We Are Church

Pastors Training

Manual

Table of Contents

Brief History of We Are Church 3

Vision of WAC 8

Values of WAC 10

Practices of WAC 12

Devotion to Scripture 12

We Meet in Homes 12

Everyone Disciples and Is Discipled 13

Everyone Exercises Their Gifts 14

Regular Multiplication of Churches 15

Simple Gatherings 16

Church Structure 18

The Role of the Elder 18

The Role of the Pastor 18

Eight Characteristics of the WAC Leader 20

The Christian Leader 20

The Praying Leader 25

The Loving Leader 31

The Equipping Leader 37

The Missional Leader 43

The Spirit-Filled Leader 43

The Global Leader 43

The Suffering Leader 43

How-to’s 43

Baptism 43

Communion 44

Finances 45

Frequently Asked Questions 46

Recommended Resources 49

Welcome to the We Are Church Pastors’ Training Manual. This is a comprehensive compilation that covers the why, what, and how of being leaders at We Are Church.

Brief History of We Are Church

Excerpt from Letters to the Church, by Francis Chan

Why I Left My Megachurch

In 1994, when I was 26 years old, I decided to plant a church. It wasn’t something I planned on doing. After all, I had been married for less than a month. Lisa and I were having a rough time at our church. The elders and the lead pastor had been fighting, which eventually led to the pastor’s removal. The members were also fighting as they were divided on who was more wrong: the elders or the pastor. Everyone was discouraged by all of the division. Sundays were far from uplifting, and I couldn’t see how any of this could be pleasing to God. It was at that time that I told my new bride that I had a crazy idea: What if we started a church out of our house? Even if there were only a dozen people in our living room, wouldn’t it be better than what we had been experiencing? Lisa agreed, and so began Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California.

I was determined to create something different than I had experienced before. This was my chance to build exactly the kind of church I wanted to be part of. I basically had three goals in mind. First of all, I wanted all of us to sing directly to God. And I mean really sing. I’m not talking about going through the motions of singing out of routine or guilt. Have you ever been part of a group of people that is actually singing directly to God? Singing with reverence and emotion? Singing as though God is really listening to their voices? That is a powerful experience, and I wanted it to be central to our new church.

Second, I wanted all of us to really hear the Word of God. We weren’t going to be those people who gather together to listen to some self-help nonsense nor were we going to ignore half of the Bible. I wanted us to dig deeply into Scripture—even the passages that contradicted our logic and desires. I wanted the presentation of God’s truth to be powerful, and I wanted us to take it seriously. So I began to preach week after week, verse by verse through the Bible. We all set out to truly hear everything the Word of God was saying to us.

And finally, I wanted all of us to live holy lives. I had seen too many Christians packed into too many churches who seemed to have no interest in actually doing what the Bible said. I couldn’t get past the tragic irony of this: These people would come back week after week to hear from a Book that demands that they “be doers of the word, not hearers only” (James 1:22), and yet they never seemed to do anything. Not that I was perfect or expected anyone else to be, but I wanted our church to be a group of people who pushed each other towards action. It didn’t make sense to teach the Scriptures without expecting change. So from the very beginning we challenged each other to action.

And that was basically it. If we could move toward these three goals, I would be happy.

I wish you could have seen how God worked in those early days! Things took off! Nothing was perfect, but there was so much excitement. Visitors found our services compelling, so we kept growing. We rented the local middle school cafeteria. Eventually, we moved into a converted former liquor store right next to Chuck E. Cheese’s. After outgrowing that, we finally bought our own building. Before long, the building had to undergo a major expansion. God was stirring hearts, the number of people who were gathering to sing and hear the Word of God kept growing, and we had to keep adding services. We were up to two Saturday night services and three Sunday morning services when we realized we needed to plant campuses in neighboring towns. It was unreal. Our podcast was gaining subscribers every day from all over the world; we were pouring our hearts out to God with our singing, and there was great conviction.

There was so much life at our services. People would cheer as I would talk about the ways their money helped needy people in third world countries. Many couples began adopting children out of the foster care system. Our attendance and offering climbed consistently for years. Baptisms happened every weekend. Lives were being changed. There was no church I would rather have been a part of. But over the years, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still missing. It wasn’t a problem with the church members or with the staff that God brought to help me lead. We were successful in staying on target with the goals that had set the DNA for the church. But something was off.

There came a point when some of the elders of the church began to question if our idea of success was somehow inadequate. Was this really what the Church is meant to be? Is this all God had in mind when he created His Church in the first place? We began to wonder if our definition of a church actually fit God’s definition. The elders of Cornerstone sought the scriptures with me and challenged my thinking as to what Jesus wanted of the Church. These men of God encouraged and spurred me on through this season, and it was a joy to serve alongside them.

One of the main things that we questioned was the level of love we had for each other. Cornerstone was by most standards a pretty loving church. But next to the example of the early church in the New Testament, it just fell flat. Jesus said that the world should know us by our love. As elders we came to the painful conclusion that when unbelievers came to our services, they weren’t observing anything supernatural about the way we loved each other.

Another issue that we saw was how everything had grown to be very dependent upon one person. Even as we talked about building a new facility, and the expenses involved with that, the elders questioned what would happen if I was no longer the pastor. Would Cornerstone become like so many other churches, stuck with a giant empty building? Again, this is a big issue! Not just because of the waste of money, but because no church should be that dependent on one person. We wanted people to come to Cornerstone to experience Almighty God and the moving of the Holy Spirit, not to hear Francis Chan. Because my leadership was so prominent in the church, I also began to see that it was holding back others who should have been leading. As I started encouraging some of my staff members and elders to leave, and begin releasing them into new ministries, I saw how much they grew from being given the opportunity to pastor.

The Bible tells us that every member of the body has a gift that is necessary to the functioning of the church. When I looked at what went on in Cornerstone, I saw me and a few other people using our gifts, while thousands just came and sat in the sanctuary for an hour and a half and then went home. The way we had structured the church was stunting people’s growth, and the whole body was the weaker for it.

It was humbling to discuss biblical commands that we had neglected. We decided that we wanted to bring change into the church. At the time, I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be. I became frustrated with the way things were, but I didn't have clarity on what we needed to become. I was certain that things needed to change, but I didn't know how to make it happen. Some of my messages probably sounded like the rants of an angry old man rather than a wise and loving shepherd guiding his sheep to greener pastures.

We tried a lot of different things. We tried having me preach less, to release some of the associate pastors into holding greater responsibility, but found that it became hard for them to lead while still in my shadow, so to speak. We tried getting people to plant smaller churches out of their homes, but people had grown accustomed to benefits of childcare and preaching at the big service. Eventually they would give up. There was even a time when I stepped away from the main gathering in Simi Valley and helped launch several home gatherings in LA County. It started to gain traction, but then I was needed back in Simi. It was a difficult time. I give the church credit for enduring all of the trial and error going on. Eventually, people started to get tired and frustrated, and a small exodus began.

Changing the Rules

One young person in the church articulated it so well. He said it felt like the rules were suddenly changed on him. He explained that for years he was taught that salvation was a free gift and that the gospel meant that he could have a personal relationship with Jesus. It would be like someone gifting him a pair of ice skates. In excitement, he went to the skating rink and learned to do all sorts of tricks. He enjoyed this and did this for years. Now suddenly he is being told that the skates were actually given to him because he was supposed to be a part of our hockey team working together to pursue a championship. He wasn't supposed to just twirl around by himself. That's a huge difference! While he did not disagree biblically, it would take time to realign his thinking and lifestyle.

As I look back now, I realize that I didn't lead very well. I was anxious for change but I didn't have a good plan, and I wasn't patiently helping the people get their minds around such a major paradigm shift. I ended up frustrating some of the people I loved. When I left Cornerstone, it was with the genuine belief that my time was done and the church could move forward better without me.

There were lots of other factors as well. When people ask why I left, it’s really hard to point to just one thing. I was losing peace and humility as my popularity grew as a speaker and writer. Social media was just invented, so now I had total strangers praising me or cursing me. I didn’t know how to handle so much criticism and flattery. I wanted to run from it all. I also struggled with the sheer amount of Bible teaching churches in our city when I knew there were many places on earth without a strong Christian witness. It didn’t seem like it would require much faith to just keep doing what I was doing, and I wanted to live by faith. I was also very unclear as to how to lead Cornerstone into the future. Needless to say, it was a very confusing time.

Leaving Cornerstone was definitely not an easy decision. During the season when I was still wrestling with whether that would be the best thing to do, I went to preach at an event. Lisa came with me, and on the way there we had a conversation that shocked me. My debate about staying in Simi Valley up to this point had been completely internal. We had never talked about leaving before. Cornerstone was our baby, and Simi Valley our home. But when I finally decided to ask her what she saw us doing for the rest of our lives, she surprised me by saying she felt like we had done all we could do in Simi Valley, and that it was time to move on. She even brought up going to another country, which was exactly what I had been considering.

Fifteen minutes later, I got a phone call from my friend Jeff, who was a member of Cornerstone. He told me that he felt like God wanted him to tell me something: “Just go. Don’t worry about the church. There are others here who will step up and take care of the church.” That was so crazy to me! There was no way he could have known the conversation Lisa and I just had. No one knew what was going on in my mind.

After that, things kept falling into place, and I felt greater and greater peace about leaving. It got to the point where Lisa and I felt like we would be disobedient if we didn’t leave. We ended up selling our house in Simi Valley, and taking our family of 6 at the time overseas to India, Thailand, and China. It was an amazing adventure that knit our family so close together and helped us refocus on the mission. I saw such fearless dedication and boldness from the pastors in India, who had renounced everything for the Lord. We witnessed the simplicity of the lifestyles in rural Thailand, and the joy of the men and women who faithfully served widows and orphans day in and day out. In China I saw the gospel spreading like wildfire as people endured through and even rejoiced in the persecution.

Throughout this whole time, Lisa and I were praying with the family about where God would have us live. We almost ended up staying in Hong Kong. We were looking at housing options as well as schools for the kids. Then one day, I really felt like the Lord was speaking to me. Please understand that I do not say that lightly. My background is one that is extremely conservative. I only trust what I see written in the Bible. While my theology left some room for hearing directly from God, I’m not sure I had ever heard it before that day. Again, I’m not sure I heard from the Lord, but I had more peace in obeying what I thought I heard than in ignoring it. I really believe He was telling me to go back to the States and plant churches. While overseas, I had gotten to see a glimpse of what the church could be and the power it could have, and I felt like God wanted me to bring that vision back. I was pretty scared of what I thought God was

communicating to me. It felt like He was asking me to do something that I did not have the intelligence or leadership skills to accomplish.

It was a sad day when I told Lisa and the kids that I felt God wanted me back in the States. We were so happy overseas. We were closer as a family, more dependent on God, and more fixated on eternal matters. While there were feelings of fear when we left the US, now there was greater fear in returning. We didn’t want to lose our focus.

The Journey Home

I’ll spare you some details, but we eventually ended up in San Francisco mainly because my brother had a one bedroom apartment we could borrow. I didn’t have much of a plan. I just wanted to live as biblically as I knew how. In my prayers, I told the Lord that I wanted to live like Christ, and it seemed like Jesus knew exactly who to call as His disciples. I asked for that same grace, that I would be able to just walk around the city sharing the gospel, eventually meeting the people He would call me to disciple.

I made some friends over the first year, and we started a ministry where we ministered to the poor in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. We fed the homeless and went door to door to pray for people in low income housing. It was scary at times, but I loved the fact that I was living by faith in America. I was put in many uncomfortable situations, but it felt right. We saw God answer prayers in so many powerful ways, even though it didn’t result in many true conversions.

I remember asking my kids what they felt after one of our first outreaches. Rachel, my oldest daughter, blurted out “it felt like we jumped out of the Bible.” I knew exactly what she meant. We were experiencing something in America that was congruent with what we read about in the New Testament! We felt alive, on an adventure that required faith, and it was right here in our backyard.

While the daily outreaches were going well, and we enjoyed living by faith, we hadn’t yet planted a church. I saw weaknesses in our ministry because it wasn’t grounded in a strong, elder led church. Knowing this was my calling, we gathered some of our new friends into our home and started a church. Twenty years after launching Cornerstone out of a living room, here we were again. My wonderful wife and a group of friends, sitting in a living room, asking God to build His Church through us.

It has been 5 years now since we started We Are Church, and things are so different this time around. Lisa and I have grown in our understanding of Scripture and God’s design for the Church. God has graciously shown me the good fruit from my Cornerstone days as well as some of the fundamental mistakes I made early on. Hopefully I can help others avoid some traps I fell into.

Vision of WAC

The whole teaching of the Bible is to show a massive distinction between the people who are known by God and those who are not, between ones that He’s with, and the ones that He’s not with. This is elevated in the Bible to the point where the only thing that matters is that God is with you. Ever since the time of Abram, God’s desire was for his people to be distinct from the rest of mankind. That’s why He is so angry with Israel, because they start to blend and want to be like the neighboring nations. God wants them to be like no other nation in the world. And they have to be like no other nation in the world in order to bless the nations of the world.

The same thing is emphasized in the New Testament. We are to be a light in the darkness. He wants us to be a group of people unstained by the world, forgiving, joyful, not anxious, not afraid, loving, sacrificial, united, missional, powerful. The world should look on and say, “Wow, that group is different because God is with them.” The presence of God, His power through us, and our obedience to Him is supposed to distinguish us from everyone else.

God wants there to be this mysterious and blatant power about His followers and His church. God wants to empower us. God wants everyone to look on and see the mystery of how powerful and loving we are.

Yet so often in the American church, we have sacrificed that vision of what God wants. We don’t set out to do this, but it just happens. But if the Holy Spirit is truly with us, amidst us, and in us, there should be a much, much bigger distinction between us and the world. This is what we want to pursue, at whatever expense. God wants a church that is pruned clean of its disbelief, self-reliance, and unholiness, a church that is set apart. This doesn’t come with any guarantee of increasing numbers. We get stuck on that often. But in fact, in 2 Timothy 4, we see that in the last days there will be a shrinking of the true church.

From Scripture, it is impossible to argue against the fact that God cares deeply about a church that is holy and set apart. The challenge is to believe that the church today could be everything we see in the Bible about the early church, and more. Right now, if we see someone who is Spirit-filled, supernaturally gifted, and living a holy life, that person is an anomaly. That’s not the way it was supposed to be. If someone was a part of the church and didn’t share their faith weekly, and didn’t give generously of their finances and their homes, THAT was supposed to be weird. Immorality should be the confusing exception, not the norm. We should expect tremendous power and sacrifice. We want to structure things to give primacy to the things that are most emphasized in Scripture. We want them to form the basis of how we make decisions and change the questions we ask first. We’re not looking first for a preacher, a building, or a group of people. We first ask, “Does this enable us to pursue what God cares about the most?”

So the vision of We Are Church is to have a group of people that displays God-pleasing distinction. It’s the supernatural, Holy Spirit-fueled difference. It’s not that we’re a little bit friendlier or a little bit more moral. It’s death to life. What is the foundation of this distinction? We want to be radically different in three things: faith, hope and love.

First, we want to be known for our love. We want to be people known to be deeply in love with Jesus. We want to be people who spend all day in prayer and praise, thanking God in every situation, rejoicing continuously. We want to be one-track-minded in our gatherings, focused on God. We don’t want to be known as hard workers or this and that, like the Ephesian church, and miss the number one thing. Next, we want to be known for our love for each other. Is it true that we care for one another like the early church did? We want there to be no one in need amongst us. Any time there’s any one in need, another person takes care of them. Finally, we want to be known for our love for the hurting and the lost. If we’re a successful church, then when people meet with individuals who are a part of us, they should see someone who is obsessed with Jesus, connected with the body and wanting to meet the needs of the believers, and they have a heart to reach the world.

Second, we want to be known for the Holy Spirit giving us power. Everyone has a spiritual manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good. We definitely don’t want to undervalue the person that is good at math and wants to serve as a tutor or the tech person that fixes the computers of everyone in the church. But we want to cultivate and expect the supernatural gifts that won’t be found in non-Christians. We want to see a great desire to serve each other, and a ministering to one another that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Then, in Acts 1:8, we see that the Holy Spirit gives power for us to be witnesses. We should be able to make disciples, because that’s what the Holy Spirit enables. It’s every member sharing the Gospel and empowered by the Spirit to be His witness.

Third, we want to be known for sacrifice. That is a theme of the Old Testament and the New Testament. We are called to lay down our lives. There is sacrifice when it comes to putting to death our flesh. Our holiness comes at a cost. We’re willing to sacrifice because of our faith - we’re so sure of the things that are coming that we’re willing to suffer now. Then there is the sacrifice for our brothers and sisters. We sacrifice our energy, our finances, our family time for the body, like we see in Acts. There is a practical display of love. And then there is the sacrifice of using our resources to help the Gospel get to the unreached. Finally, there is a sacrifice to love those who are less fortunate, like we see in 2 Corinthians 8:9.

This is the vision of We Are Church. This is what we are pursuing. We want to bring together believers in such a way such that they become disciples who love Jesus, love each other, and love the world powerfully and sacrificially.

Values of WAC

Excerpt from Letters to the Church, by Francis Chan

Have you ever heard of a woman named Feodor Vassilyev? I guess you could call her an amazing parent. She set the record for giving birth to the greatest number of children: 69. Yes, you read it right: 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. She basically birthed a village! That is pretty impressive, but it doesn’t mean that I would run to her parenting seminar.

I get excited about numbers. If we are honest, we all do. The elders at our church are anxious to see our churches multiply but we are trying to be careful not to overvalue numbers. So we gauge our success based upon the following values. If we don't have clear values, we know that we will naturally default to numbers as our barometer for success. While you many not agree on our strategies and structure, hopefully you will agree on our goals. This is what God wants us all to produce. We use the acrostic D-LESS. (I realize it is not a real word and it is impossible to pronounce, but I was never good at creating acrostics. Nonetheless it has been a helpful tool for us.)

Devoted Worshipers

Loving Families

Equipped Disciple-makers

Spirit-Filled Missionaries

Sacrificial Sojourners

Devoted Worshipers: We want to be people who are “devoted” to worshiping Jesus. We want to carve out time daily to be alone for prayer and Bible reading. We make time to join with others to pray and study His Word. We regularly celebrate the Lord’s Supper and can’t stop thanking Him for His mercy. These are not obligations we try to squeeze in, but cravings we can’t live without. We don’t require gifted communicators or musicians; we just love to worship Jesus even in the most basic settings. It is the Object of worship that makes worship exciting to us.

Loving Families: We want to be people who love each other deeply and show this by our sacrifice. We seek a bond that surpasses that of our natural families and is only possible because of our common fellowship with Jesus. We share our possessions and our lives with each other. We seek to obey all of the “one another” commands in Scripture. Christ wants us to be known for our love, and He claimed that our unity would cause others to believe in Him. Our goal is not merely to get along but to love each other to the extent that Christ loved us, and to be united to the extent that the Father is one with the Son.

Equipped Disciple Makers: We want our people to become fully trained for greater works of service. We believe that all believers should be disciple makers. No one should come as a consumer, but all should come as servants. The Holy Spirit has given each of us a gift that is to be used for building up the body. We want our leaders to teach us how to lead and help us develop in character through their modeling and teaching. Our goal is that each one of us becomes like Christ, and develops the ability to lead others to Him, make disciples, and plant churches.

Spirit-Filled Missionaries: We want to be people with supernatural character, focused on sharing the gospel with neighbors and coworkers. We want to be people who are not focused on survival or higher standards of living, but devoted to the mission. For some, this will mean going to foreign countries to share Christ where He has not been heard. For others, this means supporting those who have gone. For everyone, it means sharing the gospel regularly.

Suffering Sojourners: We want to be people who are eagerly waiting for the return of Christ. We are willing and wanting to suffer because we believe in heavenly rewards. Far from seeking comfort, we thrive on any hardship we get to endure for His Name. Our focus is not on what we can see, but on the unseen world. We refuse to become citizens on this earth. We live as aliens and strangers on the earth, waiting for a better city.

As leaders, we are constantly asking ourselves:

• Are our people “devoted” to worshiping Jesus?

• Can their love for each other be categorized as supernatural unity?

• Are they growing in maturity and personally making disciples?

• Do they regularly and joyfully share the gospel and grieve for the unreached?

• Do they suffer for Jesus and long for His return?

As you think of the faces in your congregation, can you answer yes to these questions? If so, that’s great! This is the kind of church that God loves. If this is not being produced, don't just keep reading. Change something right now. This needs to keep you up at night and drive you crazy! If my wife was away on a trip, and I didn't long for her return, it would say a lot about our relationship. The church is not producing people who want Jesus to return today. I honestly can't think of anything that grieves the heart of God more. Can you?

Practices of WAC

In this section, we lay out the “why” and “how” of our six core practices at WAC: (1) devotion to Scripture, (2) meeting in homes, (3)everyone discipling and discipled, (4) everyone exercising their gifts, (5) simple gatherings, and (6) regular multiplication.

1.Devotion to Scripture

More than anything we want people to be lovers of the person of Jesus. Far too often we are lovers of sermons, lovers of ministry, lovers of good books, lovers of community. But are we primarily in love with God Himself? A church cannot be successful or healthy if the people are not personally meeting with and enjoying God consistently. The greatest command is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, so this must be our greatest priority as leaders.

We have structured things to build a culture of people spending time with God every single day for themselves. Many Christians look to Sunday morning as the time where they will be “fed” by someone preaching a sermon, but we expect everyone in our church to read through the same portion of Scripture (we have a set reading plan) during the week each day. This is the primary place that they are “fed”, through spending time with God in His word and in prayer. Then, as we are doing life together, we can easily discuss the passages we are all reading. When we gather as a church, rather than having the pastor preach a sermon, we have a discussion led by the pastor around what everyone read through the week. Instead of coming to consume, people have the expectation that they should be bringing insight from their personal time with the Lord throughout the week. This helps build a culture of people taking time in the word seriously and being devoted to the Scriptures.

