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Movement Churches

BY DAN KIEHL, Senior Pastor, Oakwood Presbyterian Church

     I once had the privilege of taking a course on the history and development of the African American church at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. Because I had never studied this subject, the tidal wave of new information and insights that I have gained was overwhelming. Carl Ellis, the African American professor who taught the course, is a wellspring of knowledge, wisdom, and first-hand experience, and it was a privilege to sit at his feet and learn.

     One day during class he made an off-handed comment that fascinated me. He said, “The great Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s has become the Civil Rights Industry of today.” He didn’t explain the comment, but in context I understood him to mean that what started as a powerful movement for change, filled with passion and vision, has now become a self-perpetuating monolith that exists primarily to continue its existence.

     I’m in no position to judge the validity of Mr. Ellis’s declaration, but I do know from observation and first-hand experience that this mutation in movements among people is a common occurrence. Rev. Harry Reeder, one of my mentors, always says that there are only three kinds of churches: “monument churches”, “maintenance churches”, and “movement churches”.

     “Monument churches” are those that are living on “the glory days”. They are constantly looking backward for their sense of identity, talking about the great pastors who once led the church and the impressive accomplishments of earlier generations. Even the church building will become somewhat of a museum, with portraits, nameplates, and testimonials adorning the walls to remind the members that this church at one time had really made a difference. People are afraid to talk about the present or the future of the church, which seems to pale in comparison.

     “Maintenance churches” live very much in the present. At one time there was a lot of enthusiasm, sacrifice, and forward-thinking in the church, but at some point, the church imperceptibly reached the dreaded “plateau." The church had grown enough and accomplished enough that people could relax a bit. Everybody got comfortable with the status quo. The word “change” slowly became a taboo word. A successful year of ministry is now defined as bringing in as many new members as you lost, meeting the budget, and avoiding significant problems. Instead of planning new ministries, the leadership spends its time putting out the fires of conflict among restless members and repressing their own feelings of burnout.

     On the other hand, a “movement church” is a church that is going somewhere. There is a clear vision of a better future in the minds and hearts of the people, and they believe that they’re going to get there. This vision attracts dynamic leaders to the movement; these leaders in turn generate effective ministries. When people witness effective ministry, they are eager to invest their time and resources into the church. The result is growth and impact on the surrounding communities.

     The vast majority of American churches fall into one of the first two categories, monument or maintenance. It is an observable characteristic of any human organization, Christian or secular, that it tends to go through a lifecycle, where it bursts forth at the beginning as a vibrant movement, then eventually relaxes into maintenance mode, and then declines into monument status. Unless the organization is revitalized, it dies.

     Of course, it isn’t enough to say that all churches should be movement churches. You can have churches with vision, enthusiasm, leadership, and growth that are headed in the wrong direction, outside of God’s will. The vision must be God-given, based upon the authority of His Word. The enthusiasm must be based in prayer and a humble reliance upon the joy and power of the Holy Spirit. The leadership must be Godly, Biblical, and in tune with the Holy Spirit. The growth must be the work of God’s grace and to God’s glory.

     That is why we need to pray for revival among the churches of our land. When the Holy Spirit visits a church, the result is that it becomes a “movement of God church”. Its vision is God-given, and the direction is determined by obedience and submission. The people are willing to sacrifice their time, treasures, and talents for the sake of the cause, because the joy of participating in the Lord’s work and seeing Him glorified far outweighs the temporal pleasures of this world.

     Churches rarely recognize when they’ve become comfortable and settled into the maintenance mode.  We must be continually praying that the Lord will renew our vision and joy in ministry that we might continue as a movement of His Spirit. As the old saying goes, “We’ve got places to go, people to see, things to do!"  

Evangelism and the Fear of Flying

BY DAN KIEHL, Senior Pastor, Oakwood Presbyterian Church

     I have a phobia about riding on airplanes. It has nothing to do with taking off, landing, or how high in the sky I am. I actually enjoy the rush of flying and always try to get a window seat to enjoy the view. No, my fear is of the passenger sitting next to me. As soon as a stranger stops at my row and shoves his or her carry-on bag into the compartment above my head, I start saying under my breath, “No, no…don’t sit here. There’s a nice quiet seat over there. You’ll like it better there.”

     I know when I acquired this phobia. It started when I was in college and read one of those trendy, guilt-inducing best-sellers on personal evangelism. This particular author shared a riveting story about how she was able to, on a short flight, lead the hardened sinner seated beside her from spiritual oblivion, teetering on the precipice of hell, to new life in the Kingdom of Christ through a winsome and compelling presentation of the Gospel. The writer made it clear that we are to see seatmates on a plane as a God-ordained captive audience, and implied that if we were knowledgeable and clever enough in communicating the Gospel we, too, could win a soul for Christ before the landing gear touches the tarmac. So to this day I am seeking to overcome the fear of guilt and failure that has accompanied countless flights in my past.

     I am recovering from my fear of “cold contact” evangelism through a deeper understanding of what Scripture teaches about God’s work of salvation. God’s Word consistently shows us that only rarely is salvation an event in the life of a sinner. For most of us, salvation was a process – a slow awakening from spiritual darkness, a slow coming to life, a slow release from spiritual slavery.  For every one person who has encountered Jesus Christ in a single moment of crisis and conversion, there are dozens of us who came to Christ in small, halting steps and cannot identify a clear “moment of decision”.

     Jesus pictured the work of evangelism in terms of a sower sowing seed in a prepared field. Paul speaks of this process in 1 Corinthians 3, where he describes his evangelistic efforts in this way: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” The normal way for a sinner to come to saving faith in Christ is for a multitude of laborers to take part in the sowing, watering, nurturing, and harvesting of a new believer. God creates the life and growth in the heart of a seeker; my only responsibility is to seek to lead the seeker a step closer to Christ from where he or she is. Once in a long while, that step is the final step into the Kingdom. Much more often, it is only a step or two in the right direction.

     In some ways, this makes the labor of evangelism more complicated and difficult. You can’t just identify a target, launch into a recitation of the four spiritual laws, and then score with a repetition of the sinner’s prayer. Instead, you have to listen, care, and discern where on a journey towards God (or away from Him) this sinner happens to be. You have to earn the right to ask difficult questions, and you have to be patient as you wait for God to soften the heart and open spiritual ears. You have to respond to questions and challenges with wisdom and gentleness. You quickly realize that listening well and prayer are the most valuable instruments in your witnessing toolbox.

     Flying next to strangers is scaring me less and less these days. It helps that I no longer see myself as a spiritual salesman who has one shot to close the deal. Instead, I remind myself that I’m a sower, a spiritual gardener - planting seeds where they don’t exist; watering them where they’re developing roots; nurturing plants based upon the growth they exhibit; and, once in a while, harvesting the fruit that many others have labored, in God’s grace and strength, to produce. Our Lord intends for the work of the harvest to be filled with joy, not fear.