"God is ready to roll out His ekklesia"

"God is ready to roll out His ekklesia"

December 29, 2015

Steve Simms, in his recent book, BEYOND CHURCH: An Invitation to Experience the Lost Word of the Bible, distinguishes between two words.

Church.  In 1611, the translators of the King James Version of the bible chose to completely drop the Greek meaning of ekklesia and replace it with the English word "church" which meant "a religious building".  King James I, ordered the fifty-four translators of the King James version to use this word for largely political reasons.

Ekklesia.  This is the "lost word of the Bible".  It refers not to a building but to the "called out ones".  It implies "an open, participatory, interactive assembly of equal people". Every time the word "church" is used in the KJV or the NIV or many other versions, the underlying Greek word is ekklesia. (Easy to see why King James might not like this word!)

Recently Steve wrote in his blog...

God has used traditional church, and will continue to do so, but He wants to do so much more in the 21st Century. He’s ready to roll out His ekklesia, controlled not by a man, a method, a program, or an organization; but by the presence and power of His Spirit.

That's exactly our mission here at LK10! Equipping people to multiply God's ekklesias around the world.  And, we rely on the gifts and prayers of friends like you to prepare Jesus followers to join God in "rolling out His ekklesia".

In these last days of 2015, we are still $1000 short in monthly contributions.  Your gift of any amount will help make up the difference!  (And, the great news is that any commitment you make will be doubled through matching funds.)

To make a monthly commitment or to make a one time end of the year contribution, go here

Thank you for your help in fulfilling our mission to join God in "rolling out His ekklesia" in this next year!

Warmly,

John White

5 Ways to Better Understand Your Unchurched Community

5 Ways to Better Understand Your Unchurched Community

By Gavin Adams

SERIES SUMMARY:

Every church leader facing a growth barrier desperately wants to break through, because every church leader, including me, desires a growing, thriving church. Not because church attendance is the only measure of success, but because increasing attendance is proof that people are being reached.
I’d like to ask a better question: What if instead of just breaking through a specific barrier we were able to barrier-proof our church? Pause for a moment and imagine never hitting a growth wall again.
I believe barrier-proofing is possible for every church in any denomination, and that’s exactly what we are going to evaluate in this blog series.
I have discovered 6 specific ingredients to create continuous growth in your church. In this post, we are going to look at the second ingredient:

Ingredient 2: KNOWING YOUR TARGET MARKET.

I spent a decade in the marketplace before transitioning into ministry. Most of those years were spent in marketing, specifically working with companies to better acquire new customers and increase the frequency of visits and/or purchases from current customers. As a business, that is how you increase revenue. It’s fundamental.
In the church, the same premise is true. We can grow attendance by reaching new people or increasing the frequency of our current attendees. The latter would make numbers look better and probably help each individual spiritually grow, but the Kingdom would not grow. And capital “K” Kingdom growth, not simply my church growth, is the real goal.
Therefore, to state the obvious, growth through sheep stealing is not good growth. If people leave another church to attend our church, the Kingdom does not win.
That said, growing The Church while growing as a church requires reaching the unchurched. Here is the great news: There are far more unchurched people in your community than empty seats in your church. In fact, there are probably more unchurched people in your community than empty seats in all the local churches combined. In the business community, that is wonderful news. Plenty of potential customers. It’s a target rich environment.
Now, we just need to reach them, because if your church can learn to consistently reach the unchurched, your church will never lack for growth.