When everyone is devoted to reading the Bible every day, it also becomes the best guard against heresy. When the masses don’t read the word and then come every Sunday to listen to someone explain it to them, there is a lot of potential for false teaching and people being led astray. But when everyone in the church is reading through the whole Bible every year, it becomes very difficult for them to be led astray.

2.We Meet in Homes

If you had no history or exposure to the church at all other than reading the New Testament, what would you expect to see if someone invited you to a gathering of a church? We’ve thought about this question a lot. Based on the more than fifty “one another” commands in the New Testament, we would expect to see a lot of love among Christians when they gather. Based on the way Paul describes the church in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians, we would expect to see people contributing their spiritual gifts. We’d picture people living like a true family inside and outside of the gathering. We’d expect to see a lot of smiling, a lot of hugging, a lot of crying together, a lot of meals shared, and a lot of life connection throughout the week. We wouldn’t picture a huge auditorium or rows or a stage or everyone being quiet while just a few people lead. We’re not saying it’s wrong to do this. But the question is: do our structures undermine or contribute towards God’s commands in Scripture, especially the ones that are emphasized and repeated? And if there are more than 50 “one another” commands that call us to radical, intimate, deep love for each other, why would the thing we call “church” be something where we don’t interact with or know each other?

In order to help us truly love each other, we’ve committed to having churches of 10-20 people meeting in a home. We’ve seen that once we get to 30 or 50 or 100 people in a church it becomes increasingly more difficult to live like a family, truly know each other, carry each other’s burdens, and build each other up. Many churches will do this in the form of a community group, which is great. But far too often people view a Sunday morning big gathering as the primary context of church, and the community group as optional. For us, we want to everyone to opt into sharing life, and therefore the primary context of church for them is a spiritual family of 10-20 people.

Another reason we meet in homes is because of the financial implications. Far too often, reliance on buildings means a big budget increase in order to have church growth. By meeting in homes and having no church building, we have the option to scale exponentially without increasing our budget by much. We also set ourselves up for using our financial resources more strategically for local and global missions.

3.Everyone Disciples and Is Discipled

Everyone is called to make disciples. We are all called to share the gospel with non-believers in hopes that they would follow Jesus. We are all called to take responsibility for the spiritual care of other believers. But discipleship is hard and messy. It involves intentionally getting to know someone, having hard conversations when sin is evident, working through conflict, and spending extra time with them when life gets hard.

Our temptation in the church has been to replace discipleship with various other programs. If there is a married couple struggling, we might often suggest they read a book, enroll in a marriage class, or go on a retreat. But what they need most is older couples who love Jesus to come alongside of them and do life with them through life’s challenges. Though these programs could be helpful, we often hide behind them and ignore our responsibility to make disciples. We intentionally restrain ourselves from starting classes or programs that could start making people feel like discipleship isn’t needed as much. It’s not that these programs would be bad, but they might undermine what is best and most important.

In our church, the pastors are not responsible for discipling everyone, but rather they will each disciple a few and then ensure that those disciples are also discipling a few. And for those who are new to the faith, though they might not be fully responsible for the spiritual care of another person, they are actively engaging in evangelistic efforts and being trained to take responsibility for others.

Another reason we want the entry point to joining our church to be in the context of a small, intimate, intentional group of believers is so that there is no room to hide. Each person’s life is consistently being poked and prodded by someone. It means that each person is expected to be transparent with a few other believers about the things they would want hide, while those believers walk with them through healing, repentance, and believing the promises of God. There shouldn’t be any room for people just “attend church” when everyone is being discipled for life and ministry.

Discipleship is taking responsibility for the spiritual care of somebody else. It doesn’t mean you’re the only one invested in that person, but it does mean you should be aware of what’s going on in their life. Discipleship is life on life. If you’re discipling someone, have them be around you a lot. Discipleship doesn’t happen with 1:1 coffee dates once a week. You need to be around each other and observing each other’s lives.

4.Everyone Exercises Their Gifts

Paul said “to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7). He goes on to list many different types of gifts that the Spirit gives to believers for the sake of the body. Then he explains how every part of the body is needed, and that we must be careful to not start to develop a mindset that some gifts are more necessary than others. But is that truly how we function in the church? Does every single believer in a church realize that they are just as needed and important as anyone else in the church? Or do they tend to think that the preacher and worship leader are more important?

We have intentionally structured things to create space for everyone in the body to contribute in the gatherings and in everyday life. The pastors have an important calling to lead and shepherd, but it doesn’t mean that they are the only voice that needs to be heard. We don’t have long monologue sermons in our house gatherings because we don’t want any one person to dominate things.

Our pastors lead the Scripture discussion in gatherings, and a big task for them is to draw people into utilizing their gifts. Leaders shouldn’t be dominating the discussion. They might be quiet at points, even if no one has anything to say, so that the church feels the weight of the need of everyone contributing with what they have received from the Lord that week.

In your gatherings, at points you might want to call out for the prophets in your church. Ask to see if anyone has a sense of having received something from the Spirit.

Sometimes there might be certain people who talk a lot. It is appropriate for the pastor to privately ask them to talk as much, so that others have space to contribute too. This is one of the reasons we have smaller churches. If there are 30 to 40 people in the gathering, it’s easy for half the group to shrink back and not contribute. That’s why once we get to around 20 people, it’s time to multiply.

The pastor should also look out for gifts in the people in their church, and give them opportunities to lead and grow in those. Have people use what they’re passionate about and gifted in. For example, a person in the church might be under spiritual attack. A person might have the gift of discernment of spirits - invite her to pray with this person together with the pastor. If someone is hospitable, encourage them to have people over in their home. If someone is administratively gifted, have them organize a retreat. Someone might have the gift of encouragement - ask them to support someone who is down. If someone has the ability to explain the Bible well, ask them to meditate on a passage and share about what God has taught them on Sunday.

In conversation with people in your church, affirm gifts that you see and encourage people to use them. 5.Regular Multiplication of Churches

So many churches begin small, relational, and discipleship-focused, but aren’t able to maintain those characteristics as numeric growth happens. Before they know it, they have become more and more of a machine rather than a healthy family. Meeting in homes sounds great, but what happens as the church grows? How does a church adapt as the Lord adds to their number? One word: Multiplication. The true fruit of an apple tree isn’t apples, but rather more apple trees. The true fruit of a strong leader is not followers, but more strong leaders. The true fruit of a healthy church is not congregants, but more healthy churches. God has designed the world to be one that reproduces and multiplies. The apple trees that can’t multiply are ones that are genetically modified. We have too many GMO churches, and not enough reproducing churches.

We multiply to preserve the healthy number of 10-20 people in a church, and to prioritize the mission of God over our own comfort. In order to be able to multiply effectively, we must structure our churches in a way that is reproducible. Churches where one or two people are always on the stage leading with big budgets and amazing programs are not easily reproducible. We place a high premium on leadership development because we are preparing to multiply each year and need new leadership ready to step up to care for the new believers that have been added. Our pastors, while trying to lead well, also have to be mindful to not make people too dependent on them, so that when it comes time to multiply, people have no problem going with a different leader. Effective leadership always involves allowing others to have opportunity to lead, and it is imperative in the multiplication process.

Each pastor is developing a pastor-in-training. When multiplication happens, each church multiplies in half. The criteria includes whether we have a pastor-in-training ready to start taking the lead, and whether the church has reached a size where intimacy is difficult. We want a healthy critical mass of at least 5 or 6 people to start a new church. It’s helpful to be this size to have a community to bring people into.

Multiplication is not something we force, but we do push for it. Rarely does a church go, “we want to multiply and we’re ready!” Almost everyone is says, “We don’t want to multiply yet.” Who’s going to want to see half the people walk away? It hurts. But if we don’t aim to multiply regularly, it will never happen. It’s like your English teacher assigns you a 7-page paper. You ask, “When is it due?” He says, “Whenever.” You’re not going to write that paper. You’re going to put it off. Multiplication is one of those things we will put off. You get to 20, 25, 30 people. Before you know it, you will lose the thing you love. At that size, there is not the same level of intimacy and care. We only get to experience amazing family life because churches have multiplied before us, and we want to continue in this practice.

What does “regular” multiplication means? It means as a wider church family we are constantly evaluating whether it is time to multiply. We have target dates, but they are goals. If there are just 5 people in an existing house church, we won’t force multiplication.

6. Simple Gatherings

When things started getting out of control in Corinth, Paul reminded them of how he started the church. In 1 Corinthians 2 he states that he intentionally held back from using “eloquence”, “human wisdom”, and “wise and persuasive words” when starting and building the church there. He didn’t want their walk with Jesus to be built on anything other than the power of the gospel message of Jesus. He then goes on to describe himself in chapter three as a wise, master builder in how he approached building the church. Likewise, Jesus was unwilling to draw people with anything other than Himself. In John 6, people are coming after Jesus because He provided them with food. Jesus refuses to give them physical food anymore to make sure that only those who really want to follow Jesus will remain. Are we willing to do the same in our churches? Are we willing to strip everything away to make sure people are being drawn by Jesus and Jesus alone?

We try to be very intentional that we aren’t drawing people in with anything other than Jesus. There is no impressive service. The church isn’t built on a well-known leader (people rarely will see Francis apart from our once a month big church gathering in the park, and even then, Francis doesn’t always preach). We don’t have any paid staff or attractive programs. The main thing you get in joining We Are Church is Jesus and belonging to the community of believers He has formed. If you don’t want Jesus and/or don’t want deep Jesus community then you won’t want to be in this church. Where many church conferences are about how to create impressive strategies to draw people and build the church numerically, we are resolved to not offer anything other than Jesus and His people. Jesus will build His church. Paul knew it. Jesus knew it. Let’s not do anything different.

Sundays

The principle of simple gatherings translates into how Sunday gatherings are facilitated. We want to people to view that week’s Scripture as their sermon. In a traditional church, you get a sermon on Sunday, and then you get into small groups to discuss it. For us, we want to devote ourselves to thinking deeply not about the pastor’s words but the inspired word of God – that is how we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching. We don’t want to draw people to how we explain Scripture. Rather, we double down on the belief that if you have the Spirit of God in you, you are able to read Scripture yourself, and as a body we can wrestle with Scripture together.

Pastors don’t regularly preach a sermon on Sundays. If the pastor feels very strongly about a message that they want to bring to the church, they can teach for 5 to 10 minutes at points. Pastors shouldn’t be the ones to speak for the majority of the time in our gatherings. If they do, it subconsciously teaches people that they don’t have as much to offer. There is a place and time for sermons, but if every single week there is only one person talking about the Bible, instead of the whole church talking about it, we can lose the culture of everyone reading the Bible for themselves. The role of the pastor is to ask really good questions to get their church thinking through Scripture as well as teach throughout the discussion.

We really want to get the body involved in being able to bring something to church gatherings. Make sure each person in your church understands this: If you’ve spent time with the Lord all week, meditating on the Word, you should have something to offer that would be beneficial to the body.

Prayer Gatherings

The same principle applies in our times of corporate prayer. We want to see people come into prayer gatherings desiring to see God use them to build up the body and bless.

We recommend trying to hold back from creating an agenda for prayer time, and have God direct the meeting through other people. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul talks about someone having a hymn, another a tongue, and another having a prophecy, and all these should be done in order in gatherings. Biblical gatherings have the element of different people participating and God speaking through different people.

In church we often feel like we need to control or dictate every minute of a gathering. As pastors, we need to create space for the Spirit to move, while not letting things get out of control or unhealthy. Sometimes leading prayer meetings looks like just saying, “let’s pray” and sitting and waiting on the Lord. Someone might bring up something, like a sin we need to confess. The role of the pastor is to affirm or redirect that. The leader should guide and direct, but not control. The church is not waiting for the pastor to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying or doing. Rather, everyone is discerning, looking to build up the body. Paul writes in Ephesians 4 that the body “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (v.16, NIV). Our growth is connected to everyone working to build each other up. Since that is true, we believe it is important to focus on creating that sort of culture in our gatherings.

There is freedom for each church to decide how selective you need to be about having someone lead prayer or worship. Even if someone else is facilitating the time, the pastor is still there, guarding and providing spiritual oversight for the time. Therefore, if both pastors have to be gone one week, that church can join with another church, so that there is a pastor to provide spiritual oversight.

Children

Church is not a Sunday morning thing, and therefore we shouldn’t think of training and ministry mostly in terms of Sunday morning programs. Our children get to be in a community of believers who love each other deeply, live life together, support each other, and watch each other’s kids. It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child. We believe the best thing for the discipleship of our children are 1) parents who are discipled well 2) the body of believers who will be the aunts and uncles in the Lord and will love them and model Christ to them in the normal rhythms of life.

Regarding how to incorporate children at your church in your gatherings, pastors have freedom to think through what would work best for your group. A church with a group of kids under five5 will look a lot different from a church that has only two2 teenagers. A guiding principle is that we want to value children. We don’t want to segment people out too much based on age. And wWe want the whole church to be interacting with each other. Where we can, we’d love to have kids engaged in gatherings. But more than anything, we want them to be engaged relationally. This might mean that when you spend time with other people atin the church, discipling them or just sharing life, you have the children around you as well, so that there can be more space for different age groups to live life together and to love one another.

Church Structure

At WAC, we have elders and pastors. The highest level of authority and leadership within our church rests with our elders. There is no elder that has more authority than the others. We have to be intentional to not defer to the elder that has the most experience, as we want to avoid the model where one person has too much power, or influence, or focus and dependence placed on them. Underneath the elders are the pastors, which far outnumber the elders. Elders are always pastors, but pastors are not always elders. We see the office of elder as very significant in Scripture, and that these men should be the highest level of leaders within the church. The qualifications for these men are found in 1 Timothy and Titus. The term pastor (or shepherd) is not as clearly defined in Scripture. We use the term “pastor” differently than how most people think of it. “Pastor” for us is not the person who who is the highest level of leadership over the church, but rather someone who is in a shepherding role over a group of 10-20 believers. It has more authority and leadership than a typical community group leader, but has less than the pastor role most people think of in the traditional church.

The Role of the Elder

The elder is the highest level of authority in the church, and the appointing of elders is a biblical command. The key Scriptural mandates can be found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1:5-9. (The overseer is the elder. ) The responsibility of the elder is to provide spiritual oversight.

The number one qualification for an elder is character. We don’t look for who has been around the longest, or who is good at preaching, or who is gifted, or rich, or has connections. With greater spiritual authority comes a higher level of scrutiny, and so an elder is more greatly scrutinized in his character than a pastor or a pastor-in-training.

The elders meet together as a group once a week. Each elder oversees their house church as well as one or two other churches. The elder oversees and disciples the pastors in each of those two churches, and also provides spiritual oversight to the churches. If an issue comes up and a pastor needs help, the elder is there to give guidance. With Tthat said, the pastor is the leader of the house church, and the elder is not there to micromanagemicro-manage itthe house church.

The Role of the Pastor

The two key responsibilities of the pastor are (1) to provide spiritual oversight to the church and (2) to reproduce themselves in a new pastor. You are looking at the church and making sure that everyone is cared for and discipled. You should be deeply invested in developing new leaders, so that a year from now, your church will not need you.

Sometimes we over-think and over-emphasize Sunday gatherings as pastors. That is not the key responsibility of the house church pastor. Gatherings are important, but you shouldn’t think that your primary role is to lead on Sundays. Rather, focus on shepherding the the 10-15 people in your church, and intentionally discipling 2 to 3 guys.

Your other responsibilities are to oversee finances (see p.45) and to take care of (or delegate) administrative tasks, like overseeing a retreat or passing on announcements. Make sure you don’t over-lead in these jobs, such that people depend on you to initiate and take care of everything. Make sure everyone is contributing to your church - someone else can plan the retreat or send the emails. If someone has an idea, have them check in with the pastors, and then let them run with it!

Who can become a pastor? We focus on character. We look for evidence of humility, for someone who loves Jesus and loves people. We look for the character qualities in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

So often we associate being a pastor with gifting and talent, but that’s not Biblical. It’s like if someone bench presses 500 lbs and because of it we automatically ask them to be on a basketball team. Strength can be a great asset in basketball, but it doesn’t mean someone should be a basketball player. Likewise, jJust because someone is a good communicator, it doesn’t mean they’ll be a good spiritual leader. We have structured church in a way that doesn’t require talent and gifting. It doesn’t take amazing oratory talent to shepherd less than twenty people and to intentionally disciple two or three. But it does require godly character and love.

Eight Characteristics of the WAC Leader Everything rises and falls with leadership. You are going to reproduce who you are. People in your church are going to take on your characteristics. We can have the best plan and the wrong leader will destroy it. We can have the worst plan and the godly leader will succeed. The Bible teaches that character guarantees success.

A lot of times when we're not successful, we start planning and think, maybe I should do this, maybe I haven’t said this. I'm not against all of that. I'm just saying what Scripture says is the guarantee is through character. If you know God deeply, and you're pursuing a life of holiness, there’s going to be fruit. It’s like an apple tree – a healthy apple tree will produce fruit. It’s just going to happen. So we focus on making the tree healthy, not on making fruit.

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with

knowledge, and knowledge was self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with

godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these

qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the

knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8)

Do we see effectiveness for the Kingdom? If not, it's not, “Let me read a strategy book.” It’s, “let me look at my character.” Am I really growing in these areas? Am I adding to my faith this type of virtuous lifestyle? Am I adding to it knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love? Let’s focus on our character.

Here are eight characteristics of a leader that are predominant in the Bible.

1.The Christian Leader

From Francis’s training session on Oct 11, 2015, “The Christian Leader” (https://youtu.be/1M4fFZASpec)

Just because someone takes the title of “Pastor,” it doesn't mean that they are saved. It doesn't mean that they really know Jesus, even if people lifted them up as a church leader their whole lives and did so much for the kingdom. Jesus made it plain. Many are going to say in the last day, “But Lord, didn’t I do this…didn’t I do this?” And he is going to say, “Depart from me. I never knew you. Yeah, you were in the church, if you want to call that a church. You were there, and you attended these services every week. And yes, you helped with child care once a month. And yes, your parents were this and that, or your wife or your kids, or whatever. And yes, they made you a deacon or an elder, or whatever they made you. But I never knew you.”

The proof of our salvation is not in whether we said a prayer or did certain things. Look at the book of 1 John.

“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the

truth.” (1 John 1:6).

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).

“Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in

him.” (1 John 2:4)

“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.” (1 John 2:9)

“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued

with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19)

“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or

known him.” (1 John 3:6)

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the

beginning…No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he

cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of

God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor

is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:8-10)

“…Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you

know that no murder has eternal life abiding in Him.” (1 John 3:14)

“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him,

how does God's love abide in Him?” (1 John 3:17)

“We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us.”

(1 John 4:6)

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8)

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother

whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these

things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal

life.” (1 John 5:12-13)

John is saying, “Here's how you tell if you're a believer. If you hate, if you don't love the people in this room, if you just continue in your sin, I don't care if you say you know him.” On and on and on he says, “That’s a liar, he's a liar, he's a liar, he’s in darkness. He doesn't really know him. He doesn't love. He doesn't really know him.” And then at the end of the book he says, “I wrote these things so you could know.” John wants everyone to look at his or her actions and go, “Oh man, I know I’m a believer because look at what God has done in my life. I used to hate. I used to walk in darkness. I used to be these things. And then God changed me, and now I've got this deep love for people. God changed something in my heart.”

In Acts 2, where Peter preaches his first sermon, the people were cut to the heart, saying, “What do we do?” He says, “Repent. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Those three things are repeated all throughout the New Testament: repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Repentance

Repentance means you turn. It’s a 180. Here are my dreams, here are my aspirations. I’m following you now. I'm walking in the other direction. You can't just keep living life the way you were living. You make a decision when you encounter Jesus. When he called his disciples, he didn't just say, “Pray a prayer. Accept me into your heart like some vague thing.” No. It was, “Are you ready to die to yourself and follow me?”

Baptism

We see a good explanation of baptism in 1 Peter 3:20-21.

“Because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark

was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Baptism which corresponds to this now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an

appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Peter is saying that baptism saves you, but it's not that the water somehow washes away your sins. Look at the reference to Noah. God's destruction was coming upon the world and yet who was saved from God's destruction? It was those eight people that climbed into the ark. In the same way, Jesus now is our ark. My baptism is a baptism into Jesus. It’s like me climbing into Christ and saying, “I'm one with him now. I'm safe now because I’m in Jesus. I’m in Christ. I climbed into the ark, and he does all of the work—I'm in there.” Baptism is the picture of you climbing in and becoming one with Christ.

Receiving the Holy Spirit

Romans 8 talks about dying to yourself and coming alive in Christ.

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone

who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the

body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised

Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your

mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live

according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will

live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of

slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry,

‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if

children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order

that we also may be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:9-17)

Something happens when we repent, decide to climb into the ark, which is Christ through baptism, and we receive the Holy Spirit. Internally, something happens where he says, “In your spirit you cry out Abba father.” It's like this security that you have, like my kids have with me, where they just know – “That's my dad. I don’t doubt that he’s my dad. And I can climb on stage wherever he is; that I can go to dad—that Abba father.” There is power that I don't have to live in my sin anymore. I can put it to death; I’ve got power over it.

