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    Dangerous Church: Risking Everything to Reach Everyone
    Dangerous Church: Risking Everything to Reach Everyone
    Dangerous Church: Risking Everything to Reach Everyone
    Ebook225 pages

    Dangerous Church: Risking Everything to Reach Everyone

    By John Bishop and Rick Warren

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    Dangerous churches should be norm. Church leaders and church people alike shrink back from danger because we want safety. Jesus said that he's overcome the world and its troubles. Dangerous churches put everything on the line for the one thing that matters most: reaching lost people.It's dangerous not to be a dangerous church. The book is less about methods or even the message of God, but about a church that risks everything it has to reach lost people. Living Hope was birthed 8 years ago and has grown from five families to 5000 attendees, grown from one to 19 services on many campuses, and baptized 5,000 people along the way. A dangerous church sees what "only God" can do when it acts upon what the church is supposed to be. It risks everything to reach people.God wants us to live on the edge of our margin when it comes to mission and methods. So much of Living Hope's journey has been going back to the Book of Acts and trying to live authentically with the givens of who they were, where they were and what they had to work with. They learned to abandon agendas and short-sighted human plans, especially ones that copy what other churches are doing. That's when they found God's blessing. "We went from being a good church to being God-honoring church," he reports.Drawing insight from the book of Acts, this book unfolds the very personal journey of a pastor, and then his entire church, when they finally began to live a dangerous faith. The transition had a dramatic impact on the pastor's life and marriage, as well as on the congregation and its outreach. It opened a new sense of mission and incredible spiritual fruitfulness. The pastor is not only a radically different person today, but the entire church has become an atmosphere that values taking dangerous steps of faith. It will lead Christ's followers to become risk-takers who change the world through a revolution that begins with a dangerous grace. The book is story-rich with examples of the grace-filled culture from Living Hope Church through the experiences of its pastor, John Bishop. It will avoid a smug attitude that implies "we've arrived," "we're the first to live out grace" or "we're the best at giving grace." Instead, the book will convey a humble attitude of "we've got a lot to learn," including examples of mistakes the church has made along the way. The rapid transition of Living Hope will not be projected as a speed for other churches to follow (lest the book invite a crash-and-burn outcome at other churches). Thus the book will find its primary story in and from Living Hope.In 2007 Outreach Magazine ranked Living Hope as the seventh fastest growing schurh in the US. They have also been listed among the 50 most influential churches in America.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateApr 19, 2011
    ISBN9780310302315
    Author

    John Bishop

    John Bishop is the Senior Pastor and cofounder of Living Hope Church, one of the fastest growing churches in America with campuses in the northwestern United States, Hawaii, and New Zealand. He earned a Masters of Arts in Evangelism and Transformational Leadership from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He and his wife, Michelle, live in Vancouver, Washington with their children David, Katie, and Hannah.

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      Book preview

      Dangerous Church - John Bishop

      INTRODUCTION

      IS YOUR CHURCH DANGEROUS?

      I LOVE QUESTIONS, ESPECIALLY WHEN I AM THE ONE WHO GETS TO ASK them. As a dad, I love to ask questions that will cause my children to ponder, to wrestle with ideas, to think outside the box. And as I look over my life as a leader, I see that the most meaningful things in my life I have learned not because I was told what to think but because I was asked a question. When we study the life of Jesus, we find that he often spent more time asking questions than giving answers. He had a divine ability to ask questions in a way that pierced agendas and motives, helping people discover truth.

      You may have picked up this book because you have questions — about what it means to be a dangerous church, how to reach the lost, how to lead a church that truly makes a difference and has an impact on the world and on your community. You may also have some worries about whether your congregation is living up to its mandate to create followers of Jesus. Maybe you feel discouraged by a lack of growth, maturity, and passion among the people you are leading. I understand that feeling. Don’t get me wrong: I love the church, its purpose and potential, but when statistics show that the church is in a constant state of decline, ¹ we as leaders have to ask questions. My prayer is that this isn’t just another book to add to your library. Rather I hope this book will prompt you to ask the difficult questions that lead to transforming change in our churches and in our hearts.

      I want to share with you some of the questions God has asked me in one form or another. My honest and often brutally difficult answers to God’s questions have led to the congregation I am charged to pastor and guide, Living Hope Church. We are in the midst of a season of unplanned growth (mostly by conversion), all happening in one of the least churched parts of America.²

      QUESTION 1: WHY ARE YOU DOING CHURCH?

      The first question I want you to consider may be the most difficult for you to answer: Why am I doing this? If we are not willing to be about the very things that Jesus gave his life for, then maybe it’s time for us to quit. I recently urged a couple of thousand pastors at an international conference to ask themselves, Am I really about what Jesus is about, or am I just doing church each week to collect a paycheck? If we truly want to minister to people and serve them, we need to do it out of a passion for the mission of Jesus: to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10 NIV). Jesus came to heal people and to restore their lives to wholeness. If we’re not willing to engage in the very mission that matters most to God, how can we effectively lead his church? How can we expect to experience his perfect will and his blessing on our ministries? We get so easily messed up about everything that mission means for us and for our churches, but Jesus gave us a very clear command: it’s a mission to go.

