From Out of Ur: a response to revive the best of the Program-Based Design

Putting Programs in Their Place

And it turns out they do have a place.

by Brandon O'Brien

In some circles, the term "church programs" has become an epithet for all that is wrong with the institutional church. For a generation hungry for authenticity and community, "programs" feel staged, impersonal, and cold. For a generation increasingly skeptical of government, big business, and corporate machinery in general, "programs" reek of institutionalism, bureaucracy, and insensitivity to human need. Programs may not be the problem, but they are certainly a symptom. They give us something to throw stones at.

To a certain extent, these feelings are justified. After all, programs are the means by which we draw people into our churches. Once they're in, we get them involved by participating in or leading our programs. Participation in programs becomes the way we judge how "involved" people are—if they're engaged in our programs, we call them "committed." Programs become a means by which we judge our effectiveness as ministers—we can know we're doing a lot for Jesus, because we're running so many successful programs. In some churches, it appears the congregation exists to serve the church's programming.

Some folks have responded to this reality by eliminating programs all together. "We're about people, not programs," they say. Instead of investing in formal ministries, they would rather invest in human relationships. And I agree: the church is the physical body of Christ on earth; an organism, not an organization. Even so, programs are biblical, if they are done the right way.

One of the places in the New Testament that most clearly addresses anything like church programming is Acts 6:1–7. The short and long of it is this: the church is growing, but the Grecian Jews are complaining to the Hebraic Jews because the Hellenistic widows are being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. (Daily food distribution is a program, right?)

This passage offers a corrective vision of what a program should look like.

It begins with a community need that is theologically justifiable. All the widows weren't being fed. This has serious implications. To begin with, the problem was creating a problem in the fellowship—it threatened to destroy the unity that was a primary marker of the Christian church. Furthermore, the early church knew that gospel compelled them to care for widows (James 1:27). In order to be faithful to their calling, then, they needed to do something. So…

It is overseen by qualified folks. The apostles decided that the church should choose 7 men whom they considered "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom." Presumably, such men (in this case there were only men) would be concerned about the things the Spirit was concerned about—the unity of the church and the care of widows. And their service would free the apostles to do what they were called to do: "prayer and the ministry of the word."

It leads to the expansion of the Kingdom. Because of this program, Luke tells us, "the word of God spread" and the "number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly." I imagine this was because the church was doing what it was supposed to be doing and the apostles were doing what they were supposed to be doing.
I've pastored a couple of churches and served on countless committees, and I can say with relative confidence that if we subjected all our programs to these three criteria in any of those churches, we would have cut our number of programs considerably.

Instead of beginning with a community need that's theologically justifiable, we tended to run programs because we felt we should ("The church growth books say you need a small group program if you want to be successful.").

Instead of finding folks to lead who are "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom," we'd enlist any poor sucker with a pulse and a guilt complex to oversee a program they felt no real commitment to. When we had burned through enough volunteers, the staff would take over the program, which kept them from prayer and the ministry of the word.

And instead of leading to the expansion of the kingdom, programs selected and run this way tended to use people up, overtax the staff, and result in exhaustion, bitterness, and a dearth of resources.

In other words, I don't think programs are the problem. The problem is the way we choose them and the way we run them. It's hard to deny that the church should serve people through formal ministries. Whether you call them co-ops, initiatives, or whatever, at the end of the day they're still programs.

But maybe I'm missing something. How does this strike you? Are there other criteria you use to decide what programs to launch and which ones to trash? Does Acts 6 affect the way you think about programs in any way?

Brandon is assistant editor of Leadership.

Fathering is a spiritual thing....

When Chaz was a baby, whenever I would take care of him when Kelly was away, the folks in our congregation would say, "Oh, you must be babysitting this weekend." Without exception, I would reply, "Oh no, I am fathering. Babysitting is for other people to do."

Fathering is the transmission of values from Father to Children. This transmission occurs not at scheduled times, but all the time, most often in the times one does not expect. Deuteronomy 6:4f. gives us a view of process of fathering:

"These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Fathering is a full-time multi-media, 24/7 process. Those times in the car, doing sporting events together, making breakfast for Mom on a Saturday morning, and basically whatever else you do. Do things together....physical presence is an opportunity for deep spiritual communication - like Paintball!

Happy Father's Day!

pax Christi,

sp

Promises of the Moment

1- God is going to increase our vision to beyond circumstances and look into the Kingdom. "Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7) Jesus says, "I no longer call you servants but friends, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (John 14:15) Jesus' progressive revelation on the matter is more intimate, that we made Friends of the Bridegroom, that out of His intimate expression of extravagant love, we are drawn near, we are brought into the Glory.

2- God is using this time of calamity and collapse to separate those who are really for Him, and who will be loyal to Him to the end...for the sake of the elect, these day have been shortened (see Mat 24) He is raising the level of faith among us, so that we will see His promises through to the growth of the Kingdom; personal provision is to establish the Kingdom, and fulfill the covenant promises. "But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today." (Deut 8:18)

3- God is going to bring to fulfillment every promise that you have claimed and/or has been spoken over you. As mentioned in an earlier post, this is the time of the counting of the omer, in the Upper Room, the 120 could not worry and fret, they had to "by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving", present their requests to God, so that the peace of God would stand post, garrison about, and steadfastly stand watch the gates of our hearts and minds. see Philippians 4:6, 7

4- God is going to use every past defeat as a springboard into personal and national victory. To the Joseph company, God says this, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
(see Genesis 50:20)

God has saved you and is saving you, so that you may be a lifesaver to those friends and neighbors around you.

These are the promises of the moment. May God help us all to live in the moment, as He crafts us like the men of Issachar, who could discern the times and know also what to do.

pax Christi,

sp.