CONTENT

– From the Editor 

– Login Leadership - When People Leave

– Transforming YOUth - Youth “Shall Call His Name Immanuel”: Using Non-Examples to Teach Biblical Truth

– Book Review  –  Dealing with Conflict in Our Congregation

– Classified Ads

From the Editor,

Merry Christmas MIM subscribers. I know it's politically incorrect to use such a greeting these days but without the true meaning of Christmas, where would we be?  It's so hard to believe this is our last issue before the year 2005.  We've got some great articles this issue and even a fun trivia quiz you can take to test yourself on your Christmas knowledge.

What's New at Ministry in Motion? 

Just a reminder that MIM just added a speaker directory to the Ministry in Motion Website.  For a limited time, we are listing speakers for free. In our last issue we told our subscribers that if they are a Christian speaker and would like to be listed on the website for free for the time being they can visit the link below and complete the speaker profile form.  I'm going to extend that invitation to Christian entertainers as well.  So if music, drama, or anything else is your thing, you might want to complete the form. Feel free to share this free invitation with others.  Our object is to build up these pages so that we have a nice selection of Christian speakers that our subscribers can use for special events, retreats, banquets, and more. Eventually we will be charging for these listings so you won't want to miss this free opportunity to gain exposure. Visit our Speaker Directory 

To view this ezine in its html format click here

May your Christmas be merry and bright and may God's peace blanket you this holiday season.

Teena Stewart

Consultant/Editor for Ministry in Motion

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How Can I Show Love & Compassion to the Less Fortunate?

Individuals, small groups, youth groups, and churches often struggle with finding ways to reach out and help the less fortunate. Now you can show how much you care by making a difference in children’s lives around the world. Your donation or sponsorship through World Vision will provide a child and his or her community with things such as clean water, nutritious food, health care, educational opportunities…and hope.  Learn more Child Sponsorship

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How Well Do You Know Your Christmas Facts?

How well do you know your Christmas facts? You'll  probably be surprised to discover that many of the scriptural facts you think you know, are actually just Christmas traditions.  Test yourself by taking this fun quiz hosted by pastors.com http://www.pastors.com/article.asp?ArtID=3261

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Login Leadership - When People Leave

by Tom Hanover

It was one of those perfect Christmas eves.  The music was glorious.  The candle lighting service glowed with joy, and just as people were leaving the service, it began to snow – the perfect touch for this Midwestern community.  Pastor Smith stood at the door greeting people as they left and people found many ways to express the delight of the worship moments.

One family lingered a little longer than usual and on their way out, the father said, “Pastor Smith, I wanted to tell you it was a wonderful service, but we won’t be back.  We’re church shopping.  Just wanted you to know it has nothing to do with you.”

His words stunned Pastor Smith.  He couldn’t think of anything to say.  The family waved as they exited the doors, “Have a merry Christmas!” 

Finally, Pastor Smith breathed.  Santa Claus would not be the only one staying awake tonight.

What do you do when people leave your church? 

People leave churches for a variety of reasons.  Some leave because employment takes them to other communities.  Some leave because they graduate from high school and go to college or new jobs.  Some leave because they retire and move into a retirement community or to a neighborhood closer to children.  Some even “leave” because death claims them.

We miss these people, but we accept the events as normal and inevitable.  However, when people leave because they are unhappy, we may feel like failures.  We lie awake at night wondering what went wrong.

If we are a church that is caught in the Happiness Trap, this is extreme failure.  (For more about the Happiness Trap, check out last month’s Login Leadership column in the MIM Ezine archives.)  A church caught in the Happiness Trap tries to keep everyone happy and in the fold.  People who leave because they are unhappy indicate we have failed.  If people could just get along….

On the other hand, it may not be such a bad thing if some people leave the church.  One couple came to my office to complain about their pastor, some of the key leaders in the church, and several other problems in the world.  After listening to them for over an hour in addition to other phone conversations they had had with key leaders, I was convinced their concerns reflected family dysfunction, not inappropriate behavior by the pastor and other leaders.

