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There is a famine of the Word of God (Amos 8:11). Many Christian leaders have sold their birthright (the Word of God) for a bowl of porridge (human ideas). Christian speakers and writers are resorting to “worldly and empty chatter and opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge--which some have professed and thus gone away from the faith” (1 Timothy 6:20). The chaff is preached, not the wheat (Jeremiah 23:28); and the spiritual junk food diet is reflected in a spiritually anemic generation.

Thousands of books on the shelves in Christian book stores claim to be Christian, yet they contain little, if any, Biblical truth. So-called “Biblical principles” are presented as the answers for developing healthy churches, marriages, children, etc. Upon careful examination one discovers that many of these principles actually violate Biblical teaching, violate the hierarchy of God’s truth, and send believers in the wrong direction. True Christ-like sanctification never happens.

Any number of popular Christian books could be used as an example of how human ideas are being put forth as life changing Biblical principles, but the book that came across my desk is 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. I am not singling out this book for any particular reason; it is simply one good example of a bad example. My goal is to help believers learn the subtle and deceptive nature of human ideas masquerading as Biblical truth.

Two terms have been coined: (1) “Evangelical Psycho-Babble” to describe the imposing of false principles of secular psychology upon the Bible and (2) “Evangelical Business-Babble” to describe the imposing of secular business management techniques upon the work of the church. Both fads are rooted in a lack of Biblical knowledge and the draw of “persuasive words of man’s wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:4).

An event took place in the church I currently pastor that illustrates the issue. Back in the early 90s, a new pastor came to the church and distributed to the church leadership the latest book on church growth. This pastor sincerely believed this book contained marvelous truths that, if implemented, would propel church growth. The people in the church were appalled. They recognized the book for what it was--silly speculations about how to build human organizations. The theories in the book had nothing to do with the Biblical pattern laid down by Christ and the apostles for building the body of Christ.

The question is this: why was this pastor so enamored with this church growth book while the people saw it as heresy? This disconnect often happens between Christians, between pastors, between church leaders and the congregation.

I can only conclude that the reason for the different opinions is rooted in matters relating to spiritual maturity, gifts, discernment, experience, convictions. Even Paul had to correct the Corinthians for their infatuation with human wisdom. In our churches there is a mixture of men of the flesh, infants in Christ, and spiritual men. This includes both the congregation and pastors.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

I have to admit that early in my ministry, I was taken in by the “Evangelical Psycho-Babble” and the “Evangelical Business-Babble.” Why? Maybe because I assumed these writers, being spiritual leaders, knew what they were talking about; maybe because it was novel; maybe because it promised to be the key to a new understanding or application of Scripture; maybe I was looking for something beyond the doctrines of Christ to change lives.

Certainly, the most obvious reason is that I did not know the Word of God as much as I thought. I only knew the Word of God as scattered slogans. Even after years of Bible college and seminary, I didn’t truly know the Word. My senses were not exercised to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). In my immaturity, I did not understand the sufficiency of Christ and the power of the Word. I had not yet developed the conviction that the Bible alone adequately equips the believer for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17). It was only after fifteen years of ministry that I started realizing that “Evangelical Business-Babble” not only contradicts the Bible, but it does nothing to generate true sanctification.

What if I continued on the path of “Evangelical Business-Babble?” I probably would have had a very successful life building the church of the “tares” rather than the church of the “wheat.” And as Jesus taught, all men would speak well of me for so did the ancients used to treat the false prophets in the same way (Luke 6:26).

Theological drift happens when a minister leaves the Scriptures and begins to focus on the “so-called” Biblical truths found in secular works. Liberalism, and every church schism, is rooted in rationalism—placing human wisdom over divine revelation. God ultimately corrects those Christian leaders who take this path, but our job is to recognize the wolves (Acts 20:29), recognize those false teachers like Philetus who upset the faith of some (2 Timothy 2:17-18), recognize those like Alexander who suffered shipwreck (1 Timothy 1:20). We are to keep our “eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them” (Romans 16:17).

I have found that conscientious believers sense that something doesn’t sound quite right in “Evangelical Business-Babble,” but they don’t have enough Bible knowledge to have any confidence in their suspicions. They wonder if there are any mature Christian leaders who see the problem and have written something to explain the errors. This article is written for these believers. Be assured there is a very large group of Christian leaders who are sounding the alarm against this current fad in evangelicalism.

Before providing a chapter- by-chapter critique of 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, two foundational Biblical truths must be laid down: (1) God’s work operates on principles that differ from the world’s work and (2) the sufficiency of Scripture.

(1) God’s Work operates on principles that differ from the world’s work.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

The theme of the book 7 Practices of Effective Ministry is based on the unproven assumption that those principles that make for a successful baseball team can make for a successful church. Those aspects of human nature which drive people to the baseball park can be used to bring people into the church, to which we can all reply, “Says who?” Are there any passages in the Bible which teach that man’s ways of building a business are the same as God’s ways of building the true church? And if there are any valid similarities, how are we to judge which ones apply? One thing is for sure: the Bible is full of passages which teach that the motivations and principles of the spiritual life differ from those of the fleshly, earthly life.

Paul constantly warns believers not to follow the “elementary principles of the world.” We are not to be deceived or spoiled by them (Colossians 2:8); we have died to them (Colossians 2:20); and we are not to turn back to the weak and worthless elemental things (Colossians 4:9). Paul is referring to the basic ABCs of worldly thinking—those things the world naturally believes about the way to get to heaven, the way to success, the way to manage people, etc. The minister of the Gospel constantly has to examine and refute the philosophy of this world because the ways of the world are in contradiction to the ways of God. If the world puts it forth, you can almost be sure it contains error.

God’s methods are usually in direct opposition to the world’s methods of success. For example, in God’s Kingdom the way up is down, you save your life by losing your life, he who is greatest is least. So as a general rule of thumb, if you want to have a Biblical ministry, you are safer doing the direct opposite of whatever is being taught in the latest church growth fad. If the church growth gurus are teaching it, suspect error. The new fad will eventually crash and burn, but you “continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them” (2 Timothy 3:14).

The entire first three chapters of the letter to the Corinthians are written to correct those in the church who were impressed with the wisdom of the world. Greek philosophy is humanly impressive. One could anticipate that a new, Biblically illiterate, Greek Christian of the first century would lean toward wedding Christianity with Greek principles of successful living. This eventually happened, and it was called the heresy of Gnosticism. Paul addressed the error at an earlier stage. He taught the Corinthians to esteem “spiritual words taught by the spirit” (1 Corintians 2:13) and to repudiate clever ideas and persuasive style.

1 Corinthians 1:17
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

The contemporary church has overlooked Paul’s radical lessons to the Corinthians. The lure to be relevant, cool, or clever compels some ministers more than the teachings of Paul. The Biblical Christian leader must develop the conviction and must make the prior commitment to leave out of his message the persuasive words of man’s wisdom. He must be careful not to appeal to all of those fleshly motives that attract people to the forms of religion--motives such as, emotions, wanting to belong, worldly excitement, the aura of spirituality, being involved in something bigger than self, the pressure of the crowd, following personalities, a worldly desire for success, etc. Yet these are the motivations that build man-made religion--even those that operate under the titles and forms of evangelicalism.

Paul concludes his teaching on this subject by writing, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God . . . the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless” (1 Corinthians 3:19-20). Notice that the “reasonings of the wise” are not just partially helpful, but useless in accomplishing real spiritual change. Certainly many will tell you how “useful,” or rather, how “blessed” they have been by secular psychology, by business management techniques, even by evangelical messages based on worldly wisdom. But realize, Paul is evaluating things based on God’s righteous judgment, not man’s judgment according to appearances (John 7:24). People often mistake temporal, emotional change for real, permanent sanctification. If there is anything coming from the world that is truly “useful,” it is because at some point the world is borrowing a percentage of God’s truth.

Ephesians 4:14-16
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Rather than looking for something new, the apostles urged believers to hold on to the apostle’s doctrine (Jude 3). I have discovered that the real new stuff, the real eye openers, are found in looking afresh at the basic doctrines in the Scriptures. If there is a problem in Christian teachers going after something new, it is often because they don’t really know or understand the basic doctrines.

In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis records the following advice that demons use to trip up Christians:

Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing - - The horror of the same old thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart---an endless source of heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship. . . The desire for novelty is indispensible if we are able to produce fads and fashions.[1]

Jesus taught that God’s Word is violated by man’s traditions (Matthew 15:6). Jesus countered the prevailing thought by teaching “You have heard that it has been said by the ancients, but I say to you . . .” (Matthew 5:21,27,33,38,43). Jesus taught not to give, pray, fast, vow, retaliate, store up, worry, or judge as the world (Matthew 5-7). When it comes to management techniques, Jesus taught the disciples not to follow the prevailing practices of His day. Every aspect of Christian living and service is radically different from how the secular world does business.

Luke 22:25-27
And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

As far as a philosophy of success, Jesus taught us to deny ourselves, and the way to save our life is to lose our life. (Luke 9:23-24). Paul taught that he showed himself to be a true servant of Christ by being a loser to this world (1 Corinthians 4:9-13; 2 Cor. 6:4).

