Today we're looking ahead into the Fall and next year, but I wanted to mention two conferences I was working on this week (one preparing a message and one scheduling some travel).

The first one is coming up in September and the second one early in 2011.

From Our Backyard to the Nations Conference
On October 16th & 17th I'm speaking with Sam Rainer and Kevin Smith at the From Our Backyard to the Nations conference at First Baptist Church, Murray KY. You can register by visiting the church website here.

Pastor's Conference @ FBC/JAX
Then in January of 2011 I'm speaking alongside of Tullian Tchividjian, Al Mohler, Howard Hendricks, David Platt, Paul Tripp and many others at the FBC Jacksonville Pastor's Conference in Florida. For to register and find more information check out the website here.

Hope to see you there.

Just to remind everyone: this Tuesday after Labor Day weekend will be the all-day webcast of The Exchange on Transformational Small Churches, beginning at 10 AM Central Standard Time.

LifeWay Worship will be giving 20 free music downloads to everyone who watches the webcast or attend onsite. Tune in on Tuesday for information on how to access this resource.

In addition, they will also give away to one person a Split-Track CD of LifeWay Worship Tracks, which will include almost 1000 songs and tracks (a $500 value).

The winner of this will be chosen among those who tweet to promote the webcast. To be eligible, you must use the hashtag #smallchurch and link to www.lifeway.com/theexchange (or the shortened link in my tweet).

You can retweet this tweet, linked here and reproduced here:

Small Church Exchange webcast Sept 7: http://ow.ly/2zm0Q RT for a chance to win. Details: http://is.gd/eTSfS #smallchurch

Today's guest blogger is Chuck Warnock.

Chuck pastors Chatham Baptist Church in Chatham, Virginia, a small congregation that averages about 80 in worship. Chuck is a contributing editor and columnist for Outreach magazine, and blogs at Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor.

"How can I get them to change?" As a small church pastor, I think I've asked myself that question at least once a day in every church I have pastored. Wanting the churches we pastor to change is part of our DNA. We see opportunities for improvement, expansion, growth, outreach, and progress, and we think everyone should see things the same way we do.

Of course, it doesn't take long to realize everyone doesn't see things the way we do, and that our members like things just like they are. How does a pastor, whose heart beats to the sound of change, lead his congregation to make the changes necessary for the future of that church?

Here are five keys to leading change in the small church that I've learned, mostly the hard way:

1. Listen to the stories of the past. Our church is 153 years old. Three years ago we celebrated our 150th anniversary in a 7-month long sesquicentennial emphasis. During that time I got to hear the stories of our past. Leaders, traditions, memories, and accomplishments were highlighted each month. I developed a new appreciation for the 150 years our church had existed before I arrived on the scene. Your church has a history B.Y. -- before you. Listen to and celebrate the stories of the past with your people -- that will go a long way toward leading them to change in the future.
2. Link the past to the future. The theme for our 150th anniversary was "Praise for the Past, Faith for the Future." The steering committee came up with that theme, and I thought it was great. They sensed that the past was important, not just because it was history, but because it was a link to our future. Mark Lau Branson of Fuller Seminary has written a helpful book, Memories, Hopes and Conversations, about how his church built on the traditions of their past to find a way forward for the future.
3. Learn what type of church you pastor. By church type, I don't mean "Baptist" or "cantankerous." Israel Galindo's book, The Hidden Lives of Congregations offers several clues to learning about church types. After reading Galindo's book, I learned where our church was in the typical life cycle of churches, and I understood the particular challenges we faced more clearly. There are other church characteristics that Galindo covers that can be helpful in learning how to lead you particular type and style of church.
4. Love your people. This is advice everybody gives, but too few pastors follow. Loving people means spending time with them, getting to know their stories, learning what's important to them, and genuinely caring about them. The old saying, "People don't care what you know until they know you care" is still true. If you care, and your members know it, they'll respond to your leadership enthusiastically.
5. Lead with patience. Change takes time in a small church. Actually, I think changing small churches is more difficult than changing large churches. Traditions and memories are the stuff of small churches, and change threatens both. I wrote a chapter in the LifeWay book, Deacons As Leaders, that tells the story of how one church I pastored changed our deacon structure to a more positive, servant ministry. Pastors that lead with gentle patience can look back years later to see progress that is steady and sustainable.

