a very intriguing question: why had the church in Europe died, no longer exerting influence in society? With no real answers, he explained how the church in Europe had a faulty church model which the States inherited. This faulty model was incomplete in its ability to reach and receive lost people. If the church in North America didn’t make changes, he claimed, it would soon mirror the European church—empty, lifeless and no longer relevant.

My heart sank. I didn’t want to believe his disheartening view. Yet his projection stuck with me, pressing me to work against the tide when I saw evidence over the years that his prediction was coming true.

The church does not have to die as its congregants age. The beautiful church can effectively reach people far from Christ and develop them into vibrant disciples. *Example Pastor who step down from Faith Temple Church. His members were older members. There were no young members.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BUILD A BEAUTIFUL CHURCH?

Like the nine vital systems in the physical body (the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the skeletal system, etc.), the beautiful church has three primary systems: tending to believers, extending to nonbelievers, and sending new church plants and missionaries to a broken world. My love and work with local churches for over 28 years has given me an awareness that the church has

consistently struggled in one of these three—extending.

The unanimous conclusion from theologians, social scientists and historians is this: the force and impact of the church in America is in serious decline. The lost and confused are no longer looking to the church for answers to life’s most pressing questions.

Years ago, Peter Wagner found that the best way to reach unbelievers was to start new churches. (cite) While this may have been true years ago, Ed Stetzer’s research has confirmed that for the past nine years, new church plants are doing no better than existing churches when it comes to reaching people far from Christ. In fact, 96% of existing and emerging new church plants are NOT growing

through conversion growth, the natural outcome of an extending church. This should not come as a surprise. Pastors are trained in seminary to work with believers, not unbelievers. If we truly want to shift the results of our churches, we have to shift our training.

While it’s true that non-Christians are not looking for the church, most disheartening, however, is that the church isn’t looking for non-Christians. In other words, churches are not connecting with

or reaching lost people; we’re simply reproducing a church model that is failing to extend and reach people far from Christ.3

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

Several years ago, I took my leadership team through a series of challenging questions regarding our ability to reach nonbelievers. The conversations were very discouraging and spoke directly to what we were missing. We were missing the unchurched.

I asked our team of twelve leaders how many times they’d shared their faith in the last year. Combined, we came up with three over an entire year. Yikes! Our core team considered ourselves mission-driven, and yet, nothing was further from the truth. We were simply not doing what our hearts knew Christ wanted for our lives. We were doing a lot of ministry activity, but we were missing

the extending piece.

This opened honest conversations which produced radical changes in and through us as leaders. As difficult as some of those moments were, we can now look back and appreciate the bigger picture. Change is not always easy, but if we can persevere through the tough moments, we’ll not only be able to see God’s hand at work, we’ll see incredible fruit.

OUR CORE MISSION

Isaiah 52:7(NIV) says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God reigns!” Bringing God’s love, grace and truth to a broken world is central to our calling, and yet, somehow

we’ve become overwhelmed with tending to the needs of believers and lost an essential focus on what makes the church beautiful—extending.

Jesus came to save the lost. He was born as the savior of the world; He lived his life to seek and save the lost, and He died on a cross for the sinfulness of mankind. Everything about Jesus’ life was committed to rescuing his lost and wayward children. If unbelievers matter to Christ, they should matter to me.

I’ve spent countless hours advocating on behalf of believers in the church. I’ve worked on improving preaching, teaching, worship, and children’s ministry—all essential components of

tending to the needs and growth of believers. Whether I served as a leader of Bible study groups or a mentor of discipleship classes, I focused heavily on the tending dimension of the church.

SIX STEPS TO VIBRANT CHURCH GROWTH

When God moved me and my family to the inner city, I had no idea what He planned to do. I had zero experience with the incredible brokenness I encountered and zero understanding of the new culture I entered. Nonetheless, our family stepped into our new community, and somewhat reluctantly, began to get to know our new neighbors.