I grieved that they would not accept responsibility for their own behavior nor see the opportunities for mission and ministry being led by their pastor and leaders.  I did not see how we could resolve their concerns without abandoning Christ’s mission and vision for the church.  Consequently, they left the church when I would not satisfy their complaints.

A couple of months later I asked the pastor how things were going.  He told me it was like a dark cloud hanging over the congregation had lifted.  The leaders were no longer walking on egg shells trying to be “Christian” to this couple and could now focus on leading ministry for all of the people of the community.  The church is continuing to flourish with their focus on God’s vision and call to ministry.

That was an extreme example, but it is an example of growth as a result of someone not aligned with the vision leaving the church.  Can leaving the church be a good thing?

The key is staying focused on the mission of the church.  Jesus made the mission of the Church very clear in Matthew 28:19-20: 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

I know.  I wrote that last month. 

The mission of the church is to make disciples.  It is not to make people happy.  That is the mission of the entertainment industry.  Churches are not in the entertainment industry.  We are in the disciple-making business.

Our vision is how we live out Jesus’ mission in this year in our community.  If people are not aligned with our vision and refuse to embrace it, then maybe it is not a bad thing if they find another church.  Perhaps the vision of another church will capture their commitment and provide opportunity for them to grow in their own relationship with Christ.  It could be a win-win situation.

Furthermore, people today are so hungry for an authentic experience of God that more people will be drawn to a clear and compelling vision of ministry than will leave because they disagree with it.

Pastor Smith will likely grieve the loss of some members.  I have been there and done that.  But it is also an opportunity to return to the mission and vision God has given us.  After all, it is not the people we seek to please with our leadership.  It is God who has called us and it is God to whom we will answer.

Tom Hanover has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for over 30 years, the last four as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southwest Ohio. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University, the MDiv and DMin degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton.

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Christian Books & Ministry Resources

Find  resources and books to help you in Christian ministry at Ministry in Motion's Bookshop.  We've developed these ministry resources from our own ministry experience.  Our bookshop also includes Christian bookstore search engines to help you search for general Christian books.  Visit our online bookshop now

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Transforming YOUth - Youth “Shall Call His Name Immanuel”: Using Non-Examples to Teach Biblical Truth

By: Shane W. Parker

Sesame Street taught me a lot.  One of the most memorable ways I learned from Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, and the gang, was through an ongoing segment called “Which One of These Things Does Not Belong Here?”  As the presenter sang   “Which one of these things does not belong here?  Which one of these things is not the same?”,  I eagerly sought to discern which item was not like the others.  In retrospect, it wasn’t a difficult exercise.  Usually the four items consisted of something like three cats, each of a different color and variation, and a vacuum cleaner. 

It doesn’t take a child prodigy to solve that one.  The guiding principle that taught, however, is an often overlooked tool that we can utilize in teaching youth—offering non-examples.  By showing the audience three cats and one vacuum cleaner, it allowed me, and the rest of the young Sesame Street viewers, the opportunity to solidify the concept of a cat, and what the concept of a cat was not.  The cats each had a tail, two ears, whiskers, paws, and fur.  Obviously, a vacuum cleaner has none of these things.  My ability to understand the distinctive characteristics of a cat were enhanced by comparing it to an object that was nothing like a cat.

At the time of year when we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the use of non-examples can be particularly helpful.  Cats and vacuum cleaners have nothing to do with teaching youth the deep truth of the incarnation of the Messiah, but there are non-examples which can greatly assist you.  In the midst of Santa Claus, silver bells, and gifts, you want your students to have an accurate understanding of the King of the Universe who came, “in order to take away sins” (1 John 3:5).  The following two-step “outline” should help you effectively teach the biblical truth of the Incarnation, by using non-examples.