That’s why in 1 John when he starts listing all of those things, he’s saying, “I don't get it. You can’t know him if you just keep on sinning and it doesn't bother you. If it’s a lifestyle of sinning, how can you say you know him? Because once the spirit enters in you, he makes you a slave of righteousness and you don't live according to the flesh anymore.” If the spirit of Christ isn’t in you like that passage says, you don't belong to Christ. You can’t say, “Well I’m a Christian, I just don't have the Holy Spirit.” And if you don't have the Holy Spirit then you don't belong to him. That’s the seal. That's the proof. When he enters into you, you change internally.

A lot of times, don't you feel like you're forcing people to do something they don't want to do? We can waste a lot of time trying to force people to do something that isn't inside of them, that they don't want. And I think in churches, we waste a lot of time trying to get unbelievers to do Christian things. That was the whole point of the parable of the soils. Why am I pouring all this fertilizer and water on the sidewalk, and it’s not taking root? Why am I going over to the rocks and trying to create and make something happen? Let me focus on the good soil, because Jesus’ sheep hear his voice. They know him, and they follow him.

When you present the life-giving word to two different people, one person will say, “Thank you, I needed that.” And the other person just completely throws it off. Why? Because it’s about an internal change. This is not about a program where it'll work for anyone because there are just enough rules attached to it. This is about a complete life change where a person repents, gets baptized, the Holy Spirit enters into them, and then you see it.

This is the starting point for us with our people. Out of a concern for them, say, “Hey, you know I'm not trying to judge you or anything. I just get concerned because I read these passages and I don't see that in your life. It freaks me out because I do believe in judgment and I don't want that for you.” It's okay and even a good thing to say that to people. They may not take it at that moment, and it might be thirty years later that they remember something you said and remember a lifestyle that you lived.

You have to remember that the Bible says, “There is a wide road that leads to destruction and a narrow road that leads to life.” That’s why we don't want to be the types of people that refuse to talk about the narrow road and are always just saying, “Peace, peace,” and promising safety, when there is no peace.

I would encourage you as you lead your churches and as you lead your groups to start with this—salvation. I would encourage you to make sure you or one of your leaders has heard everyone's testimony in your church. It's a great way to start when you have them explain to you their relationship with God because I've heard some crazy things about why people think they're Christian. It might be the family they were raised in or some crazy theology, but they can't quote one passage of Scripture. Sometimes it's just good to hear someone's story. And at the end of it, it may be that God will call you to go, “You put a lot of trust in your works, and I don't see that in Scripture. I'm not hearing about how Christ saved you and the cross.” Because if we don't start with being a Christian, then we're just trying to force people that don't have the Spirit of God in them to do things that may be nice, and they may even want to do some of these things. But what Christ has called us to is to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow him. That’s not something you're going to pull off unless the Spirit of God is with you.

2.The Praying Leader

From Francis’s training session on Oct 18, 2015, “The Praying Leader” (https://youtu.be/_OqakXQwfLY)

When I was younger, I think I used to want to have a pastor who was a great speaker, and I wanted him to be funny so my friends could come and like him. The older I get, the more I go, “Man, if I have a pastor, I would just want to know that he was on his knees every week for me.” What if you knew your pastor was so connected to God, and every week he literally was on his knees praying for you and your children? The older I get, the more I long for that. Biblically, you just see the power in that.

It’s better to pray and do nothing, than to work tirelessly without praying.

Last week, I was in a Korean Church in the US. It was so cool because this church is known for sending missionaries everywhere and pastors everywhere, but no one talks about the pastor. Everyone talks about this little old lady. She’d been there since the church started. She met the pastor right when he started and just said, “I’ve been called to pray for you.” So she just followed him to pray for him. She never got married. She just wanted this connection with God. For 37 years, she’s been praying for this church and this guy. People come to the church not for the pastor, but just to have this woman, who’s so close to God, pray for them. The pastor was telling us over dinner, “In all the time that I’ve known her, she fasts more than she eats.” Everyone that goes to the church talks about her. I’ve been to so many churches, but I’ve never known of a church that was known for having this little old woman of prayer.

There was part of me that was jealous, that wanted to say, "Can we take her?" I want to hire her just to be here. Because it's so rare that you hear of someone who's known for knowing God. That's a reputation. So the first thing I do when I get to this church is to find where this lady and ask her, "Will you pray over me? Will you just lay hands on me and pray? I just want this."

And that's what I want us to be. I don't want to be known a good speaker. That's so shallow. I want to be known as someone who knows Jesus, who walks with Jesus, whose life is about prayer. I want this to be you, as you are especially the ones I pray for. I want my biggest contribution in your life to be for you to know that I care about you and that I'm on my knees praying for you by name. And not just praying, "Oh, I hope he does this well," but just praying for your depth in your walk with the Lord.

Maybe you're not the greatest speaker, maybe you're not this genius, or this great leader, but I would love it if in all of our churches, people just know - my pastor and his wife, they know God and they pray for me by name. And it's changing me.

It’s not just saying, "Let’s force ourselves to pray." But we want to pray because we love Jesus. I don't know what kind of church you grew up in but for me, growing up, prayer was a chore, or this guilt thing. It's like, "Did you do your prayer time?" “Oh, I missed two days." We didn't talk about the heart of it that often, which is: I just love him and I can't get enough of him. That's what Matthew 22 is all about. What's the greatest command? To love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind. If we don't have that in us, then we’re going reproduce people who do things out of guilt or out of duty. We want to reproduce lovers of God.

That passage in Revelation 2 is always convicting, isn't it? The church in Ephesus did so many things right.

“I know your works, your toil, your patience endurance. How you cannot bear with those who are evil

but you have tested those who have called themselves apostles and are not and found them to be

false. I know you’re enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake and you've not grown

weary. But I have this against you, that you've abandoned the love you had at first. Remember,

therefore, from where you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did and first. If not, I will come

to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent." – Revelation 2:2-5

That seems so extreme to me. He is saying, "You've lost that love. If you don't get that back, I'm just going to remove your lampstand.” The lampstand represented the church. He’s saying, "I'm just going to remove this whole church."

Think about it – it sounds like an awesome church. They’re characterized by toil and patient endurance. They worked themselves to the bone. They're not there to consume but they're servants of God. They didn't put up with sin. It’s a church that knew their doctrine. These guys are being persecuted and they're enduring it. They’re not backing off. They haven't grown weary. But God says, "But that love's not there. And if that love's not there, then I'll just remove your lampstand from its place." This is the greatest command. He wants us to be lovers of Him.

You guys are here because you're doers. Those who are a part of our churches realize this isn't just sitting back. We're going to do something. And that’s a good thing. I don't want to lose that. But those of us who are more task-driven can neglect that relationship and lose that love. I want you to call me out on this when you see it in my life because it happens to me. I can get addicted to achievements and miss out on fellowship with the Lord. I don't want to be that guy who has just a list of accomplishments at the end of his life. I don't want to waste my life. The Bible speaks against being idle. But I want to do that while I'm in this deep, deep love-relationship with God. And that's what He wants. That's what every father wants.

Our 4-year-old, Claire, just started really liking me. It's awesome. Because she is child number 6, she has so many people she can run to now, with people living with us. When she comes and desires me it's like, "This is the best. This is the best." I didn't force her. I didn't say, "Hey, why didn't you hug me?" That's the father's heart.

Whenever I read this passage, I think of the time when Rachel was a little girl and I bought her a cat. I hate cats. I can't stand cats. But she wanted one so badly that I made that sacrifice for her. The thrill. This little girl just couldn't contain herself. My favorite part of the day was when I would drive home, the garage door would open, and she would run out to the car and jump in my lap and kiss me or suck on my cheek. After I bought her the cat, I'd open the garage door and no one's running out. I run in the house. "Hey, Daddy's home!" Nothing. I'd go back into her room and she's sitting there. "Hey, Daddy came home. What are you doing?" And she goes, "Oh, playing with the cat." I never liked the cat to begin with but now it's like, "Aw man!" It started scratching so we went, "Oh we’ve got to get rid of that thing."

I think about that jealousy. "Man, I gave you that cat out of love, and now that cat's replacing me? You're going to give that cat all of your affection?" In the same way, ministry can become that. It's a weird balance, because of course we're going to serve the Lord, and this is out of a love for Him. But we have to somehow maintain that relationship, to say every day, “Oh God, it's just so good knowing you. And today I just want to go at it. I want to kill it with you! I want everyone to know you like I know you." And even as we talk about prayer, understand that it's not prayer to check off a list, but you pray because you love Him. And then as you become that man or woman that's in love with Jesus, to multiply that. That's why I thought about that Korean lady. I wonder how many disciples she has, that she's brought up to be deeply in love with Jesus and, in a sense, married to Him. I want to become more like that. When we hear a story like that, we go, "Man, wouldn’t it be cool to be her?” That's available to you and to me.

Another reason we need to pray humbly is because our effectiveness is directly tied to our prayer life. Man, I didn't leave big church just to have a small church. Small can multiply, multiply, multiply, and we can reach the masses. And I want to do that. But effectiveness in ministry isn't tied to a strategy. When I read Scripture, I see that a person's effectiveness in ministry is directly tied to their connection to God. This book is about men and women who just knew God deeply. And because they knew Him deeply, things would just happen.

"He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us. But He gives more grace.

Therefore, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore, to

God. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. Cleanse

your hands you sinners. Purify your hearts you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let

your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and

he will exalt you." James 4:5-10

The person who humbly comes before God is the person who's going to experience the grace of God. But it says, "He opposes the proud." So, if I arrogantly come up here and go, "I know how to speak. I know how to put together a message. I know how to strategize and reach the world," He's going to oppose me. The God of the universe will oppose my arrogance. To people who trust in people, God says, "I'm going to humble them.” To people who trust in God, he says, “I'm going to blow their minds. I'm going to have them do miracles. There's going to be crazy things happening." Our best chance at success and effectiveness for the kingdom is just to be lovers of God and humble prayer warriors that depend on God.

A few of us took a trip to visit one of my mentors, this leader in India who's done amazing work, reaching literally millions of people.

People asked him, "How do you do this? How do you structure this? When you have 2.8 million people how do you do this, this, this?"

He responded, “That's such an American question. You want to know the strategy. Here's what I do. I look for the most humble, THE most humble people I can find and I make them my leaders.I can't tell you if they're the smartest, I can't tell you if they're great strategists, but I will tell you my leaders are humble."

I've seen that over the years in their lives. They're humble. It was humbling to hear that. I did come with the mindset of a strategist. If you plan it out right, it's going to work. His whole thing is, "No, I don't know. I don't know what we're doing. But I do know I looked for humble people of prayer. I can say that about my leaders."

I want us to be able to say that about us and about each other. When people talk about us, I don’t want it to be, "Oh this guy is such a good speaker, this guy is such a good leader," but "I know that our group prays. I know that my pastor's a humble person."

And then when the fruit happens, we can know when we picked leaders, we didn't just go to the most gifted. We asked, “Who are the servants? Who are the ones that the world might not even choose?" And when we look at leaders and we think about the future, and we single the humble men and women. That should be right on the top of the list.

This morning I was reading Exodus 33 again. This is what I fight for. I've been doing this for years and I don't want prayer to become a ritual in my life. It’s dangerous. Right now, if I pray, my natural default is just to say words that I've said before. "Hey God, thanks for this day, thanks for this time, thanks for these leaders. It's so good to be here. God bless this meeting. Help me to speak clearly. And I pray that our churches would flourish. And, amen, amen. Ok, let's get into the word." But I should be in awe and go, “Guys, we're going to talk to God in a second. This is insane!” That’s what Exodus 33 reminds me of - you got to remember how insane it was to meet with God.

Chapter 33 verse 8: "Whenever Moses went to the tent, all the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until went into the tent."

It was this huge occasion because a human being is about to meet with God. Everyone would go, "Oh my gosh, he's going to do it again. There goes Moses. Hey, Moses is about to go meet with God." And so they would all stand from a distance and watch and go, "Oh, he's going in that tent. Man and God, coming together. You have got to be kidding me! No human being meets with God! But he's done it before and he's doing it again.”

"When he entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent

and the Lord would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the

entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship each at his tent door. Thus, the Lord,

used to speak to Moses, face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:9-11)

That’s prayer right there! That’s what I don't want to lose. Even if I have thousands of people watching me, I want to get in that right frame of mind and go, "You've got to be kidding me. I'm about to enter into the holy of holies only because of the blood of Jesus. I, this little tiny human being who's just barely breathing because God lets him, I'm going to talk to Him! This is insane!"

Yes, now you can boldly approach his throne. But that doesn't mean casually or flippantly. "Oh just another day, I'm going pray again." Yes, I can boldly come into his presence because of the blood of Jesus and that's an awesome thing. I want to demonstrate to people, as someone who thirty years into his relationship with God, how in prayer one can still go, "I can't believe I'm talking to You." I've prayed, "God I don't want to lose that. I seriously want to die before I lose this sense of awe. You are everything to me. I love You.’"

Later on, in verse 15, Moses says, "If your presence doesn't go with us, I don't want to go." He’s saying, "God, I don't care about the promised land if you're not going to be there. It's you. These meetings I have with you, face to face. Milk and honey – I don’t care about that. It's you, I got to have your presence with me. I got to know you."

Wouldn’t you want Moses to pray for you? Wouldn’t you want Moses as your pastor? I want to be Moses to you. I want to meet with God and talk to him about you and pray for you. I also want to lead you and say, "Now you go up the mountain. Be alone with God. And now you start praying for your people that way. Then you teach them that same thing." And if we can spread this, I'm telling you, things are going to happen.

If we arrogantly came up with a plan and said, "Hey let's do this. Let's hire these guys. They're professionals, they’re the best at what they do." I just don't think God's going to bless that. I think there's going to be opposition to that. But if we just all humbly say, "Lord, we believe in prayer. And we believe if we come to your presence, crazy things will happen." Then we'll have leaders like Moses, who can run up to the Red Sea, like Joshua, who can march around a city.

Finally, I want to just give you an example of a biblical prayer - Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church, which I love.

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is

named, that according to the riches of his glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power

through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you

being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the

breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Take a prayer like that and just start doing that with each member of your church. If you prayed this prayer every week over every person in your church, and that’s all you did, how could something not happen? Nothing else, just this prayer. But if you busy yourselves with a bunch of other things and neglect this, then it's like Lord help us.

Paul goes, "For this reason I bow my knees before the..." There’s something about that posture of prayer when you're actually on your knees and you're putting in effort. I'm not saying it's wrong to be driving and praying. I do that. Sometimes I'm even speaking on a stage and praying at the same time. So there is that, but there's other times when everything is tuned out and I'm on my knees before God Almighty. I bow my knees before the “Father from whom every family in heaven and earth is named that according to the riches of His glory.”

Look at the words in this prayer. "That you would be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being grounded and rooted in love may have strength to comprehend." I don't hear a lot of people praying this way. If you pray for me, I'd love it if you prayed for this. Because this prayer has to do with that inner person. Let’s get deeper, at the core of the matter. It's ok to pray for people's jobs. It's ok to pray for their families. But let's take it a step further and pray for their inner person. I want you to know that when I pray for you, this is the stuff I'm usually praying. There are so many things that we can get caught up with as pastors. Right now, we're in this society where you can just absorb information non-stop. Some of us are addicted to new information. I used to like sports when I was a kid, and I'd keep track of stats and everything else. Then there was this period of time where I said, "I'm not going to pull out the paper. I don't have time to look at the paper." But now that it's all right there at my fingertips, I go, "Oh, I know what’s going on in the game today. I know how this guy is doing." It’s a constant barrage of information. It’s going to cause us to just be shallow and just keep taking in more information. I don't want to be like that.

I want to be a person that can dwell on the Word of God, and when I pray for my people, pray for them deeply.

Pastors, let’s not move on from this. In church, we move on to all these other things. By the time you learn them all, then there will be new ones. No, I don't want to ever stray from prayer and being a church that's built on prayer. I want us to be constantly talking about this. I want this to be a weekly thing. That's why it's not like, "Ok, I prayed for the pastors when it's prayer week." No, I want to be on my knees every week. And if that's all we did as leaders, I think some pretty crazy things are going to happen. I think God is going bless like crazy because we're trusting Him.

3.The Loving Leader

From Francis’s training session on Oct 25, 2015, “The Loving Leader” (https://youtu.be/jzSt6nL-RJc) This is one of those topics where you go well “duh, of course, why do you think we are doing this? It’s because we love people.” But I just got to tell you - it is so easy to minister without loving people. We can just fall into a habit of “Oh, it's Sunday morning again. Let’s go do this, this, and this.” I can put this lesson together and not give one thought to the people I am speaking to.

Seriously, think about this past Sunday. Did you look around and go, “I love these people?” Did you make decisions today because you so cared about these people? Is that why you taught them and why you encouraged them, or why you had that difficult talk with them?

You can be very successful in the world’s eyes, or in the American church’s eye, even if you do not love the people you minister to. For example, why do people ask me to go speak? Is it because that they know that I love their people? No! A lot of times I will get done speaking and think to myself, Ah, I forgot to love them.

This is why you have to get this. I care about you and I want you to face God one day have Him look at you and say, “Well done.” I want your relationship to be so right with Him, because I care about you. I can go through a whole sermon without that thought, without loving anyone. I am telling you that the longer that you are in ministry, the easier it is to do ministry without loving. And because you know what to do, and you know what to say, you get into habits.

This is a really, really important thing. Because if you are not in love with people, you will constantly be thinking how something affects you. The opposite of love is self-love. “Well, if I take in this person, how does this affect me?” If you saw someone passed out on the ground dying, you immediately go into love mode and dial 911. You don’t think, “oh, I’m going to be late for that class on love.” You don’t think about how it affects you. But that is what love does in that urgency of the moment.

This is what Christ saves us from - this self-centeredness. Timothy 3 verse 2: “In the last days people are going to be lovers of themselves.” In the church, people start counting the costs and weighing it out, rather than just loving and asking, “what can I do for this person? How can I serve this person? How can we figure this out together?”

In John chapter 17 is the prayer that Jesus prays right before he dies. It is his last time with his disciples, and he closes in prayer.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they

may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the

world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them,

that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly

one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John

17:20-23)

Here is Christ at the end of his life, at his last gathering with his disciples. And what is his prayer? He goes, “Father, just as you and I are one, may they become one.” Imagine the Father’s love for the Son. Have you ever thought that that’s the goal here? Have you ever prayed, “God help me love this person as much as you love your son.” You ever prayed that? We look at it as an impossibility. But Jesus prayed that. Why would he pray that? He wants oneness of the church. He uses specific phrases. “Just as,” or “even as.”

I used to look at this as an impossible thing. I didn’t even strive for it. But lately I’m going, “God, you created us, you know us. So why would the Son pray something that is not possible? And why would he pray something that is not going to be answered?”

Jesus is saying, “Here is my prayer. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world. I’m praying for those who are going to believe two thousand years into the future. I’m praying that they will be one. This is my prayer.” Is that the goal in your mind? These are the things we forget. We will just get into ministry and say, “Oh, he got drunk this week. Let me fix that.” Or, “these two girls are fighting. Let me try to break it up.” We just get in these modes. We forget the overarching thing - what did Christ want? It was oneness. We don’t want to get caught up in task. We want to believe that we can become one, especially among the leaders. Because if we are not this way, what is our church going to be like? If we just show up and do our duty and then leave, what is the church going to be like?

Honestly when I first started church 22 years ago, I had no thought of this. I actually wanted a place where people could show up, hear a message about God and from God, worship God, and then go home. Personally, I didn’t need any more friends. And so I created this church where I don’t want to be friends with everyone. I want to pick the people that I am going to be friends with. See, I saw church as a place where I would go quietly, sit in the back somewhere, do my business with God, because I do love God and I do want to get close to him. But once I have done that, then I wanted to go on my own way. I figured there was a lot of people like me. I thought, let’s just do that.Wwe don’t have to be all in each others business. Lets just interact with God, that is what church is for.

It wasn’t until years later that I really started studying the Bible openly and went, “ Ok God, what are you asking for?” It’s kind of like Cain and Abel. It’s like Cain saying, “I brought you a bunch of awesome veggies. You know how long it took to grow these? That was a lot of work.” And God says, “I asked for meat.” And the same way in the church, I can go, “I got a ton of people to sit in a room and listen to me speak.” And God says, “That is good, but what did I want? What did I pray for? Unity, unity, unity.”

It’s like I said before: you offer God an awesome plate of spaghetti, but he ordered steak. So I don’t care how good that spaghetti is. That’s not what he ordered. In fact about a year ago I shared that with a group of friends, and they started a church and called it “The Steakhouse,” because they wanted to remind themselves that this is what it is. This is what we are after: what did God ask for?

I want to keep that on the forefront of our minds, because we can get caught up in other things. Look, this is awesome. We are smaller, and it doesn’t cost any money, which I think is great, because we are being mindful and we are giving money to all these other places. But even that is so secondary. Being smaller and getting in these groups is our opportunity to really know each other, to be in each others lives and love one another, and actually care. It’s just not the norm. In the busyness of our lives it's so hard for us to remember to look each other in the eye and think: I care about this person. So because I love this person, what is the most loving thing I could do or say to him or her right now?

The goal is to be one as the Father and the Son are one, but the other phrase in that passage that freaks me out are the words “so that.” Verse 23: “I in them and you in me that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you loved me.”

Why does he want us to be one? “So that the world may know that you sent me.” So that. Somehow our unity determines whether or not people believe Jesus is the messiah. Have you ever thought that? It’s not a side note. It’s not an appetizer. This will determine whether or not people will believe in Jesus.

I remember thinking as a youth pastor that if I could get the high school quarterback and the head cheerleader in my youth group, that will bring everyone else in there, saying, “Oh, Christians are cool.” And they were all going to just pray a prayer and they will be in heaven with me. That is the way that I thought.

