Does Your Church Have an Open-Roof Policy?

Many churches today unintentionally turn their backs on those who need Jesus the most. There is an inward focus-we go to our Bible studies, we take care of one another, we listen to our favorite Christian music-basically, our activities are directed towards those already claiming Christ as their Savior.

One day Jesus addressed this with both word and deed. The story is so familiar to most believers we forget the message within. Jesus was teaching in a home. Pretty soon the home was filled to overflowing, with people standing in the doors and windows just to hear Jesus speak.

For the crowd, the meeting was about them. What could they get? What could they learn? What could Jesus offer them? Churches today are filled with well-meaning Christians with similar attitudes. You can hear it in their self-centered words:

• We love this church because it is so convenient for us
• We go to this church because our kids love the day care
• This church makes me feel better about myself

If your ministry has become focused on the already-convinced, then it’s time for an open-roof policy. Out of the entire crowd in and around the house that day, at least four people got it. These four had a crippled friend who desperately needed Jesus, and they were determined to go to any lengths to get him there.

In his book "It", Pastor Craig Groeschel outlines some very practical lessons from these four friends. First, they recognized their friend needed Jesus. Too many believers forget that the lost really need Jesus.

We also see that it took four different people to get this one to Jesus. Reaching people is not just the pastor’s job; it’s everyone’s job. We do our part, others do their part, and God does his. We’re never the answer; Jesus always is.

The story also tells us that love overcomes obstacles. Their love for their friend compelled them to climb on the roof and tear a hole in it so they could lower their friend right in front of Jesus. They didn’t worry about what everyone would say-they were focused on getting their friend to Jesus.

The open roof policy depicted in this story is another way of saying your church has to be outwardly-focused. 

• Do whatever it takes to make your ministry a place that welcomes those who don’t know Christ
• Your ministry must have a clear, consistent presentation of Jesus’ story
• Leaders need real faith; if you believe with every fiber in your body that Christ can and will instantly transform a life, people will sense it, feel it, and believe it as well

Identify the barriers that are keeping your church from reaching others – and then tear the roof off of them!

Chazown

My seminary experience didn't include Greek or Hebrew (officially anyway, but that's another story). My daughter is taking Greek now and loves it, so I always have a ready reference. I know enough that to really get behind the ideas the biblical writers were trying to convey, you have to look at words in the original language.

Such is the case with the Hebrew word "chazown" - vision. Craig Groeschel's book by the same name is proving to be very instructive in my pursuit of the concept of vision. Here's a sample:

Four Gifts

1. The vision God gives you will bring focus to your life
2. With vision also comes endurance
3. Vision brings peace
4. True vision brings great passion

When you get a vision for what God has in mind for your life, things change.

A lot.

Catalyst Countdown: 2 days...

Kingdom-Mindedness

I had read several of Craig Groeschel's books prior to Catalyst last year in Atlanta. I had heard him speak online several times. But it was really his main stage presentation at the Catalyst event, coupled with his last book "it", that leads me to close Speed Reading Week with a focus on one chapter of "it" - Kingdom-Mindedness: You Share it.

Groeschel opens the chapter with this quote:

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others

and the world remains and is immortal.

-Albert Pine

There are very few ministries in this country (maybe in the world) that do so much for others with no expectations. Here's just a sampling of the work they have provided - free - for anyone to use in their own church:

• YouVersion


• Open.LifeChurch.tv


• Second Life campus


• Swerve blog


• OnePrayer movement


• Facebook application for their Internet campus


• ChurchMetrics


• VideoTeaching.com


• YouVersion Bible app


• Bablewith.me

I'll let you go online and take a look at these resources on your own (LifeChurch.tv). Craig Groeschel and the amazing team at LifeChurch really get "it".

Here are a couple of thoughts from "it" that sum up LifeChurch pretty well:

A kingdom-minded ministry is one whose leaders care more about what God is doing everywhere than what God is doing in their own ministry. A kingdom-minded ministry is generous and eager to partner with other to get more done for the glory of God.

And some it factors:

• The more possessive and competitive we are, the more divided we become


• When you have it, you know that it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to God. He gives it


• Since it is His and not yours, you're willing to share it


• The more you try to keep it, the less of it you tend to have. The more you are willing to give it away, the more of it God seems to give.

What can you do? More than you think.

It

It is not a model, system, or program.
It changes lives.
It attracts criticism.
For those of you that have it, you can lose it.
For those of you that don’t have it, you can get it.

These opening remarks at Catalyst 2008 by Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch, outlined his journey from the early days of ministry to today. Groeschel came to cal this powerful, life-changing force It. His powerful talk centered on these phases of life:

• Stretch me
• Ruin me
• Heal me

A summary statement that for me, says it all:

Your heart should break for the things that break the heart of God.