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What if people DESIRED church like chicken McNuggets?

Police: US woman punched McDonald's drive-through window because restaurant had no McNuggets. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100104/koddities/us_odd_mcnugget_arrest

 

Can you believe the thoughts of passion, desire, expectation, anticipation and stimulation that were occurring in this woman's mind over the idea that her McNuggets were coming soon?

Her emotions were so high that when she was met with the lack thereof and was forced to face the inevitable ("no McNugget for you") her only response was one of outrage and retaliation. 

Think about it for a moment. As church leaders, this MUST be our goal! When people come to our churches, we must serve up such an appetite-pleasing, palate-soothing, spiritual experience that they hunger to come back again!

I remember some years ago telling our staff, "We must create such incredible worship experiences and encounters with God that our worship events would become crave-able." If people aren't craving what we are feeding, they won't drive through again. Instead, they will seek fulfillment elsewhere. So, the question is:

Are your worship experiences creating such passion and spiritual appetites that they are crave-able? If not...  WHY NOT?

3-LEGS OF A STRONG CHURCH

In a strong church there is an essential element called BALANCE. Balance is always difficult to reach, and at times may seem impossible to maintain. However, all the strong, vibrant, growing & maturing churches I have observed are maintaining balance on these 3 legs...

1. LOCAL. They have a heart for their local community. It shows by their willingness to sacrifice, reach and serve the WHOLE community. They schedule time & resources to meet the needs outside of their own four walls.
2. REGIONAL.  They are not short sighted. They develop partnerships, networks, and don't become exclusive. They have a feeling of responsibility for other communities beyond their immediate reach. Many times this manifests in church planting, service projects and serving other churches with outreach projects.
3. GLOBAL. Finally, a strong well balanced church will be INVOLVED with growing the Kingdom of God globally. This is not just a line on the church budget or another check to relieve the feelings of guilt, but a well thought out STRATEGY that moves individuals to GO & BE the church to the world. This is an ACTION step, where intentionality rules!

With these 3 legs in min...how strong is your church? What's missing? What is your next step?

Why It’s Worth It

Is it really worth the extra effort, energy and planning to establish and maintain a multi-ethnic church? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? After all, only 2.5% of mainline Protestant churches can be described as multi-ethnic so why should my church be any different?

The short answer is a resounding, “Yes!” It is absolutely worth it. That only leaves the question of why it’s worth it. A multi-ethnic church:

•  truly mirrors culture - We are a diverse world, nation and, more often than not, community. Should not our churches look like the community we serve?

• greatly impacts culture - It illustrates the available potential we have when we tear down walls of prejudice and various -ism’s.

• rightly represents heaven - There are no seating assignments in heaven based on race, socio-economic status, denomination, education or any other box society likes to put people into. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a taste of that before we get there?

Yes. It takes extra effort, energy and planning to be multi-ethnic. But the rewards are unbelievably limitless. Imagine what we could do in our world when we stand united: one voice, one people serving one God.

5 Musts for Multi-Ethnic Churches

Being ethnically diverse is at the heart of who Cornerstone is and why we do church the way we do. On more than one occasion we’ve been asked how we maintain such a multi-ethnic congregation. We have found there are 5 "musts" for any church that wants to be multi-ethnic:

1.   You must have conviction.

2.   You must have intention.

3.   You must have education.

4.   You must have adaptation.

5.   You must have exclusion.

The first must is conviction. Breaking ethnic barriers must be a conviction your church carries. Miriam-Webster defines conviction as a “strong belief.” You must strongly believe that:

-   God’s desire is that His church be multi-ethnic

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations (people groups), baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

-   Not being multi-ethnic in approach is a sin

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism…if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin...You are guilty of breaking the law.  James 2:1 & 9 (NIV/NLT)

-   Multi-ethnic unity reflects God’s love

I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  John 17:23 (NIV)

Remember, conviction drives choices. In choosing to be a multi-ethnic church you must first have a conviction to be one.

LONELY IN LEADERSHIP?

All leaders know the feelings that come with leadership, misunderstandings, burn-out, rejection, criticism & many times a feeling of great loneliness. If you have never felt this great feeling of loneliness, you have never been called out to go against the flow, and run with a new big vision.

With great vision comes great "separation." What I mean by that is when you have a HUGE vision, you have to run far ahead of all the others you are leading. This leads to many questions and concerns for the future. So you have to give time for those you lead to catch up with you. But you can't allow yourself to fall into fear, or discouragement or doubt during this "catching up time." Rather you have to press into the promise God gave you with the vision and know, God says...  I have purposed it; I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:9-11). 

So when you are running with a big vision, communicate, communicate & communicate the vision to others, this will lessen the time span of loneliness, when you feel you are the only one that "really gets it."

So to recap... When loneliness comes... Commune with God and Communicate vision to others.