      Then Jesus came to them and 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, to the very end of the age’ (Matt. 28:18 – 20 NIV).

      The Great Commission from Jesus is to go and make disciples. This isn’t an option for us; it’s a commandment. A commission is a trust, warrant, investing one with an office. It’s a responsibility, a charge that Jesus has given us to complete.

      Think for just a moment about what this means for your ministry. You have been given a sacred trust by Jesus. You are called first to know him and then to go for him. God trusts you to get the job done. He trusts you with reaching the people he created. He trusts you to be an ambassador for him. He trusts you to love people, to help them find their way home to his arms. He trusts you to reach people who are broken and lost (like you used to be, don’t forget). Leaders in the church must possess an unshakable and unmistakable passion to reach people with the love of Christ!

      So let me say it one more time: if you don’t want to go for God, then at the very least go from your job. Leading in God’s church is about more than earning a paycheck. Consider whether you are really called to minister, and if not, step down so that God can entrust someone else with the mission, someone who will share his heart for the lost. If you don’t want to take the risks and join God in this radical work, you should probably quit. Ministers who lack a passion for God’s mission don’t really serve anyone well.

      Occasionally I’ll hear a pastor, feeling tired and overwhelmed, say something like, I don’t want to start a second service because it takes too much work or We just don’t have the time and resources to do what you’re talking about. As much as I sympathize with people who feel tired and burned out from trying to do too much, I pray that our need for comfort has not replaced the priority of the Great Commission. When we first started Living Hope, we had no plan, no money, no backing, no building, and no equipment. I’d never taken a church-planting class. We didn’t even own a stapler. We had just one thing, the most important thing: an unquenchable passion to reach human beings, made in the image of God, with the good news of God’s love. We knew that these were people who mattered to God and would spend eternity either in heaven or in hell. These were people who needed to know there is a better way to live, people whose lives and families were falling apart. Our hearts were ignited with a passion for reaching lost people, and though we may not have done it perfectly (or even most of it well), we have always tried to keep our focus on God’s mission for his church.

      If you are reading this today and reaching the lost doesn’t really matter all that much to you, or you are feeling like you just can’t add one more thing to your list of programs and responsibilities, let me encourage you to stick with me for a while. Let me invite you to examine your heart and your calling to ministry and reclaim your first love, the mission of Jesus Christ. His mission is what makes us dream and risk and pray and cry and sacrifice. It’s what makes it all worth it. It’s what we live for and, if necessary, die for.

      Jesus took twelve young men and entrusted them with the most important message the world has ever heard. They have passed on this message to us. Our lives and the ministries we lead are perfectly positioned by God to be a light to this world. Are you ready to answer the call and go?

      QUESTION 2: IF YOUR CHURCH CEASED TO EXIST, WOULD ANYONE NOTICE?

      You’ve poured your heart and soul and strength into your ministry, so if your church ceased to exist today, you would certainly notice that something was gone. The center of your life, your most significant work and most valued relationships, would suddenly be gone. Your family would certainly notice the difference, and it’s highly likely that the people in your small group, Sunday school class, or Bible study would also grieve the absence of your church. It’s even possible that other local church leaders would notice the loss of another church. (Church leaders seem to pay attention to these things.) But here is the real question I want you to consider. It’s a question that begs ruthless authenticity, so think about it seriously: if your church ceased to exist today, would your community notice? Would unchurched people in your area notice that you were gone? Would anyone cry with regret? Would the newspaper run an article protesting your church’s disappearance? Would neighbors call and beg you to return?

      When my friend Rick McKinnley, senior pastor of Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon, asked that very question at a citywide pastors’ gathering, God convicted me. Over the years since that time, I have asked myself, my leaders, and my staff that same question again and again. Would the people in our city notice our absence? How would their lives be changed by our departure?

      QUESTION 3: WILL YOU LOSE TO WIN?

      Vince Lombardi once said, "Winning isn’t everything. It is the only thing."³ And I can resonate with that. I love to win! So what does it mean for a Christ follower, a pastor, or a church leader—an entire church, for that matter—to win? Among churches that are successfully reaching the unchurched, I’ve noticed a common pattern. All of these churches tend to have a high degree of passion to reach people, matched with an equal level of focus. And they all share a willingness to sacrifice. Now, I realize that the idea of sacrifice, giving something up for the sake of another, may run counter to the idea of winning, but that’s my point: there is always a cost to reaching people. And if we want to win people to Christ, we lose to gain.