UNDERSTANDING THE UNCHURCHED

To understand how to reach the unchurched, let’s go back to the business community again. In the marketplace, when a company wishes to reach a specific market, they conduct market research. Lot’s of market research. Days, weeks, and sometimes years are spent organizing focus groups, testing products, retesting products, developing packaging, determining price points, and then beta testing to a larger audience. It’s a lengthy and systematic process, but the results provide a business with a product that drives purchase decisions for their intended market.
Again, the principles from the marketplace to ministry are transferable. To reach the unchurched, we must know the unchurched.
Here are 5 tips to help you and your church better understand the unchurched in your community: 

1. Know your target market — literally.

If we say we are concerned with the unchurched in our community, but have no personal relationships or friendships with anyone outside the faith, we have no moral authority to lead others to invest in the unchurched and we will only understand them second-hand. If we as church leaders hope to understand the unchurched community, we must get to know them personally.
This is primarily why I play tennis. I love the game, and I love any sort of competition, but the fundamental reason I participate in tennis is to build relationships with people who are unchurched. Over the years, I have built meaningful connections with dozens of people who are far from God, and these relationships have helped me lead our church in new, fresh ways. These relationships have also created a path for me to share the gospel and invite unchurched friends to church.
At Watermarke, my approach to leading, speaking, and preaching on Sunday has been informed by the unchurched relationships I’ve formed. It keeps me connected to the target.

2. Understand their problems — intimately.

In many, or even most, cases, the unchurched community suffers from the same problems as the churched people. Things like marriage, parenting, contentment, lack of purpose, and loss of hope create problems on both sides of faith. How unchurched people process these issues will be different, and therefore require a different approach.
When you begin to know unchurched people, you must also investigate their problems and how they process for solutions. While we might agree that Jesus is ultimately their need, they will certainly not recognize this truth on their own — hence they are unchurched.

3. Study your church through their eyes.

Most unchurched people will remain unchurched because they’ve been to church before. We could consider most unchurched people to be de-churched. Unfortunately, most will assume that your church is the same as all the others, including those where they had bad church experiences.
If you want to know how unchurched people see The Church, you have several options. I’ve read about a dozen books to date, and they’ve all been helpful. You can search through articles and blogs. You can attend conferences. But if you really want to know what your unchurched people think of your church, not just The Church, you need to ask them directly.
When I meet an unchurched person in my community, whenever possible, I ask them: “What do you think when you hear the word ‘church.’” Then I follow up with one more question: “What do you think about ‘Watermarke Church?’” Those two simple questions have help me understand so much about reaching the unchurched in my community.
Personal questions are great, but I’ve also solicited feedback through surveys. It might sound crazy, but paying unchurched people to attend your church and complete a survey after the service might be your best learning tool. I have invited so many people to Watermarke for the simple purpose of getting their informal and formal feedback—and I’m always shocked at how willing they are to “help” me and how honest they are about their experience.
Ask some people who are not connected to the church to visit your church to help you understand what they are seeing. Their perspective will be invaluable.

4. Pay attention to culture.

I’ve stopped listening to Christian radio. Partially because it’s all just too happy, but mostly because I want to know what the unchurched world around me is experiencing. Of course, there are limits (let’s not get all “slippery-sloped”), but I know engulfing myself in Christian circles insulates me from the culture I’m trying to reach. We can’t be insulated from the world and reach the world.
I listen to current music. I watch current movies. I watch current television programming. All to a point, and all for a point. Being a student of culture helps leaders understand those participating in the culture — especially those we want to reach.

5. Analyze their demographics, socioeconomics, and lifestyle choices.

All unchurched people are not the same. That’s like suggesting baptist are the same as catholics who are just like methodist. The unchurched should not be stereotyped or lumped into large categories. The more you can understand the makeup of your unchurched community, the better you will be able to design experiences, and eventually a church, that reaches them where they are. And, your church will be positioned to grow continuously.
If you are in a family heavy environment like we are at Watermarke Church, then your programming and church offerings should reflect and appeal to that demographic. If you’re executing ministry in a more urban context, your attempts to reach the unchurched must reflect the demographics of your target.
Same for socioeconomics. An unchurched, white collar community will be drawn to different churches than a blue collar community.
From a lifestyle perspective, it’s good to know where the unchurched people in your community are on Sunday? When the church people are at church, where are the unchurched people? If you don’t know, it’s going to be very difficult to reach them.
One last thing: While the unchurched community might be segmented into demographics, we can never treat them as a target market. Target markets are great for research, but they make for terrible relationships. God changes people, not projects or targets. We can’t empathize with a target market, and we don’t minister to population segments. Evaluate your community in total, but love your community one person at at time, because they are not a project to accomplish, they are people who God loves.
If you aren’t sure how to reach the unchurched in your community, get to know them personally. That’s a great first step. It’s also a great excuse to play some tennis!