1 Corinthians 4:13
. . . we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

2 Corinthians 6:4
. . . but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses

On the other hand, the book 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, teaches that the principles of success in baseball are to “clarify the win” and that “everyone wants to be a part of a winning team.” This is applied to the work of the church (p 69). What is absent in the chapter is the complete Biblical definition of winning. Of course, the authors say that “winning” for a church means leading people into a personal relationship with Christ, but that is an incomplete definition. The 7 Practices offers only an ambiguous framework of secular management techniques without supplying all that Paul taught about a successful church. Biblically, a “winning” church will look like a losing church to the world.

The root cause for this misplaced emphasis is that, rather than beginning with the Scriptures, many Christian writers find novelty in beginning with management techniques and then working back into the Bible. This often leads to a subtle departure from Biblical truth.

In his book Exegetical Fallacies, D.A. Carson discusses what he titles “Conceptual Parallelomania.”

Conceptual Parallelomania is particularly inviting those who have taken advanced training in a specialized field (psychology, sociology, some area of history, philosophy, education) but who have no more than a serious Sunday-school knowledge of the Scriptures. Many of the specialists who fall into these fallacies are devout believers who want to relate the Bible to their discipline. They think they have a much firmer grasp of Scripture than they do; and the result is appalling nonsense.[2]

In addition to D.A Carson’s analysis, I must add that it is not only those who have “only a Sunday-school knowledge of Scripture,” men with PhD in Theology fall into the same error because they have studied the business of religion more than the Bible.

Back in the 1980s, I was working on my MBA from Rutgers. At that time I took all of the typical graduate level classes in marketing and organizational behavior. Having a strong Biblical background, I understood that much of what I was learning contradicted the Bible. At that time, I remember contemplating the heresy that could be developed if some well-meaning, but naïve, Christian decided to apply these Madison Avenue techniques to the work of God. Over the next thirty years that is exactly what proliferated in Christian writing.

On page 179 of 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, the author explains all we need to know concerning why his North Point Community Church espouses the “7 practices.” He writes,

Our leadership team, as well as some of the other ministry teams in the church, often read through business and leadership books as a group. Nearly half the time in our Monday morning meetings is spent discussing the current book and its application to our circumstances; here are some of the books we’ve read:

I have “been there and done that.” I know the seductiveness of business management principles. Certainly, every once in a while a Biblical truth can be found in business management texts, but why go to these authors as the source when the Bible gives us truth first hand? Rather than feeding on the Scriptures, the shame is that many Christian leaders are looking to business management techniques. Why are Christian leaders following rather than leading? Why can’t they first go to the Bible to find these management principles, that is, if they are in the Bible at all? And doesn’t this practice expose these leaders as those who have fallen into the trap of turning the church into a business?

In the last days difficult times will come for men will . . . hold to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these.

The Sufficiency of Scripture is the second foundation principle to review before critiquing the 7 Practices of Effective Ministry.

If God sent a letter to be read to a congregation, would you make one or two references to the letter and then spend the bulk of the time sharing how professional baseball relates to the letter? Of course not. The nature of the letter that you hold in your hand means that your primary role is to communicate to people the contents of God’s letter. As a minister you are to “speak, as it were, the utterances of God” (1 Peter 4:11). The role of the minister is to explain the meaning of the Word of God to the people and to entirely work through the text so that the people can hear and understand the words that come from God on the subjects God chooses to discuss.

This is not to say that a minister cannot give extended illustrations or practical applications, but only within a serious exposition of the Scriptures. Certainly one can write a book about professional sports; but once a book claims to be about God’s ministry, the primary source has to be the Scriptures. Unfortunately, the whole direction of the contemporary church is to preach human ideas, stories, and personal experiences sprinkled with a few slogans from the Bible. The Word is not preached, and, therefore, grievous errors slip into the church’s doctrine and practice.

The Biblical doctrine of inspiration teaches that the very words, sentences and paragraphs in the Bible are inspired of God. Therefore, the messenger must be careful to preach the words of Scripture entirely and exactly as God gave it to the church. All human wisdom and speculations must be set aside. When Paul writes about the inspiration of Scripture, he does so to remind believers of the sufficiency of Scripture. The pastor doesn’t need to add “persuasive words of man’s wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:4); the Scriptures alone equip the believer for every good work. Therefore, Paul solemnly charges Timothy to preach the Word, for the time will come when people will look to other sources for truth. Man’s natural tendency is to be attracted to worldly rhetoric. The Christian speaker must make a conscious effort to avoid messages that appeal to the carnal desires of the audience.

2 Timothy 3:16-4:3
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

The positive charge is to “preach the Word.” The negative charge to Timothy is to “avoid worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’ which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith” (1 Timothy 6:20). Paul also urges Timothy to “handle accurately the word of truth” and to “avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness” (2 Timothy 2:16).

Paul emphasizes the importance of using the words of Scripture rather than extra-biblical language. “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:13). “Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching” (Titus 1:9). “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). These admonitions certainly apply to the current generation of preachers who are wedding Christianity to secular business management jargon.

The words of Scripture are to be preserved because the Bible teaches that the very words of God are infused with a divine power that words taught by human wisdom lack. It is not that there is something special about the sound of certain words, but the Spirit of God chooses to release His power through the very words He gave in the Scriptures.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Jeremiah 23:26-29
How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”

The false teachers in Jeremiah’s day certainly taught clever religious principles; but their ideas, and the words used to convey their ideas, were of human origin and, therefore, subject to error. Only the Word of God contains the unique power to change hearts. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). Notice the very “words” of Christ give life. It is the Word of God that sanctifies the Christian. Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3) and “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Paul emphasizes the life-changing power of the Word when he writes “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). God has ordained that real spiritual growth will come through the Word of God.

1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.

When Paul admonished the Corinthians for going after human wisdom, he had to remind them of the superiority of the Word of God spoken through the apostles. The Spirit of God has been given to teach the apostles the things of God, and the Spirit of God does not speak through the words of human wisdom. Instead, the Spirit of God provides spiritual words to match the spiritual thoughts that come from the Spirit. The words of Scripture are spiritual words.

1 Corinthians 2:12-13
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

If one were to take the Great Commission and substitute the inspired words for business management jargon, it may read something like this: “Make contacts to make customers in every target market. Initiate them into the product to ensure brand loyalty on behalf of the stockholders.”

This is a ridiculous analogy to illustrate a point. The further a translator or preacher strays from the actual words of Scripture, the more the meaning is lost or twisted. And when the meaning is lost, by substituting words inspired by human imagination, the power is lost. Something is lost even in making a translation from Greek to English. Something is lost when the hearers don’t understand the meaning of words. To preserve the power of the Word, the translator must strive to find the English words that communicate the truths contained in the original Greek words, and the hearers must be educated in the meaning of words.

The context and order of Biblical words are also inspired of God. To retain the power of the Word the Christian teacher must follow the order of the Biblical text. The more one pieces together texts from various parts of the Bible, the more one is prone to leave off truth or misemphasize truth. Imagine a sermon that weaves together the first sentence of the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20, along with a phrase lifted from the call to discipleship in Luke 14:23, and then adds Paul’s words about justification in Romans 5:1. Such a message would not be communicating God’s inspired progress of truth. Topical sermons that pick out of the Bible “5 ways to have victory” or “7 ways to have a happy home” are prone to error. It is not that topical messages can’t be preached, but the teacher must be very careful. There should be a complete exposition of the selected texts. The best impact comes by preaching through the entire body of truth contained in a paragraph of Scripture.

By way of review, the Christian should be well-acquainted with these two foundational Biblical values: (1) God’s work operates on principles that differ from the world, (2) The Scriptures are sufficient because they are divinely inspired and empowered. The ideas and language of secular psychological or business management tend to fall into the classification of “words taught by human wisdom.” These are the “elementary principles of the world”; therefore, they do not change lives or build churches. Even if the “jargon” is remotely related to God’s truth, what is “the chaff compared to the wheat?” (Jeremiah 23:28).

To complete this section, here are a few more reasons why the Word of God is better than human wisdom

1. By teaching through the texts of Scripture, one conveys God’s proper hierarchy of truth In the book, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry the first practice is “clarify the win.” Has the Holy Spirit taught us in the Word that for a man of God to have an “effective ministry,” he must first “clarify the win”? Certainly not, but when we make up our own lists, we twist God’s priorities for His church.

Many contemporary Christian books contain nuggets of Scriptural truth, but the error is usually found in a misemphasis of God’s truth. For example, loving yourself comes before loving God; techniques for child rearing are valued more than the new birth; one’s self concept is valued more than losing oneself, etc.

There is a hierarchy in God’s truth that must be followed. Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for “tithing mint and dill and cumin and neglecting the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23-24). In Jesus’ day the Jews began to put a higher priority on their commentaries than upon the Scriptures. In so doing, they violated the commandments of God and “taught as doctrine the precepts of men” (Matthew 15:3,9). Satan’s customary attack on the church is not to get believers to deny Scripture, but to get believers to violate the hierarchy of truth and, hence, deny truth itself—violations such as, unity comes before doctrine, love comes before holiness, evangelism comes before righteousness.

