It's a Process!

"6-week old baby runs Boston Marathon"
"2-yr old allowed driving test for license"
"Toddler surprise medal winner at national track event"

If you were to read these headlines two things would happen almost instantly. First, you would smile or laugh. Second you would assume they came from a National Enquirer or Star. Either way, you would immediately believe these statements to be false.

Why?

Everyone knows that people of that age cannot accomplish those feats! They very well could accomplish them later in life, but not right now. There is a process of development that must take place first. The very things you take for granted today are a result of a forgotten series of events. A baby must learn to roll over, which strengthens muscles. Next we will sit up and begin to pull up. Once we have strengthened our stomach and arm muscles our legs must gain strength and balance before walking can occur.

Once that starts, look out!

Though our spiritual life has many similarities, we often by-pass crucial stages of development for more exciting moments. As adults, especially, we try to shrink the process. Because of intellectual and physical acumen we believe ourselves to be past all that childish learning. However, without the basics we set ourselves up for misunderstanding, malnutrition, and disaster. There is a reason why Jesus said we should come with a child-like faith. He also said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven. Both statements speak to the issue of skipping stages having negative impact.

Most churches today are plateaued or declining for a number of reasons:

1. No outreach plan
2. Poor door-greeter mission/ministry
3. Too many lost people leading the church
4. Too many immature placed in mature roles

Now, some might take offense to the third and fourth statements. Bear with me. Over the past 30+ years of my relationship with God, I have noticed that we have shortened the gospel presentation down to "ABC: Admit, Believe, Commit". We call for decisions more than we do converts. We beg and plead for people to just ABC and never tell them the life-changing, transformative gospel message. Because of this we have churches full of members who made a decision but were never converted. These poor souls are attending, ushering, serving, teaching out of themselves and have no presence of the Spirit of God because of our irresponsibility with the Gospel.

The fourth statement is too often true. When a person makes a true confession and conversion, we fastpass them to the next level. We tell them to attend everything and something good will happen. There is no strategy to this line of thinking. There is no plan. Did Jesus come to Earth with the hope of something good happening? No. He came with a well-thought out plan and so it should be in our churches. If a church has a transformed life they often don't know what to do with him except tell him to keep showing up. The mandate is very clear. We are to make disciples.

Jesus took three years to make his disciples and they changed the planet. How long is your plan? Jesus took 12 people and shaped their behavior and thinking. Are you alone trying to change the whole church? I believe we need to review the plan of Jesus don't you? I believe we need to pattern our development after how Jesus did it, don't you?

Development is a process. Do you have one?