Change comes in fits and starts in small congregations. But it can come. In churches I've pastored, we built buildings, bought property, revised our by-laws, hired staff, altered schedules, moved classes, created new programs, and started new groups. Your leadership as pastor is the key to transformative change in your church. Take the time to listen, link, learn, love, and lead, and you'll reap the rewards of positive changes in your church.

I am grateful to Chuck and how he contributes to the conversation about Transformational Small Churches. We hope to continue that conversation in a big way with the all-day webcast of The Exchange on September 7. Be sure to check it out here so that you can join us next Tuesday.

Thanks to Dan Cruver for his post last week on Small Churches and Adoption.

Next week, Artie Davis from Cornerstone Community Church (Orangeburg, SC) and the Comb Network.

Today's post comes from Jack Lumanog, as a part of our series focusing on Transformational Small Churches. Jack is pastor of Christ the King Anglican Church in Lansing, MI. He serves in the Anglican Mission in the Americas as the Clergy Formation Advisor overseeing candidates in the process of ordination for the Heart of North America Region. His website is here.

Jack is writing today about an issue that many pastors of small churches must deal with -- bivocational ministry.

Bi-vocational ministry. You will not likely see this touted as a way to plant churches at your next conference. It's probably not going to be presented as a method of church growth. However, for a segment of congregations in the Kingdom, this is how ministries are started and sustained. Either for a season or indefinitely in the life of that local church.

I have served as a bi-vocational Pastor for 16 years now. I have served as an itinerant evangelist while working at a radio station and in advertising and serving as an Interim Pastor and now as a Senior Pastor.

Here I will present some things to watch for as it relates to bi-vocational ministry: bitterness, boundaries and burnout.

Bitterness
As if ministry wasn't hard enough, adding the bi-vocational component to it is even harder. No one (except for Jesus and your spouse) will fully know all of the work involved in bi-vocational ministry. A lot of the work and accompanying stress has to do with balancing all of your responsibilities as a bi-vocational Pastor - to your church and to your other job. If we are not careful, a lot of the unseen work and stress can turn into bitterness. This must be something that you are aware of and make a matter of prayer. Another source of bitterness can sometimes be how we are viewed by fellow Pastors. You may not get taken seriously by other members of the ministerial alliance because you are not a "real pastor" - and that's OK! We forget that St. Paul the tentmaker was a bi-vocational minister, too.

Boundaries
Whether you are bi-vocational in ministry or not, it is so important to have boundaries. For example, my day off from both my publishing work and my ministry is Saturday (the newspaper is open Monday through Friday and Sunday is a day for worship and church work). I must work extremely hard to guard Saturday as a day off for myself and my family. That means everything for Sunday worship must be completed no later than Friday.

One of the biggest downsides has to be vacation time as it is has proven to be a precious commodity. For example, I have to take time off from my publishing job in order to gear up for Easter and Christmas, to attend denominational meetings or large pastoral services that involve a lot of prep work like a wedding or a funeral.

Time off from both jobs - at the same time! - is absolutely essential. A lesson I learned the hard way which brings me to my last point...

Burnout
In my first year and a half of my ministry, I ran and ran and ran with no attention to pace. I was beginning my new ministry as Pastor, welcomed a baby girl to our family, settled from a move from Kansas City to Lansing, Michigan and established a field office for the publishing company I work for. Typical hours in that first year and a half would easily clock in at least 80 per week.

About a year and a half into my first call, I experienced a profound burnout. The good news is that I recovered (though I know myself well enough that I am prone to a relapse) with the help of godly counsel from family and ministry colleagues. The bad news is that the burnout was entirely preventable. I highly recommend the book Leading on Empty by Dr. Wayne Cordeiro. Whether you find yourself in the midst of burnout or just want practical strategies on preventing burnout, this book by Dr. Cordeiro will be a blessing to you. This was an extremely helpful resource for me and my wife during a very difficult time in my life and ministry.

Blessings
Currently, my other work in the publishing industry provides much needed health insurance for myself and my family. My other job is a grace by underwriting office and housing expenses that come with establishing a new church. My particular situation as a bi-vocational Pastor is ideal because I get to office my church and publishing work in the same location. It's convenient for me - and I get to keep office hours which is convenient for my parishioners as I'm reachable. No one has to wait for me to get "off duty" from my other job before I can be their Pastor.