My new neighbors faced insurmountable, life-threatening challenges which prompted me to ask myself questions. Who advocated on behalf of unbelievers, the unchurched and those far from Christ? Who would stand up for the lost, hurting and broken people around me? Through trial and

error, God broke my heart and broadened my focus and taught me how to include extending in my church model.

If we’re truly going to get to the heart of transformation, we’re going to have to address culture— the way the church thinks, believes and behaves, specifically regarding the unchurched.

The following chapters detail six critical steps to build culture that gets believers out of the seats and into the streets and reaches unbelievers far from Christ.

STEP 1: GOD’S HEART FOR THE UNCHURCHED AND HOW THE CHURCH MUST RESPOND Jesus came to seek and save the lost, so must we. God’s heart breaks for his orphaned children. When our hearts align with God’s heart, conversion growth will be central in our discipleship models. Our leadership team loved Jesus, but we got distracted with so many other good ministry activities, we lost connection with God’s heart for the lost. Keeping our focus on what God wants is absolutely critical to our life mission as the church. While there are many good things worth investing our time and energy, our hearts need to align with God’s heart and his passion to welcome home his wayward children.

STEP 2: GOD’S HOPE FOR THE UNCHURCHED THROUGH THE LOCAL CHURCH Jesus wants all his orphaned children to come home. This rescue mission transitions us from darkness into the loving arms of the only thing Jesus is building—his church. The local church is the womb to tomb discipleship mechanism that God designed to transform our lives. While there are many good works being accomplished in the world, pastors, church leaders and Christians must

ensure that God’s work is at the center of all our activity. God’s hope is eternal. God’s work is eternal. The local church is God’s means by which He is transforming the world. Focusing on God’s hope is absolutely essential if we want to avoid getting caught up spending time, energy and resources on humanitarian good things that will not last. The church truly is the hope of the world.

STEP 3: LEARNING FROM THE UNCHURCHED AND UNDERSTANDING THEIR POINT OF VIEW Most non-believers are simply doing what they know best. When I was a sinner, I was pretty good at it. Ha. If we’re going to be able to reach people with the good news of Jesus, we must understand

it’s not us against them. According to Ephesians 6:12, there’s an enemy at work, and it’s not people. We were all once deceived. We didn’t change until someone brought light into our lives. Having spent countless hours interviewing and talking with unbelievers, the overwhelming majority have visited church on several occasions. They want to believe in God, but they don’t really know how or what to do. When asked why the church isn’t a viable option for them to consider life’s toughest questions, they describe not fitting in or connecting at church. Learning from the unchurched is critical to our ability to present the gospel in meaningful ways.

STEP 4: ENGAGING THE UNCHURCHED IN THEIR CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT If we’re truly going to engage the unchurched, we have a lot of learning ahead of us. Working with church attenders is familiar and natural. Seminaries teach this and the congregation we serve reinforces the idea. The church serves attenders through Bible studies, counseling, weddings, funerals, and other services. Working with the unchurched is unnatural, unfamiliar and extremely unpredictable. The process was filled with a multitude of questions, but we knew we could no longer continue down the path of only impacting believers. Even though it took several years, we finally made some powerful and key discoveries that helped connect us with the unchurched and is now a wonderful and consistent part of our reality.

STEP 5: ASSIMILATING THE UNCHURCHED INTO THE LIFE OF YOUR CHURCH It is one thing to authentically engage and connect with the unchurched in their own cultural environment, but it’s another thing to assimilate the unchurched into your church. While we made many mistakes in the early years, we sought feedback from over 300 unchurched neighbors regarding their view of the church. They described the church as unfriendly and self- indulging—only caring about themselves. Their brutal honesty was hard-hitting, but well worth hearing. We discovered that much of our church culture was unrecognizable to us. Tradition dictated our routine. We’d always done church this way. We really didn’t know anything different. Even though we preferred the way we did church, (i.e. the music, the preaching, and the fellowship) the unchurched shared with us a totally different perspective.

