Today’s blog entry is written by Joel Seymour, lead pastor of the Lancaster Vineyard. He can be reached through Twitter @JoelSeymour or via email.
You’ve probably been watching an NFL game and heard one of the announcers comment about one of the teams, “there just aren’t enough athletes for that team to win.” Amazing! So much has gone into making the team – millions of dollars on a stadium, a large payroll, a whole coaching staff, jumbo trons, TV contracts, glitzy logos and jerseys, and yet someone forgot the most important thing – to get some athletes who can compete at a high level.
A few weeks ago I was at a gathering of pastors from our town. We were bemoaning the current state of the church in general when one of the pastors said, “It’s like we’ve created a team but we have no athletes.” Amazing! We’ve spend millions on church buildings, have staff on payroll, big screens, sound systems, great logos and t-shirts, and yet someone forgot the most important things – to make disciples who can make disciples.
This obviously was not what Jesus had in mind when He created the first church ‘team.’ He made statements promising championships going as far to say that the gates of Hades itself couldn’t stop the Church. And yet time and time again we find church teams who simply don’t have enough disciples to win. Why is that?
Here are 3 ways to become a church with disciples
- Focus on making disciples not services
- Focus on substance over style
- Focus on the basics instead of the “Sportscenter moment”
To read the full version of this blog entry, where Joel expands on each of these points, visit the Multiply Vineyard blog.