God has been so good to our church. The church was in existence for two years prior to my arrival in January 2007 as their Pastor. Our lowest attendance on a Sunday was 12 in my first year and our highest so far has been 96 this year. Along the way, we have seen decisions to receive Christ, administered Baptisms, welcomed new covenant members, marriages restored, celebrated weddings and have been available for funerals. God raised up our church and He has shown Himself to be faithful!

Don't forget to join us for our all-day webcast of The Exchange coming up on September 7, where we will talk more about Transformational Small Churches.

There has been some exciting news and discussion in my denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. It was released yesterday that Kevin Ezell has been nominated as the next president of the North American Mission Board for the SBC.

I usually post my SBC commentary at our SEBTS blog, Between the Times since I know that many of my readers are not SBC. But, when the largest protestant denomination has a candidate for the largest North American focused mission agency, it is worth your attention, inside or outside of my denominational family.

I first met Kevin Ezell on an airplane more than ten years ago-- and it turned into a church planting partnership.

I was taking a group of seminary students to Philadelphia for form a church planting team, planting several churches in that city as part of what would be called, "The Philadelphia Project."

One of them was Aaron Harvie. As we got onto the plane, there was a young guy sitting in Aaron's seat. After some joking around, we discovered that the seat-stealer was a pastor from Louisville named Kevin Ezell.

Aaron tells me that I encouraged him to talk to Kevin and hit him up to help sponsor this Philadelphia church plant. He did. Aaron, now senior pastor of that very church plant (Riverside Community Church) told me last night:

From the beginning Kevin was a Godsend. I don't know if you remember but I first met him on the airplane when you led us for that first trip to Philly. God brought confirmation through Kevin that He was indeed calling us to plant in Philly. He supported us from the beginning. He specifically through Highview gave us 1000.00 per month for 4 years! He also sent Jimmy Scroggins with 100 junior-highers who handed out over 14,000 door-hangers inviting people to our first preview service. They came back several years later to serve us again with a mission team. Kevin was there for me personally as a mentor and someone who I could always call. He had me preach in his church and had his people shower me with support! He was always on my side with encouragement and accountability. I had to report to Kevin on a yearly basis in the early years to him and his staff. That was nerve racking but it made me take what I was doing very seriously. In the years, he has invited me to go on his staff retreats and he is always calling and checking in. He is a friend and mentor of the best kind! He believes so much in what we are doing that he still sends me money to invest in other church plants. He believes in what God is doing here in Philly.

Kevin has a heart for church planting and has led out from his local church. He has served as pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, since 1996. In his time there, Highview has grown to have six campuses in two states and three counties. It is also exciting to see their commitment to missions, from the city of Louisville to around the world. Of special interest, given his nomination to NAMB, is their commitment to church planting. They partner with church planters across the nation, and have recently been close partners with six church plants stretching from Atlanta to New York City to Boise, Idaho. The church takes several National Church Planting Trips every year so that their members can support and assist church planters around the country.

I was able to contact a couple of pastors and church planters to get their reaction to the news. I have shared them over at Between the Times.

Yesterday, I had the chance to talk with Kevin for a few minutes and to ask him some key questions about his vision for NAMB:

Ed Stetzer: Why would you want to be president of the North American Mission Board?

Kevin Ezell: Great question. I want to see Southern Baptist resources used more effectively and to plant churches across North America. I want to see NAMB become something that Southern Baptists are proud of. I want to see it be something that is effective, helping invest in churches. I want to see churches plant churches, and for NAMB to have its right place in that. NAMB doesn't plant churches, churches plant churches. NAMB has good people working within a broken system. We're going to fix the system and continue to get good people.

Secondly, I am 100% behind the Great Commission Resurgence. I'm thankful for what they did. They've teed the ball up for NAMB to make some legitimate changes here. Now it's time to go back and to build some bridges with the states too. You cannot make the changes at the right pace without the states being on board.

ES: At the Pastors' Conference, you modeled methodological diversity and gospel centeredness. Is that a passion for you, and how is that going to be evident in your work at NAMB?

KE: I think you have to hold hands with the 28-year-olds, and you have to hold hands with the 68-year-olds, and help them see we can work together for the Kingdom's sake. It's not about an individual kingdom but the overall Kingdom. I think we have to come up with some very basic fundamentals we can all agree on, and the main one is that we stay evangelistically focused and outwardly focused, and not just trying to service or maintenance ourselves.

The Baptist Faith and Message is key - the problem is when you start going on and adding preferences to that list that exclude people from either extreme.