That’s why this verse bothers me, because I like math. I’m Chinese. I like 2 +2 =4. I know you do this and this equals this. And I look at this equation: become one, and they are going to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and believe that you are loved by God. What? That doesn’t make sense. That equation doesn’t make sense. So we pursue other things that make more sense in our mind. But this book is about trust and faith and things that don’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense to march around a city seven times. It doesn’t make sense for two people to climb up and fight a whole army. But it worked! It doesn’t make sense to climb out of a boat onto water and walk. It doesn’t make sense that people would climb into a pit of fire and walk out unscathed and not even smelly. That’s the point! The point is: Do you believe in God’s way?

Yes, you can do your icebreakers, and you can bring in your famous people and whatever else. But what if you actually sought after this and said, “God, I am just going to get a group of people and somehow we are going to be one. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can do this. Because you prayed it, it can happen. You say if we do that, then the world is going to know that you sent Jesus.”

Paul took it a step further in Philippians.

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or

am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by

side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign

to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.” (Philippians 1:27-28)

Think of these words. Paul says that “if we are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction but of your salvation.” Here is the equation again. “Strive side by side and don’t be afraid” equals “they are going to believe that they are going to be destroyed and you are going to be saved.” This plus this equals this.

Do you believe that? Imagine: everyone in this room is crazy about me and I am crazy about them. Anyone in this room would give the shirt off of their back for me and vice versa. And we are not afraid of anything.” Do you believe that that equals the people out there believing, “we are going to get killed. We are going to be judged for what we are doing, and those guys they are actually saved?” That’s what Paul says in Philippians. That is where our faith comes in. Do I believe it so much that I go, “Lord, that is what I am going to create?”

So then success is not just having a crowd. Success is that we became one, as the Father and the Son are one. So know your people. I remember at our old church when we started breaking things up and we got to know people, it was shocking. There were people that sat in the front row for weeks, for years, and we knew nothing about them. And then we get to know them, and we start hearing what they struggle with. What happens as you get in is you realize that people are dealing with serious things. It’s very easy to just get up preach a sermon and go home. It’s easy to just have these little conversations. God is saying, “No, I want you to get to know each other. I want you to dig deep. I want you to have a relationship with people.”

I trust in the sovereignty of God, and we don’t want to put too much on ourselves, yet at the same time we have this responsibility. How many times do we go and just sit next to someone and not have a clue? We can’t assume now that we are smaller that everyone knows each other. That’s not true. You can be lost in a group of five. You can just have a miniature service. That’s why we get people in our homes. Let’s not be focused on privacy. Let’s live with each other. We are doing everything that we can to facilitate this, but the love still has to be in your heart, the desire to really get to know people.

That is Paul’s example:

“For we never came with words of flattery as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness.

Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made

demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of

her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only

the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you

remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to

any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy

and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father

with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a

manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:5-10)

What a great passage. For anyone in ministry, that is just a passage to remember. Verse seven: “we were gentle, like a nursing mother taking care of her children.” Paul could look at his people and go, “look, you guys know I was like Mom. You know how a mom is gentle and cares for you. I was like a mom in nursing you.”

But then he goes on in verse 11. He says, “For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.” So Paul is going look, I was like Mom and Dad. This wasn’t a job to me. I wasn’t pastor, preacher, apostle, this, this and this.” Paul could have been. He was an apostle - that's like top dog. He could have done all of this. “I am Apostle so and so. I am prophet so and so.” What did he do? Paul says, “I didn’t ask for anything from you. I was like a mom. Didn’t you see the way I cared about you?”

You know how mothers are. It doesn’t matter what time at night it is. The kid is hurting, and she is there. Paul says, “That is just me. I just nurtured you. You saw that. I wasn’t trying to get something from you. Mom is not there to say ‘pay me,’ or ‘do this or that.’ It's just in my nature to care for you.”

And Paul was like a father. He is saying, “Yes, there were times I laid down the law. But the way I did it was like a father. I wanted what was best for you. I am going to encourage you, and I am going to get in your face. But I do that with my own kids. Because that is how seriously I take this. I don’t think of you as a bunch of kids that I babysit. I think of you as my own children.”

We need to have that mindset for the people in your church. I’m not babysitting the people in my home. I don’t come on Sundays and Wednesdays to babysit. These are my kids and that is a different mentality. Sometimes if you ask me to babysit your kids, I will watch them, maybe teach them something and feed them, and then I send them home. Christ doesn’t want us as leaders to look at these people as kids we babysit. This is family now. So start going through your list of people and go, “I see them as my spiritual children. I am responsible for them.”

This is a entirely different concept than what I was used to. What we used to do was say, “Hey are you a new believer? Go to class 101. Then go to class 201, and go to this, and then this.” And we put them almost in these group homes. We are transitioning to giving people a spiritual mom and dad. It’s saying, “Hey adopt this guy. He just entered the waters of baptism. See yourself as a spiritual dad.” That doesn’t mean you have all the answers. I still take my kids to the hospital. I don’t know how to fix a broken bone. I don’t know how to do this or that. I use the rest of the body. But I am responsible, and I will take them to the hospital. I have ownership.

Can we love people to the point where we have ownership? I am not talking about thirty people. Just pick three or four who you count as your spiritual children. You commit to knowing what is going on in their lives, and loving them like a father and a mother. If anything gets messed up, it’s on you. And then you teach those four people. “You see how I am doing this with you? I want you to do that with three or four people.” And if you do that, then your church is covered.

This whole idea of being a leader of even twenty people is not necessarily really leading the twenty. It is you just picking three people and saying, “let me dig into these three, and then let them each dig into three.”The truth is that I cannot know the people in this room deeply. I can’t parent all of you and do it well. This is why we give responsibility to people. And you guys are experiencing it.

These are the words of the eternal God through the apostle Paul 1 Corinthians 13.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging

cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have

all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I

deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its

own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for

knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect

comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I

reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror But the more I studied Scripture, the more I realized that success is how many people you can get to leave— how many you can equip and then send them out to do their own thing. It’s reproducing yourself, not getting them dependent on you. It’s very much like parenting. My goal is not to have all my kids live in my house for the rest of my life. The goal is to get them out, successfully. Where you’ve trained them up well, so well that they can stand on their own two feet, and get their own job, and start their own family, and start the whole thing over again where they’re teaching their kids. That’s the goal.

dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully

known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-

13)

That just says it all. We have all been part of churches that have been known for something other than love. This guy has the gift of prophecy, this girl has the gift of whatever it is. The dream is we could really be known for our love. The leader literally loves these people like his own children. There is no difference. And then the people start following his example. Wouldn’t be awesome to be a part of a church like that? The pastor prays for me as much as he prays for his own kids. He is on his knees and I can tell that he really cares about me that much. It is like having a mom and dad. It's like having a family.

We have to keep these things as a goal. Because what happened in the book of Acts was an answer to the prayer of Jesus. People looked at the church and went, “Wow, look at them! They don’t care about their stuff. They sell their stuff. There is not a single needy person among them. They just sell, and give, and care.” They trusted John 17 - that prayer of being one, and they sought after that. And look what happened to them? The Lord added to their number daily. As they strove side by side for the sake of the gospel unafraid, people started believing, and miracles were happening. The way they loved each other was not just feelings. It was action-based. In that first church, it doesn’t say that they had deep feelings for each other. No - whenever someone was in need, they would sell something and take care of them. And it wasn’t about freeloaders either. It says if a man does not work, let him not eat. Everyone was working for the common good, and it was a beautiful thing.

We want to be this loving group. That is the dream. I didn’t go from big church to smaller church, just to have a smaller church. I really believe that today, in 2015, in the U.S., we can be one, perfectly one just as the Father and the Son are. Let’s keep striving for that. And it starts with us loving deeply and taking these people as our children.

4.The Equipping Leader

From Francis’s training session on Nov 1, 2015, “The Equipping Leader” (https://youtu.be/zad_0vyYWr0)

We have to remember that one of the goals in our gatherings is reproduction. So it’s not about training people to be dependent on you, but really training them to be independent of you, or maybe even interdependent. This is another one of those things that you see are so core in Scripture. The leaders are supposed to equip the other people for the work of service.

But this was not at all in my mind when I first started the church 20 something years ago. I wasn’t thinking about reproducing or equipping people. Back then, I thought that success was getting as many people as I could in a room to hear the Word of God. I thought, “Right now, we’ll just start with this small group and then maybe it’ll get bigger, and then pretty soon thousands of people come in a room and listen to me teach the Word of God. And once you hit that point—man, that’s success.” And then people start asking you, “Man, will you speak at our conference? Because you’re so successful. Because you’ve got so many people in a room.”

We understand that as parents, but I think for years we haven’t understood that in the church. We just go, “Look how good I am! All these people come to listen to me every Sunday.” And there’s actually a sense of failure in some ways when all those people are so dependent on you. Your goal should be to be able to say one day, “I’ve trained them, equipped them, so well that if I were gone, no big deal. I have prepared for life beyond me.” And that’s a great dad that can pull that off. And that’s a great pastor that can pull that off in the church.

So keep that in your mind: the goal is not collecting people. The goal is getting rid of them and reproducing them and having them start their own families.

Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Whatever you hear here right now, as I’m teaching you, in your mind you should be thinking, “Who are the faithful ones? Who are faithful ones that I can pass this on to and they will teach others?”

This is like four generations is this one verse. Paul goes, “The things you heard from me, Timothy, teach it to other people, who will in turn teach others.”

That’s why I love this group. Because there’s many places where I speak and I’ll say this and they may clap and go, “Oh, that was good.” But it stops right there. Here, I know what you guys are about. And whatever I teach you, it’s not wasted because you’re going to pass it on to the next guy. I love that! That’s the way it should be. Paul’s telling Timothy, “That’s who I want you to focus on—find those people, find the reliable ones.” Because the goal is not just making disciples; it’s making disciplemakers.

We do this by giving people responsibility, not just tasks. We talked about this a little bit last week. Where those people that are in your church, in your gathering, where you go, “Ok, I think these 3 or these 2 guys—I know are faithful. Then you pass on what I teach you to these other guys. Ok? That’s your job. Because I’m not going to talk to those other guys. They’re your responsibility. You be their spiritual parent.” Just give them that type of ownership in saying, “I’m depending on you because I see you as one of these 2 Timothy 2:2 people in our church where if I pass it on to you, you’ll pass it on to them. You have to raise up leaders otherwise this thing is going to stop.”

When I first started meeting with the pastors, I told them, “Look, I don’t know if I’m going to move, or die, but just assume I’m going. Just assume that you’re the only group that I’ll shepherd, that you’re the only group I’ll disciple. So then it’s your job to pass this stuff on. Don’t just assume that I’ll just be here forever to teach the next group and the next group and the next group. No. That’s not the way Jesus did it. He looked at his Twelve and he went, ‘Look I’m not going to be here forever. So it’s through you. You’re going to make the disciples. And you’re gonna pass it on.’”

Later in 2 Timothy 2 in verse 15, he says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

To be a good teacher, you have to be a good student. That’s what he’s saying here — that all of us in this room should be students of the word. You may not know enough right now. That’s fine. But where are you going to be a couple years from now? What’s the trajectory of your life? Do you see yourself one day going, ‘Yeah, pretty soon I’m not going to be ashamed of my Bible knowledge because I’m studying?’” Don’t think that because you’re the leader now so you can stop learning. And if you’re like me, I don’t have a great memory. I forget what I learned. Even reading through the Scriptures every year, I’m like, “Oh, that’s right. I read this last year. I totally forgot about this.” We have to constantly be learners.

One of the critical passages I wanted to focus on is Ephesians 4, because it explains what leaders are supposed to do.

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the

saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the

faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of

the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried

about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather

speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from

whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each

part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16)

This gives us the picture of how this body is supposed to work. We have these leaders, and there are certain people that God has gifted. But what is the point of their gifting? It says their gifting is to “equip the saints for the work of service.”

For many years we haven’t looked at church this way. We feel like we pay the guys up front to do the ministry. That’s the mentality of a lot of people that attend churches. They think, “Well, I tithe. That pays for the pastor, and so the pastor equips or teaches me. He takes care of me. He visits me in the hospital. I pay for the youth pastor. The youth pastor disciples my kids.”

But if you look in this passage, who’s doing the ministry? It’s the actual saints. It’s the people in the church. It’s not the pastor, it’s not the evangelist, it’s not the prophet. Their job was to equip the saints for the work of service.

So again, what is failure? Failure is when everyone is still dependent on the leadership. Success is when the leaders have equipped you to actually do the work of service. So, when you look at your church, when you pray through those names, ask, “How am I doing with equipping him? How am I doing with equipping her? Is she now ministering to other people?” You’re only going to get so far until you start teaching someone else.

In 1 Corinthians 12, it talks about how we are all a part of a body. I want to challenge you to take this seriously — as literally as the Bible takes it, such that you look at everyone here and go, “I need them. They have something to offer the body.”

In verse 21, he says, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you.’ Nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”

Again, think about everyone in your church right now. Let’s be honest. Haven’t there been times when you’ve thought, “We don’t really need her. I think we might be better off without her?”’Let’s admit it —that’s just the way we think.

That was Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 12. There’s going to be those parts that you think are more important. Then there are others that you think, “I could do without them. I don’t really need them.” Yes, we’re preparing people to the point where they can stand on their own feet, lead their own congregation. God wants that—he wants us equipping people so they’re not blown and tossed by every wind of doctrine. But at the same time he also wants to create this body where there’s unity, where everyone looks at each other and says, “I need you.”

God wants interdependence in the church, and there’s times when we just need to repent of our independence. And that’s what I was wrestling with at the church that I led for 15, 16 years — I had built a church that was over-dependent on just my gift. And when you build the church where you only need one person’s gifting, that’s not a godly church. That’s not what he asked for. That’s not a steak. We got a bunch of people in the room, but his desire was that everyone would use this manifestation of the Spirit’s power.

In 1 Corinthians 12, there are a variety of activities, but it’s the same God who empowers them all in everyone. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). I want everyone here to believe that about themselves and about the others around them. We’re not talking about you believing in your own power. An Almighty God says that in me there’s this manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Because I’m a believer in Jesus Christ and because the Holy Spirit dwells in me that there’s some gift that I have for you and when I exercise it in the power of the Holy Spirit—look out. God doesn’t just give you some mediocre spirit. This is the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead who lives in me.”

1 Corinthians 12 says that God gifts every one of his believers with something from the Holy Spirit to bless everyone else. I want that. If my gift is teaching, then I don’t want to get up there and deliver an ok message. I say to God, “ I want to say stuff that will change their lives where they think about it all week long because it wasn’t me in the flesh just forcing something.” I want it to be the Holy Spirit of God is moving through me and changing your life and impacting you. It takes a lot to remind myself. Because I get scared. I get to places and I go, “What am I going to teach them?”

Man, I remember sitting in front of a bunch of people in India that have been persecuted, who’ve watched some of their relatives tortured to death—people beaten and everything else. And then God calls me to speak to them, thousands of them. I go, “What do I have to say, God? What am I going say?” Or I get in front of all these scholars who can dissect this book way better than me, and I say, “God, what am I going say? These guys are all smarter than I am.”

I have to remind myself, “No, wait a second. This isn’t about me being smart enough or my experience. The Bible promises me that He put me in this situation and the Holy Spirit is going to give me words to say. I’m not alone. I have to remind myself, “God is here. Jesus is with me. And the Spirit is in me.”

Now my job is to remind each of you that the word of God says you’ve been given a gift by the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good. If you start really believing that of all of your people, and if we all exercised it in that way, that’s the dream. You look at someone and you go, “Man, I need you. According to the Bible, it’s like missing an eye. Maybe you’re the ear. I’m walking around deaf. There’s something about you that needs to be out there or we’re not going to be complete.”

Christ says, “I made a body, and you’re not going to act the same. We’re not all going to have the same gifts.” Sometimes we take this passage and go, “Well, I don’t need him, I don’t need her.” Or sometimes we just think, “How come he’s not like me? How come she’s not more like me?” And the truth is—we don’t want her to be like you.

One of the most meaningful times in my life was when I went away in the woods, just by myself alone with God for a few days—just me, the Bible, and some water. I remember opening up the Bible, one of those wherever-it-falls, which I don’t really like, but it just felt right. And it worked. It was that passage in Jeremiah 1 where God just says to Jeremiah, “Look, before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you. Before you were born I declared that you were going to be a prophet.”

I went, “Really God? You knew me before you even made me? Before I was even born you knew me? You had plans for me before I even was out of my mother’s womb? So you knew my mom was going to die giving birth to me but you wanted me on the earth because there’s something I was going to do?”

In that passage Jeremiah says to God, “Oh, I’m only a child.” And God says, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a child.’ I’m going to put these words in you.”

Even Jeremiah did the same thing: “Ok, I know I’m created by you, but I’m scared.” And God just says, “No, no, don’t you say that. Don’t you be like Moses: ‘Oh I don’t talk…’ No, I made your mouth!”

See, Moses was not being humble—you’ve got to remember that. He was not being humble when he said, “I don’t speak real well.”

Because God looked at him and said, “Who made your mouth? Are you saying I screwed up when I made your mouth?” That’s not humility. You’re downplaying the creation of God. And you’re downplaying the power of the Holy Spirit. You’re blaspheming him. I’m blaspheming the way you created me. And I’m blaspheming the power of your Holy Spirit when you told me you made me.

I go, “God, you made an amazing creation. Just like David says, ‘I was fearfully and wonderfully made.’ God, I get it. You say this about me, so this is true.”

How dare I say, ‘Oh, I don’t really have anything to offer you guys.’” No, you know what? The Holy Spirit of God is in me. I’ve got something to offer you. And I’ve got to figure that out more and more. And now I’ve got to figure that out in you. You’ve got to figure that out in your people and go, “If we’re going to be a healthy body, let’s figure this out.” In the flesh, we’ll get mad at each other. We’ll get frustrated that you’re not like me and I’m not like you. But that’s not what God wanted. We’re supposed to champion each other. You’ve got some sort of gift, and we can’t do without that. I need you. I need you. I need you.

There’s so many things I love about our church right now. One of the things I love the most is how very few people are wasted. This frustrated me so badly in the past. I’d have all of these people and I’d see them in the workplace and they were CEOs, or they’d be at the parties and they’d be the life of the party. They’re doing so much out in the world, and yet with the church they just sit there. They show up and sit.

And I thought, “Man, I’m being a bad steward. If all of these people possess a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit and I’m the only one using my gift, I’m really wasting a lot of God’s resources. I’m just asking them to show up right now and maybe give 10% of their income. I don’t know what I’m asking them to do.” And these are God’s people!

I love serving Him. That’s my thrill in life. There are times when I’m done teaching and I walk off the stage and I just go, “Wow, that was awesome, God. That’s the whole reason why I’m on this earth.” That’s what I live for. Those moments where I was used by God—what I was created for and the gift that he gave me, and it wasn’t even me up there. The words just came out. That’s what everyone is supposed to be experiencing -- that rush! I realized all these people are not experiencing that. They’re just experiencing my gift and maybe two or three other people’s gifts. We were wasting a lot.

Just think about your church right now. Go around the room, maybe even next Sunday, or this week as you’re praying for each of them, and go, “God, ok, I know in this person is this supernatural gift of God, Lord. Help me figure out a way as a pastor to get him released.” Then just start going around the room and start doing that.

I love seeing fewer and fewer people being wasted now. I just started getting excited as I name leaders. There’s this guy - he would just be sitting there in church if we didn’t do it this way. But now, he’s responsible. He’s got these people that he’s over. And I just think, “Man, what if all of these people just came on Sundays and just listen to me teach and go home?” How empty that would be! Instead, all these leaders are being stretched and they’re responsible for other people.They’re growing way more than they would be just by sitting there under someone’s teaching, week after week after week.

I just tell people, “Sky’s the limit with some of these guys. They may do way more than me.” That’s the dream of all of our children. I want them to take it another step. I want to be not their ceiling but their floor.

When I talk about our church, I brag about a lot of you. I can’t wait to see what God does in your future because you’re getting things at this early stage that I didn’t get until so much later. I can teach them everything I know -- it’ll probably take a month. And then I hope they surpass me. I hope they do so much more when I’m gone.

That’s what Jesus was saying when he left the earth. He was saying, “Just wait. Watch, when you depend on the Holy Spirit, this is something I couldn’t even do. This is to your advantage when you stop looking to me to do everything for you and you depend on the Holy Spirit. You’re going to be able to do things that you were never able to do with me around.”

Now it’s for you to believe that and go, “Ok, that’s in me. Ok, God, do something great through me.” This is not arrogance. This is trust in the Word of God. Just go, “God, you destined me for greatness because of your Spirit. Let me believe that and never take credit for it.”

5.The Missional Leader

From Francis’s training session on Nov 8, 2015, “The Missional Leader” (https://youtu.be/LSm5miy6i0U)

The typical question people ask is, “Hey, where do you go to church?” That’s a weird question. Biblically, I don’t think that was asked a whole lot. But we’ve created this thing where there’s this place you go to and you attend, rather than being a family. I’ve used the analogy of the gang. You don’t say, “Hey, where did you go to gang?” You join a gang, you’re a part of a gang, you’re always a part of them.

The title of We Are Church was meant to not make sense as a name, and it was something you had to explain: “We don’t believe in just going to a place and calling that church, because we ARE the church.”

Sometimes we’ve said that we have these “house churches.” That’s kind of the verbiage I’ve been using, but we’ve been exploring calling them “family churches” instead, because of what that communicates. We’re not inviting people into a house as much as we’re inviting them into a family. The idea is to adopt people into your family. The mindset of family carries with it a commitment. You’re committed to your brothers and sisters. The idea of family is that you don’t necessarily choose your brothers and sisters. You’re stuck with them and you’re committed to them for life. The idea of family is that we raise our kids to be independent and to start their own families.