First, thoroughly teach your students the truth about Jesus’ Incarnation.  Work through the birth narratives (Matt 1-2; Luke 1-2), explaining to them the necessity of the Virgin Birth.  Also, focus on passages which are central to substantiating the claim that Jesus is fully God and fully man (e.g., John 1:1-18; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:15-20; Heb 1:1-4).  How you work through these texts will depend upon your teaching style, your students’ learning style(s), and your teaching objectives.  However, you must make sure that you have painted a thorough and accurate picture of the biblical truth of the incarnation before the use of non-examples will be beneficial. 

In FBI training for identification of counterfeit currency, the agents are forced to memorize every detail of the valid currency, rather than study every alteration of the counterfeit bills.  This process ensures that they can instantly recognize the false bill, because they know all aspects of the true bill.  Your students will only recognize the false ideas if they have a firm grasp on the right teaching.  If your teaching situation allows, you may want to use portions of The Definition of Chalcedon (http://www.crta.org/documents/chalcedon.html).  This is an ancient creed (A.D. 451) and your tradition may not affirm creedal use. However, I have found that using this statement with youth gives a good summation of the perfect human and divine union of Christ, and youth think it’s cool to study what some dead guys wrote!

Second, compare the truth about the incarnation to aberrant views.  Teach your youth what the incarnation is not!  There have been numerous false ideas about the nature of Jesus Christ throughout history.  One non-example would be the first century heresy Docetism.  This was the belief that Christ only “seemed” to be human, that He did not really have a body of human flesh.  Another example would be Arianism.  In the 4th century, Arius preached that Jesus Christ was not equal with the Father. He argued that Christ is not God, but is the first and most exalted creature.  Now, if you are wondering why I have forgotten that we are in the 21^st century youth ministry context, and not in a sterile church history classroom, you should know that Arianism is alive and well. 

One of its adherents now goes by the name “The Watchtower Society” (Jehovah’s Witnesses).  The Watchtower Society’s understanding of the Incarnation is as follows: “Thus, for example, the Bible shows that there is only one God, the Most High, the Almighty. And that the Son, as the First-born, the Only-begotten and `the creation by God,' had a beginning” (From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained, p. 164). 

When you supply your students with true teaching, accompanied by non-examples, you are helping them to know God’s Word rightly and personally.  In addition to this, you are also helping them to recognize falsity, avoid inaccurate teaching, and know how to share their faith with those who do not yet know the Christ who “became flesh, and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14-18).

This Christmas season and always, may you and your students walk in the truth of the God-man who was born of a virgin, lived a life of perfection, died a sacrificial death, and rose victoriously from the dead, to the praise of His glorious grace.  Merry Christmas! 

Shane and his wife, Lydia, reside in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is currently engaged in Ph.D. studies in the areas of Education and Student Ministry. He has a central passion to equip students, and student pastors, for the uncompromising glorification of God in intensive study and ministry. If you would like to schedule Shane for an event, or just talk about life and ministry, you may reach him by e-mail: swp76@msn.com. 

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Searching for a New Ministry Position?

One of the needs we have perceived at Ministry in Motion is a service to help connect qualified ministers and church workers to ministry related and church staff positions. In order to assist our subscribers with finding ministry positions and staff, we've added a new page.  If you are presently in job search mode, or if you have a ministry position you are looking to fill, be sure to visit this page. ministry openings

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Readers Write In

Dear Teena,

God used you this morning, and I thought you should know! When I was asked to do the devotional booklet for Advent at our church, I really struggled with a topic. Things just didn't gel, and that's not a problem I usually have. I read the Scriptures and prayed and prayed some more, and two words kept coming to mind: humility and forgiveness. Although our pastor wasn't really thrilled with that approach, I went with it, using Bible verses that showed Jesus' character of humility and forgiveness.  

As usual, the Lord knew exactly what our little flock needed. I have had so many phone calls and comments, the gist of which is, "This really touched my heart -- I needed to hear this." So, back to my original reason for writing -- the title of the devotional book is "The Heart of a Servant". I think He is trying to tell us something (smile!).  

Thanks for your wonderful ministry resource. I enjoy receiving it every month. Debbie Botham

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Book Review – Our Community: Dealing with Conflict in Our Congregation