2. By teaching through the text of Scripture one brings honor to the Word of God as the primary source of deliverance. The point that the prophet Jeremiah makes against the false prophets is that by teaching their “dreams,” they “make My people forget My name” (Jeremiah 23:27). It is all too common for Christian speakers to take ideas from the Word of God and then drift away from the Bible. Rather than truths being conveyed from the text of Scripture, the truths are couched in terms of human ideas and turned into points on a bullet list.

The job of the pastor is to direct people to the Bible. The alliterations, the bullet points, the clever outlines will be soon forgotten. The goal is to have believers know the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit may recall the Word of God to the Christian in the day of need. We want believers to eat, drink and sleep the actual texts of Scripture.

Listing Biblical principles in a sermon is not unscriptural. In Acts 7, Stephen lists various events from the Old Testament historical books in order to make a point. This article before you contains topic lists; but to be Biblical, God’s messenger must strive to develop each point from a text of Scripture.

I have many Christian books on my shelf that deal with marriage, business, politics, child rearing, etc. Most of the well-known Christian leaders on these subjects use very little Scripture in their writings. Maybe they believe that the truths they share are so universally accepted by the Christian community that they need no Biblical exposition. I believe they do a disservice to the body of Christ by failing to honor the Word as the source of truth.

3. By preaching the Word, rather than preaching “about” the Word, the pastor teaches the people how to feed themselves from the Word. (See 1 Peter 1:10, Acts 17:11, Romans 15:12)

Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate a Biblical truth unless one sees the practical application. For illustrative purposes, I have included here three examples of neglecting the Word of God. I want the reader to understand the pervasiveness and subtlety of this problem in our churches.

I recently sat under a message about the family. The message was progressing very well until the speaker left the text of Scripture and wandered off into his five “Rs” for rebuilding your family.

This technique is not uncommon in contemporary messages. Although these truths are found in the Bible, my reaction was one of confusion. I could not see how these scattered values were in anyway connected to each other theologically, logically or chronologically. I may be able to find a verse of Scripture to support each of these points, but where in the Scriptures do I learn that these five “Rs” are the process God wants me to follow? Is this the God-given process of repentance and sanctification?

Concerning an outline using the letter “R,” whatever the speaker achieved in alliteration, he lost in Biblical soundness.

In my experience with alliteration I have learned that (1) the ability of alliteration to help believers retain information in the long term is greatly overrated and (2) believers of this generation are suspicious of alliteration. Alliteration has been so misused that people in our churches are smartening up. They understand that God’s truth for any problem will rarely begin with one letter of the English language or follow a certain rhyme. Therefore, if the device of alliteration is used, one can suspect that some Scripture twisting is going on. Even Warren Weirsbe, the master of sermon alliteration, now regrets ever having used alliteration.

On the internet, I found this excerpt from Dr. Weirsbe. This was too good to leave out.

This is the place to put my head in the noose and warn against one of the most serious diseases known among preachers – “alliteration addiction.” In our salad days, most of us were fascinated by alliterated outlines and the preachers who prepared and preached them. But as we matured, we discovered that we were spending more time with dictionaries and thesauruses than we were with the Word of God. In our attempts to be clever, we are often prone to wrap what we think are attractive "preaching packages," but there is nothing in the box to feed the people. The closer a sermon is to everyday normal conversation, the easier the message will be understood and the more effective will be its impact. Thankfully, I have no friends who use alliteration when they phone me, and I'm glad my doctors just explain things to me in a simple manner and don't prepare alliterated speeches.[3]

But the main error in the 5 “Rs” is not the alliteration; it is the formulation of steps that do not find their origins in Scripture. Even if the concepts enumerated can all be pieced together from various parts of Scripture, this type of topical exposition is dangerous. Since these steps are not directly listed in the inspired Word, they may skew the hierarchy and emphasis of Scriptural truth. Topical messages are not unbiblical, but one must be cautious. In a message about marriage, it is safer to exposit Paul’s words in Ephesians 5 or Colossians 3 and follow the complete outline Paul gives for marital blessing. The content and the context of Paul’s teaching about marriage contain the real keys to Christian sanctification in marriage.

In my critique I will show how these principles are empty and subjective. But here I want to point out that God Himself has already written the true “practices of effective ministry.” There are four.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

If you want to build a “successful” church in God’s eyes, focus on the following:

This model does not need to be improved on. While the “7 Practices” of North Point are juvenile and void of content, the Scriptural practices contain meat. God knows what “practices” need to be emphasized in building His church.

If the great preachers of the reformation were asked to enumerate the practices of effective ministry, they would have answered from Acts 2:42, Ephesians 4:11-12, or Colossians 1:28-29. To teach God’s people how to run His church, it would make sense to follow the outline provided by the Spirit of God.

But can’t we add some of our own thoughts to Scripture--even those thoughts we have gleaned from our general knowledge of the Bible? Not without running the risk of “going too far and not abiding in the teaching of Christ” (2 John 8). If Christians should be reticent to veer from Scripture in personal conversations, or in small groups, how much more careful should a national Christian leader be when writing a book that claims to “turn your ministry into a winning team.”

In 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, the authors point out that their church, North Point Community Church, has as its mission statement, To lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

One of the fads of the church growth movement was for churches to write out mission statements. In the 1980s, writing out a mission statement was all the rage in corporate America. This was a reaction to large corporations which attempted to do everything rather than focusing on their core product. Church growth leaders picked up on this fad and encouraged church boards to formulate a mission statement for their church. The only problem with this practice is that Jesus Christ gave us a mission statement that cannot be improved upon. And for 2000 years the church has operated on Christ’s mission statement.

Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Notice that the North Point mission statement leaves off the specific words of Christ: “all people groups,” “make disciples,” “baptize,” “teaching to observe (obey) all that I command you.” In that these concepts are removed, the mission statement loses key truths meant to keep God’s work on track. We honor God’s Word as being perfect. Jesus Christ included every necessary word and excluded every unnecessary word.

Some may wonder if this criticism of North Point’s mission statement is necessary. Isn’t this just wrangling about words? What difference does it really make if the mission is “to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ” or “Go therefore and make disciples”? I believe it makes a world of difference. Ideas have consequences. Even the authors of 7 Practices of Effective Ministry build on the thesis that thinking the 7 steps make a difference. Concerning practice number 2, they write,

There are several organizational advantages to thinking steps, not programs. Here are just a few. You encourage your teams to depend on each other. You discourage individuals from becoming territorial. You erase the hard lines that exist between departments. You become more intentional about simplifying what you do. You position leaders to constantly think in terms of the big picture. If you were to walk into a step-oriented environment or one that was designed with a programming mindset, they may feel and look very much the same. On the surface the distinction between the two approaches may not be obvious, but the difference is critical to the overall organization (p. 96).

I would agree with the authors that words make a difference. Using the authors’ own words, “There are several organizational advantages to thinking” Matthew 28:19-20, rather than thinking in terms of “lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.” By following Matthew 28, you emphasize going from your current location; you encourage your people to be open to all nations; you emphasize baptism; you emphasize the authority of the Trinity; you emphasize obedience and learning, not just a relationship; and there are many more advantages to the wording of Matthew 28:19-20 that only an omniscient God knows. “On the surface the distinction between the two approaches may not be obvious, but the difference is critical to the overall organization.”

What has been applied to North Point’s mission statement can be applied to all of the wording of the “7 Practices.” In that the “7 Practices” do not find their origin in Scriptural texts, they are deficient. It may not seem fair to use the authors’ own words against them, but it is a good way to prove the point that words matter.

For years Bill Hybels, the pastor of mega-church Willow Creek in Illinois, has held up his method of doing church as a model for the American church. Thousands of pastors, eager to grow their church, attended Pastor Hybels’ yearly church growth conferences. There pastors learned the principles of the “seeker-friendly” church movement. Then in 2007 the Willow Creek staff announced that they had been doing it all wrong. They realized that what they had been doing was creating numbers, but not disciples of Jesus Christ.

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn't helping people that much. Other things that we didn't put that much money into and didn't put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and became Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become “self feeders.” We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own. [4]

This is surprising! For 20 years the leaders of Willow Creek have assured us that their methods were Biblical. They used Biblical texts to convince us that their method was becoming all things to all men to reach many (1 Corinthians 9:23). From “so-called” Biblical principles they extrapolated all sorts of seeker-friendly methods which, in my opinion, violated many clear texts of Scripture.

Willow Creek admits they missed the correct emphasis in the Scripture concerning how ministry is to be done. How could thousands of believers be fooled? Maybe the same mistake is happening at North Point with their “7 Practices of Effective Ministry.” It most likely is happening. Error will follow whenever a ministry preaches human ideas over the direct, didactic statements of Scripture.

Willow Creek’s new model for ministry is found in a book by Executive Pastor Greg Hawkins. The book is titled Reveal: Where Are You? and has as its subtitles,

Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he's asking us to transform this planet. [5]

Needless to say, I am suspicious that this new method is just as flawed as the old method. After a cursory look at the new paradigm, it appears to be another overemphasis of one Biblical truth to the exclusion of others. Human ideas for the way church ought to work are superimposed on a few proof texts.