Then when you invite people over for church, it’s like you’re inviting them over to have dinner with your family. You know for those of you who had cool families, you could invite your friends over for a family meal or even a family vacation. My family wasn’t like that growing up. We didn’t allow people in our house. I was always jealous of my friends’ families that would just let me come over, sleep over, and they just made you feel a part of that family.

When people ask, let’s try to keep that mindset of family. It’ll help us look at each other differently. Through being brothers and sisters, living and thinking like family, we can really invite people into relationship rather than to a location.

That said, one of the dangers of church is that we can become very inward. But biblically, you can’t get past the fact that we are on a mission. We’re here to get the gospel to the ends of the earth. And while it’s true that sometimes your church can be too focused outwardly, it’s also true that it can be too focused inwardly.

Just try to think of it as the two wings. You can’t really just drop one for the other. You need them both, and one might be weaker than the other. So strengthen it up. But let’s not give up one for the other. We have to keep focusing because we’re on a mission. Think about the house churches in China that kept multiplying. They just kept spreading and spreading and spreading because everyone was making disciples.

Our job as pastors is to keep people missional. I think this is a really easy thing to ignore, and I think sometimes we want to ignore it. I think most Christians I meet in America are a lot like me, in that the last thing we really feel like doing is talking to someone who’s not a believer and telling them that they need to repent, be baptized, and filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s difficult. It’s an awkward conversation. Every time I sit next to someone on the plane it’s like, “Ok, here we go.” I don’t want to do it. There's so many things I would rather do during the week. I would much rather sit in an office and prepare a sermon. I'd much rather have leadership meetings. I'd much rather do this.

If we're just really honest, it's hard because it's hard to be rejected. No one jumps on a plane hoping that they'll sit next to someone who will tell them about Jesus. And you know your co-worker is not going to wake up tomorrow going, “I hope he or she comes up to me start talking about Jesus.” You go into it knowing that this is unpopular. I can talk about other things: digging wells in Africa, caring for the poor, racial reconciliation. But when it gets to the gospel, it's like, “Ugh. Don't go there.”

Most of the people in our gatherings will think that way and feel that way. It’s just hard to get motivated. As believers we’re supposed to gather like this this and pray for each other’s courage. There are a lot of other Christian activities that are easier to do—go to Bible study, go to prayer. People spend a lifetime studying and debating with other believers and writing stuff. These are all good things, but at the end of the day we’re supposed to be on a mission.

What’s comforting to me is that in Scripture, you have Paul reminding Timothy: “Hey, this spirit of timidity that you have right now, this fear? This isn’t really what God gave you. He gave you the spirit of power. Remember? We laid hands on you. Come on, go do this thing!” Acts 4 talks about how the people were amazed at Peter and John’s courage. Here they were, locked up in prison, and when they’re released, they go and gather the believers and pray for more courage. And Paul tells the Ephesian church, “Would you pray for me that I would proclaim the gospel boldly, as I ought.”

Those are encouraging verses to me. Because sometimes we look at the Apostle Paul and go, “Man, that guy wasn’t afraid of anything. He could go anywhere.” But why? Because he was honest and said, “I need your prayers. I want to preach this boldly. I don’t want to back down. I don’t want to shrink back. That’s not who we are.” It’s cool to know that Peter and John did that, and Timothy needed that, and Paul needed that. So as leaders, we need it. I pray for that courage for you. I pray that your relationship with God is so intense and that you’re so close to Him. I pray that you’re so sure that He’s watching you right now that you can say to Him, “You’re the only one I care about, and so I can speak boldly about You. I can tell people about the relationship I have with You.”

I love that passage in Joshua when Moses is dying and Joshua is about to take the helm. In Joshua 1, God tells Joshua, “Hey, I’ll be with you. Just like I was with Moses, I’ll be with you—just be strong and courageous.” And Moses tells Joshua, “Look, God will be with you—just be strong and courageous.” And then the people tell Joshua, “We’ll follow you just like we followed Moses—just be strong and courageous.” Wow. That’s a big deal.”

I don’t know about you, but I get insecure at times. I get timid at times. Sometimes in the church we can be good at telling someone when they’re wrong. But we’re not real good at coming alongside people and going, “Man, right on! Don’t back off of that message! You nailed it. You nailed it. You nailed it. Keep going. Be strong and courageous.” And I feel that this is the time where we need it more than ever. We in this group need to look at one another and go, “Man, I’m so grateful for that courage you have, and I’m going to pray that it gets even stronger.”

In Romans 9, you see what motivates Paul’s missional heart.

“I am speaking the truth in Christ- I’m not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit -

that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were

accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”

(Romans 9:1-3)

Here’s why we don’t like this. Paul says, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” I don’t really want to have that. If I think about judgement, that’s what’ll end up happening to me. Great sorrow and unceasing anguish.

Anguish. Try to think of the last time you felt anguish. Not like a little tear but like everything in you. Paul says, “This is what I feel all the time, it’s unceasing.” Paul, the one who says, “Rejoice in the Lord always” and he has this amazing joy that never ends and he’s always rejoicing, never worrying, and yet he says, “I have this unceasing anguish in my heart.” This is the tough thing about what we believe. There’s this tremendous joy that we have in Christ, and then there’s this unceasing anguish that we have too.

Paul is saying, “Gosh, I love these people so much. I wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.”

I’ve never felt that. I’ve never loved anyone that much. In fact, I remember that the first few times when I read this passage, I thought, “That’s impossible.” I can say I love you guys, and I think I really do. I was praying for you guys again this morning, and when I think of your faces as it comes up in prayer I have these warm feelings towards you. But I’m not going to hell for you. If there’s a choice, it’s like, “Bye.” I can’t even fathom that. How can someone love that much? I know I’m not there yet for a lot of things, but I can picture myself getting there. This passage is always one of those where I go, “Gosh, Lord, I don’t know. Is it possible to get there?”

When I read it, I think, “Paul’s lying. There’s no way.” But that’s why he starts it off by saying, “I’m telling the truth. In Christ. I’m not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.” It’s almost like he knew that we would go “You’re lying.” He’s like, “No! I’m speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Here’s how bad it is to me.” What an example. It’s that type of example of love that put Jesus on the cross. Even as His son is crying out, “Daddy, Abba Father, is there any other way? Take this cup from Me; come on You can do all things!” The Father looks at His Son, and He had such a great love for us. He says, “I’m going to watch this, because I so love this world.”

A lot of times when we talk evangelism or being on mission, we don’t talk about this heart. We don’t talk about what motivates you. This is what we have to pray for. Pray, “God,I know it’s going to make it hard on me, to live this way, to have unceasing sorrow and unceasing anguish, but I believe that’s the type of love that drove You to the cross, Father, that drove you to watch Your son.”

So, this starts with us. This is where we pray, going, “God, this is not my heart for the lost. I want that.” Remember, we’re the example. People are going to follow our example. It’s not, “Hey let’s go out and evangelize.” That’s not all this is talking about. It’s about let’s have such a heart for these people that we just have to say something. I HAVE to tell you something. I remember as a kid calling some of my friends and knowing I’ll never see them again because that’s the nature of high school. I went, “I feel terrible never telling you this, and I couldn’t live with myself unless I at least tried to tell you something. Here it is.” And maybe even this causes people to come to mind right now. If we’re not that example of being missional then how can we expect our people to be that way?

The other thing about being missional is, as much as we talk about being unified, it’s really the mission that unifies us. If your church is not missional, eventually you’re going to start fighting with each other. It’s the mission that makes this byproduct of unity.

That’s what Paul was talking about in Philippians 1 when he says, “I want you striving side by side, not afraid.” The few times I’ve felt that, have been on mission trips or the times I’ve walked around with some of you sharing the faith with people, whether it’s in the projects, the Tenderloin, or wherever. IWe used to do this ministry in the Tenderloin called “Adopt-a-Building.” Some of you guys were there. And it was cool. We always just go to church and sing and talk, and then we go home. Why don’t we spend an hour out talking to people and then coming back and worship?” So we started doing that every Sunday afternoon, and we’d have this group of people.Maybe this size some weeks, some weeks a lot bigger. And there were people that you wouldn’t normally hang out with, but as you saw them out on the street, there was a bond. They gave up their Sunday afternoon and they’re going out, and we’re getting rejected together, and there’s a bond. The feeling was: “There’s nothing to fight about right now. I’m just glad you’re here because not everyone would do this.”

If you’re not out doing things that scare you, then you end up arguing about the dumbest things. That’s what people in the armed forces will tell you. “When we would put people out there and they weren’t quite at war yet, eventually they’d start fighting with each other. But once they get on that battlefield there’s this immediate bond, where people think, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, we’re a team, we’re a family.’” So understand that a lot of times our fights are because we’re in the wrong fight. We’re created to be on a mission and when we’re not, we just split over the dumbest things, things that we shouldn’t be fighting about. Why? Because we don’t have this unceasing anguish in our hearts, and we’re not focused on those that don’t know Christ.

The other things is, we talk about wanting to develop people who love Jesus and really experience Him and know Him, but that’s a byproduct of being missional as well. Because when you look at the Great Commission in Matthew 28, it says, “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptize them, teach them to obey everything I’ve commanded you.” And Jesus says, “And I will be with you always even to the end of the age.”

People will say, “Well, I don’t experience the presence of Christ.” I go, “Have you been out sharing your faith?” Because Jesus promises His presence in the context of telling the disciples to make disciples of all the nations.” Jesus did not rise from the dead and give the command to get in small groups. No, He was saying “Get to the ends of the earth; they don’t know anything about My resurrection. They don’t know that I came back to life, they don’t know what My commands are. Go find those people. I want you to get to everyone.” He was talking about reaching the unreached, and teaching them to obey. At the end of that, He says, “And I’ll be with you always.”

When I look back in my life, it’s those times when I was scared and being missional that I really got to experience Jesus and His presence with me. These crazy things happen when you’re afraid and you’re out being missional. A lot of times we think, “I want to experience God so I’m going to go to a mountaintop and be quiet.” That’s awesome. Do that! We need that. But that’s not the only way you experience Him. If you really want to experience Him, go do something that scares you. That’s where you really see the presence of God in this Book. It’s Daniel when he was in the lion’s den. It’s when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in the fire that another person appears with them. Stephen, when he was being stoned, suddenly he’s like, “I can see Jesus now. I see the Son of Man at the right hand of God. Go ahead throw the rocks. Kill me.I don’t really care because I see God right now.” And I hear stories like that of people as they’re out doing something, where they really experience God.

In our church culture, we think experiencing God is just when we’re together singing a song. It’s like, “Ok sing another one, sing another one, I almost felt Him.” And yet Biblically ,when did the people really experience Him? It’s when they were doing what they didn’t really feel like doing, taking a risk, doing something that scared them, and getting the gospel to the ends of the earth.

One last thought: when I was a young pastor, and the church was growing, I went to one of my first conferences, like church growth type of thing. This pastor of a really large church at the time was speaking and he was talking about their Christmas musical. He was saying, “Man, we have people come here, 10, 15 hours a week, rehearsing, and we’ve been doing this for months.” He was talking about the commitment level because they wanted excellence. He said they wanted to have an excellent Christmas musical, because unbelievers will come to this. I remember saying, “Man, that’s really cool. But 10 or 15 hours a week? What if those same people had spent 10 hours a week talking to their neighbors? And inviting them over to the house for dinner? And building relationship? Wouldn’t that have reached even more people? And it would’ve been free!” His answer was: “Oh yeah totally. But people won’t do that.” I remember saying, “Yeah, you’re right.” So that was my thinking back then. He’s right, people won’t do that. They’re not going to actually share the gospel with someone else. But they will perform in a Christmas musical and they will invite their friends to this, so let’s just have them do that.

Now I have a whole different mentality. No, you don’t change it and make it easier for the people. Paul didn’t tell Timothy, “I know you’re scared, so let’s do this instead.” It was just, “Ok this is a scary thing we do.” It’s going to take a miracle. We want to grow people who are confident and go, “Yeah, the gospel’s never going to be a popular thing. But I’m going to say it. And I don’t want to be a coward.”

We have a choice. Either we change the system and make it easier for everyone, or we do what they did and say, “You know, let’s pray for this courage. And let’s strive side by side, striving for the sake of the gospel, not afraid of anything.”

I want to be this army. And I think this is what God wants. He wants to say, “Look at my people there. They’re not afraid. They’re going after it.”

So you see, being missional is so much more than, “Hey go share the gospel with someone.” There’s this heart of pain because we love people. There’s this belief that Christ will be right with me as I go do this. You want to strive side by side with this group of people that are not afraid.

So success in our gatherings is everyone sharing the gospel. The goal is that we’re all that bold. No matter what age you are, whether you’re in elementary school or 70 years old. We’re not ashamed of Jesus. we want to develop those types of people.

I remember being at one of the gatherings one time and looking around. It wasn’t a big group - maybe 15 or 20 of you. As you were sharing what happened during the week, I realized every single person in that circle told a story of someone they shared the gospel with. And I thought, “This is awesome.” Was the room all packed because everyone gave their lives to Jesus? No. But you know what? That was 100%. Everyone there shared the gospel. That’s success. Let’s say if you just went to any church of 500 people here in America, how many people do you think actually verbalized the gospel that week? Maybe 5? It’s one of those things that we don’t do that anymore, because we don’t have that heart that’s concerned about the things that Christ is concerned about. We’ll do anything to avoid being missional.

A practical thing you can do is just write out a list of the top 10 people in your life whom you love and who don’t know Jesus, just so you have a prayer list that you’re consistent with. And say, “God, give me a greater burden for them. Let me pray for them consistently. Let me feel this anguish towards them.” Then, start thinking through the people in the congregation and encourage them to do the same thing. Remember what success is. It’s getting our people to care that much that they’re out sharing the gospel.

6.The Spirit-Filled Leader

From Francis’s training session on Nov 15, 2015, “The Spirit-filled Leader” (https://youtu.be/cCg8EPDt2F4)

I don’t know your background, but my background is a more conservative church where the Holy Spirit was avoided. We didn’t talk about Him. We would never deny Him. We’d say, “Of course the Holy Spirit is very important.” But in all actuality, in day-to-day, week-to-week living, what’s the difference between a person with the Holy Spirit and someone without? When we come to this topic, I know some of us come from that background where we would theologically on a test say, “Yes, I have the Holy Spirit in me” and “Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit”, but He’s not a real part of our everyday life.

And then I’ve talked to many others who come from churches where they’re always talking about the Holy Spirit, but it’s like they were giving the Holy Spirit credit for everything. So even things that may have been manufactured,it’s like, “ooh, ooh, what’s that twitch in my shoulder? I think that was the Holy Spirit.” So pretty soon everything is about the Holy Spirit and it’s a different way of almost dumbing down the holiness of God and the amazing thought of the Holy Spirit of God and what He does.

We don’t want to trivialize Him with every little thing, and at the same time we don’t want to neglect Him. We want to take a Biblical stance.

If I’m stuck on an island, and I’ve never been to a church, and no one has ever preached to me, and I just read the Bible, what would I come away with? What would I say I needed to do? Pray a prayer and ask Jesus to enter into my heart? No - I think I would say, “I need to turn from living for myself and follow Jesus. I need to get baptized and, I need this filling of the Holy Spirit. I need this Spirit of God to enter into me or I’m not going to make it. There’s going to be tremendous, tremendous power when the Holy Spirit enters into me. Based upon what I read in this book, he’ll make me a slave to what’s right. He’s going to give me a power to have these supernatural gifts to influence other people.” That’s the difference between being dead and living in the flesh and being alive, living by the Spirit. I would expect this tremendous power. Then, if I’m rescued off that island and brought to civilization, how would I think about what the church would look like? I would assume church would be made up of these people that are not like everyone else. From scripture, you would expect a massive difference between a person with the Holy Spirit and a person without.

It’s just crazy how nowadays we’re not seeing much difference between a person who supposedly has the Holy Spirit in them and a person who doesn’t. It’s not right. We’re talking about the Spirit of God!

Romans 8:12 says, “The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead now lives in us.” Think about that: the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead.

Imagine a crucified body laying up here. Just picture a dead body, just dripping, blood everywhere, just mutilated. It’s horrifying. What if we could see that body stand up, heal himself and walk around? Can you imagine how terrified we would be, how in awe we would be? Nothing would matter now that we have seen that kind of resurrection power! Romans 8 says, “The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead now lives in you!”

I’m tired of people telling me, “I can’t do this, I can’t do this. I’ll never figure it out.” No! We’ve got tremendous power in us. Do the people that attend our gatherings believe this about themselves? But it starts with us. Do we believe this about ourselves? Do you think about that kind of power being in you? I forget. And I get insecure. And I’ll go speak somewhere and go, “Aw man, I don’t know if I can pull this off.” Or I’ll sit next to someone on the plane and go, “Man I don’t know if I have the words to say.” In those moments, I’m not thinking through the fact that I’ve got tremendous power. I’m not just some human being walking around trying to use his human brain. I’ve got the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead in me, and I need to display that to the world.

We’re not looking for people to just do things in the flesh. Church can become that very easily. What we’ve grown accustomed to, is, “You’re strong. Why don’t you move chairs?We just give tasks. We just do things. You can lead a Bible study without the Holy Spirit of God. If you can read, if you can ask a question, you can lead a Bible study. We’re talking about something so much greater than that, which is being Spirit-filled human beings, such that the world would be shocked by the things that we do.

We as leaders should be constantly changing. I hope you are not the same person you were three months ago. Because we’re teaching the Word of God and it should be impacting us. We should be growing in our courage, growing in our boldness, growing in our holiness. Always ask yourself, “Am I a different man or woman than I was three months ago? Because I’ve got the Spirit of the Living God inside of me and He’s leading me into this process of sanctification and making me more and more like Christ.”

I love the passage in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul is talking to this church, and he says,

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not

only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of

men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for

you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an

example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord

sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere,

so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we

had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait

for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to

come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-10)

Paul starts off writing a letter to these people and he says, “Look, I know that God chose you.” He is saying, “I know you’re saved.” But how does he know that they’re saved? He doesn’t say, “Because I remember when you prayed that prayer. I remember when you cried. I remember when you got baptized.” He doesn’t say any of that.

He goes, “Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but in power in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.” Then he goes on and he lists, “We saw the changes in your life: you started imitating us, you turned from your idols and you started following. The words didn’t just land on flesh but it came in the power of the Holy Spirit because your whole life changed. You started getting persecuted, you didn’t back down. You held on. You had this joy in the Holy Spirit even though the Holy Spirit was telling you to repent and to turn from those things, and you just did it. We don’t even have to talk about your faith. I don’t have to tell people that the Thessalonians became Christians because you’re talking about it all the time. It’s sounding forth from you.”

We live in a time where we don’t talk about the results of the Holy Spirit. We don’t talk about the power of the Holy Spirit. We passed on this knowledge, and someone intellectually said he believed it. Paul here is saying, “No, I know that you guys are real because I see it in your life. I see it in your actions. When we read the Word of God to you, you receive it with joy, even in persecution.”

One of the things that was so frustrating to me was I looked at so much of what we did in church and I thought, this is so explainable, even if there is no Holy Spirit. That doesn’t seem to be congruent with this book. Who wants to do that? believe I can draw a crowd to any religion. I don’t mean to be cocky, but I think the Lord has given me some gifts in leadership and I can get the right people in place and draw a crowd together and create energy. I believe if I was president of Kentucky Fried Chicken I could fire up managers and workers and just make the Colonel someone to be admired. We can put on these church services where we’ll bring in an illusionist and we’ll fill up a stadium and we’ll get some crossover band that’s kind of half Christian, half not, and get everyone fired up. Then I’ll come up and give some motivational message. At the end of the day God, we’ll go, “God really moved.” But that would have worked for anything!

What I see in scripture is that God wants to do things that you couldn’t have done it any other way. Fire literally came down from heaven and consumed that sacrifice. Or fire came down and landed on their heads and they started speaking in other languages. There was this supernatural power in the early church. I don’t want to do church in such a way that’s explainable. I want all of it. I haven’t been able to experience all of that.

We all want something more, and I think we need to do this together to remind each other of the power that’s in us. Too often, when people sin, we just put our arms around them and go, “Oh, I sin also,” rather than going, “Do you understand how much power is in you? And how much power is in me? We don’t have to fall. We don’t have to have these meetings every week where we just confess the same old sins over, and over, and over and comfort each other. We can put this to death according to Scripture. Let’s put this thing to death!” Let’s live in a different way and let’s seek a greater power, not just using our human giftedness. I’m amazed at what God has done and allowed me to be a part of. I just don’t want to end life like this. From what I read in this book I think there’s more and I want to pursue it and I don’t want to trivialize the Holy Spirit.

“Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one

another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your

heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:18-21)

At the beginning of the passage, he says, “Don’t get drunk with wine because that’s debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” I love that analogy because he compares being drunk with wine to being filled with the Spirit. Picture a drunk person. We’ve all seen it or been it. You know how when someone’s just drunk out of their mind? It’s so obvious. You go, “Man, that guy is on something.” Paul uses that picture and says, “I want you to be filled with the Spirit.” That’s the type of person with whom you spend just a few minutes, and you go, “What is this about? There’s something different about you.”

After that, Paul says, “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything.” These are the participles he uses to explain being filled with the Spirit. So being filled with the Spirit equals addressing one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. You’re so filled with the Spirit that boom - psalms come out of your mouth. Hymns come out of your mouth. I haven’t met that many people like that, and I want to become more like that.