STEP 6: DEVELOPING THE UNCHURCHED AS POWERFUL WITNESSING DISCIPLES One of the big concerns we had with our previous discipleship methods had to do with outcomes and results. We relentlessly preached the truths of scripture, but sadly, few shared their faith with others. People had no problem serving or being nice, but sharing their faith petrified them. Knowing this, we learned how formative the unchurched were in their cultural habits and so we built on this formation process and developed an experience-rich discipleship process that produced amazing results.

CONVERSION GROWTH

Throughout this book, I interchange the terms nonbelievers, non-Christian, lost, unchurched and people far from Christ to refer to unbelievers who have yet to become followers of Jesus. Furthermore,

transfer growth denotes an increase in church attendance from Christians who change membership from one church to another. Conversion growth is the desired outcome of a beautiful, extending church—an increase in church attendance because non-Christians have become believers and joined a church. While Bridge Church is located in the inner city, the principles and truths referenced in this book are transferable to both rural and suburban areas. The goal of this book is to help pastors, church leaders and Christians join Christ in building the kind of churches—no matter the location—that

experience conversion growth. Jesus’ heart is to see the power of the church unleashed in its incarnational mission of being salt and light in a broken world. May God bless us as we live out Isaiah 52:7 and join together in building His Beautiful Church.

STEP 1

CHAPTER TWO

REALIGNING OUR HEARTS

Dear Christian,

I’ve been wanting to write this letter for a long time, but I wasn’t sure talking to you would do any good. Like you, I’m on my own journey.

Key Concept: There’s nothing like the local church, when the local church is working right. Pastors, church leaders and Christians ensure that the church is working right as we focus on reaching people far from Christ and turning them into vibrant disciples of Jesus.

Application: Commit to refocusing your time, energy and attention from simply tending to

believers to extending to unbelievers, thereby empowering your congregation to reach the

lost.

I’ve been very frustrated because it feels like you don’t even listen to me. Do you really care what I think or feel? I know there has to be more to life, but everywhere I turn, I face another roadblock. I’m struggling at work. The bills keep piling up. My kids are hanging with the wrong crowd, and my mom just got diagnosed with cancer. I really just want to find peace. I’m looking for genuine love and acceptance, not spiritual answers. You talk about truth and scripture in such a way that seems like you’re shoving your opinion down my throat. I often feel judged by you because I don’t understand your thinking. If you knew the things I’ve done, would you accept me? Will I ever measure up to your standard? You have a different perspective about life that sounds so foreign. When I’m around you, will you make me feel valued and loved anyway? I just want to be happy. I’m not searching for some lofty hope or someone’s view of truth. To be honest, your religion seems to make you so serious and angry all the time. It’s a real downer when you point out everything you find to be wrong in this world. You seem so against everything, it’s hard to believe you could really have my best interest in mind. Your complaints don’t exactly inspire me to become a Christian like you. If you could just smile and laugh, your happiness and joy might attract me. I want to know you care. Life is tough. Many times I feel empty and lonely. I’ve been put down and excluded. When I’m struggling and you say, “Jesus is the answer,” your simple statements ring hollow. I don’t want to be around people who are always judging me or trying to set me straight. Am I some project of yours? What I really want to know is if you care about me as a friend. I need real friends. Friends who stand by me when I’m alone, afraid, or hurt. If you really care, just be my friend. Sincerely, Your non-Christian neighbor