      Next-generation churches that are reaching lost people and making a difference in their communities understand that they often must die to programs, methods, traditions, and structures that sustain the status quo at the expense of the unchurched. Emerging generations just aren’t interested in another program. They want honesty, an opportunity to engage with the truth, a chance to see what is real and to accept or reject it. They want to see Jesus just as much as they want to hear about him. They want to know what his teachings and way of life look like in their own context. They want to serve their community, not just themselves, and they want to see followers of Christ working together, not competing. Changing the way we do church to reach people like this will likely cost us something.

      Just before his ascension to the throne of heaven, Jesus shared his famous last words with his disciples: 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 (Acts 1:8 NIV). Jesus promised his disciples, as he promises us today, that the same power that raised him from the dead is alive and at work in us and in our ministries. The problem with many of our churches is that we are still living out an Acts 1 existence; we are constantly in a state of waiting and uncertainty, like the early church leaders. We often feel worried and overwhelmed, not sure what God is doing or may do in our midst.

      I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had my laptop power cord plugged into my computer, only to forget to plug the charger into the wall. Often I don’t notice that anything is wrong until a lack of power causes the whole thing to suddenly switch into hibernation mode, usually at the worst possible time. I fear that many of us who are responsible for leading Christ’s church have been hibernating, running low on power, not really performing at full efficiency, because we aren’t plugged into the power source. In the meantime we have substituted programs and human plans for the power that comes only from the Holy Spirit.

      Acts 1 is just the beginning of the story of the church. In Acts 2 we see the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit, the living presence of God in the midst of his gathered people. There are churches today living out an Acts 2 ministry, churches that have received power to do what God has called them to do. Where do you see the power of God at work in your life, your church, and your ministry? These early leaders weren’t all that special, but they were plugged into the source of power and ran their lives and ministries on high voltage.

      The other missing element we need to explore from this passage is the call to be witnesses. The Greek word for witness is martus, which is where we get our English word martyr: A person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle. Those who witnessed the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ were willing to speak the truth and share the message of God’s love and his forgiveness of sins, even when the message was unpopular. They were willing to stake their lives on the truth of what they believed.

      What does Jesus asks of us as his witnesses? He requires us to make a radical commitment to the truth, to uncompromisingly hold to what we profess to believe even when it is challenged or discouraged. Are we called to be martyrs, to die for Christ? In a word, yes. We may not be called to lay down our lives and shed our blood, but there is more than one way to die! Show me a church that hasn’t died to its own agendas and plans, and I’ll show you a church that is not making a difference in its community. But show me a church that is serving its community, that has died to self, and I will show you a church filled with the presence and power of God.

      There is loss in dying, but it’s only when we die to our self-centered agendas that we really win. It is time for our churches to die to our own priorities and plans and learn to rely on the power of God’s Spirit to bring radical change to our ministries and cities.

      Go ahead: die, and discover what it really means to live.

      QUESTION 4: WHO IS BUILDING THE CHURCH?

      Jesus declared, Upon this rock I will build my church, and the powers of hell cannot stop it (Matt. 16:18). Jesus will build the church, and nothing will stand in his way! The church is God’s unstoppable way of saving the world. But we need to be clear that we understand who does the building. Jesus never said we would build his church. He was quite clear that he would do the building.

      When Jesus said this, he was speaking to one of his disciples, a man named Simon who had been renamed Peter when he was called by Jesus. The name Peter (Petros) means stone or rock. Jesus was making a play on words here, saying that the rock, the foundation of his church, would be this man Peter and his confession of faith that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus knew that Peter would miserably fail him, denying that he knew him, yet Jesus still chose to build his church on this frail, sinful man.

      If we look to Peter as an example, we can take courage knowing that our own flaws and frailties won’t stop God from using us to build his church. The problem isn’t the brokenness of our lives — our sinful failures — but that we often aren’t broken enough by our sins and failures. Spiritual leaders understand that brokenness is a virtue and that God’s strength is manifested in their weakness and dependence on Jesus. In fact, God desires our brokenness. The psalmist tells us that the sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit: A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise (Ps. 51:17). Our brokenness is the very platform on which God does his best work. It’s not our strength that moves the church forward but his power, manifested through our dependence. Our brokenness becomes a problem only when we rely on ourselves and assume we are responsible for building the church. But if God is the general contractor, the success of the church doesn’t rise or fall based on our abilities. Stop to consider for a moment: who is building your church? Where is God at work?

      I need to warn you up front: this book will be dangerous for your faith and your church. My prayer is that it will change the trajectory of your life, your church, and your city. I hope it will challenge you to ask hard questions of yourself and your ministry.

      If you have grown stale and self-dependent in your leadership and ministry, it’s time to take a risk and allow God to show you a different way. This book is my attempt to speak about where our church, Living Hope, has been and what God — only God — has done and continues to do. I hope God speaks to you through it. I hope it agitates you, encourages you, and brings lasting change to your life and your ministry. By the grace of God, may we begin a new movement in our generation and become a dangerous church!

      PART ONE

      RISK EVERYTHING

      CHAPTER 1 FROM A MOMENT TO A MOMENT

      MY DAD DIED WHEN I WAS FOUR

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