One person that comes to my mind is Joni Eareckson Tada, who’s been a paraplegic for almost 50 years. Every time I see her, I can’t spend more than two minutes with her without her quoting a verse or she’ll just start singing. She says, “I’ve been in this wheelchair for almost 50 years now. If I ever stop praising God or singing, I’ll just lose it.” Imagine: every morning, when you wake up, all that means is your eyes open and someone’s got to pick you up out of bed, change you, bathe you, take you to the bathroom, feed you. They do it all day long and then lay you back in the bed till the next day. Imagine doing that for almost 50 years. She tells me, “Francis, if I don’t praise God incessantly, I’ll just want to kill myself.” I just want to be that type of person who talks about what you’re reading in God’s Word, and you’re thankful for everything. I want to literally never complain but give thanks to God for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to be like this from the moment I wake up, to say, “Wow God, another day to serve you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for this breath. Thank you that I can think today. Thank you that I can get up. My friend Joni, she can’t even get out of bed. I’m up. I’m up. I’m up. Thank you that I know you. Thank you. I can’t believe I’m talking to the God of the universe. Thank you because if I wreck my car and I die, there’s nothing to fear. I get to be with you. Thank you that all of my sins are forgiven.” All through the day, thanking God for everything.” And then to come here, and pray, “It’s Sunday afternoon. Yeah, I’m a little tired. I feel a little sick. But you know what? This is so cool. Look at this. We got brothers and sisters here who are talking about doing church the real way, going 100% after this. People who work full-time jobs who are shepherding people and shepherding them well.” Just thanking, thanking, thanking. That’s what the Spirit-filled person is like compared to the person who just finds something wrong in everything.

A lot of times when we talk about being Spirit-filled, we don’t talk about what Scripture says and what Scripture emphasizes. The Spirit-filled person will be addressing you with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. I love that idea of singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart - an ongoing song in your heart throughout the day. What if we were all like that?This is what God wants - for us to be that type of community that gives thanks to God for everything in Christ Jesus.

And then Paul says, “And submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The sign of a Spirit-filled person is a desire to submit to others, out of reverence for Christ. Paul goes on: “Wives submit to your husbands; husbands love your wives.” He says, “Children obey your parents; bondservants obey your earthly master with fear and trembling.” This is all a part of being Spirit-filled. The Spirit-filled person is not a rebellious, anti-authority type of person, but you take on the Spirit of Christ who gladly submitted to his Father and came under his leadership. That’s why we’re trying to create a picture to the world showing that authority can be a great thing. We don’t want any negative talk in here about the elders or this pastor. We can’t allow that in the church because we want to give the world a beautiful picture of authority.”

When I adopted Dellal, I said, “Honey, I want you to one day love authority because I don’t think you’ve ever liked authority, and most people don’t. But, I want to show you such a good picture that by the time you graduate from high school you’re going, ‘I’m so glad that Francis was my authority.’” My goal is to be that great of a leader, because that’s the way I view God and His authority. These laws, and whatever He gives me, lead to life.

This is all a part of being Spirit-filled. I challenge you with that passage to evaluate: Am I that person that when people meet me I just want to share what God is teaching me? Throughout the day do I have this melody going on in my heart, and I’m thanking God for everything? Am I not rebelling and cursing leadership, but happy to come under godly leadership? Wouldn’t you love to be around a person like that? This is what the Holy Spirit can do in us.

Then there is the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, verses 22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness - are these the things that people see, when they spend just a few minutes with you? Maybe you’re hearing this list and you’re very convicted. The idea of this is not to bum you out. If you’re none of it, maybe you should consider, “What’s going on? Is the Spirit in me?” But understand - we’re going through a lot of stuff over these weeks of what we want our leaders to be like. We’re not sayin by the end of the next week I want all of these things in your life. We are coming together to agree that this is what we want to be. So let’s pursue this and pray for each other.

So if you’re not a naturally patient person, you’re not a naturally joyful person, and you’re not a naturally loving person, you can say, “That’s okay, because the Spirit of God is in me and He can make me all of these things. That’s what He wants to do in me.” Too often in church we have these excuses: “I’m just an angry person and God knows that.” That’s not the way a Spirit-filled leader talks.

I think about what God has done in my life just with anger, lack of joy and patience - things I didn’t think I’d ever overcome. When I was younger I just thought I’d be an angry person. We all have weird childhood memories. I remember as a kid, my Aunt, who lives out in South San Francisco, looked at me one time and said, “Why you never happy? You look so sad.” And I remember one time my dad was cooking a fish and the fish has a natural frown. And as I’m walking by, I said, “That fish looks sad.” My dad looked at me and went, “That how you always Look.” It just stuck - “That’s how I always look?” Some people by nature are just joyful, Christian or not. And I just wasn’t that. I remember the day I took my oldest, Rachel, to a camp I was speaking at. Unbeknownst to me they took her aside and interviewed her. They said, “Hey, we don’t want your dad here. We just want to interview you. What do you think of your dad? What’s the first thing you think of when you think of your dad?” And she goes, “Joy. He’s just got so much joy.” And I thought, “Woah. Really?” I remember it was right after that we were on the plane going home and I was talking to some stranger next to me. She goes, “ I hear what you say - what you believe. What I want to say is I think you are the most joyful person I have ever met in my life.” I said, “Seriously? That’s so cool! That’s just so not me!” She said, “Nothing seems to faze you. You’re just thankful.” It gives me hope for the other areas in my life that I’m growing in, like patience. We have to look at our worst characteristics and say, “Wait. If the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from dead is in me then I want a supernatural turnaround. I want a miracle.”

With my anger, when Rachel was like two years old, she was crying in her crib and I remember just picking her up and screaming in her face. This is a 2 year old! I went, “Shut up!” I remember just dropping her in her crib and going, “Man, I can’t believe I just did that.” I could just feel my shaking, over a baby. I didn’t know I was capable of that much anger. I’d remember the way my dad would look at me and the way he would hit me and that anger. I thought, “That’s totally me now. I’m doing this.” I remember telling Lisa, “ I just yelled at Rachel. I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s like I’m out of control.” I remember just going out in the living room and getting on my knees and say, “God, I know I have power over this. I don’t want to become this angry person. I don’t want to make her think that I’m always angry at her. Change me. I don’t ever want to yell at her again.” Not every sin in my life is like that where it’s like I pray and boom, it’s gone, but I can say with that anger, it really was like that. I never did that again. I never yelled at her again except one time in junior high. The pattern of my life was different.

So as you look at your life, know that this isn’t about you. This is not, “Oh look at Francis, how good he is.” I’m thinking, “What the heck? I’m joyful? What? Where did that come from? Man, I don’t get mad like that? That’s crazy.” I thought I was going to be just angry, bummed out, and all these things. That’s just what God can do. Some of you have seen that in areas in your life.

I’m praying that for my courage now, saying, “God, I don’t have that with the courage. I want to be shocked one day at how courageous I am. Right now it just feels like I am just gutting it out, forcing myself, disciplining myself and I need help to stay bold but, I want that miraculous Holy-Spirit-boldness.” The Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead is in me and I’ve got this Spirit now of power, love and self-control and I just want to be this person who has this love, joy, peace, patience, who is thanking God for everything.

I want to be so filled with the Spirit that everyone could see what we’re after as a supernatural group of people. I want to be known as people who gather and love each other so much and care for each other so much that others go, “You can’t manufacture that. That’s not a concert. That’s not just putting on a good service. That’s a group of people that has been radically changed and transformed. They went from death to life.” That’s what we want to be as the church and so this is what we’re pursuing.

The last passage I’ll leave you with is 2 Peter 1.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the

knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his

precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine

nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful nature. For this very

reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and

knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,

and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are

yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3-8)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. No one has an excuse in this room. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness. He has made us partakers of the divine nature.

I love it when Paul says, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith.” It’s not a passive thing. I don’t want you to think that, “Okay, He’s given me the Holy Spirit so all this stuff is just going to start happening to me.” No. There’s this truth that, yes, He gave you His Holy Spirit, so this stuff will happen but it’s not exclusive of you making every effort. I’m amazed at how quickly certain areas have turned around in my life but other ones, it’s just constant work. So I don’t want you to think that, “Oh, once we receive the Holy Spirit all these character qualities happen to us passively even if we don’t want them to.” It’s not like it’s forced upon us. We make every effort and God himself gives us this tremendous power and then we become these godly people.

So, as we talk about our churches and our people, I want to make sure we don’t just get into a habit of running meetings, having gatherings, and doing things that could be easily explained in the flesh. This book is about the Holy Spirit. I remember my youth pastor used to say, “You know it says the ‘Acts of the Apostles’. It really should have been called the ‘Acts of the Holy Spirit.’” Let’s remember who is doing all of this stuff so that it’s not about Paul. It’s not about Peter or Timothy. It’s about the Holy Spirit. It’s the same Holy Spirit today who wants to do that through us.

As we live this way, start thinking this way and talking this way, people are going to pick up on it. We all believe this in this room. We’re all going after this and we need each other to do this because for too many years we’ve been discouraged with people telling us, “Well that was back then” or, “you don’t have to be so hard on yourself.” I just want to become this supernatural, Spirit-filled body so that the world looks on and goes, “Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that.” What a perfect time to do that.

7.The Global Leader

From Francis’s training session on Nov 22, 2015, “The Global Leader” (https://youtu.be/8pLNqaZBayY)

I hope you guys have been encouraged during your time in your gatherings. I don’t know how your churches are doing, but I’ve been so encouraged lately. This feels so close to what I imagined for the church to pursue family, evangelism, growth, and discipleship. This morning, that Hebrews 10 passage where it says to spur one another on to love in good deeds took on a whole new meaning for me. When I used to hear that verse, because we’re all in the American church, it was always about who can give the best lessons and who can give the sermons that will spur people on to do something. But this week, it really was the body doing it, as we went around just talking about our week. At least 80 percent of the people that were sharing shared about their opportunity to share the gospel with someone and how they went out. It fired me up to know that a crew of our church was at the mall on Wednesday night talking to people. You hear about stories at work or in the neighborhood and you realize, wow, this is what Scripture is talking about. I have a greater boldness because I see what the other people in the body are doing, not from a sermon of someone teaching Matthew 28 in a more clever way. But it’s seeing your brothers and sisters taking steps of faith out of their comfort zone and giving it a shot. Here is this little group of twenty something people, but I bet you the gospel went out from their lips more than a church of a thousand. And when that happens, you also just fall more in love with everyone in that room. We’re all taking steps of faith, and we’re spurring each other on to love in good deeds.

So that’s the goal. That’s what we want to be - pockets of people living out the Great Commission. One of the things we struggled with back in my church in Southern California was: we would send people out in the mission field, and a lot of people wanted to go on missions trips, but they didn’t want to talk to their next door neighbor or to people at work. So we’ll go overseas to be missionaries, but we don’t want to talk to the people we know. And the truth is, it’s easier to talk to strangers that you’ll never see again in another country and then you go back home. And it’s even easier sometimes for those of us who don’t live in the Tenderloin or in Bayview to go knock on doors there or talk to homeless people. They have time and they want some attention and sometimes that’s easier. I’m not saying don’t do it. I’m saying that’s a great step of faith, but sometimes the hardest one is the people I see every day whether it’s family, or the people you work with, or the people in your neighborhood, because you know you have to face them tomorrow, and it will be awkward. But it’s encouraging when you see the Body of Christ doing that.

Now, I want to make sure we don’t swing the pendulum too far and forget the global mission. Don’t forget the context in which Jesus said what he said, after He rose from the dead. That’s a massive, massive deal. I don’t want you to lose how it’s set up. The way it’s set up is like no other moment in history. Someone rose from the dead and said, “Meet me on this mountain. I have a message for you.” Everyone went to that mountain and then Jesus showed up. There was the craziest amount of anticipation, and He started it off by saying, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me.”

A man rises from the dead and says, “I have every ounce of authority in heaven and on earth.” In other words, “there is no one else you need to listen to right now. I just rose from the dead, and I have every bit of authority that exists, period. Therefore, go make disciples. I want you to make disciples of all the nations. I want you to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I want you to teach them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. And I’ll be with you always, even until the end of the age.” He drops the mic and ascends to heaven. That’s it.

I don’t think we can make too big a deal over the Great Commission. Jesus rose from the dead and said, “Every ounce of authority is right here and here’s what I’m telling you to do. Here’s My last words on earth. You go make disciples of every nation.” His point was not, “Get in small groups and disciple one another.” Clearly, that’s not what He’s talking about there on that mountain. He’s saying, “There’s a whole world that does not know what just happened here. You guys are the ones that saw Me. I was dead, and I’m alive. Go out there, baptize them into My name, and teach them to obey everything I commanded you. So go.”

So it’s a huge deal if we come to the end of our lives with no disciples and no effort. We go week to week not even trying to make disciples. Jesus was saying, “Look, no one on the earth knows. It’s up to this little group of people to get it to the ends of the earth. Make disciples of all the nations. All of the nations.”

Those of us who are older, you look back in your life and you go, “Man, I wish I had done this differently, and I wish I had done this differently.” If I can go back and start church all over again, there are a couple of things I do know that I would do differently. One is I would have kept things more spiritual, like supernatural. Focus more on prayer, rather than just my typical, pragmatic mindset of “do this, this, this, and this will work.” I would have spent more time on prayer and more deeply in the presence of God and pushing other people to closer communion with him.

But the second thing would have been a greater emphasis on being global and reaching unreached people. Like I said, I want to continue doing local ministry, but as we do local ministry, we also have to keep in mind what’s going on around the world. Jonathan had a crew just come back from Ethiopia. They’re over there with a tribe, teaching them about Adam and Eve, the creation and the fall, and the flood, and the nations, and going through Scripture with them. It’s been a process and now they’re at Jesus. They’re about to get into the Gospels this week. That’s an exciting thing! They don’t know anything about this. They’ve never heard about this Jesus, and it’s going to take a miracle for them to hear this story and go, “Wow, I believe it.” God’s going to open their eyes. Here’s a group of people who’ve never heard the name of Jesus. We’re explaining it to them and there’s a group there continuing this work, explaining it to them.

While we’re doing local ministry, if you don’t realize that there are many people who haven’t even heard it for the first time, you’ll do a lot of what I did with my life, which is explain the gospel to the same people for about the 15th time. Maybe if I get more creative, maybe if we do a skit, maybe a video, maybe puppets. Let’s try over, and over, and over, because maybe if we just do it the right way, they will believe. And if they still don’t believe, then we feel like we failed and we go back to the drawing board. Wait - there are people who never even got the chance to reject the gospel. This guy’s rejected it 15 times. If you’re looking at this group of people that you’ve already shared with and God didn’t open their eyes at that time, it could be that the Holy Spirit is telling you to keep going. But I also say, we’re going to get unbalanced here if we don’t keep in mind that there are thousands and thousands that don’t believe. There is something like 2 billion or so people who don’t know the name of Jesus. They don’t understand what happened on the Cross. Most of us, we get caught in the here and now, what we see right in front of our faces. And that’s good, to a degree. But we also want to keep in mind the bigger picture, which is, God wants the whole world to know about Him. Jesus wants followers from every nation. We’re here not to build a giant church. We’re here primarily because we want to please Him. And He wants that family, He wants this prayer fellowship, He wants this focus on community. He wants people in the Word. He wants these things. But God’s also saying, “I want these pockets of people in every single nation. I want to see that little light right there, my group of people amongst that whole city that rejects me.” He wants disciples in every nation.

Because that’s what He wants, we’ve got to get serious about this. I don’t have this one figured out at all, to be honest with you. But somehow I want the church to stay focused globally. Somehow we have to keep in the forefront of our minds there are people who have not been reached by the Gospel. We’ve got to have some piece in that. Be praying about that. We’re a body. We don’t have just one brain. We have a lot of minds out here to think through: how do have we more of an impact globally? How do we support the people that are getting to the ends of the earth? We’ve partnered with different organizations, but I sense that the Lord has more for us, so let’s keep focusing on that.

This is what keeps me from whining. You start remembering what’s going on out in the world, and you realize, “I have nothing to cry about.” Right now, we’ll get together and do lesson time like this. And it’s needed to a degree. But we also have to remember, as we’re sitting comfortably after lunch, sitting in this room, that there’s moms everywhere just watching one kid die after the next, starving to death, looking for clean water anywhere, unable to find it. Let me keep this in the back of mind as I’m prone to complain if my car made a weird noise on the way here, and suddenly I can just get so absorbed into that. Hw do I do that when I know what I’ve seen and I know what’s out there? I know right now, some woman is being raped or some little kid is being raped repeatedly that’s been sold into slavery. Am I going to complain about, “Oh, but I have to clean my house after our church gathering?” Or, “Oh, I have to get up early to meet with this guy at 6 tomorrow.” It’s keeping in mind what’s going on around the world.

Then there are the martyrs. We have brothers and sisters right now that are being tortured. Right now. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile - how do I live my life knowing that’s going on over there? How can I focus on anything here?

Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” Remember those who are in prison. This isn’t just talking about anyone that’s incarcerated. It’s talking about the believers who were persecuted for following Jesus. That’s not to say we don’t remember everyone that’s in prison, but there’s something special about believers who are being persecuted. Because you’re a part of the body, remember those who are mistreated since you are in the body. That’s an extension of you. You don’t forget your broken finger or your broken foot. You’re connected to your broken foot. And here, He’s talking about the body that was being scattered everywhere, the body that was being persecuted, some of them in prison. We’ve seen the beheadings. Some of us have seen some of the crucifixions that they’re doing over there. It’s an awful, awful sick thing. I’ve been to places where you’re seeing people that are missing limbs and have scars all over their bodies for the sake of the Gospel. It’s just too easy to disconnect and get into your own world. This is our struggle - getting in our world and starting to complain and getting down about the dumbest things. We fight with each other over the stupidest things while these things are happening. Let me keep this global perspective. And let me use that global perspective to motivate me to even work harder at work so I can impact more people overseas, so I can dig another well, or whatever it may be.

Earlier I was looking at Luke 16, where Jesus talks about a guy named Lazarus.

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every

day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed

with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The

poor man died and was carried off by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was

buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at

his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of

his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child,

remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad

things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you

a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able

and none may cross from there to us.’” (Luke 16:19-31)

We like to skim over passages like this. We’re constantly trying to explain away certain passages where He talks about the outer darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth. Jesus says, when that master comes back, I’m going to cut him to pieces. This is Jesus, and He uses such vivid imagery. He talks about these two people dying, and the rich man being in agony and all he’s asking for is, “Would you dip just your finger? Can I just have one drop of water on my tongue, please? It’s all I’m asking for.” And there is a chasm. Abraham says even if I would, I can’t. There’s this chasm now. You had your chance.

I’ve shared this before. There was a day when all they would talk about is hell and there’s a lot more to Scripture than just hell and the end and judgment. But to deny that it’s even in there and to neglect it altogether? Let’s not swing the pendulum there, either. This is hard because it takes faith. It doesn’t take faith to know that people are starving. I could fly there and show you some people right now. It doesn’t take faith to tell you that kids are being raped right now. We can have you meet them. But the eternal things, where God gives us a glimpse on earth of suffering and says, look, there’s a future suffering that’s worse than this. It takes some belief, and it’s not something most of us want to believe. We want to ignore what’s going on around the world right now so we can keep our life going, and we certainly want to ignore the thought of any future judgment so that we can really enjoy life right now. That’s where we’re at as a culture. Not all cultures are like this because they’re not living in luxury like we are. We get focused on all of these other things. And so, we, maybe more than anyone, need to figure out how to keep everything in perspective. Let’s keep ministering to the people around us, but let’s also think about what God is saying about the future and what He’s saying about what He wants around the world. Let’s figure out how we as a church can keep our people globally minded.

Again, it’s weird to throw something out there where I don’t quite have the solution yet. Each week, it’s like, “I know what we can do here, I know what we can do here, I know what we can do about this. “ And we’re moving in those areas. Today I’m just saying “Hey, let’s work together on this, and figure out the solution because we’re not as globally minded as I think Christ would like us to be.” I think even we as leaders forget this stuff so imagine where our people are. We as leaders need to be living that type of lifestyle, keeping that kind of mindset. It’s been great for me, because being aware of what’s going on globally and participating in that has given me great opportunities in this country to talk to other people. It’s a great open door because people who don’t believe in Jesus sometimes have more of a concern about the things that are going on around the world. When they know we’re actually sacrificing for those things, we have an open door. With this topic, I think we’ve all heard plenty of sermons about it. Let’s figure out some practical things we can do to keep ourselves focused on the people around the world.

8.The Suffering Leader

From Francis’s training session on Nov 29, 2015, “The Suffering Leader” (https://youtu.be/Waot2LEaJNQ)

This is our last week of the training, which was only supposed to be seven weeks long. When we put this curriculum together for the leaders and the topics, we had seven lessons. And then I went to China. Whenever I go to China, I go there to learn. A lot of times as Americans, we want to go places and teach people how things are supposed to be done. But why would we do that? They’re doing it better than us. Why wouldn’t we learn from their churches? It’s not to say that there aren’t weaknesses in every church around the world, but there’s something so special about what God did with the underground church in China.

Just to get perspective, because sometimes we can look at our thing and see it as so big, or so wonderful, that we’re unable to see how amazing things are elsewhere. Sometimes we don’t even get the scope, like when we say: “a hundred million people.” It’s hard to grasp that, because in America we like to boast about a church that has a thousand people, or five thousand people. But let’s relate to it in dollars. If I gave you five thousand dollars, versus five million dollars, it’s a big difference. Five grand is cool. I can get a couple things with that, but five million dollars changes your whole life! So when we’re talking about people, and five thousand people, that’s great, it’s cool, but in China, the Lord did something amazing.