WOW, WHAT A LETTER This letter breaks my heart because, in many ways, I was that Christian. My heart and lifestyle was too often disconnected and distant from those far from church. Many times, I was judgmental and came off as self-righteous. I had plenty of answers, but very little empathy. I stood on the sidelines pointing out the problems in our world. Rather than love people

and work toward providing solutions, I became critical. People far from Christ were not at the forefront of my heart, and sadly, they became projects to me. Not friends. Never was this more evident than when I left the safety of the suburbs to live in the inner city over 29 years ago. Until I stared into the faces of broken, hurting and hopeless children, I was unmoved and unresponsive to the deepest cries of my city. The inner city wrecked my heart. The first time I saw my neighbors across the street, a man ran out of the house yelling and carrying a machete while another man chased him with a pitchfork. Two houses down, the police visited my new neighbors more times in one week than I’d seen their presence in all my years living in the suburbs. In a strange combination, an abundance of drug addicts, prostitutes, and gang members lived alongside laborers, daycare providers, and teachers who made up my block. The dysfunction was like nothing I’d experienced. The constant gunfire, crime, violence and poverty took on new meaning when I began to meet my neighbors. North Omaha was no longer a faceless community I read about in the newspaper. The daily trauma awakened me to the pain God felt and increased my empathy. God moved beyond getting my attention to grabbing my affection for my hurting neighbors. Between my idyllic rural roots and the suburban facade that life was rosy, I lived life clueless to the broken reality of people far from Christ. Honestly, I never seriously thought much about lost people. While at times I’d preached about reaching unbelievers, I never really considered the emptiness, despair and hopelessness of life without Jesus. Reaching the lost was certainly not the heart and focus of my leadership.

WHO IS THE CHURCH FOR? Somehow, I missed the point. The church is not only for those who follow Christ, but also for those far from Christ.

Jesus came to save the lost. He was born as the savior of the world; He lived his life to seek and save

the lost, and He died on a cross for the sinfulness of mankind. Everything about Jesus’ life was

committed to seeking and saving the lost. If unbelievers matter that much to Christ, they should

matter that much to me.

If I had the cure for cancer, I would tell everyone. Keeping the cure to myself would be selfish. In

the same way, Christians have the cure and answer to countless lives without the hope of Jesus

Christ. God challenged me to commit my life and leadership to loving lost people.

Realigning my heart and rethinking church with a focus on His heart for lost people shifted the way I saw church. No longer could I focus only on those attending church, I needed to act on behalf of those outside the church walls.

A RE-FOCUS ON THE UNCHURCHED Beautiful churches include a focus on the unchurched rather than only think about believers who are already convinced. They think about those far from Christ and move beyond their church walls to connect with them in authentic and relevant ways. Jesus is building one thing—His church (Matthew 16:18 NIV). If the local church is the body and fullness of Jesus Christ, we are the hands, the feet and the heartbeat of Jesus here on earth. The church was, and still is, God’s plan for healing a broken world. The local church is central to everything God is doing. Some of Jesus’ first words declared that, “He must be about His Father’s business” (Luke 2:49 NIV) which he later explains is to “seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10 NIV) Conversion growth, therefore, must be central to everything we, as pastors, church leaders, and Christians do. Rethinking and seeing the church more completely was a powerful exercise for me because I realized how ineffective I was at including the unchurched in my thoughts and church activities. The world is a dark place, and God’s plan to bring light to the world is through local churches—churches like yours and mine. While my heart was right with Jesus, my efforts to reach people far from Christ needed to expand. Realigning my heart with Jesus’ heart meant conversion growth would be central to everything I would do moving forward. If I were to fulfill Christ’s mandate, I could no longer focus only on the needs and activities of Christians. If unchurched people were to experience conversion to Christ, I needed to include the unchurched in my strategy, decision making and church activities. To reach people far from Christ, I not only had to make some personal changes in my life, I also had to rethink my church model and do things differently.

LIVING WITH A SENSE OF URGENCY My wife and I have been married 37 years and have 14 children. That’s right, 14 children. We tell people that our favorite scripture verse is, “be fruitful and multiply.” Ha. We once lived in the suburbs where I worked as a chemical engineer until I became a pastor and moved my family to the inner city. Living with the daily reality of violence and brokenness has instilled a passion within me to see the

church get out of the seats and into the streets to fulfill its world-changing mandate. I have a murder map hanging in my home and office as well as five bullets that I carry in my pocket every day. These real-life reminders press me to pray and live each day with a sense of urgency to love and reach people far from Christ. Jesus’ heart breaks for the helplessness, heartache and hopelessness which surrounds me. Lives are on the line, and it’s incumbent upon us, as pastors, church leaders, and Christians, to reconnect with the unchurched in our city. We must live with a sense of urgency for the countless lives trapped in darkness, waiting for the hope we need to share.

