Get Your Strategy On
Smart Things Andy Stanley Said > Part 1
Nov62006 Filed under: Growing Strategies Author: Tony MorganSitting here at the Drive Conference at North Point. Andy Stanley is on the platform. He’s going to share some good stuff over the next few days. I thought I’d try to capture all the smart things that Andy says over the next few days. So, here’s the beginning of the list. These are the smart things Andy said… part one:
1. We’re not there yet. And we won’t be.
2. We all do ministry in communities where people think church is for church people. That’s the type of world we live in. People care about God. People want to connect with God. There’s a hunger for God, but the church is in the way. "I’m giving the rest of my life to change that."
3. The church ought to be the magnet. It should be irresistible. If we’re the body, we should be irresistible.
4. Sinners liked to be around Jesus. They liked him, but they were nothing like him.
5. Leaders are very dissatisfied unless there’s progress.
6. Since the beginning of the church, the "insiders" have been making it difficult for the "outsiders." From the very beginning, the church has tried to change the outsiders before they can connect with the church. (Acts 15)
7. If we create obstacles for people to connect with the church and God, we are working against God.
8. The majority of churches have made it difficult for people to turn to God.
9. The Gospel should be easy and accessible.
10. For some reason, there’s something in us that wants to make church a formula. We make it difficult for people who are turning to God.
11. The gravitational pull of your ministry is to create insider language, rules and programs that makes it more difficult for people to turn to God.
12. The only people that really love a big church are the pastors. It’s a hassle for everyone else.
13. We had to create empty seats at optimal times in order to make room for people who were unchurched. Otherwise, I would have just been talking to the Christians.
14. This is the difficult question we need to continuously ask: Is it still easy and accessible here?
15. When a local church gets off-mission, God gets uninterested. God says, "They don’t need me."
16. We made a fundamental decision years ago that we were going to be more committed to reaching people than keeping people.
17. We’re not here for the party going to Heaven.
18. Are you willing to take a critical look at your organization or ministry team and determine whether or not you’re unintentionally making it harder for people to take steps toward Christ?
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8 Responses to “Smart Things Andy Stanley Said > Part 1”
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Tony Morgan is a pastor and the Chief Strategic Officer at NewSpring Church where he develops creative solutions for communications, technology and NewSpring Ministries--the church's ministry that equips other church leaders.
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Derek
November 6th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
“The Gospel should be easy and accessible.”
You’re going to have to clarify that and explain what context he said that in, because the Gospel is most DEFINITELY not easy. Narrow is the way. Few are those who find it. If we’ve simplified it to make it easy and accessible, it’s probably only because we’re teaching the parts that are easy and accessible, and leaving out all of the extremely challenging stuff said in the New Testament.
tony morgan
November 7th, 2006 at 12:28 am
Derek, Andy wasn’t suggesting that we rewrite the Gospel message to make it more palatable for unbelievers. What he was suggesting is that churches create unnecessary barriers (like rules and churchy language) that prevent the unchurched from meeting Jesus. Have you ever heard Andy suggest we shouldn’t teach parts of the New Testament because they’re too challenging for the unchurched? I’ve never heard him say such a thing.
Now, not speaking for Andy, I think I’d like to push back a little bit on your characterization of the Gospel. Here are some questions I’d ask in response:
1. Are you suggesting we should make it really hard for people to become Christ-followers? Does God want his church to be inaccessible to those that don’t know him?
2. Does God change someone’s behavior before or after he changes someone’s heart? Or do you believe that someone has to change their behavior before they can receive Christ into their lives? And, if that’s the case, does that leave room for grace?
3. How do you explain passages like Matthew 11 that suggest God’s yoke is easy and his burden is light?
4. How do you explain passages like Matthew 18 that suggest those that don’t become like little children will not enter the kingdom of heaven?
Derek, I’d also like to point out that Andy was not talking about what his ministry does to help people take steps in their faith journey after they become Christ-followers. Andy was talking specifically about what the church is or isn’t doing to reach the unchurched. And, on that note, I’m in agreement with him, “The Gospel should be easy and accessible.”
johnlaeger.com
November 7th, 2006 at 7:22 am
Drive - Blog
Just found this on Tony Morgan’s blog. He does a play by play of what Andy Stanley said in session 1. You have got to check this out! Almost as good as being here! Smart Things Andy Stanley Said -
Derek
November 7th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
I’ve heard Andy speak a few times (the past several years at Catalyst, as well as a time or two at NP) and read a couple of his books. I wouldn’t expect him to hold back on the challenging parts of the gospel. Still, the description of the gospel as “easy and accessible” just doesn’t sit right with me.