ES: What would you say to church planters? What do church planters need to know about what is going to be coming from the North American Mission Board?

KE: I realize that the North American Mission Board is not looked to as a resource by church planters. All I ask from church planters is to give me a chance and to give NAMB a chance again. We're by no means in first, second, or third place. But I do not think it's too late to come from behind and to be a winner at this. We are going to be about building the greatest church planting network in the world. We have the resources to do it, but we're not doing it.

I am excited about Kevin and will be praying with and for our NAMB trustees as they consider him for this role. Thanks to the search committee for their diligent work and efforts.

We are just one week away from the all-day webcast of The Exchange on September 7, focusing on Transformational Small Churches. I have been happy to feature several posts from myself and guest bloggers in the past few weeks on this subject, and this week will be largely devoted to the topic as we lead up to the big day.

Today's guest blogger is Dr. Christian Phuoc-lanh Phan, Lead Pastor of Agape Baptist Church in Renton, WA. Christian is also the author of "Vietnamese Americans: Understanding Vietnamese People In The United States 1975-2010" by Xulon Press.

Little strength can do great things for Christ's Kingdom (Rev 3:8). Nothing can limit small churches to bear great fruits. The secret for their success is that they have kept Christ's word and have not denied Christ's name. They lay themselves on the King of kings who has the royal key. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open (Rev. 3:7).

Many Vietnamese refugees and immigrants during their settlement process were influenced by American Christians. Many small Southern Baptist churches had made a significant impact in helping and sharing the gospel of Christ to Vietnamese people. Over 150 Vietnamese Baptist Missions and Churches have been established in the United States during last 35 years since the end of the Vietnam War.

Our Small Congregation

In March 2003, I moved to Washington from Maryland and served as a lead pastor of a Vietnamese Mission of Calvary Baptist Church in Renton, Washington. At the same time, the Renton Highland area was being developed. Many Vietnamese American young couples moved to this new developing area. By God's grace and strength, the mission was established as Agape Baptist Church in October 2004. Calvary Baptist Church had many language congregations: English, Korean, Sign, Spanish, and Vietnamese sharing its facility. I encouraged the Vietnamese Congregation to purchase a facility. In December 2007, God opened a door for us to have a building to worship at 13220 SE 156th Ave, Renton, WA 98059. Taking time to train our local church leaders, joyfully, they can lead our local church without their lead pastor. They allow me traveling to help other churches in the U.S and across countries frequently.

Our Methods for Vietnam

Since 2006, we joined a church planting movement to plant new churches in Vietnam, which has a population of more than 85 million. We have supported our church planters, Pastor Thanh Nguyen, Pastor Tuan Duong, Pastor Tam Tang and Pastor Tung Ton, to establish 34 Agape Baptist congregations in Vietnam.

• Partnership. Our church partners with other organizations of Vietnamese National Baptist Fellowship in the U.S such as Vietnam Mission Board (VMB) in expanding our church planting strategy and Vietnamese Baptist Theological School (VBTS) in training our church leaders. The VBTS have established four centers in Ca-mau, Sai-gon, Da-nang and Ha-noi to train hundreds of pastors and lay leaders in ministry and biblical studies. I currently serve as a vice president of the school.

• Relationship. We build a loving relationship with our leaders from a far Vietnam. We listen to their needs, dreams, feelings, visions, struggles, problems, issues and many more. I have used Skype.com as an effective vehicle to train, teach and prayer with leaders in Vietnam. With Skype Video conference, I don't have to worry about persecutions that may occur to me by teaching in Vietnam. We also help each center to have one laptop and one projector.

• Leadership. We focus on leaders. Strong leaders can lead strong congregations. Everything we do we do for and through leaders and we show our respect for them as well.

• Ownership. Our leaders are completely to take responsibility for their ministries and freely exercise their authority.

Our English Speaking Group

Vietnamese people moving into the United States from Vietnam are similar to the flow of water from rivers to an ocean. The river water changes its taste as it reaches the river mouth. Once cubit foot of sea water evaporates about 2.2 pounds of salt, but one cubic foot of fresh water from Lake Michigan contains only one one-hundredth (0.01) of a pound of salt or about one sixth of an ounce.

