God's Mission for the Church

God’s Mission for the Church
Acts 1: 6 – 9

I. Introduction.

In October 2007, I was elected co-chairman of the BGCT Future Focus Committee. Our committee was assigned the responsibility of taking an honest look at the current state of our state convention and dreaming about what the future would look like for our convention. One of the first things we did as a committee was to look at the trends over the previous ten years. We looked at Cooperative Program giving and the number of churches participating in missions and ministry through the state convention. Perhaps the scariest statistic we looked at were the number of churches that disbanded between 1995 and 2008.


The Baptist General Convention of Texas is a changing association of churches. While the number of churches in the Convention has remained around 5,600 the churches making up that number has changed. In 1995 there were 5,587 churches in the BGCT. In 2008 there are 5,622 churches in the BGCT. In that time the BGCT has lost 1,069 churches to the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. Interestingly the BGCT has lost more to church disbanding than to the competing convention (1,527). There have been 3,353 churches added to the Convention and 3,318 churches lost. The ethnic makeup of the convention is vastly different. In 1995 Anglo churches made up 75% of the Convention. Today, Anglo churches makeup 57% of the churches in the Convention. In 1995, 33% of the churches now a part of the BGCT were not a part of the Convention (From “Future Focus Committee Report,” November 16, 2009).


In the 13 year period from 1995 through 2008, 1,527 Baptist churches in Texas closed their doors. That is an average of 117 churches closing each year and 9.7 churches closing each month!

The phenomenon of churches closing their doors is not confined to Baptist churches in Texas. Just this week, I heard about a church in Massachusetts that sold its buildings to a real estate developer for $200,000 (http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1112767464/Whitman-s-former-First-Baptist-Church-building-sold-to-local-broker-Richard-Rosen ).

And, have you heard about what is going on with the Crystal Cathedral in Southern California?

In 1955, a pastor named Robert Schuller moved to Southern California with a dream to start a new kind of church. The Reformed Church of America gave him $500 to start a church. Since he didn’t have a building, he considered 10 different venues for his new church. His first nine choices were not available for a new church, so he went with his 10th choice—a drive-in movie theater.

For the first several years, Schuller preached from the roof of the snack bar to a congregation of people sitting in their cars. (I assume they listened through those little speakers outside the driver’s side window.)

Eventually, the church built their first chapel, three miles away from the drive-in theater. But, there were so many people who wanted to keep the drive-in venue, that Schuller preached an early service at the chapel and a later service at the drive-in.

This was the inspiration for the Crystal Cathedral. It was a church with glass walls and a two-story podium. That way, Schuller could preach to two congregations at the same time. One congregation was a “walk-in” church. The other was a “drive-in” church parked in their cars outside.

In the 1970’s, Robert Schuller was the first preacher to broadcast his weekly services to a nation-wide audience. His program was called “The Hour of Power.” It is still regarded as the most watched Christian broadcast in the world.

In 2006, Robert Schuller retired as pastor of the Crystal Cathedral and handed over the reigns to his son, Robert A. Schuller. Robert A. Schuller was an innovator like his father. He took the church and began to implement new ministries and new ways of doing church. But, it didn’t last long. In 2008, Robert A. Schuller was fired as pastor of his father’s church. The group of church leaders calling for his termination was led by his own sister, Sheila Schuller Coleman. Then, in October 2010, the Crystal Cathedral filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

What happened to the Crystal Cathedral? I suppose it can be attributed to two relatively simple problems. Perhaps, it is just that difficult to replace a pastor who has been leading the church for over 50 years. The official position of the Crystal Cathedral is that their bankruptcy is fall out from the economic recession. (However, I do not believe the recession can explain their $43.5 Million debt. I do not believe a church can rack up a debt that size in just a couple of years.)

Some people attribute the demise of the Crystal Cathedral to their success. Think about it… Robert Schuller was one of the most innovative church leaders of the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and even the 80’s. In the 1990’s, however, he continued to do exactly the same things that led to his success in previous years. The church was comfortable with their success and no longer thought it necessary to innovate—to try something new and different. When a new pastor came along with new ideas, the church preferred to remain comfortable doing the same things they had done for the previous 50 years. In the end, it was more comfortable for the church to fire their innovative new pastor than to change.

http://churchexecutive.com/archives/crystal-hubris

http://www.crystalcathedral.org/about/history.php

http://www.ocregister.com/news/housing-282823-court-southard.html?plckOnPage=4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Cathedral

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Schuller


Of course, this raises a question for me about the ultimate mission for the church. The mission of the church is not something to be entrusted to one man, regardless of how innovative or successful this man has been in the past. The mission of the church is not something to be decided democratically by a vote of the church membership. Ultimately, the mission of the church is something we ought to receive from God.

One of the best places to find this mission is in Jesus’ final words to his disciples before he ascended into heaven…

There are basically two stories of the Ascension of Jesus described in the New Testament. Matthew and Luke tell it just a little differently. They both tell us that Jesus ascended while the disciples stood watching. And they both tell us that Jesus gave his disciples instructions about what to do until he returned again.

In Matthew 28, we read that right before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave us the Great Commission…Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age (Matthew 28: 19 – 20).”