You hear different numbers - anything from a hundred million to two hundred million people. That’s a lot of people who were saved through discipleship, without anyone’s name being known. In fact, that was the beautiful thing that they were telling me. They said, “In America, in order to have a big impact, you have to become famous. Over here, the people who had the greatest impact, no one could know who they were, because if anyone knew who they were, they would be taken out.”

It’s a beautiful thing. If I want to have an impact, I can’t let anyone know my name. I’m either putting out material, or putting out disciples. I’m teaching people, but no one can know about me. That is such a great way to live life. You’ve got these people who all believed that they needed to go and make disciples. Once they got saved, they thought, “I can’t just sit and listen to someone for the rest of my life. I’ve got a job to do, so train me up for this job and then send me out.” It was just sending, sending, multiplying to where you’re in the millions. You go to a place like that, and it’s embarrassing sometimes when they have me speak, and I think: “Look, I didn’t come here to teach you. I came here to listen and learn everything I can.”

This one guy, who leads a whole network of churches, because there’s a little bit more freedom in China right now, began to test the waters and build these churches above ground, just to see how well it would go, and this church grew to a couple thousand people. Then sure enough, the government went in, shut it down, and hauled the pastors away. In hindsight, he told me: “I’m actually really grateful, because it brought us back to our DNA again. We started to lose it with some of the freedom, and we started thinking: ‘I got a lot of people and I’m starting to get known’, but we lost some of our DNA. It was almost like the Lord used us being torn down again, to rebuild even stronger. And so we’ve gone back.”

He explained further saying: “There are really five pillars to the house church movement, and we got away from those, and we started just relying on the service, on a teacher, or whatever else.” And those pillars, when he was naming them, I nodded my head, thinking: “Yeah, yeah, we’re right on track. I’m tracking with you.” The first one is a deep, deep commitment to prayer. I’m thinking: “Right on, right on. I want us to stay focused on that: our prayer gatherings, our daily prayers, people gathering together.”

He continues: “The commitment to the Word of God. We’re committed to the Word of God, and that is what has caused this growth. It wasn’t about the speaker, but about everyone learning the Word of God, reading the Word of God.” I’m thinking: “Good, good, that’s what I’ve always believed, and that’s where we’re headed. We’re trying to get everyone reading the Word for themselves and being devoted to it.”

And then he says: “We’re also committed to the sharing of the Gospel, where every member is sharing the Gospel.” I’m thinking: “Right on! That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re pushing for that to be where it’s not just: ‘Hey, everyone, listen to me share the Gospel,’ but to: ‘No, everybody, every week, let’s just go for it. This is what we live for.’”

Then he said the fourth one, and this one hit me a little. He says: “There was a regular expectation of miracles.” Because of their prayer life, because of what they believed of the Holy Spirit, they expected the supernatural. I’m thinking: “Ok, we’re kind of fifty-fifty on that one. We’re not real strong on that. It’s largely my fault and my conservative background, but we got some Pentecostals here now, so we’ll get it going. But it’s ok, that’s something I’m growing in and understanding. When I read the Scriptures, there is an expectation of miracles. If not, what are we doing just trying to create things the way the world does in the flesh? No, we want the supernatural.”

But then, when he hit the fifth pillar, it was so convicting, because it just blindsided me. He says: “The fifth pillar was: we embraced suffering for the glory of Christ.” Whoa! That was one of your five? He said: “This is what we built our church on: we embrace suffering.” And when he said it, it hit me because I would never have thought of that. And I thought, “You’re right!”

If I went around and asked people, “If you just used the Bible and nothing else, and you were to describe church or Christianity based upon the Bible, how would you describe the most obvious truths of the church?” People would talk about the love, fellowship, the spreading of the Gospel, and prayer. But no one would talk about suffering. But when he said it, I realized that suffering is all through the New Testament.

I did a sermon one time, where I just went through every book of the New Testament and started reading verse after verse about suffering, just to show it’s not just in one book. It’s not just one verse. It’s all over the place. It’s one of the most clear doctrines in the New Testament. If you just write down what is repeated over and over and over and over, you see that the Bible says that as followers of Christ, we’re going to suffer for Him. We’re going to be hated. We’re going to be rejected.

Earlier this morning, we preached through 1 Peter 4, and it was so obvious. 1 Peter 4:1-2 says: “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.

This is what will make us unstoppable. That’s why the underground church was unstoppable. And that’s why so many of our churches are easily stoppable.

Why do people stop going to church? “Well I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that.” Something got difficult, so we go down the street, where they’ll make it easier for us. Oh, you want to leave your husband? Ok, go down the street, they’ll let you do that. And oh, they have better kids’ care, their band’s better, he preaches better. We’re so stoppable, because we’re not armed with this mentality that Christ had. He didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. He came to this earth, and it wasn’t like the moment it got tough, He would think: “Oh, Father, they’re rejecting me. I came to my own. My own aren’t accepting me.” No! He came with that mindset and He was armed with that mindset. He knew He came to die. The Old Testament predicted that Jesus is going to be a man of sorrows. This is what He’s destined for. And Jesus was not deceptive about that when He called people to follow Him. He didn’t tell them it was going to be easy.

For that reason, we added another session to this leadership training, because this is too clear of a doctrine. Until our people embrace this, until we embrace this, we’re not going to have that unstoppable Church. Because that’s what made those early believers unstoppable. You throw them in jail, they get beat up, and still they’re saying: “Yes! That was so cool.” They leave rejoicing. You can’t stop these guys. If you kill them, they rejoice. If you torture them, they rejoice. Throw them in prison, they sing hymns, and say: “We’re sharing in the sufferings of Christ. This is good.”

But we don’t preach this enough, and we don’t explain to people that this is what it means to follow Jesus in the moment it gets difficult. I remember five years ago going to an underground church gathering, where I asked them about the persecution. And each person that stood up started sharing about what the government did, like when they were hiding in the walls, because the government officials came, or they were hearing gunshots and they had to run. I wish you could hear the way they were sharing. Everyone was just laughing, like it was a party! I’m thinking: “This is crazy! This is so insane! These guys think it’s funny to be shot at.” They just expected it. And in their prayers, they’re screaming out: “God, take me to the most dangerous places. I want to suffer for you. I don’t want to go to a safe place. I don’t. Please! I want to be counted worthy to die in Your Name.” That’s the way they prayed. If you’ve got a group like that, how are you going to stop them? That’s the way the Church was supposed to be - this unstoppable force.

I’ve been praying about it this week, and this is where we need each other. I’m no different from anyone else. I don’t like pain. I’ve never even been in a fist fight. I always talk my way out of it and still look tough. I don’t want to get hit, but I also kind of want to. I’m not trying to be a tough guy up here. I’m like everyone else. But when I pray and I look at these passages, I see that it’s going to be worth it. I want some of this. And I need more strength, Lord, to want it even more.

It’s like Paul says in Philippians 3:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain

Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that

which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may

know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his

death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:8-10)

Paul is saying: “I want this. I want to know Christ. I want to know the power of His resurrection.” Do you ever pray that? I’ve been praying that this week: “God, I know there’s more power available. I know there’s more, and I want it all. I want to be like Jesus. There is power there: the miracles, this fearlessness, this courage, this overcoming everything. God, I want all of it.”

But Paul doesn’t just say that. He goes on to say that he wants the fellowship of sharing in God’s sufferings. Paul is saying: “I want this. I want to share. I want that fellowship.” Can you imagine Jesus being stretched out and whipped? Imagine if you were on the other side of Him and you’re looking at Jesus, face to face just taking it with Him. There would be this tremendous pain and rejection, but to look in His eyes and know that you’re with the Son of God, the Creator of everything, and you’re going through this together. And that is what Paul is saying: “I want that. I want that type of intimacy, where I feel like I am nailed right there next to Him. I want Christ. I want Jesus. I have already lost everything. I lost my reputation, I lost all the comforts that I had, and I count that all just a bunch of crap. That was all just rubbish compared to knowing Christ. Jesus is so much better. I want to know Him. I want to know the power of His resurrection. I want to know the fellowship of His sufferings. Everything about Jesus, I want.”

That’s the New Testament. That’s why he says in Colossians 1:24: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

Paul is saying, “This is what we do. We fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” That’s not at all saying that what Jesus went through on the cross was not enough and we’ve got to finish the job. The best explanation I’ve had of this verse is being that picture of Christ today. What’s lacking is we don’t have Jesus right here on the cross, so everyone stares and sees His life and goes, “Whoa. Look at that.” So we now, as His body, give that picture to the world of Jesus, and that includes suffering. Would I look anything like Jesus if I drove out here in a Bentley, with my bodyguards feeding me? How is that a picture of Christ? How is that a trust in the future and the glory to come? But if I come here maybe wiped out by the week, maybe even beat up by some people and being rejected by people and living a humble life and giving of myself, having little left to show at the end of my life, but knowing that I gave it all up, because I know something better is coming - that’s a picture of Christ.

We read this last week in our readings Hebrews 10:34: “For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.” He’s saying, “You’re being mistreated and getting stuff stolen, but you do it with joy. Yeah, someone ripped me off. God saw that, and He’s going to bless me in the future for it.”

1 Peter 4:12-13 says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.” So, brothers, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing. Don’t be surprised when it gets tough, especially for us as leaders. I speak at a lot of pastors’ conferences. I hang out with a lot of pastors, and there is a lot of whining about how tough it is. I don’t mean to mock, but it becomes silly at a point. For example, one of my church planter friends went out, and they started a church, and then they decided to go to two services. But the worship leader says, “Well, if we’re going to go to two services, then you’re going to need to bring me a trailer for a green room, in between the services, so I can clear my mind, because it’s two services straight.” What? Because after singing three songs, you got to rest? The craziness of this expectation of comfort!

But I praise God for you guys, because you’re here because you’re doing this on your own dime. You guys are not getting paid. You’re thinking: “You know what? It’s a long day. I work a regular job, and then I shepherd these people, but I want to do it.” And it’s actually a joy to go to bed exhausted and think: “Man, it was tough getting there, but this feels good tonight. I am exhausted serving the Lord, and the joy I get is knowing that I’ve got treasure stored up in Heaven.” We have to keep this mentality. We have to arm ourselves with this mindset of: “this is going to be hard.”

One of the most difficult things you are going to do is to disciple people. I’m not talking about attending a church service with a few people and having them on the other side of the room. I’m talking about getting into someone’s life, having to confront them on their sins sometimes, and having them just flat out reject you after giving them so much love, after being on your knees weeping for them, giving financially to them, even letting them in your home, and then have them talk trash about you afterwards. I’m letting you know it’s coming. Have fun with it. You have to be armed with this mindset and think: “This is going to happen and I’m cool with it. I actually want some of this. I want to share in His sufferings.” You can’t think, “I’m going to get this one group of people. God’s going to give me this perfect church, and everyone’s going to love me and we’re going to love each other. There’s going to be very little sin. No one’s going to gossip about me. They’re going to follow my leadership.” Just don’t even think that, ok? You have to arm yourself.

Jesus didn’t come down to the earth thinking: “There’s going to be a revival. Everybody’s going to love me.” No, He just came down and says: “I’m just going to serve people. I’m going to get rejected by my own people and they’re going to nail me to a cross, but it’s all good. I’m going to do it for the joy set before me.” All the prophets were told ahead of time, “No one’s going to listen to you, but you go and you do this and God is going to be with you.” And it’s like Paul telling Timothy, “Look, in the last days, people aren’t going to put up with sound doctrine, but you know what? You endure suffering.” I love that phrase. He says: “Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist.” The two go side by side, hand in hand. If you’re going to be an evangelist, you’re going to have to endure suffering.

Last week we talked about getting the message to the ends of the earth, and we talked about Matthew 24. Matthew 24:14 says: “And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” But if you read that passage in context, look what it says right before. Starting in verse 9, he says: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Do you get that? The Great Commission and making disciples of all nations will not be accomplished without suffering. He says it so plainly. It’s all through this book. This is what Jesus promised. They’re going to hate you. They’re going to put you to death. They’re going to reject you. And many are going to walk away, because it’s going to get too tough. Because lawlessness will increase, and because there’s going to be a greater attitude on the earth of: ‘He can’t tell us how to live. I’m going to do what I feel like,’ the love of many will grow cold.”

That’s just what’s going to happen in our day and age. They’re not going to love Jesus so much, because everyone else is going to be glamorizing sin. Your heart starts getting captured by all these things, and then your love for Him is going to slowly dissipate. But He says: “But those who endure to the end, they’re going to be saved. And the gospel is going to be preached to all of them.” There’s going to be this army of people who think, “I get this. I’m going to suffer. I’m going to be rejected. I’m going to be hated.” There’s going to be this group of people and they will get the message to the ends of the earth, but it’s not going to be an easy life. It’s going to be through suffering.

Jesus promised this, and He says in Matthew 5:11, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Again, in Luke 6:22, He says the same thing. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.”

When people see that you can suffer for the sake of Christ, they’re seeing the Holy Spirit in you. The Holy Spirit is the one that’s going to see you through. We’re not people who go, “Oh, I don’t know if I could take it.” No. We’re people who say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Some days I wonder if I can do it, and then I remember the Scriptures, and I think, “I can take this. I can do this. Francis, who’s never been beat up. I could be tortured for this. The Spirit of God will fall upon me. It will be painful, but there will be some side of me that actually likes it and actually wants it, to share in the suffering of Christ.”

But there’s another sense of suffering that’s more real for us right now. For example, after a hard day’s work dealing with your own children, some lady from the church is causing division. And you think: “Really? I’m going to love her again?” That’s real stuff. Or, “This guy who I thought was loyal to me, and that’s what he did?” Then you think, “Alright. I’m going to love him, and I’m going to forgive him seventy times seven.” When all of your friends are going away for the weekend, and they have no responsibilities. They can skip church. It’s not a big deal, and meanwhile you’re running it. This is the suffering and the dying, which is silly compared to what other things, but it’s real, and it’s real to us, and we have to just arm ourselves with that type of thinking and go, “You know what? This is my way of suffering today.”

We have to learn how to understand blessing differently than how the world sees it. Because that’s what Jesus did. The word ‘blessed’ means “happy.” I heard one preacher say: “It’s like Jesus went to the store of happiness and changed all the price tags. This is what it costs for blessing.” Normally we think you’re blessed because you’re rich and healthy and you’ve got a great family. Yet Jesus says, “Blessed are you when others revile you.” When was the last time someone reviled or persecuted or uttered all kinds of evil against you falsely? And when was the last time you look at that person who was reviled and thought,“Gosh, lucky you, because your reward in heaven is so great. You should be leaping for joy right now.” Have you ever even thought to counsel someone that way?

But that’s what Jesus says. The blessed person is the one who is so full of the Holy Spirit that he can endure suffering and rejoice. Jesus says, “I promise you, that guy is going to be taken care of, forever.” It’s not this little temporary comfort type of blessing. Jesus says, “This is the blessing that’s eternal.”

“Blessed are you when others revile you, persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad.” Have you ever done that? Have you ever rejoiced because things were tough? Did you think, “These guys are rejecting me. Now I can share in the fellowship of Christ and His suffering. Now I can understand what Jesus went through with Judas. Here’s a guy that He just loved, who was right there, was one of His boys, and he just walks away, betrays Him, and he’s the one that’s going to get Him nailed to a cross. Ok, I got to feel some of that. This is good. I’m going to rejoice in this. I’m a blessed man. I got to feel some of what Jesus went through.”

Do you see how this is such a foreign way of thinking? But do you also get how, when I have this, no one will be able to stop me? I get stopped because I expect comfort. I expect praise. I expect encouragement. I expect riches. I expect health. I expect life to be easy, because I’m a child of the King. And those are lies. Not on this earth. That’s not what Jesus says in Scripture. And the disciples took it literally, and it literally happened.

That’s what you read in Acts 5:4-41. It says, “When they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”

You were just beat up. You were just tortured. And you left rejoicing that you were counted worthy. Let’s just try to meditate on that for a second. “Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.” How are you going to stop guys like that? That was the problem for the government with the early church. They’re wondering, “How do we stop these guys? We kill them, and they’re happier. We torture them, and they walk away rejoicing. We can’t stop them. Are we just going to kill them all, just to not have to listen to them anymore? They’re rejoicing in this. They get stronger through persecution.” And you see that happening in other places.

And now I’m praying, “Lord, it can happen here. I’m praying for this.”

Suffering is part of the plan. You as leaders, expect to suffer. And don’t just expect it. A part of you should want it. You should embrace it and think, “Lord, could I be counted worthy to suffer for you and to share in that fellowship of suffering? Can I feel some of that betrayal, just so that I know that I’m for real and this Spirit of God really rests upon me?”

So expect it, want it, and then rejoice in the midst of it. That’s the challenge. This is what we want to teach our people: to be rejoicers, not complainers.

Suffering is what Jesus said would happen. And then you get to be just like Jesus. Now the name ‘Christian’ finally applies, because it’s Christian love. You don’t experience Christ-like love when everyone loves you back. You experience Christian love when you’re nailed, you’re crucified by people, and you love them in return. And you think, “Wow, I’m finally acting like Christ. This is my opportunity. This is my chance to love people when they’re rejecting me.” It’s another level.

I don’t think we remind people of heaven enough. We don’t remind people of what’s coming and the brevity of life. We don’t remind people to rejoice in suffering. It’s a whole different way of counseling too sit down with some of your people that are facing rejection and everything else and teaching them to rejoice. We want to be Spirit-filled leaders, Gospel-centered leaders, praying leaders, humble leaders, Christian leaders. But let’s not forget, we want to be suffering leaders too, because that’s what Jesus was - a suffering servant. Do you see that as your goal, and is that why you’re going into this?

Last thing I’m going to say is: In my first year of seminary, there was this old teacher. I didn’t really like him. I just didn’t understand him. But then, he gave this chapel message. He’s seventy something years old, and finally I saw his heart. He looked at us, as these young, soon-to-be pastors, and he just started crying.

He says, “So many of you guys are going to quit. I know it. I’ve seen it time and time again. You’re going to quit, because the church isn’t giving you the right life insurance policy, or your health benefits aren’t good enough, or the salary isn’t there, or this, or this, or this. I’ve seen people dropping off, and I know some of you guys are going to do that.” And he’s crying. And he says, “When my friends sand I went into ministry fifty years ago, we knew the price we were going to pay. Nothing was going to stop us. But I see the way you look at ministry nowadays, and you’re not going to make it. A lot of you aren’t going to make. But when we signed up, we knew it was for life.”

I remember the look in his eyes as he’s weeping for us. He was right. He saw this generation of Christians and pastors that had gotten so soft and whined every time it got difficult. And he said, “That’s not the way it used to be.”

There was something so beautiful at that chapel message. It’s one of the few I remember. I remember thinking, “Wow. I don’t want to be that guy.”

I want you to know that it’s going to get tough. It would be much, much easier for you to go somewhere and just be served. But you’ve signed up to say, “I want to share in His sufferings. I’ll feel the betrayal, but remind me to rejoice during those times, and not make it all about me. Remind me of the reward that I’m going to get.” Let’s do this for each other. Let’s be those who endure until the end. Let’s be people who, even as lawlessness increases, does not let our love grow cold. Let’s be those who are pursuing this mission until the end. This is what we want to raise up in our churches.

How-to’s

In this section, it’s important to remember that Scripture is the basis for how we conduct these things. We don’t want to miss the mark or go beyond what is written. Where Scripture leaves freedom, we want to make room for different churches to practice these things in a variety of forms. What Scripture emphasizes, we want to emphasize as well.

Baptism

We see a good explanation of baptism in 1 Peter 3:20-21.

“Because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark

was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Baptism which corresponds to this now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an

appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Peter is saying that baptism saves you, but it's not that the water somehow washes away your sins. Look at the reference to Noah. God's destruction was coming upon the world and yet who was saved from God's destruction? It was those eight people that climbed into the ark. In the same way, Jesus now is our ark. My baptism is a baptism into Jesus. It’s like me climbing into Christ and saying, “I'm one with him now. I'm safe now because I’m in Jesus. I’m in Christ. I climbed into the ark, and he does all of the work—I'm in there.” Baptism is the picture of you climbing in and becoming one with Christ.

Baptism is a declaration to people that I’m following Jesus – that I’m dead to sin and raised with Christ (Romans 6).

Baptism should be done ideally before those who will hold you accountable to the declaration that you’re a follower of Jesus. From Scripture, it seems that baptism doesn’t have to be a communal thing (eg. Philip and the eunuch). That said, it makes the most sense to do it with the body when possible. Baptism is similar to a wedding ceremony. Having a wedding ceremony doesn’t make you married, and vice versa, but why wouldn’t you want to display it to others? A wedding is about putting on display a commitment. Baptism is similar.

Baptism can be done in a variety of ways. It might be at our larger Church Together gatherings but we often encourage people to do it in home churches. We don’t want it to be something where people have to wait for just the right situation to get baptized. It’s ultimately up to the pastor of the family church to decide how they will do it.

Before someone gets baptized, that person and his/her discipler should talk through baptism with their house church leaders. While baptism doesn’t need to happen only in a big Easter service, it should be held in reverence.

For us at WAC, it’s fine to baptize someone in a baptismal, a swimming pool, the ocean, a bathtub, or any other body of water. The Bible seems to leave freedom for where baptism happens. The reverence comes from understanding the weightiness of the public declaration of a lifelong commitment, and is expressed through a heart posture of awe and gratitude for new life.

Communion

Communion is essential to the community of faith. At We Are Church, we celebrate communion and we want to encourage everyone to uphold this celebration as much as possible. While doing so, we keep in mind two things.