The first-generation Vietnamese Americans are like river water. They were growing up in Vietnam mainly influenced by Confucianism, which gives parents a lot of authority over their children. The second-generation Vietnamese Americans are like ocean water. They are growing in the United States practicing individualism. Over the past 35 years in the United States, Vietnamese Americans have been divided into four different generations. (1) The first-generation Vietnamese Americans: The River Water, (2) the 1.5-generation Vietnamese Americans: The River Mouth Water, (3) the second-generation Vietnamese Americans: The Ocean Water, (4) the third-generation Vietnamese Americans: The Coming Water. The generation gaps among Vietnamese churches are great.

In recognizing differences among generations in our church community, we value our English-speaking group. I am a 1.5-generation Vietnamese American. My role is as a bridge between the first and the second generation Vietnamese Americans.

A•ga•pi•ans |ä-gä-pē-ənz| Noun

1. A group of Christians of a church called Agape in Renton, WA, united in fellowship in the love of one Lord, one faith, one hope : The Agapians have services every Friday at 7 p.m. and they're super cool!

• vision: to empower lives to live for Jesus in Spirit and in Truth.

• mission: to know God's truth in our mind and to live God's love in our life.

2. Any follower of Christ sharing similar beliefs of the Agapians(1).

• Christ's Ambassadors, doers of the word, learning to do good : Agapians are compelled by the love of Christ, living for Him and in Him as a new creation.

• Jesusians, of those who believe and have received Him, children of God.

• those who strive to love God and love others as Jesus did, seeing it in and through themselves to do so.

3. From Greek αγάπη agápē 'unconditional love.'

Our Commitment

By God's grace, our church wants to bear more fruit for Christ's Kingdom. I personally have a vision to establish a Christian university in Vietnam. I know this is God's will for my family and we are seeking God's timing. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). Please pray for us and we would love to pray for you too!

Well, the votes seem to be in, and the favorites are numbers six and nine. There were so many great choices, but those received the most votes.

I have decided that instead of having a winner and a runner-up, I will find opportunity to use both of them. Both will be contacted soon to receive copies of Comeback Churches and Transformational Church.

Number six was contributed by Les Lanphere of http://crosschurch.net. He designed and blogs at http://regenerated.us and his personal site is http://killerrobotninja.com.

Number nine was contributed by Christopher Wurpts.

Thanks for your help, everyone.

In just the last two hours there has been great response to my request for a graphic for this week's focus on Transformational Small Churches. We can only choose one, but here are some of my favorites. I thought I would put them out and see what people thought. Look them over and vote for your favorite.

CHOICE ONE:


CHOICE TWO:


CHOICE THREE:

CHOICE FOUR:


CHOICE FIVE:


CHOICE SIX:


CHOICE SEVEN:

CHOICE EIGHT:

CHOICE NINE:

CHOICE TEN:

CHOICE ELEVEN:

CHOICE TWELVE:

CHOICE THIRTEEN:

CHOICE FOURTEEN:

CHOICE FIFTEEN:

CHOICE SIXTEEN:

We are kicking off "small church week," starting later today. I'll have guest bloggers, interviews, & posts geared toward the majority of churches-- those that are small.

We decided to kick off with a graphic-- and then realized we did not have one! So, I am calling out to the blog world for some help. Here the details:

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "the world?" Does it elicit a positive or negative response?

The Scripture has a lot to say on the subject of "the world" that, on a cursory reading, can seem contradictory. Consider, for example, what the Apostle John says. In John 3:16 he wrote: "For God so loved the world..." But then in 1 John 2:15 he wrote: "Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in Him." He records Jesus' words in John 12:47, "For I did not come to judge the world but to save the world," but relates Jesus' admonition in 15:19, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

It seems like poor John can't seem to make up his mind about "the world," and whether we should love it or hate it.

Of course, John wasn't confused. The Scripture draws a distinction between the people of the world and the fallen system of ideas that work in rebellion against God. In that sense, we are to both love and hate the world (Prov. 8:13). Part of what that means is living in the world (being present and active where God has sent us) but not being of the world (being influenced by and accepting a system profoundly opposed to God). Many Christians, however, are so fearful of being of the world that they completely isolate themselves from anything in the world. Under the banner of "separation," they've gone underground and disappeared from sight. That's not how we are supposed to live as citizens of God's kingdom - and it denies the missional nature of the church.