In response:
1) I’m not suggesting what we should make it hard to be a follower of Christ, I’m suggesting that it is a huge challenge, and to describe it as “easy” is misleading. It certainly has it’s rewards and benefits, but not without a world of personal sacrifice. I wouldn’t describe that as easy.
2) This isn’t a question of behavior. It’s a question of how are we going to attract people to the gospel? To tell someone that it’s “easy” to follow Christ is, as I said, misleading.
3) I’d respond by saying that he also called everyone to take up their cross daily, and follow him. He said that we had to forsake our friends and family in order to follow him. He told a rich guy to sell all he had, give it to the poor, and then he could follow him. That kind of stuff is pretty darn tough. It’s easy to quote one verse and talk about how “easy” the gospel is, but in order to do so, we have to ignore a dozen others.
4) I don’t think the ideas of being “born again” and “becoming like little children” are easy. I think those are pretty tough challenges, actually. Would you say it’s easy to take on the mind of a little child in your approach to the father?
I think the bigger issue is this - what does the church do that makes it unintentionally more difficult? You mentioned this as well, which is good. I think on the whole, we tend to get in the way of people coming to Christ, even when we try to do strategic (sorry) things in order to attract people to the gospel. It’s not rocket science to follow the gospel - it’s pretty straightforward, but that doesn’t make it easy. It’s extremely challenging.
We don’t need more slick marketing campaigns, better buildings, lighting, bands, or better speakers to attract people to Christ. We simply need less of us, and more of Him. When we lower ourselves, so that it is His glory that is being revealed and not our own, then people will be attracted to the gospel. But the more we try to use our methods, the more we show off our own glory instead of simply trying to reveal His.
Choosing to follow the Christ is one of the most difficult and important decisions someone can make. We shouldn’t trivialize it by describing it as “easy and accessible.”
bill streger
November 7th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Good thoughts here. The scripture clearly says that the Gospel, in and of itself, is an offense to those who are outside the faith. It is foolishness to them. (1 Cor. 1) I’ll echo the passages cited by Derek above as well - Jesus often describes following him as a narrow, difficult path. (Hence, it is only by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we are able to follow Jesus).
That being said, I really feel what Andy was saying (I think) - too often churches add to the offense of the gospel by being offensive ourselves. We see people turned off not by the Gospel, but by the junk we add to it (conservative voting, music style, religious rules, insider language, etc.)
May we both contend for the faith delivered once for all to the saints (Jude 3) while contextualizing it to be clear and understandable to the world around us (1 Cor. 9).
joni
November 8th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
May I chime in and put words into Andy’s mouth? Perhaps the word “simple” instead of “easy”?
I have been a believer for many years in a complicated church with formulas and strategies and 7 steps to this and 12 pillars of that. My new church is liberating yet I’ve been more challenged as a believer in the last 8 months than I was elsewhere for 16 yrs. Also, Jesus says not to worry. Paul tells us be anxious for nothing. Tell me THAT’S not God saying “take it easy, I’m in control”. But yes, accepting that can be difficult especially among many Christians that equate worry and anxiety with “wrestling with the faith”. Boy, what it look like to the unchurched if we really DIDN’T grumble?
Charlotte Lacer
November 9th, 2006 at 9:19 am
Wow, this was good. I was raised in church and then I stepped away from church walls after 22 yrs of marriage that failed. In those 10 years I was amazed at the enormous amount of Christians outside of the four walls, wonderful believers that get tagged as “un-churched” and misunderstood. I was humbled and hope to never forget that Jesus is the center of my desire, not accumulative numbers around me. Now back in a body my question to new acquaintances is “wonder if they know Jesus” not “do they go to church?”
Troy Kennedy
November 12th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
Sorry to get away from this very stimulating conversation. Great thoughts from all. This is an important topic for us all to communicate with clarity.
I just wanted to thank you, Tony, for having the presence fo mind to blog the bullet points of the sessions. Very helpful!