The Christian should always be wary of preachers who speak of “surprising research,” “provocative discoveries,” “the answer.” False teachers love to use superlatives to get you to buy their books. It all sounds well and good, but when you finish the read; you are left with more fluff and feelings than substance. If, instead of reading their books, you would have read any one of Paul’s epistles, not only would you have found more useful truth, you would have saved yourself twenty bucks.

Before critiquing the 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, there are some inevitable objections that must be answered:

1. The authors of 7 Practices of Effective Ministry were not trying to make a commentary. Every Christian book does not have to be Bible commentary.

True, but the subject being addressed is not about car repair, but about how to build an effective church. The church belongs to Jesus Christ, and any wisdom about building the church had better follow God’s Word. These authors are ministers of the Gospel. Whether they realize it or not, when they speak, they speak for God.

2. Complicated theological subjects need to be made simple for the common man. The baseball analogy is a great way to illustrate truth even as Jesus used agricultural illustrations in His day.

We can simplify the message, we can use illustrations; but they had better be Biblical. Even the agricultural illustrations Jesus used had a very narrow scope of application. Jesus is the “lamb of God,” but there are plenty of facts about lambs that, if applied to Jesus, would be blasphemy. Any valid baseball truths would have a very narrow application to church work. The teaching of the text of Scripture should come first; the baseball illustrations come second. The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry reverse this order.

Regrettably, in contemporary messages, simplification means leaving the source of truth and preaching truth second-,third-, or fourth-hand. Not only does this open the door to error, but God’s people are better served by hearing the truth first hand.

3. Criticism is not helpful. In this battle to win souls, we don’t need to shoot our own people.

If “no criticism” becomes the standard, then error will quickly enter the church. God’s people always have to be vigilant against error. Pastors must teach people to discern. I write this critique because believers are already alarmed over the Evangelical managerial-babble entering into the church. Believers are looking for the answers from Scripture.

Biblical reformers who call people back to the Scriptures often looked like the bad guys, the naysayers, the critics. Read the tenor of Paul’s writings. Almost every letter is filled with correction to help believers grow.

There is a place for righteous indignation when false teachers, or immature Christians, make crooked the straight ways of the Lord. Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah were angered over those prophets who prophesy from their own spirit and have seen nothing (Ezekiel 13, Jeremiah 23). Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, for they turned the house of God into a place of business (Matthew 21:12).

1 Corinthians 14:29
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21
Do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.

Acts 20:29
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Philippians 3:18-19
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

Titus 1:10-11
For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.

For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

Romans 16:17
Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

I trust my critique will be received with Christian grace and humility. True Christian leaders are grateful for correction. They do not say, “How dare someone nit-pick my work?” Instead, they respond, “Maybe he has a good point that I have overlooked.” We all fall into the culture of the world and fail to realize our errors. It sometimes takes prophets like Nathan to wake up the men of God. If Christian leaders are embarrassed by what is exposed through this critique, it will be worthwhile if it moves us back toward Biblical ministry.

I am not writing anything in this critique that I have not had to learn myself through the school of hard knocks. I began my ministry impressed with, and being taken in by, the world’s wisdom in psychology and business. I preached messages that I wish I could take back. I hope I can spare other ministers that pain.

4. Many Christians love 7 Practices of an Effective Ministry. Christians will say “It is being used in my seminary” or “My pastor recommends the book.” Are these men unspiritual?

Christians, even pastors, are at different levels of maturity. It takes years to be renewed in the spirit of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). We all come to truth on different days of the week. We all start as spiritual children. It takes a few hours to bear a child; it takes 20 years to raise him. Do not be surprised if many church workers are still babes in Christ.

Ephesians 4:13-14
. . . until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

Even though some Christian leaders will praise 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, be assured that there is a well-established voice against Evangelical business-babble. For every minister who loves 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, there is one who is grieved over it. Please listen to their side of the story.

The book begins paralleling the “win of baseball” to the “win of the church.”

Turner Field in Atlanta stands as a monument to the fact that people will pay money to participate with a team that wins (p. 69)

How do you know when a baseball team is winning . . . you need some type of scoreboard (p. 69.)

The application is that churches should also keep score. The authors are assuming that the methods and motivations behind a successful baseball team should be transferred over to the work of the church.

Most churches do not have a reliable system for defining and measuring what success looks like at every level of the organization (p. 70).

The church should be more determined than any other kind of organization to “clarify the win” simply because the stakes are so much higher: Eternity hangs in the balance (p. 71).

I wonder who are “most churches” that the authors constantly reference? Personally, I find that most churches have been doing just fine in “clarifying the win.” True winning is not a mystery, nor is it hard to define in Biblical churches. Success is clearly defined by the objectives set forth in the Bible (see Matthew 28:19-20). If the Bible is taught from the pulpit, the people automatically assimilate God’s definition of winning. The New Testament constantly differentiates between worldly success and Biblical success. It is embarrassing to read the authors’ fascination with such an elementary point—“clarify the win.” The authors have not uncovered a remarkable truth that the church has overlooked.

One of the things I have noticed in the business world is that business consultants often make a big deal out of the obvious. They are masters at phrasing the most infantile thoughts in a clever way so that the audience thinks they are learning something new. The next day, after the emotion of the business seminar dies down, on most occasions your coworkers will all admit they learned absolutely nothing. We used to have a sarcastic slogan for such occasions: “that was an amazing grasp of the obvious.”

In part one of 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, the owner of the professional baseball team amazes the naïve pastor with the statement “clarify the win,” and “your problem is you don’t know what a win is at church, do you?” (p. 32).

I am skeptical of this depiction of pastors. I have rubbed shoulders with hundreds of pastors, and I don’t know of any who haven’t figured out “clarify the win.” But the authors say about their church meetings, “we spend agonizing hours clarifying the win in numerous areas, at times debating seemingly insignificant issues. Looking back, we are convinced that many of those decisions were strategic in keeping our staff and leaders aligned in the months and years that followed” (p. 75). I wonder what kind of “win” they are “spending hours to clarify”? The Church’s marching orders found in the Great Commission are quite simple and straightforward.

The authors point out some wrong criteria for judging winning and then go on to list some of the ways North Point defines winning.

“Too many church leaders have bought into the myth that to clarify the win means establishing attendance goals and raising a lot of money” (p. 71).

“At North Point . . . a different set of questions come to mind when we talk about what it means to win. For example, do attendees feel comfortable inviting their unchurched friends? Are members recognizing the need to give a percentage of their income? How many individuals are successfully connecting to small groups? Do our people understand how to apply the scriptural truth we’re teaching in their daily lives?” (p 71).

Is the way North Point “clarifies the win” any more spiritual or Biblical than those churches which have bought into the myth?

The authors, at this point, should teach believers what the Bible teaches about winning. I am reminded of Paul’s “clarifying the win” in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. The Thessalonians became imitators of us [the apostles] and the Lord, received the word in much tribulation, became examples to all the believers, sounded for the word of the Lord, turned to God from idols.

There is no substitute for a Biblical definition of winning. But in this chapter you will find only one side-note reference to Scripture: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (p 76). The absence of Scripture in this chapter is a sign that something is amiss.

Problems occur when the volunteers try to score runs in foggy conditions. Without clear direction, they are forced to chart their own course or follow whoever seems to have the best plan at the moment (p. 72).

Countless individuals quit working in churches every year because they simply do not feel like they are winning (p. 73)

Given the lack of Scriptural content behind the author’s appeal to “clarifying the win,” one wonders if the authors themselves are forced to chart their own course or follow whoever seems to have the best [pragmatic] plan at the moment.

A win happens when a student has meaningful interaction and discusses life-changing principles within the context of small groups (p. 78).

The win for the host happens when students choose to get connected in a group (p. 78).

The win of worship happens when students participate and their hearts become open to truth (p. 78).

The purpose for everything we do as a church is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ (p. 82).

Again, the deficiency is that without Biblical texts there is a fuzzy definition of winning. “Meaningful interaction” and “discussing life-changing principles“ happens at Alcoholics Anonymous, but that is not a Biblical win.

Since both of these points are not Biblically defined with Scripture, these principles are open to any interpretation. The “health, wealth and happiness” televangelists of our day could heartily agree with “clarify the win.” But they have a wrong definition of winning.

Nowhere does the Scripture use language that is similar to “clarify the win.” It is a clever slogan, but it neglects key Biblical teachings on the priorities of the church and the way Christians are to be encouraged.

I would even argue that “clarify the win” is not the real issue. People automatically have goals and objectives; people automatically define what they want to win. In failing to fully reference the Scriptures, I believe they tacitly endorse worldly marketing and self-promotion because most people have a worldly definition of a “winning church.”

The church is not about “winning” as most people define it. Jesus spoke often about losing in this world.

Luke 9:23-24
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

John 16:2
They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

2 Corinthians 4:10
Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

1 Corinthians 4:13
When we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul addressed the Corinthians’ misunderstanding of a “winning church.” Paul writes, You have become kings. Paul then explains how the true church is in persecution and how the true church will never be popular with the world (1 Corinthians 4:8-13). Calling the Corinthians “kings” is most likely a reference to their defining Christian success as money, influence, popularity, and numbers.