John Fenn, Self-centered/Right #3 (Marriage/Divorce)

Hi all,

This series is about tzedakah, righteousness in Hebrew, and my statement that a true disciple of Jesus (not just a believer, but a disciple) cannot live a self-focused life, but will undergo a process in which the Lord brings them through self-centeredness to turn outward towards others as they mature in Him.

 

Church culture teaches righteousness is just vertical, meaning 'right standing with God', but in Judaism a person cannot have right standing before God unless they also are in right standing before man.

 

Jesus made statements concerning adultery, fornication, divorce, and remarriage which can only be understood within the framework of tzedakah and the Jewish law of the day.

 

Here is the Israeli divorce law, from Deuteronomy 24:1-4:

"When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man's wife. And if the second husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the second husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her first husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife...(she is allowed to become a third man's wife)."

 

That was it - that was the whole Israeli divorce law, and over the centuries debate raged under what conditions a man might divorce his wife.

 

Jesus is addressing the law of Deuteronomy 24 and the law of the day

The law of Jesus' day followed what a Rabbi named Hillel taught: That if the wife did something as minor as ruining what she was cooking and served a bad meal, it was grounds for divorce. Others said a man could divorce his wife simply if he found someone more beautiful than her.

 

Hillel's law WAS the law in Jesus' day - any man or woman* could divorce in a 'no fault' divorce just because they wanted someone better looking or the wife had cooked a bad meal or any other reason. Jesus' comments were focused directly against that law as He taught God's original intent.  *Mark 10:12

 

Therefore to lift what Jesus said outside of Hillel's law and apply it to marriage and divorce today, is totally misrepresenting what Jesus was addressing here and has led to the bondage of many.

 

Why did God give divorce?

When Jesus was asked why God issued the divorce law if He intended man/wife to be together for life, He said it was 'due to the hardness of men's hearts'*, meaning to be just, the Father had to provide a way of escape for an innocent spouse should their spouse harden his or her heart against them. *Matthew 19:18

 

A hard heart in marriage was considered to include sex outside of marriage, neglect, abandonment, and physical or mental abuse. For any of those reasons God allows divorce. In every covenant there must be a way of escape if the covenant is broken, and divorce is the way of escape in a marriage for the innocent spouse - but the best case scenario is that a couple is together all their lives.

 

Modern contracts and covenants

For example: In a business contract there is a always an 'escape clause' to protect each person or company. If you default on your mortgage, the way of escape for the bank is to get that house back and you to leave without any civil penalty. If you buy a house that is faulty and the seller knew it, there is provision for you to back out or make them repair it. And on it goes - in every covenant or contract there is a way of escape should one party fail to keep their terms of the covenant. Divorce is the God-provided 'escape clause' if spouse fails the covenant by hardening their heart against their spouse.

 

We have to define 'adultery' and 'fornication' as Jesus did

"You have heard it said of them of old time, You shall not commit adultery": But I say to you that whoever looks on another woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart...It has been said, *Whoever wants to divorce his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce. But I say to you, that whoever divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries her that is divorced commits adultery." Matthew 5:28-32

 

*He is addressing the no-fault, for any reason law of the day. Jesus defined adultery as an affair of the heart, the imagination of a sexual relationship. To understand accurately what He is saying, we must understand it from tzedakah. Tzedakah says a man is not in right standing before God unless He is in right standing with his fellow man, and that horizontal righteousness starts in his marriage. Adultery is one spouse having imaginary sex/affair with another, making them unrighteous in that area. Today that would include porn, some TV, movies, or even articles/pictures in print that stir sexual imagination, and so on. In marriage one's imaginations should be confined to one's spouse.