First, communion is sacred. We want to treat it with seriousness. We take on a heart posture of reverence. We should not be casual about the act.

Second, communion should be happening a lot – we see this in Scripture. We pursue devotion to breaking bread. Communion doesn’t need to happen only in a specific setting with certain people administering it. Some people say communion can only be administered by the highest level of leadership, but for us, this reverence is expressed through our heart posture. Communion can take various forms – it can be taken tonight while we’re having dinner as families. Pastors and pastors-in-training can administer communion at their house churches. We would even encourage other believers to experience administering communion, such that each person is equipped and trained to initiate this celebration of community and remembrance wherever they go, whether they stay with We Are Church or move to another community.

Communion is for believers. We don’t rush into taking communion. For example, we see in Corinth that there was disunity and deep sin issues. Some people went hungry while others we stuffing themselves. It seems there was a lack of concern for the body as they took, which is a big issue. When we take communion, we acknowledge that we’re about to take the body and blood of Christ. We want to examine our lives and see if there’s anyone we’ve offended or are not right with.

*For more on our theology on communion, see Tim Keller’s sermon “Changing the World through the Lord’s Supper” in the appendix of this manual.

Finances

One of the advantages of our house church model is that we don’t need to pay for buildings or staff, and all of our financial gifts and offerings can go to missions and caring for the poor.

Our guiding principle: Use our funds well, for the mission locally and globally, and to care for the poor.

Each house church has a volunteer treasurer who takes care of bookkeeping, deposits, and reimbursements. The pastor(s) will oversee decisions on how house church funds are used. Any use of house church funds over $500 needs to be approved by an elder.

In terms of contributing toward church funds, we believe in the principles of radical generosity and killing greed. This is in contrast to the common practice of tithing 10% of your income, which we believe is not a New Testament teaching, and not for new covenant believers.

As a church we want to spend more time growing in this area. We don’t have a big budget, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need to be careful about money. It seems that Jesus didn’t have much money, but he talked about greed a lot.

Ultimately it’s the responsibility of the pastor to guide and shepherd, as we go through Scripture, to press into generosity and guard against greed. If this is an area of weakness in your church, press into a discussion on it this Sunday. Ask: What are we doing with our money? How are we giving?

But more importantly, how we use our money should be a discipleship question. As we live life together and observe our relationship with money and how we spend, we should ask each other, “Is this the best way to spend your money before the Lord?”

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do you seek the growth of everyone in the church, not just the next batch of pastors? The pastor of a house church should be deeply invested in a few men (including his pastor in training) as well as ensuring that everyone in the church is discipled as well. If he were to try to disciple everyone, however, he would probably end up not doing a good job with any of them. Jesus modelled investing in a few. So how then does a pastor ensure everyone is discipled? By empowering others to take responsibility. The pastor in training should be discipling a few as well. And there should be a couple women who have been identified as spiritually mature leaders who can each disciple a few. In a church of 10-15, this will usually lead to everyone being able to be discipled. Each of these leaders, both men and women, are being invested in by elders or leaders overseeing them as well.

Discipleship is one piece of growth, but there is also the expectation that everyone contribute in the body that is essential to someone’s growth. As we gather, each believer should be expected to have something to offer whether it is a prayer, a reflection from a passage of Scripture, some counsel, a prophetic word, a song, etc. This helps people feel the weight of their role in the body and that they are needed.

2. How do you biblically counsel someone through difficult issues? We believe that the Bible is sufficient for counseling, and that it’s usually not something that needs to be exported to a professional. Anyone who loves Jesus should be able to walk with people through difficult issues. It should be our desire to grow in wisdom through the Word so that we can know God better personally and also help other people know truth. At the root of counseling is helping someone identify lies that are being believed and replacing them with truth. But it is not purely an intellectual exercise, as possibly the most important thing someone can do with a person going through difficult issues is walking with them consistently in love and prayer. Counseling isn’t about having the right answers or always knowing what to do, but rather a huge component is lovingthe willingness to love someone in the middle of confusing and hard times. Over and over again in Scripture we are commanded to love each other, bear with each other, and encourage each other. It doesn’t require formal education or even having been a Christian a very long time to do these things. So don’t be discouraged if you feel underequipped. You can be a blessing in someone’s life if nothing else than just by your presence and love.

3. What is WAC’s stance on spiritual gifts? We are continuationists and believe in the spiritual gifts being active today. We’re commanded to eagerly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that we wouldto prophesy. As a church, we’re still in process of learning more and more. For a lot of us, pursuing the gifts hasthat’s been relatively new. In the past we’ve been open but cautious, but Scripture calls us to eagerly pursue the gifts, not to be just passively open. Today wWe want to pursue prophecy, tongues, distinguishing of Spirits – the gifts that tend to be viewed as scary. While we we eagerly pursue the gifts, we guard against gifts taking over as the focus of our gatherings (rather than worship being primary) and against gifts overriding spiritual authority. Again, the pastors’ role is to shepherd and guide. We believe that San Francisco needs the power of the Holy Spirit. The world needs the power of the Holy Spirit. We are just scratching the surface of His power available to us.

4. How do we manage difficult people in the church? When should we let people go? We have two passages in the Bible that address this directly. In Matthew 18, we are called to confront someone who is in sin. If they don’t repent, bring someone else with you to confront them. If they still don’t repent, bring in the church. If they still don’t repent, it’s time for them to go. In Titus 3, we are instructed to warn a divisive person once, warn them again, and if they continue, have nothing to do with them. A person doesn’t need to agree with the eldersWAC on every issue - but the problem comes up when they go around talking about it and dividing the church. It’s fine to have differing views, but we want to respect and not undermine the church. If someone disagrees with something happening at the church, encourage them to speak directly with the elders.

5. What is WAC’s view of the role of women in the church? In the Bible, we see that both women and men are to be engaged in using their gifts and caring for each other. Women can pray, talk, and prophesy in church gatherings, for example. In Timothy 2, the primary issue in Paul’s mind seems to beis about authoritative teaching and having spiritual authority over men. The beautiful thing in how we structure things in our gatherings is that the male authority is exercised in guarding and directing the conversation. Everyone - men and women - contributes to the gathering. In a more traditional church structure, if you hold a complementarian view, women can’t contribute much to the gathering because it’s so much centered around a preacher who goes up and speaks.

As a church we are thinking through the structure of women’s leadership still. The group of women leaders have spiritual oversight over the women in WAC. The main distinction is that the men leaders have oversight over the women, but not vice versa.

6. Why not just do “house church” during the week and still have the larger gathering every Sunday?

We definitely don’t feel it’s wrong to do this. There are a few reasons that we’ve decided not to.

• We see such a strong emphasis on loving each other in Scripture, yet so many of people’s experience

of the primary gathering of believers is not relational. The best we can read Scripture leads us to

believe that the gatherings of Christians were filled with love, interaction, and various people using

their gifts. This is hard to accomplish in a larger gathering. The reality of what we’ve seen is that

most people in a traditional model tend to view the non-relational gathering where little is expected

of them as the most important gathering, and then the intimate, relational gathering during the

week to be secondary and optional. Many people in this model feel as though they are apart of a

church by attending services on Sunday even though they aren’t discipling anyone, confessing sin,

using their gifts, or loving people deeply. Sometimes the traditional model can allow people to hide

within the church even though they aren’t interested in really obeying Jesus’ commands. Meeting

predominantly in smaller gatherings in homes seems to better allow us to focus on what is most

important and build a healthy culture of people obeying Jesus.

• Because we believe the smaller gatherings to be the most important ones, then the question

becomes why spend all of the money required on a large building when the weekly meeting it is

intended to house isn’t as important? So much time, money, and effort goes into these large

gatherings; but are they necessary? Why do we believe they are worth all of this effort as opposed

to a far simpler gathering of twenty people in a home studying the word together and worshipping

Jesus? Imagine how much money could be freed up to fund missions and care for the poor if we

didn’t need buildings to lead healthy churches. Beyond that, think about how much easier and

quicker we can plant churches. Instead of needing to raise possibly several hundreds of thousands of

dollars to plant a church, we can start one at zero cost. This allows churches to spread like wildfire.

It also makes church planting realistic for those who have limited resources, especially our brothers

and sisters in impoverished countries.

• If the church can exist primarilyfunction within homes it also allows it to function and thrive more

discreetly under persecution or challenging economic situations. Much of the world enforces

restrictions on the spread of Christianity, so and meeting in homes in smaller gatherings (without

needing a larger, more visible gathering) makes a lot more sense. In America we have enjoyed

religious freedoms that may or may not continue for the foreseeable future, and so we feel it is wise

to be prepared for any sort of financial or governmental troubles.

Recommended Resources

These are books that the pastors of WAC have gone through together in pastors’ training over the last few years.

Theology

Wayne Grudem: Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith -- good as a reference book to look things up

Wayne Grudem: Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know -- need to read

Spiritual formation

A.W. Tozer: The Attributes of God, Vol.1 & Vol.2

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community Henri Nouwen: The Way of the Heart

Practical theology

Tim Chester: Total Church

Paul Tripp: Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

Sam Storms: The Beginner's Guide to Spiritual Gifts

Gordon Fee: Reading the Bible for All Its Worth

Francis Chan: Multiply (and possibly Letters To The Church)

Robert E. Coleman: The Master Plan of Evangelism

Appendix

CHANGING THE WORLD THROUGH THE LORD’S SUPPER

DR. TIMOTHY KELLER

The Lord’s Supper builds personal spirituality, the church community, and Christian character. Through it, God calls us to link our beliefs more closely with our relationships, our practices, and our witness to the world.

THE LORD’S SUPPER AND PERSONAL SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Most people think of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a way to an individual spiritual experience of deeper connection to God. They are right. It is one of the few times in most Protestant services when people stop talking for a while and have time to reflect.

The abstract, invisible concepts of Christ’s propitiatory, vicarious, and substitutionary death for us are translated into a palpable sign—the bread and the cup—that engages the physical senses of sight and touch, taste and smell. All this makes Jesus’ sacrifice more “real” to us, and at that moment most participants find personal interaction with God is profoundly enhanced and facilitated.

We believe that Christ is truly “present” when we eat. This is, of course, a major theological issue. Presbyterians historically have taken a middle road in their belief about the nature of the sacrament. On the one hand, the Roman Catholic Church, and even Martin Luther, believed the bread and the wine literally became the body and blood of Jesus during the observance. They quoted Jesus: “Hoc est corpus meum”—”This is my body,” not “This is a symbol of my body.”

On the other hand, Ulrich Zwingli (one of the most influential Protestant Reformers) as well as the Anabaptists and the Radical Reformation believed the bread and the wine were symbols, not the actual body and blood of Christ.

John Calvin, the main founder of what became the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, took a mediating position. When Jesus actually said the words “This is my body,” he couldn’t have meant them literally, since his human body was right there and had not been broken yet. So he must have been speaking symbolically in some sense. On the other hand, Calvin took seriously the momentous and central place the gospel writers gave to the sacrament. It was a covenant-making meal at which Jesus essentially constituted the church as the new people of God and solemnly told them to do this continually. Other references in the New Testament also suggest this reading. John brings the effect of the meal forward into earthly ministry in John 6:56, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” It was central in the earliest Christian worship.

Calvin and Presbyterians after him have taught (in a most wonderfully balanced way!) that Jesus is spiritually present in the Lord’s Supper in a unique way that differs and is heightened over other exercises of prayer or worship, gathered or private. He is really there spiritually to meet you, but the bread and cup are not literally the body and blood. The Catholic and Orthodox churches taught that you get the life of Christ automatically and apart from hearing and faith (see below), while Calvin stressed that this presence happens through faith in Jesus’ word of the gospel.

The Lord’s Supper is a matchless resource for personal spiritual growth in our relationship with God. We meet him in the sacrament.

THE LORD’S SUPPER AND SPIRITUAL CONVERSION

The Lord’s Supper is also what has been called a “converting ordinance.”

As attendees at our church know, the minister distributing the elements is usually careful to invite baptized Christians to partake of the bread and the cup. The first Lord’s Supper was a covenant-making ceremony, in which Jesus created a new people and entered into covenant with them as their Lord. Ancient covenants were marked by an oath-sign in which the curse of disobeying the covenant was made clear, but Jesus shows us that this time, he takes on the curse for breaking the covenant himself. He will take the cup of God’s wrath so we can have the cup of fellowship and blessing. We who are made his people by his grace are now in a committed relationship to him and to each other.

Meals were also signs of intimacy and community. The Passover meal was always celebrated with one’s family; yet, Jesus at the first Passover eats it with the disciples! Why? He is turning them into his family (cf. Matt. 12:48). The Lord’s Supper, then, is a meal that creates and commemorates a committed community.

Thus, every subsequent Lord’s Supper is a covenant renewal ceremony. We are to remember what he did for us— how he took the curse of the covenant so we could be in relationship with him by grace. This means then that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament for those who are already Christians, who are already in covenant with him.[1]

Over the years I have heard from scores of people that “fencing the table” this way forced them to ask themselves, “Well, then, where do I stand? Am I a Christian? Do I really believe the gospel I’ve been hearing about in a new way here?” The average person who begins coming to our church has some religious background but has been spiritually skeptical or at least “drifting” for years. She or he is drawn by friends into a small group and/or worship, and this begins an exploration of the Christian faith in earnest. This exploration may go on for some time. Then, one Sunday the Lord’s Supper is served, the invitation is made, and all the searching is brought to a head in a way that would not happen in a regular church service. That is why we always print a prayer of belief in the bulletin on those Sundays, to help people receive Jesus by faith in a decisive, life-changing way.[2]

Note: Despite saying, “If this is the day you give your life to Christ, take him, not the bread and cup,” I know many people give their lives to Christ and then take the sacrament. As long as they are believers, they are “jumping the gun” but not severely in the wrong. (See Footnote 1 on the vagaries of membership. Our desire that partakers of the Lord’s Supper be formally committed to a particular church is a traditional and wise piece of quality control.)

THE LORD’S SUPPER AND BUILDING COMMUNITY

Practicing the Lord’s Supper has ramifications beyond enhancing our individual relationship with Jesus. In fact, it unites facets of our lives that fragmented, modern, Western culture tends to split apart. The Lord’s Supper builds community by forcing us to link together our individual and corporate lives. The first Lord’s Supper created a community when Jesus ate Passover with the disciples, turning them into his family. Since every subsequent Lord’s Supper is a covenant renewal ceremony, it can’t be enacted individualistically. We remember how he took the curse so we could be in relationship with God and others by his grace. We also renew relationships with Christian brothers and sisters, which may be why Jesus says in Matthew 5:23–24 to leave your gift at the altar and reconcile with your brother if “your brother has something against you.” He expects that in worship we are examining our relationships in our hearts.

“One Bread, one body, one Lord of all” goes the popular worship song.[3] The service of the Lord’s Supper starts with one bread and one cup, and then it is broken and poured out and distributed to all. This represents how the death of Christ makes us one in him. Paul insists, therefore, that during the Lord’s Supper you are not only to think about your relationship with God, but with others: “I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you . . . .When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. . . . For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor. 11:18, 20–21, 29).

Are your relationships strong? Are you a true member of this Christian community, or are you just dropping in for information and inspiration in a (frankly) consumerist manner? The Lord’s Supper links your individual relationship to Jesus with your corporate community life with his people.

THE LORD’S SUPPER AND BUILDING CHARACTER

The Lord’s Supper also builds integrity by forcing us to link together our interior and behavioral lives. The old word “Eucharist” means thanksgiving. The bread is to be broken with “thanks” (1 Cor. 11:24), with awed and joyful gratitude. This of course is the gospel dynamic of the Christian life. We do not anxiously move out into the world, hoping that God will accept us provided we live up to standards. Rather, we know we are already accepted in Christ, and so we obey God out of joyful gratitude for his grace in Jesus Christ.

But does gospel-gratitude really result in a changed life? Has thanksgiving for his grace really changed you at your center, so that you live your daily life differently? Paul also insists that “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning . . . A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup” (1 Cor. 11:27–28). Paul has said not to take the Lord’s Supper without thinking of the body—your relationships—but he also says not to take it without thinking about yourself—your practices and life patterns.

It is crucial that you keep this sobering note in balance with the note of gratitude for grace. Obviously, the Lord’s Supper is not for perfect people, but for repentant people—but that is just the point. The Lord’s Supper forces us to keep our inner experience linked with our outward behavior. It demands that we ask, “Am I truly living a life of gratitude and obeying God, as I would be if I really believed he saved me at the infinite cost of his only Son? Am I loving others sacrificially, as I would be if I really believed I was saved by sacrificial love?”

The Lord’s Supper is concrete, making Jesus’ loving self-donation visible and palpable to the senses. Now are you making Jesus’ loving self-donation visible and palpable to others in the way you actually live your life?

In light of how the Lord’s Supper links people to one another and links behavior to beliefs, the very best possible place to celebrate the Lord’s Supper is with your small group, where you have a high percentage of close relationships. Since the Lord’s Supper is a time to practice unity and examine your relationships, what better place to celebrate it than with your current primary community? Their presence forces you to ask, “Am I okay with these people?” Their presence also makes it easier to be grateful to God for your friends, maintain the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3), and build unity (Eph. 4:13). Moreover, your friends and small group are where much of your accountability resides, so it is harder to take the Supper in their presence if you are living inconsistently.

Many churches only allow ordained clergy to celebrate the sacrament, however, and we have scores of groups and only a handful of ordained pastors. There are very good historical and theological reasons for this understanding, although it is hard to hold that the Bible really teaches this directly. But when we belong to a denomination—and a community!—we are accountable to common beliefs and structures that we can’t simply discard. That’s one of the things that community is about.

How can this be resolved? You could sit at worship services with your small group or friends (this often happens anyway). When our church holds its Corporate Prayer Renewal meeting twice a year, build it into your schedule to attend as a small group and very consciously take the Lord’s Supper elements in love for one another. It is a much more intimate setting than the large Sunday services.

You could also ask the ordained ministers among us occasionally to come to your group and celebrate the sacrament in your group meeting.

THE LORD’S SUPPER AND CHANGING THE WORLD

We can go even further yet in our understanding of the Lord’s Supper. The Supper is so powerful (Christ is spiritually present) and so comprehensive (linking human to divine, inner life to practice, and individual to community) that it can mold us into world-changers.

One of the greatest problems for any age, but in particular this modern era, is that despite orthodox beliefs, the influences of our culture seal off our beliefs from really affecting the way we live. We may believe every word of the Bible formally yet be molded by our culture’s consumer mindset, individualism, materialism, and so on. The Lord’s Supper, properly understood and practiced—especially at the level of primary community—can affect us in a way that molds us more than the surrounding culture can, and thus makes us act very differently.

A remarkable example of this occurred in the Protestant Reformation. According to the minutes of the first Protestant churches in Geneva, Switzerland, for years large numbers of people tended to talk throughout the service, including the sermon. The reason is that in medieval worship, people usually stood passively for the whole service and watched the priests move about and the musicians chant and sing. The people were not expected to do much of anything. They waited for the bread but didn’t even get the cup (that was for the priests). Why?

Thomas Aquinas believed that the sacraments were literally the cause of grace coming into someone’s life, regardless of the recipient’s state of piety.[4] The important thing, then, was to have the sacrament “performed” by the priest well. The medieval service was very mystical and beautiful, and it included a great deal of activity, but the people themselves did not participate.

Reformed worship was a huge change. The differences in a Protestant service would have hit you instantly. The service was simpler, more understandable, and less mysterious—as well as far less awe-inspiring and aesthetically sensory (no smells or chants, fewer enormous spaces, etc.). You also would have noticed how frequently the Bible was read and taught.

Most importantly, everyone present was expected to participate at every point. At the very least, people had to listen, since they were being taught. They had to respond, pray, sing, and so on. All was now conducted in their own language. No wonder these changes took years to get used to. People were accustomed to having their senses touched but not their minds. They were used to being passive and having things done for them by the experts. They were not accustomed to participating.

Why the change? The gospel. The Reformers believed that God’s unmerited grace comes to us as a word to believe, not as a deed to be performed. They believed God’s unmerited grace comes directly, unmediated, to the individual. They believed individuals must be converted by that word, not simply be incorporated into their family’s religion. Every individual had to get their own relationship with God. The impact of this kind of worship, although slow to work itself out in people’s lives, eventually formed them and shaped them in profoundly new ways. Worship became far more democratic, obviously, and as a result democracy began growing in Protestant countries in ways that it did not in others. This is a larger topic than we can cover here, and other forces were certainly at work, but both scholarship and common sense agree that these changes had a huge impact on the culture.

The point is that the practice of weekly worship is what formed the people so profoundly.

Transformation did not happen to people through reading books. It was not just an intellectual understanding or information transfer. They were shaped by the particular shape of the weekly worship. If we begin taking worship and the Lord’s Supper seriously, we may find ourselves becoming people whose daily life practice is molded by the gospel and not our culture. We will go from being controlled by our cultures to being controlled by the gospel, and thus become culture changers.

SUMMARY

What an amazing spiritual regimen for us, ordained by Jesus himself! Every time you partake of the Lord’s Supper, God is calling you to link your heart more deeply into his heart, link your individual life more deeply into his people, and link your life and practice more deeply into your beliefs. In other words, it builds personal spirituality, the church community, and Christian character and integrity. Our church believes the Lord’s Supper is not “just a symbol,” but that Jesus promised he is spiritually present at his table in this food. He meets us in a special, real way and helps us uniquely when we seek to make these linkages in the sacrament. It really is, then, “heavenly food” that quite literally builds us up and grows us up. That is why George Herbert could write about it this way:

Thou hast restored us to this ease

By this thy heav’nly blood,

Which I can go to, when I please,

And leave th’ earth to their food.