In the days of Moses, what people perceived as the most winning church was at the golden calf. Aaron had the best commitment from the people, the best offering, the most exciting worship service. The Evangelicals of our day must be careful how they are “clarifying the win.” Paul’s emphasis is that if you are winning for Christ then you will be the scum of the world. The world wants a winning church to look like a winning baseball team, but the church will never look like a winning team to the world.

In baseball, you attract paying fans by winning; in Christianity, you make disciples by losing to the world.

In baseball, winning is everything to gain the attention of the crowds; in Christianity, the message is about taking up your cross daily and following Jesus.

In baseball, you make it easy and comfortable for people to come; in Christianity true seekers are invited to bear the reproach of Christ (Hebrews 13:13).

Let me answer a possible objection: Someone might say that the authors are not saying that the church is to win according to man’s standards, but according to God’s standards. But my concern is that the authors did not truly establish what it means to win for God. The emphasis of the New Testament is the suffering the Church must endure when it follows God’s standards of winning. In that these authors are into managerial techniques, they missed the proper and complete biblical teaching on “clarify the win.”

Here is the difference between a Biblical Christian book and a Christianized business management book: A Biblical book would develop from Scripture what Jesus and the apostles taught about defining success. A Biblical book may have even used the slogan “clarify the win,” but it would have been a sub-point of a sub-point.

The second point made in this chapter is that an effective ministry should continually share with the church the “wins.”

Every one of us has a God-given itch to belong to something that is bigger than ourselves (p. 73.)

There is a lot to be said for the energetic atmosphere that happens when an organization wins consistently (p. 76).

Strive to say the same thing over and over in different ways . . . people need to see it and hear it constantly (p. 82).

Leaders like to win, and they will attract others who want to join a winning team (p. 84).

Winning motivates a team. As long as they’re winning, people will give you their time, their money, and their hearts. And when you are winning consistently, the staff and volunteers in your organization tend to work harder, be less negative, trust the leadership, give more generously, stay involved (p. 77).

I have seen practically what this means. Ministers who follow this technique are always talking about their results and about the “exciting” things that are happening in the organization. The congregation is urged to be a part of it. I have read this technique in the books written about building non-profit organizations. The marketing manager of the organization must constantly remind the donors that they are making a difference in the world. Favorite phrases are “people always want to be involved in something bigger than themselves,” “people want to feel important,” “people want their lives to be worthwhile,” and “big attracts big, so look big and exciting.”

Another technique is to get your donors to become “stockholders” in the organization. If people invest their money, or spill their blood in the organization, they will be loyal. And to keep the customer, you have to keep growing, innovating, and sharing testimonials of success. The world builds customers by motivating the natural desires in man. And it works! An earthly organization will be built.

On the other hand, the true church is called to motivate people on the spiritual plane, even if it means losing members to the cool church down the road which appeals to the inclinations of natural men. The true church consists of people miraculously transformed by the Spirit of God. Their motivations are different than self-serving natural motives.

I have become familiar with the practices of an impressive Biblical church. The attendance is over 1000, but it is small compared to the popular churches in the area. This church thrives spiritually even though there is no continual hype about the church’s wins. Testimonies are common, but are offered for encouragement, not as a technique to keep people excited. The Christians in this church are not motivated to come because it is about them making a difference or about meeting their ego needs or about being involved in something bigger than themselves. They come to worship God, to fellowship, and to learn the Word of God. While worldly churches emphasize self-promotion, it is so much more refreshing to attend a church where the people are motivated by those things the world does not understand.

I don’t believe I am misunderstanding this first chapter. I know these people. I have rubbed shoulders with many Christian leaders who think in terms of human enticements and motivations. This is the way they speak and write. They would deny it, but the work of God is a business for them. They do not clearly distinguish between the motives of the flesh and the motives of the Spirit. The weapons of their warfare are fleshly, not divinely empowered (2 Corinthians 10:4). Men saturated with the Word of God would never write 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. This book is the creation of men who are disciples of secular management textbooks.

Before you start anything, make sure it takes you where you need to go (p. 87).

Unfortunately, churches have a reputation for doing ministry without an end in mind; they create more programs to meet the growing needs of those who are attending. It all makes sense. It all seems right. It even feels productive. But there is no over all strategy and no runners are moving toward home (p. 88.)

Some of the same deficiencies of the first principle, “Clarify the win,” also apply to this second principle: “think steps, not programs.”

My first concern is that “think steps, not programs” is not emphasized in the Bible as a second practice of effective ministry. It certainly is not listed in any of the apostle Paul’s lists of crucial principles for church growth.

My second concern is that “think steps, not programs” is an obvious principle that most people naturally understand. Again, this is the typical managerial consultant practice of making the insignificant sound important. If there are churches that are overwhelmed with useless programs, I suspect that the real problem lies much deeper than failing to “think steps, not programs.” In such churches, there are serious theological errors in their understanding of the mission of the church. “Think steps” is obvious; the real problem is in failing to know the Biblical steps.

The author gets the attention of the reader by addressing the real problem of churches being burdened down with programs. The church becomes the local YMCA trying to meet all of the social needs of the congregation. However, the error is not failing to “think steps.” The error is that the church is trying to fulfill the responsibilities that have been given to the family, the state, the individual. Whenever one of God’s institutions oversteps its bounds into the responsibilities of another institution, it is a recipe for disaster (see 1 Timothy 5:16). However, the authors’ key solution is “when you ‘think programs’ your inclination tends to be to create something in order to meet specific needs that have surfaced in your attendee base or target group” (p 89). I heartily disagree; when you think “Biblical roles and content,” you create something needful.

Additionally, I am glad that the apostles and the preachers of old never referred to the saints as the “attendee base” or “target group.” Pastors who embrace managerial textbooks will soon think and talk in terms of the people being customers. Words matter!

Third, the focus of Scripture is on the content of “the steps.” Therefore, the best help for Christian leaders is in teaching them the actual practices of an effective ministry, such as, the teachings of Paul in Colossians.

Colossians 1:28-29
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

. . . that for a step to be effective it had to be easy, obvious, and strategic (p. 94).

However, we all know that a church can engage in worldly practices that meet the standard of being “easy, obvious and strategic.” The right thing to do is rarely easy or obvious in a fallen world. Again this illustrates the fact that “think steps, not programs” gives no direction. Like the presidential slogan “Hope and Change,” it sounds good, but “hope” is not a plan and “change” is not a direction. It is no small thing for the authors to leave off the specifics about how a step should be Biblical.

Fourth, “Think steps, not programs” is not universally true. God’s word is timeless and perfect. However, human ideas are subject to change and refutation. The authors list the advantages of thinking “steps, not programs,” but a social scientist could make a good case for the opposite—“think programs, not steps”--because it is sometimes helpful to see the big picture over the individual steps.

I have found that the science of organizational behavior very often contradicts itself. One author will say decentralizing is the answer; the next author will say centralization is the answer. One will say small teams; another will say large teams. Since business management principles have no foundation in real truth, for every business principle someone can claim the opposite. For every principle one has to say, “but on the other hand . . .” Biblical truths, couched in Holy Spirit-inspired words, are not so fickle. It is no wonder that the people were amazed at the teachings of Jesus, for He spoke with authority, not like the scribes (Matthew 7:29)

Fifth, like all extra-biblical principles, “think steps, not programs” runs the risk of violating the hierarchy of Biblical mandates.

On the other hand, when you think steps, not programs, you will also discover ways to help people grow in their relationships. Every ministry environment you create should help build bridges relationally . . . After countless hours of debate among our leadership team we have concluded that discipleship happens most naturally in the context of meaningful relationships. And we have learned that meaningful relationships are most likely to develop through the dynamic of an active small group . . . and once we knew the answer to that question, we began to spend time creating strategies to lead people there. The small group became our home plate. . . so we determined not to start any new ministry or environment until we could determine how it would lead people to experience group life (p. 91).

It is true that God ordained the context of discipleship to happen in a group called the “church.” God ordains Koinonia (fellowship). Yet we must be careful not to make the goal of ministry “meaningful relationships,” nor make the cause of discipleship “meaningful relationships.”

Don’t confuse the result of discipleship with the means of discipleship. The primary means of discipleship is the teaching of the Word. We grow by the pure milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2). Nowhere does the Bible specifically point out that discipleship needs to happen in the context of meaningful relationships. Mostly likely, the Bible doesn’t read this way because the primary means of discipleship is not meaningful relationships. One method of secular psychology teaches that healing comes by developing human relationships. Group counseling is, therefore, considered superior to individual counseling. We must be careful not to impose current psychology upon the Scriptures.

It is not a universal Biblical law that every ministry environment you create should help build bridges relationally (p. 91). I have been to plenty of conferences that seek to emphasize the opposite, “Teach your people to get alone with God,” or “Church is not about your friends, but about worshipping God.”