 

The core reason for divorce?

Jesus said grounds for divorce is fornication, which is the act of sex outside one's marriage. Not adultery, the imagination, but rather the consummation of the imagination. The reason fornication is grounds for divorce is simple: The act of marriage is the physical consummation of vows of covenant made in the heart. For a married person to have sex with someone other than their spouse means they are consummating another covenant with the person, rendering the first void. Once revealed, it is up to the two to decide if they want to work at repairing their covenant of marriage, or leave it broken, divorce, and move on in life.

 

And as mentioned above, fornication is recognized as a hardening of one's heart against their spouse as well as abandonment, neglect, or abuse. All those are the breaking of the covenant. When a person vows words to the effect of loving, honoring, and cherishing the other all their days, and then breaks that by abusing, neglecting, or abandoning them, that too is breaking the covenant, and God's way of escape is divorce.

 

Adultery by Jesus' definition was the imagination and a classification of the nature of the relationship.

 

Therefore His statement that if a man divorces his wife for (let us say for burnt eggs) and marries another, the classification of that marriage is adulterous - it is not just before God - burnt eggs do not rise to the level of a hard heart against her husband. So to divorce her for burnt eggs is adulterous in nature, unjust against her.

 

The idea of Jesus classifying an illegal marriage in God's eyes as adulterous should not be a surprise, for we do it all the time. I've had many Christians tell me their marriage was one of lust, but then they were born again and God changed their hearts to be married for love. I've seen people enter into 'rebound' marriage(s) after a divorce or death of a spouse, to confess later they married due to loneliness. I've had men and women tell me they married for money, and only later did they adjust their heart as the Lord changed them to fall in love with their spouse. And a side note - using a reason like the above as an excuse to divorce is not just either, for in Christ all things can become new - but it will take work for them to fall in love the 'right' way.

 

So realize Jesus merely did what we do today - stating if a man/woman divorces for lust in their heart for another or for something minor like burnt eggs, that new marriage/relationship is by classification, adultery.

 

In summary, Jesus was addressing within tzedakah, the no-fault law of the day which allowed a man or woman to divorce at will. A person's righteousness vertically with God must also be horizontally first to their spouse. If they carry on an imaginary sexual affair in their mind with someone other than their spouse, they are committing adultery and aren't tzedakah in that area.

 

If they consummate that adultery with the physical act of sex with another, they are establishing a new covenant with that person, rendering their marriage covenant void, and because that was an illegal act, by classification that second marriage is adulterous in nature and not tzedakah. That consummation of another covenant by having sex with someone other than their spouse is indication of a hardening of the heart towards their spouse, and along with abuse, neglect, and abandonment, are grounds for divorce, allowing the innocent spouse a new start in life clean before the Lord.

 

I hope that clears up religious error so many people have been damaged by, and sets Jesus' words in context and the culture of the day. Next week tzedakah and understanding giving as you never have before.

 

    Blessings!

        John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

 

 

 

New CD/MP3 Series

 

What Jesus Taught Me About Holiness

Based on a 50 minute visitation with the Lord and unlocking key elements in the Word, this teaching totally upended all John thought he knew about holiness, and it changed his life. Most people think holiness is a sect involving long hair and dresses, no make up, and a generally bland life, but in fact it is simple and core to our being. Rather than rules and regulations, understanding holiness is actually the key to walking in love and learning to live from the inside out. (2 cd/MP3, $12/set or MP3 $10)

Brene Brown Returns to Church (and Finds Jesus Weeping)

Brene Brown Returns to Church (And Finds Jesus Weeping) - a better video
April 29, 2014

Some people have reported that the video of Brene Brown that I sent earlier today didn't play all the way through. (Sorry about that!)  Here's the same video on a different website which should work better.
 The LK10 Community values paying attention to our hearts (mine and yours).  In my ongoing journey of learning how to do this, no one has been more of a mentor (from a distance) to me than Brene Brown.