WHAT’S TRUE OF CONVERSION-GROWING CHURCHES? As I travel and speak at conferences, I’m often asked, “Is there a single factor you find in conversion- growing churches?” I’ve discovered that God uses all kinds of churches, in all kinds of different ways, with all kinds of different methods and styles. We oftentimes say, “There’s one church, many expressions. Every expression is valuable and greatly needed to reach the vast variety of people on this planet.” However, there is one factor that stands out in every conversion-growing church, regardless of denomination or size. Conversion-growing churches have a passion for lost people and have translated that passion into regular activities that connect church people with unchurched people.

Conversion-growing churches have intentionally developed a culture where pastors, church leaders and Christians regularly extend themselves and their congregations in relationships with the unchurched. These vibrant churches don’t expect members to infiltrate the unchurched culture on their own. Pastors and church leaders with a passion for people far from Christ act as a catalyst,

mobilizing their congregations out of the seats and into the streets in consistent activities that empower connections with the unchurched.

DOING CHURCH DIFFERENTLY

Christianity is sometimes described as an upside-down kingdom. If you want to become greatest, you must become a servant. If you want to live, you must die. These commands show the counter-intuitive nature of Christianity.

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins makes the case that the enemy to greatness is oftentimes the very good you’re currently doing. To achieve greatness, you don’t do better at the good things you’re already doing. Rather, achieving greatness requires a whole different set of beliefs and actions. Oftentimes, the very thinking and actions that will move you to greatness are contrary to the good that is currently being done.5 Consider the sport of high jumping. For years, athletes trained tirelessly in jumping higher and higher. They worked on their speed, lifted weights and refined their technique, but they only

increased their jumping by inches. When Dick Fosbury decided to jump backwards, this radically changed everything. The winning jumps increased by feet instead of inches, completely altering the sport of high jumping.

What if the good things we’re doing in ministry keep us from accomplishing great things? What if getting better means doing church differently? After 29 years of ministry, I’ve found that cutting-edge solutions for the church are not found in doing good things better, but rather, in doing completely different things.

REACHING OUR FULL POTENTIAL Pastors and church leaders have an amazing call to lead local churches to fulfill Jesus’ mission—a calling we never take lightly. When we allow God to realign our hearts with the unchurched, we’ll rethink church with the unchurched in mind. We’ll do church uniquely different so that conversion growth becomes our reality. Just as God’s heart is for the unchurched so also should we, the church, respond with a heart for the unchurched. It is with this heart and passion that I join with pastors, church leaders and Christians in working toward the day when every local church reaches its full potential.

STEP 1 SUMMARY Step 1 challenges us to rethink our church paradigm and reshape our church model to reach the unchurched. Unleashing the power of the church is critical to accomplishing God’s dream for his church. Thinking about God’s heart for the unchurched empowers us to help our congregation come alive and get out of the seats and into the streets to impact a lost and broken world.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What impacted you most about Step I?

2. What thoughts do you have after reading the letter from your non- Christian neighbor?

3. How would you describe your passion for people far from Christ?

4. How many people have you led to Christ in the past year?

5. What good things could you stop doing to become great at seeing

lost people come to Christ?

Key Concept: God’s heart is for lost people. Allowing God to realign our hearts with the unchurched is critical. If church is primarily focused on believers, is it time to consider doing church differently? Application: Take an honest look at your church. Is it “faulty” as the pastor from Europe described? Is your church structured only for your congregation, or is it also structured and ready to reach the unchurched? Pray, search the scriptures and allow God to realign your heart with His heart for those far from Him.