This may seem like a insignificant criticism, but understand “build bridges relationally” in the context of liberal, church growth theology. Not having the power of the Gospel, the growth technique used by liberal churches is to build the local church through “a sense of community.” Since people come to church to find “meaningful relationships,” “friends,” or “a significant other” churches are urged to build upon this desire for companionship.

It would be natural for a group of church leaders, after countless hours of debate, (p. 91) to conclude that people best get connected to the church when they develop relationships within the church. This is what they see happening, and this is what works pragmatically. However, at certain times, the Bible would have us deemphasize this draw so that people are not attracted to the church for self-serving reasons. People ultimately need to come to worship Jesus Christ (see John 6:26).

As a pastor I have seen the impact of people connecting. When newcomers find friends in the church, or find people of their own age or profession, they stick around. It would be very easy to play up to this phenomenon, but I make a concerted effort not to make this the emphasis since the New Testament letters do not emphasize “meaningful relationships” as the key ingredient to church growth. It may be the by-product or fringe benefit, but not a main objective.

Whenever we make statements about how the church is to grow, we had better make sure our emphasis is the apostolic emphasis. It is not that these authors are totally wrong in their desire to build “meaningful relationships;” but in that no Scriptural parameters are explained, these authors sure sound like those liberal denominationalists who seek to build churches through human relationships. The power of human relationships can easily be mistaken for making disciples.

This chapter repeats some of the same points of the previous chapter, that is, churches doing too many things that are not part of the mission and Christians not focusing on their primary gifts.

Think about it. Does it make sense for ace relief pitcher John Smoltz to spend more time working on his hitting? His batting average is probably the area where he has the greatest potential for improvement. The problem is that hitting a baseball is not the area where he has the greatest potential to make an impact. . . If you really want to make a lasting impact, then you need to eliminate what you do well, for the sake of what you can potentially do best (p. 100).

As with the other principles, principle three is nothing new. Many Christian books discuss the use of Christian gifts. Ideas drawn from baseball are interesting, but direct teaching on this issue from the Bible is more complete, more balanced, and more informative on this subject.

1 Peter 4:10-11
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Some churches have bought into a ministry menu philosophy. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of experts in church growth heralded the concept of creating churches to be “one stop shops.” Every program was promoted as a potential entry point to reach the unchurched. . . so everyone could find something that interested them at their local church (p. 102).

I remember this fad. The “experts” then used as the basis for their teaching the practices of professional baseball, Wal Mart, Barnes & Noble, etc. Those church growth experts from the ‘80s claimed to be just as Biblical as the authors of 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. How do we know whether or not the 7 Practices are any more true than the old ministry menu philosophy? Rather than the fad being to maximize your programs, now the fad is to minimize your programs.

The authors’ criticism of the old ministry menu philosophy reminds us again of the importance of teaching “principles of effective ministry” directly from the Word of God. If a pastor follows the specific teachings of Scripture, he will discern the right balance between programs which belong in the church and those programs which belong outside the church (see Acts 6).

Under a heading entitled “Simplify, simplify” (p 105), I find it humorous that the authors then write, “So we require extensive documentation and layers of meetings before a new program can be started (p. 105).

I extend my sympathy to the Christian workers at North Point. My experience is that Christians who know the Word of God can very easily discern which programs belong in the church.

The business jargon in this chapter is over-the-top. The language becomes worldly and self-serving. This may be the result of having one’s daily devotions from popular business management textbooks.

Do your specific environments exist to promote your church? Or does your church exist to create specific environments? The answer is critical. Narrowing your focus means “creating environments as distinctive brands.” You must decide which image you want to become primary in the minds of the target audience you are trying to reach. You have to identify for them what you are selling. Are you trying to get people to buy into your church? Or are you trying to get them to buy into an environment that is relevant? Which one do you think is an easier sell? This principle is understood in the marketing world. People are not looking for a General Motors car to purchase . . . they are looking for something that is relevant to their lifestyle (pp. 108-109).

One of the greatest challenges facing the church today is the need to change its image. . . (p 108)

What you can do, however, is change the image of your church by creating environments that are attractive and helpful for someone’s season of life. When your priority is creating environments instead of marketing your church, you will make a greater impact (p. 109).

Notice the words brands, selling, image, relevant. Certain business terms do not belong in the work of the Lord. In 2 Corinthians 2:17, Paul rebukes those who “peddle” or “merchandize” the Word of God. Describing ministry in these trendy business terms can subtly cause believers to veer away from Biblical methods and motives.

Contemporary church growth experts attribute a lack of spiritual interest in America to the poor image put forth by the church. The trend is to change the image of the church to attract the unsaved. It is true that nonsense in the church turns people off, but the Biblical emphasis is that the lack of spiritual interest is due to the unsaved hating righteousness. A church’s goal is not to make environments that are “attractive and helpful,” but to make environments that teach truth and righteousness. Those who are of the truth will then come to the truth. The church in Acts didn’t create attractive environments. When Ananaias and Sapphira were disciplined, “none of the rest dared to associate with them [the church]” (Acts 5:13).

A common technique in business is to label your products with catchy titles. The authors of 7 practices suggest the following:

Attach one word or a short phase to every environment to “brand” its distinctiveness in the minds of your leaders. Here are a few of our environments and how we have narrowed the focus (p. 110).

There is nothing terribly wrong with catchy titles, but I wouldn’t write about it as a technique for other churches to follow. There is always a downside to such titles. Some of the people you are trying to reach will think faddish titles are cool. However, just as many people will consider them silly and consider you immature for using them. Trendy titles have the shelf life of the word “groovy.” One of the problems with chic titles is that you fail to become all things to all men. I prefer to play it safe by using Biblical titles for ministries.

The fad in secular business is to create cool titles for products. The church growth people have been quick to apply this to the work of God. In my area, churches have popped up with titles such as “The Liquid Church,” “The Relevant Church,” “The Rock Church,” “The 3:16 Church.” I find that these titles rarely attract the unsaved. It is a technique tried by untaught Christian leaders who do not know the things that make for true regeneration. Undoubtedly, such “cool” titles may grow a congregation by stealing naïve sheep from other congregations. There are always immature Christians who are “tossed here and there” by fads, by the “trickery of men,” by “craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14). These baby Christians are always looking for the next best thing. They hope that in these trendy titles they will find the power and relevance they lack. I believe that the root of the error is people trying to get their needs met in something besides the sufficiency of Christ.

This chapter title is not appealing, especially in our day when pulpits are teaching so little. The authors anticipate this reaction and explain that “this doesn’t necessarily mean that you say few words , but rather, that you narrow the scope of what you teach to cover less information” (p 122). The authors probably use this title for its shock value. If the authors make a good Biblical point, we can cut the authors some slack on this chapter title.

Developing sermons that are specific and focused is a basic lesson that every pastor learns in pulpit speech. I would not agree with the authors that “traditional preaching tries to squeeze as much information as possible into every message” (p 130).

I don’t see covering too much material as being a major problem in “traditional preaching,” nor do I find that teaching “less for more” is a significant key to effective ministry. My experience is that believers are bored with churches that spoon feed milk to the congregation, and unbelievers are bored with the fact that the minister takes so long to say so little.

Although “teach less for more” is an interesting consideration, the principle does not rise to the real emphasis of Scripture. The first duty of the minister is to build the body by teaching all the truth. The real problem today is a lack of the Word.

Acts 5:20
Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.

Acts 5:42
And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Acts 20:20
How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house.

Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Most people don’t learn just so they can know more; they learn when they need to know something. So communicators and teachers have a critical responsibility: They must make sure they know what people really need to learn. And in some situations, they need to spend time making sure people understand why they need to learn something. It’s the only way a teacher can expect any student to learn. Yet too many churches are teaching “baseball lingo” to people who really are not interested in the game. Or in some cases, they are trying to explain baseball history to someone who just wants to know how to get a hit and get on base (p 121).

It is true that pastors need to teach what people need to hear. Often people need what they do not think they need. How is the pastor to know what the people need? Early in my ministry, what I thought the people needed to learn was not in line with the emphasis of Scripture. Years later I had to admit that teaching through the Bible was the answer. I could not come up with a better curriculum than the truths revealed by preaching through the Bible. Determining what less I should preach, or what more I should preach, had to be determined by the texts of Scripture.

There is angst among church leaders as to whether to simplify the message for the unchurched or to mature the message for the believers. I believe the answer is provided for us in the Bible. Preach the Bible at the level at which it was written. This will mean that you are not always preaching at the seventh grade level. People are more intelligent than we think. People actually like hearing a few things they don’t understand. They want to have more to grow into.

When I attend conferences, the speakers usually cover so much material that I leave with only a vague, general, feeling of conviction--I’m never really sure what I should specifically do. The fact is, I have accumulated a lot of knowledge in my life, very little of which is actually helpful on a practical level.

Every day each of us is bombarded with countless suggestions, opinions and ideas. Hundreds of self-help books are published every year, offering similar advice on how to deal with the same problems. There are multiple steps to every goal and endless lists of things that we need to learn how to do better. Our lists have sub-lists. We may even find ourselves paralyzed to inaction because we don’t know where to start (p. 119).