In this six minute video she explains what it was like for her to return to church.  Very powerful!  (You might want to play this for your house church.)

Click on the picture below to go to the website where you can watch Brene.

http://www.mbird.com/2013/07/brene-brown-reflects-on-how-jesus-wept/ 

John Fenn, Why no Rapture last week #1

Hi all,

There is a well done little movie playing in the US right now called 'Mr. Holmes'. Set in 1947, it is about detective Sherlock Holmes at age 93, trying to figure out his last case from 35 years earlier and how he got it so wrong. After he realizes the truth of the case he makes a statement that could also apply to those who were caught up in the expected rapture that didn't happen a couple weeks ago:

 

"I had gathered all the facts but failed to understand their meaning."

 

This series is about why it didn't happen 'as scheduled'
Apparently many people were worked nearly to a frenzy as they awaited the rapture, if you paid attention at all to social or Christian media. Others were awaiting a global financial meltdown on that day, or both.

 

But regular readers will remember my recent 'dream' series and e-newsletters, how I shared the Lord told me not to look for an event, but a larger process at work, though there will be several events within the process. But the rapture isn't yet. This series is about the larger process.

 

And let me say, there will be economic and political troubles in the US and world for at least the next 2 years, so don't think I am saying that all is well and there will be smooth sailing - I'm not. Times are coming in the US and world that if you don't know Him in whom you believe, and know how to walk with Him now, you could face great difficulty. But the end is not yet.

 

So why didn't the rapture happen?

After all, in 2001 and 2008 economic and other turmoil hit world markets in massive 'corrections/events' on Elul 29 in the Jewish calendar - yet in 2015 nothing happened in spite of it being a Shemitah year, in spite of blood moons, in spite of millions of books sold and the Internet buzzing with anticipation.

 

If you want to read a well written and easy to understand book on God's anniversary dates, I'd suggest the late Grant Jeffrey's, "Armageddon; Appointment with Destiny", in which he details several Jewish holy days and historical events that happened through the centuries on those dates.

 

Why didn't anything happen when it was called for? Do we just chalk it up to God being unpredictable, or is there a larger process at work? (Yes) The answer is much more serious than most realize. That's why this series is related to the fear of God - the end of school girl giddiness about the latest and greatest fad is upon us, to be replaced by a reverence of God for the season we are in.

 

First: Why would a prophecy NOT come to pass as predicted? There are several answers possible.

 

Situation #1 - they were in the flesh

This is what most first go to as an explanation - the person who gave the prophecy was speaking out of the flesh and 'missed it'. And that is possible. You can have people who study the Word and arrive at conclusions based solely on the Word without the Holy Spirit's guidance, yet they think they are right, out of a cerebral or scientific approach to faith. An example is what didn't happen this month, and also the famous book prophesying the rapture in 1988, and its sequel, why the rapture is going to happen in 1989.

 

Situation #2 - people repent

Another situation a prophecy might not happen is when a people repent, such as Jonah prophesying to Nineveh they would be overthrown in 40 days but it didn't happen. Because of their repentance the Lord withheld judgment and the prophecy did not come to pass. Jonah didn't miss it, God changed His mind based on their reaction to the prophecy of their destruction.

 

2a is related to #2 - People not repenting, but turning away from God even though they have been given powerful prophetic words, which causes a prophecy not to come to pass. An example is Moses when he came from the burning bush to prophesy to Israel that the Lord would bring them out of Egypt and into a land of milk and honey*. Yet that prophecy didn't come to pass for the nation because the people had changed their mind from following the Lord. It came to pass only for Joshua and Caleb, who followed the Lord fully. (*Exodus 3:17, 4:29-31)

 

Situation #3 - misunderstanding the revelation of the devil's plan

Another situation is seen in Acts 27:10 when Paul perceives in his spirit if they set out on the voyage "...we will lose the ship, the cargo, and our lives". But this was a situation where the Lord showed him the devil's plan of what would happen if God didn't intervene. We are told later in the chapter, after 14 days of fasting, an angel visited Paul and told him God had spared all (276 people) but they would still lose the ship and cargo. That was a case of God revealing the devil's plan so it could be stopped through prayer.