Luke tells this just a little differently…

Read Acts 1: 6 – 9

6 So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.(NIV)



After speaking these words, the relationship between Jesus and the disciples changed forever. Once they had been able to see Jesus and touch Jesus and experience Jesus through their physical senses. But now, they could only experience Jesus in the same way we experience Jesus today—through our Spiritual Senses.


II. You Shall BE My Witnesses.

Notice that Jesus did NOT begin this Purpose Statement by describing what he wanted the church to DO…He began by describing what the church should BE…

I want to try to capture what Jesus said about BEING in just one phrase, “You shall BE my witnesses.”

As a product of modern American TV culture, the word “witness” always makes me think about a court of law…Perry Mason…Matlock…Law & Order…Boston Legal… If you ever watch these programs, you know that a trial can be won or lost (at least a TV trial) by the testimony of one witness…

What makes a witness a good witness? In my opinion, there are three things that separate good witnesses from bad witnesses.

First…A good witness must tell the truth…

Second…A good witness must be willing to speak out regardless the cost…

Third…And perhaps most importantly, a good witness must tell his or her own story…

A good witness can never tell someone else’s story…She must tell her own story…As it truly happened to her…As she experienced it…

When Jesus described the church as his witnesses, that is exactly what he had in mind…The church is to tell the world the story about a real-life experience with Jesus.

The idea of mission (witness) must begin with a real-life experience with the risen Lord, Jesus…The Holy Spirit will come upon you…Then you will receive POWER…Then you will BECOME witnesses…Witnesses with a story to tell about a real-life experience (a life changing experience) with the risen Lord, Jesus.

This is what Jesus was describing when he told us to BE his witnesses. We must witness—or experience—a real life encounter with Jesus that can be seen by other people when they are around us…


III. You Shall DO My Witnessing.

Once Jesus established what the church was to BE, he could describe what he wanted the church to DO…In particular, Jesus wanted the church to DO his witnessing in the world…Now that Jesus would no longer be present in a physical sense, he needed someone, anyone, the church to DO his work on earth.

How did Jesus want this work done? At this point we need to make a decision about the text. What do we believe about the book of Acts? Who originally came up with these words? There are basically 2 choices about this text…


1. Did Luke write these words? Some interpret these words to be a kind of outline that describes in spatial terms what Luke is about to spell out through the rest of the book of Acts. In other words, the first few chapters describe the spread of the Gospel in the city of Jerusalem. Then, we read about how the Gospel went through all Judea and Samaria. Then, the book of Acts closes as the Gospel begins to move into the remotest parts of the earth…

2. Did Jesus really say this? Others believe that Jesus spoke these words as a helpful way for the disciples to understand how to spread the Gospel from Jerusalem and then around the world…

I believe that Jesus really did give this command or mission to his disciples. But what did Jesus really intend? I mean, why did Jesus say: Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth? Again, we have 2 choices…

1. Did Jesus select 3 general areas at random that didn’t really mean anything to him or his disciples?

2. Or did Jesus select 3 specific areas that he truly wanted the church to focus on.
Jerusalem…Literally the city of Jerusalem. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we ought to travel to Jerusalem and begin witnessing in the streets. Some people may be called to do that. But Jerusalem is the very city that the disciples lived in and it was the physical location they were in right that moment.

For you and me, this means the city of Lufkin…It means the brothers and sisters, friends, classmates and coworkers that we see every day of our lives. If you want to follow Jesus’ command, then you must begin by witnessing to the people that see you every day of your life!

Judea and Samaria…Literally the two adjacent regions of Judea and Samaria. This is a larger area that includes people that looked just like the disciples and Samaritan people who are a different race from the disciples. For you and me, this means that we must begin our witnessing at home, witnessing to the people who know us the best. Then, we must move outward to the people who live around us but are not our personal friends and family…It includes people who look like us and enjoy the same kinds of things we enjoy…But it also includes people who do not look like us…People of every race and nationality…

The Ends of the Earth…Literally, these are the people whom the disciples have never met and the people whom the disciples must specifically make an effort to go and witness to. In each of the above groups, it would be possible for the disciples to witness and evangelize through the normal course of their daily lives. But these are the people who can only be reached through a specific mission trip or a missionary effort…


IV. Conclusion.

In which of these 3 places was it most difficult to BE a witness and to DO the work of witnessing? Jerusalem…Does that surprise you?…Jerusalem was the place where Jesus had been crucified…Imagine trying to convince those people Jesus was alive…They had watched him die on the cross!

It is the same for us today…Jerusalem is the place where we live…The people who see us every day…It’s hard to witness to people who know when you sin…

How well does Lufkin’s First Baptist, measure up to the mission that Jesus gave us? Remotest parts of the earth… Judea and Samaria… But what about Jerusalem? What kind of mission and ministry are we doing within a 20-mile radius of this sanctuary?

How will you help us to witness in Lufkin?

An influential book for me was W. Oscar Thompson’s book Concentric Circles of Concern. In the book, Thompson says every person has 7 circles of influence that share the same center point. You are the center point. Self…Immediate Family…Relatives…Close Friends…Neighbors / Business Associates…Acquaintances…Person X.

Two of Thompson’s major themes = we witness to each of these concentric circles through Love (“meeting needs”) = to skip from self to Person X without first witnessing to each of the other circles is hypocrisy.