Perhaps a change of terms will help clarify the issue for us. For a moment, let's use "the people of earth" for "the world" (where we live) and the phrase "the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading" for "the world" (its fallen system). Now, let's paraphrase: "Be among the people of earth (in the world), but not of the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading (of the world)." This simple contrast should bring a great deal of clarity to a potentially confusing line of thought. Now read John 3:16 to say, "For God so loved the people of earth..." and 1 John 2, "Love not the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading, nor the things that take priority over God's love, law and leading. If anyone loves the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading, the love of the Father is not in him." It becomes apparent that John and other New Testament writers are dealing with two separate matters: a place of residence and the people God loves, and a condition of the heart that opposes God.

The Bible specifically tells us to live with "worldly" people. That's exactly what always got Jesus in trouble - hanging out with drunkards, sinners, prostitutes ... you know, the "bad" people. Paul emphasized the same point to the church at Corinth. The church had become confused about some things the apostle had taught earlier. In reaction, they began to disassociate with the world (people) around them. But Paul wanted them to understand that the solution to their problems - and they had lots of them - was not withdrawal from the people around them:

I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - by no means referring to this world's immoral people, or to the greedy and swindlers, or to idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But I am writing you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a reviler, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person 1 Corinthians 5:9-11

Paul's words make two things very clear. First, he has absolutely no intention to separate Christians from non-Christians. To him, the concept was laughable because it would negate the whole reason Christians live in the world. Second, someone who claims the name of Christ must be held to an incredibly high standard. If such a person forgets where his or her loyalty lies and adopts an attitude contrary to God's love, law, and leadership, faithful followers of Christ are to disassociate themselves from that person. They must choose. (This, incidentally, is the forgotten part of the biblical doctrine of separation. We are not instructed to separate from the lost, but from church members who live out and indulge in their deep depravity, until such time they give evidence of repentance.)

Some of us will choose to not participate in any of the world's systems, and opt for insulating ourselves in a self-made Christian bubble, a life constructed so that we can live out our days without ever even bumping into someone who doesn't believe or live as we do. Safely detached from the spiritual lepers outside, we can glory in Christian preschool through graduate school, Christian music, Christian romance novels, Christian leadership books, and even Christian Halloween candy. Thank God for those Christian Yellow Pages. The only thing we will not have is the personal influence of the gospel in the lives of those who do not know Christ. It's difficult to make disciples of people we won't even talk to. In a perverse twist of our Lord's expectation, many Christians find themselves of the world by means of some kind of pseudo-sacred imitation, but not in it.

It is easy for us to continue missing the mark on both of these implications. Often our lives as Christ-followers look no different from the system of the world. We too often settle for a truncated holiness that has a shiny gloss of Christian spirituality, but is for the most part inoffensive to the world, while overlooking greed, arrogance, and injustice. John described the world's system - the attitude that rejects God's love, law, and leading - very clearly. After he implored us not to love that attitude in 1 John 2:15, he continues (paraphrasing): "For all that is in the people of the earth (the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life) is not from the Father, but is from the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading." Verse 17 then confirms the eternal contrast: "The attitude that rejects God's love, law, and leading is passing away, with its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever."

But in this "world vs. world" dichotomy, we find a subtlety that often blinds Christians. On the average Sunday morning, there is as much of the world in the church's building as there is in the world outside it. Why? Because "worldliness" does not reside in Tennessee, Canada, or Russia, i.e., the earth; it resides in human hearts and attitudes - in both believers and non-believers the world over. That is why separation from the world is not a matter of avoiding people, but a constant warring within ourselves against the attitude that would see us reject the love, law, and leadership of God over our lives.

As the sent church of God, we must love the people who live on this earth with the love of Christ, expressed in words and deeds, while hating the broken and sinful systems of the world that war against the Kingdom of God.

This becomes an important distinction in regards to contextualization, the focus of this series (see parts one, owo, three, and four and five). Contextualization reminds us that we genuinely need to be IN the world while not being OF the world.

I express it as being: biblically faithful, culturally relevant, counter-culture communities for the Kingdom. Or, for this conversation, we are:

-biblically faithful (driven by scripture)
-culturally relevant (living in and among the world with people in cultures)
-counter-culture communities (not being of the world's system, values, or morality)
-for the Kingdom.

As it turns out, John wasn't confused at all - but the church often is.

Please feel free to weigh in, give your opinion, and discuss how the church is called to be in and not of the world-- and how that relates to contextual ministry. And, as always, if there is your first time here, you might want to review the comment policy.