 

Many well meaning Christians have rebuked the Holy Spirit because they thought a revelation of something bad that is about to happen is the devil, not realizing it is very often the Father revealing the enemy plan so that person can pray to Him that He may legally intervene to stop it from happening.

 

Situation #4 - 'And God turned' - which is about this series

In scripture there is another reason a prophecy doesn't happen, and it is very seldom talked about or even known about I think. It involves a larger process from heaven's perspective, that isn't easily seen from earth's vantage point.

 

The question before us is, how like Sherlock Holmes in the movie mentioned above, did they gather all the facts yet fail to understand their meaning?

 

The short answer is that multiple events happen to a people over years as a sign to them in the hopes they will change their ways, and at some point when those warnings are ignored, the people are allowed to experience what they want.

 

Therefore sometimes a single event along a string of events that should have happened doesn't, because God is extending mercy yet again. But sometimes it doesn't happen because God has moved, and given them over to experience the ramifications of their actions, which is the most mild form of judgement. 

 

Paul said in Galatians 6:1-8 to restore with meekness someone caught in sin, but if they insist on going their own way just let them walk it out, for God is not mocked, He gives to each of us what we have sown. In other words, you tried, they insisted on going their own way, so even though you know better, they have to be allowed to experience the ramifications of their actions - that is God's way.

 

That's what Israel did

In Numbers 14:2 the Israelites complain for the 10th time about God's plan for them, saying: "Would to God we had died in Egypt, or that we had died in the wilderness." Going back to Egypt was not an option, but finally, after this 10th time of complaining since leaving Egypt, the Lord said starting in verse 20 to Moses:

 

"I have pardoned them as you requested...but as they've spoken in my ears so I will do to them...you will all die in the wilderness (as you requested)...everyone from 20 years and upwards who came out of Egypt..."

 

(If a reader doesn't understand how they could be forgiven yet made to pay the price for their rebellion, I suggest any of my 'Forgiveness' series, which explains a trespass is both vertical (sin) and horizontal (injury/damage). The sin can be forgiven from heaven, but the injury/damage done on earth must be accounted for.)

 

If you trace those 10 times Israel murmured and complained you'll find the Lord wanted to deal with them at each point, but Moses interceded and the Lord relented. But finally, He reached a point He was willing to go no further, and allowed them to experience exactly what they said they wanted - to die in the wilderness.

 

As Steven gives his defense in Acts 7, in verse 42 he recounts this point in Israel's history saying it this way: "And God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven..." There is a point with a people who insist they go their own way instead of God's, that He 'turns' and lets them do what they want. This gives us a clue as to why seemingly predictable divine appointments don't happen, so stay tuned.

 

I've run out of room today...continued next week...until then, blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

 

 

 

New CD/MP3 Series

 

The 7000 Year Plan of God

And the 3 Fall Festivals #1 (2 cd/MP3, $12/set or MP3 $10)

For the first time ever as a stand-alone teaching, John sits down and teaches from the Word and ancient Rabbinical sources what Judaism teaches about the resurrection of the righteous dead and their meeting with Messiah during Rosh haShanah, the days leading up to and including Yom Kippur, which is a type of the return of Jesus, and about what to expect during the 1,000 year reign of Jesus on the earth, celebrated in Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Covering all 3 fall festivals starting with understanding the rapture as foretold in the Feast of Trumpets, you'll gain a clearer understanding of the days we are living in, what will happen on earth while the body of Christ is in heaven, and insights into the millennial reign.