I can’t help applying these words to the authors’ own book. Is not 7 Practices of Effective Ministry just another “list” of “opinions and ideas.” The authors’ complaint about the “hundreds of self-help books” is all the more reason why we need to teach from the Word of God. The ideas of men are unbalanced, deficient, and easily forgotten. We only truly learn the practices of effective ministry by reading the direct teachings of the New Testament. This is why the great Christian writers of the past used Biblical exposition to teach Christian leaders how to minister effectively. Today’s Christian writers turn to the principles of business and sports.

Obviously, the minister needs to listen to the needs of others. Even Paul responded to the needs of the Macedonians--Come over and help us (Acts 16:9). The apostles responded to the complaints of the Hellenistic Jews (Acts 6:1). Paul’s letters are a response to the different spiritual needs in the churches. But as a principle, “Listening to Outsiders” has to be second to listening to God’s Word.

The New Testament emphasis is that the minister is to avoid heeding the wants and needs of men. What men need is not what men say they need, but what the Scriptures say they need.

Galatians 1:10
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

Luke 6:26
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.

John 3:19
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

1 Thessalonians 2:4
But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.

2 Corinthians 5:9
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

In the baseball story at the beginning of the book, the owner of the professional team counsels the pastor,

Most people who run any organization think they know what’s best for it, and a lot of the time they do. But if you aren’t willing to listen to outsiders, you may miss a great idea or the opportunity to gain market share (p 50).

In baseball, the object is to do that which will please the audience. The professional baseball team doesn’t establish the culture of a nation--it responds to the culture of a nation. If a certain food or style music is desired, you give the people what they want. God’s Kingdom and, hence, His church operate on a different principle. The church doesn’t follow the culture; the church sets the standard for the culture. In the church, the audience to please is God, not the outsiders. It is all about worship and obedience to Jesus Christ. Evangelical churches that put the emphasis on appealing to the secular audience have missed the Biblical message.

Business management consultants tell corporations to listen to their customers and provide products they want. The slogan is to be “customer driven.” There are companies that make products that nobody wants, and such companies are the object of ridicule in every business case study textbook. On the other hand, there are some companies that make products nobody wants that become extremely successful. Nobody thought there would be a market for a personal computer. The key is not to focus on the customers’ perceived desires, but to focus on what you believe the customers really need, whether they realize it or not. If you always listen to your customers, you will rarely innovate; you will be a follower, not a leader. The difference between a good business and a great business is that a great business is out in front of the customers needs and desires.

Listening to your customers doesn’t always work in business and certainly doesn’t work in the Gospel “business.” Christians that will be rewarded in eternity are not those that followed the culture, but those who were counter culture--those that changed lives into the image of Jesus Christ.

Some of us have been in church for so long, we’ve forgotten what it’s like to never attend. We have believed what we believe for so long, we don’t know how an unbeliever thinks anymore. And when the average person shows up at a church for the first time, too often he or she feels like the customer who walks onto a new car lot. In many cases the person leaves feeling suspicious, pressured and even manipulated. (p. 142).

We would all agree that there are some churches that leave visitors “feeling suspicious, pressured and even manipulated.” But those negative feelings are either the result of the visitors’ hatred for God or the churches’ unbiblical practices. In fact, the churches that practice seeker-friendly marketing techniques are the churches that come across as being manipulative and fake.

The authors are correct in saying, “Each generation is more skeptical and less likely to attend” (p 143); but that is not because the church has failed to meet the interests of outsiders; it is because the church has put the interests of outsiders over the interests of God. The power of the church has always been in bringing a message and culture that is different from the world.

The authors follow that frustrating and futile practice promoted by the church growth movement, that is, trying to constantly keep up with the trends in the world to reach the world.

We need to study the experts in our culture that have proven most effective at reaching that group. For example our children’s ministries keep an eye on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, the Cartoon Network, etc. Our student ministry will learn from MTV and the WB network when it comes to identifying student issues. Recently, when Andy worked on his series for men and women in business, we brought in numerous back issues of Fast Company magazine and covered a creative board with articles that addressed issues the business community was currently facing (p. 151).

Keeping abreast of the culture is part of a minister’s job. But the contemporary church has gone too far in this. They have become slaves to the culture. They are constantly trying to identify with, and adapt to, the interests of the baby boom generation, generation X, generation Y, etc. People are not all that different. Furthermore, copying the practices of the world leads to error because the practices of the world are based on a flawed view of man. What MTV says is the main issue of the day is usually not what God says is the main issue of the day. A Christian will be a leader by sticking with the topics and issues addressed in the Bible. He will stay on track while the world revels in the inane and the insignificant.

John the Baptist preached in the wilderness and people came from miles around. What true seekers want is a man of God, preaching the Word of God. In my experience with unbelievers, they are not so concerned with all the external things church growth experts say they are concerned with. This may be different in America’s Bible Belt where there is a predominance of cultural Christianity. In the Bible Belt the churches are competing for “customers.” Many of these “customers” are looking for the church that has the best music, best activities, best seating, best facilities, best persuasive words of wisdom. In non-bible belt areas, the unchurched do not come with the same expectations. If a minister is called to the Bible Belt, it is more important than ever for him to make the attraction the Word of God.

In this chapter the authors point out the weakness of “lifestyle evangelism.” This critique on their part is another example of why we should follow the texts of Scripture rather than slogans taken from Scripture.

The “invest and invite” strategy has radically changed our approach to evangelism. Many of us grew up in churches that taught evangelism classes, gave altar calls, handed out tracts, and sent members to knock on the doors of strangers. However, none of these approaches effectively mobilized the majority of members to become personally involved in reaching the unchurched. To the average believer, most of these techniques seemed too confrontational or awkward. And so the responsibility for evangelism was usually assumed by a handful of trained “experts.”

Later, many churches shifted toward a more natural approach, giving rise to a movement know as “lifestyle evangelism,” or “relational evangelism.” The idea was that everyone should reprioritize their friendships to make sure they were investing in someone who needed Christ. . .

There is only one problem, this approach can come up short for a number of reasons. For example, every believer speaks from a different level of spiritual maturity. What do you do when you have taken a friend as far as you can? Where does your friend go then? How do you explain issues you may not feel equipped to explain? That’s why we say, “invest and invite.” The invite allows the believer to bring a friend into an environment where such issues can be addressed . . .” (pp 146-147)

If the old method of evangelism was flawed and lifestyle evangelism was flawed, then maybe “invest and invite” is also flawed. The truth is that the Bible teaches believers to use a balanced variety of approaches: mass evangelism (Acts 2:14); lifestyle evangelism (Philippians 1:12-13); personal one-on-one evangelism (Acts 8:29). When all Scriptures are taught, rather than a fad, believers are fully equipped to do evangelism.

The practice of teaching others to take your place is well understood from Scripture. Again it is disappointing that the authors make plenty of references to baseball but leave off authoritative teachings of Paul on this subject.

2 Timothy 2:2
The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

We’ve discovered that organizations also have “leadership walls” that prevent others from achieving their potential (p. 160).

Every leader needs to take an honest, objective look at anything that may create a barrier to growth of the church’s staff and volunteers (p. 160).

The pastor insists on being the only speaker; administrators are easily frustrated by suggestions; progress is slow because only a few people are allowed to make decisions (p. 161).

By making himself indispensable to the organization, he in fact does the organization a disservice. Job security is too often based on someone’s insecurity (p. 162).

We would ask everyone to write down the names of two or three friends who could do what they do. Then we would challenge them to recruit at least one (p. 164).

From the teaching of 2 Timothy 2, the pastor learns of the need to train others to carry on the ministry. The calling involves much more than simply replacing oneself. The replacement must meet Biblical qualifications (1 Timothy 3); and the replacement must be called of God (Galatians 1:15-16). The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few (Luke 10:2).

There are so many things to consider in mentoring others, and so much is outside the pastor’s control. All the good intentions of replacing yourself are futile if God doesn’t call men to ministry and give them the grace to meet the qualifications. The only way to have a balanced focus on training workers is for the minister to be thoroughly saturated with all of the texts in Scripture dealing with Christian ministry.

The authors give an example of how they are implementing the principle of “Replace yourself.”

After five years of growth had maxed out our present facilities, we had to do something, and it soon became evident that God’s plan for North Point involved a multi-campus strategy where we would establish similar models of ministry in strategic locations. Through the leadership of David McDaniel, our director of campus expansion, these campuses would provide relief from overcrowding and offer to each new location a relevant church model.

From the beginning our leadership team has promoted a franchise mindset that insists we intentionally replace ourselves . .. As God blesses your ministry, you may have to duplicate yourself as often as you replace yourself (pp. 165-166).

I cannot fail to see the irony here. After lecturing on the importance of making yourself expendable, of letting go, of not being insecure, of not letting the pastor be the only speaker, the authors tell us they have adopted a denominational/campus model for their church. Rather than starting new churches that created their own model, leadership and vision, North Point has started campus churches. The messages at these campus churches are often live feeds of Andy Stanley.

When doctrine was the main concern, churches used to denominate over doctrinal positions; now that the main concern is style and personalities, churches are denominating over styles and personalities. The Biblical model is for local churches to stand alone under the headship of Jesus Christ. God calls individual pastors with their own personality and style; but leaders that operate churches like human organizations do not want to relinquish control, and it is all about control and size.

1. Break It Down – (Have a clear understanding of what you want to hand off)

For example, Andy is a gifted communicator, and there is just something about the way he prepares, studies, creates, outlines, and speaks that is hard for him to explain. So how does Andy transfer to someone else what he knows how to do intuitively? How can he use his knowledge to train other communicators to become more effective? To help, we actually have spent time studying what Andy does and scripting his moves (p. 167).

When replacing yourself, you are giving something away that you have owned (p. 167).

Here is another example of the “7 practices” being nothing more than human ideas. How do we know it is right to spend time studying what Andy does and scripting his moves? I believe the emphasis in Scripture is to avoid scripting others. God wants each minister to use his own style and personality (See 1 Corinthians 3:7-10, 21-23; 2 Corinthians 10:12-13). God says, “I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.” (Jeremiah 23:30).

Ministers copying other ministers is a serious problem in the church today. Bible students who attend the schools of well- known Christian speakers tend to sound like those speakers. If you listen to a message by a young minister, you can quickly determine whether he sat under John MacArthur, David Jeremiah, Chuck Swindol, R.C. Sproul, etc. I have even seen preachers trying to use the same hand gestures as Billy Graham. The church wants ministers of the Gospel to hear from God and communicate the message through their own style. One size does not fit all.

Self-evaluation is not a new concept. The book of Genesis records that God set aside a time for evaluating His own work (p. 173).

The point is, no matter how good the system, a consistent time of evaluation can produce tremendous benefits. We call this creating margin. Andy has challenged us, as a staff as well as personally, to create margin in our lives. Margin does not happen accidentally, and it doesn’t happen automatically. Margin has to be pursued (p. 174).

As in the previous chapters, the weakness of this chapter is in emphasizing the method of evaluation over the content of evaluation. A chapter about the need to evaluate is empty without laying out the Biblical standard by which God says we should evaluate. Here is what God says about evaluating:

1 Corinthians 4:4
For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:28
But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

2 Corinthians 13:5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

1 Thessalonians 2:4
But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.

1 Thessalonians 5:21
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.

The emphasis of Scripture is that the standard of examination is not others, nor our culture, not even ourselves. The standard is God’s Word. Any book written to Christian leaders about self-evaluation must include this basic point. The authors ignore this point and important Biblical texts.

The lack of Biblical integrity is seen in the authors’ praise of the decision to cancel services on the Sunday following Christmas. I am not a stickler on times of services and traditions. There are times when services should be canceled for the benefit of the people. As we say at my church, “sometimes you have to get the ox out of the ditch.” But notice the reasons North Point gives for canceling their services:

Another example of calendaring margin is the unheard-of decision by our elders to cancel services on the Sunday following Christmas. On that Sunday we simply shut down. We do this for two reasons: first, as a thank-you to the thousands of volunteers it takes to run a Sunday morning here; and second, to protect the quality of our product. So many of our volunteers travel on that weekend that we find it difficult to maintain the level of excellence to which we are accustomed. But by scheduling this closure and announcing it to everyone, we were able to take a potentially negative situation and turn it into a positive one (p. 177).

This is such an embarrassment to Christian ministry that I pray that these authors mature and realize how silly they were in their early years. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ. The world has turned Christmas into their own day--dinners, travel, gifts and sports. There is no room in the inn for Jesus. As usual, business leaves Jesus out. Although believers may get caught up in the world’s version of Christmas, pastors must teach Christians to live counter-culture to the world. When the world is too busy for Christ, that is the exact time believers need to testify to their priorities.

What is the “product” that North Point is trying to “protect”? Can’t believers come for a simple time of prayer, song, Scripture reading, and teaching? What is “the level of excellence”? Is worship about us or is it about Christ? We should worship Christ in our weakness. I fear these ministers have gotten so caught up in their church model that they have forgotten the suffering Savior.

In reviewing this book, a good friend of mine reminded me that the problem with many ministries is that they do not focus on the doctrines of Scripture. A good dose of the doctrines of God, Christ, sin, man, etc., will cure whatever ails the church body. This is why the Bible reads as a doctrines book, not as a self-help psychology book or a business management book. If believers know the doctrine, they will automatically discern the practical applications; but if believers only know some practical applications, they will not only fail to know the doctrine, but they will make serious errors in practical application. If a believer knows the doctrine, he can write the practical “how to” books; in fact, he rarely needs the practical “how to” books.

The story is often told of the elderly saint who had been reading his Bible for years. A friend gave him a commentary on the Bible, thinking that the commentary would provide great insights. After some time the friend asked the elderly saint what he thought of the commentary, to which the saint replied, “The Bible sure does shed some light on this commentary.” The moral of the story is the difference between preaching the Bible and preaching about the Bible. There is no substitute for the power and completeness of God’s Word.

If you want an “effective ministry,” preach the Word. The best churches, as judged by God, are those that amaze the congregation with the awesome truths found in the Scriptures. I have made this the goal of my ministry. Let me elaborate on this for the benefit of seminarians or new pastors.

Like many places in the world, I minister in a Gospel-dry area outside America’s Bible Belt. There are few, if any, second-, third-,or fourth-generation Christians looking for a church to attend. Going to church is not part of the culture. I hear that in the Bible Belt churches have visitors every week. In such areas it is very easy to start, or grow, a congregation by using the right techniques. Not so in the New York City area. I would love to see these church growth experts try to build a church in New York City, or in Saudi Arabia for that matter. Pastors often have great success building churches in areas that have already been seeded with the Word of God by the faithful preachers of the past. Once successful, they write books or give seminars about how it is done. Usually, those things they assume are the cause of church growth are not the cause.

Like other small ministries, my church doesn’t have the money, the facilities, or the talent to put on a Gospel performance. We are not able to impress anyone in the world with what we have. Yet our seeming liability is actually our strength. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). And it is better for us to glory in our weakness so that the power of Christ may rest on us (2 Corinthians 12:9). I actually tell people that we don’t have all of the bells and whistles of the mega churches. The only thing we have is Christ and His Word. If you want that, you can find it here. If people are saved and sanctified in my ministry, it is only by Christ and His Word. No one is tempted to rest his faith in the wisdom of men (1 Corinthians 2:4). I would rather be weak, for in weakness we bring glory to Christ and follow the apostolic example.

1 Corinthians 4:10-11
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless.

The plan God has given me for effective ministry is to double up on the preaching of the Word. I work on the one thing we do have--the Word of God. My goal is for the people to hear from God. This is what attracts those whom the Lord has led, and is leading, to salvation. The saints don’t come for the minister’s technique, style, personality, ideas or persuasive words of man’s wisdom. Nor do you want them to come for that reason.

Mega churches may have the numbers and the facilities, but they can’t come up with a message that is any better than the man of God in the wilderness. Deep down the leaders of the mega churches fear because they know they have nothing better to offer. With all their resources and all their church growth models, their congregations can disappear overnight. If there is a man called of God, preaching the Word of God in a tent or on a tree stump, the people will go out to hear him.

John the baptizer came preaching in the wilderness, and all the people came out to him (Matthew 3:5). The Pharisees and Sadducees in the religious business became jealous. John has something they did not have, the Word of God. So while contemporary evangelicalism is dumbing down the message in an attempt to reach the masses, you, oh man of God, preach the Word of God in all of its fullness.

Whatever the popular church growth experts tell you to do, do the opposite. Generally speaking, strive for the following Biblical emphasis:

1. Rather than “Clarify the win,” glory and boast in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)

2. Rather than “Think Steps, Not programs,” do neither. “It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them” (Ecclesiastes 7:18).

3. Rather than “Narrow the Focus,” make your focus doing more Biblical practices. Do not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

4. Rather than “Teach Less for More,” teach more for more (Romans 15:19; Matthew 28:19-20).

5. Rather than “Listen to Outsiders,” stop listening to people and listen to God. “He who is of God hears the words of God” (John 8:47).

6. Rather than simply “Replace Yourself,” teach faithful men who will be able to teach others. (2 Timothy 2:2).

7. Rather than “Work On It--Taking time to evaluate your work and to celebrate your wins,” let the Lord examine your work (1 Corinthians 4:4).

People in the church are constantly coming up to me with suspicions about certain Christian speakers and books. “Pastor,” they say, “This speaker says ‘such and such;’ that doesn’t sound like what I read in my Bible.” Christians are asking questions about the latest fads in what can be called “Evangelical business-babble.” I trust that this critique will help Christians discern truth from error. I don’t claim infallibility, and I realize this critique probably contains a few errors itself. But where the Scriptures were quoted, you will find pure truth.

[1] C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York, Collier Books Macmillan Publishing Company) Chapter 25, p. 116.

[2] D.A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1984) p. 136.

[3] Warren Weirsbe, O is for Outline (Internet Article).

[4] Bob Burney, FIRST-PERSON: A shocking confession from Willow Creek Community Church leaders (Article in Baptist Press, Nov. 2007).

[5] Ibid.