Comments on: Closing the Back Door (Part 1)

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:28:47 +0000

The issue at hand is what do people do when they find Christ. If they are taught that part of going deeper in Christ is doing what He taught, as well as studing the Word, both will be accomplished. One without the other is incorrect. You must obey Jesus who told us to go and tell others about Himself. We must know Him to do so. If your church only feeds, then you have a fat and unhealthy church. If all they do is gather folks who are seeking but have no depth then your church is lean with no root structure. Fat becomes territorial and ugly. I’d take on fire and shallow anytime. You can teach folks to go deeper. The heart change for the lost is much more difficult.

By: Kevin McCord

Kevin McCord — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:23:33 +0000

While not disagreeing with your over all point, I see an assumption here that I want to point out.

Is everyone out the back door a believer?

Still, agreeing in principle with your post, I want to ask another question.

Isn’t our biggest program, the one that gets most of the time and most of the attention the worship service? I would say that a larger number of evangelical churches put an emphasis on the unsaved in the worship service. The other programs rely upon it.

Finally, still very OK with what you are saying, I want to ask a thrid question.

Is everyone out the back door making a conscious choice to leave because they want to grow and feel they aren’t growing? Are there other reasons they leave? Are any of those reasons worth exploring?

I’m fortunate to work and minister in a church, like NewSpring, that focuses on those who have yet to hear the Good News that Jesus Saves us from our sin and reconciles us to God! I say fling the back door wide for those who won’t eat meat (or grow spiritually).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:27:07 +0000

Tony Morgan thread…

No complaints.
I have read Tony Morgan’s blog for a long time — you can find it here. Tony is a pastor and chief strategic officer at New Spring Church in Anderson, SC. I love that job title. Some of his posts on leadership and strateg…

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:47:18 +0000

Good point on the “For us” vs. “For people who need to hear the message” ministries. I don’t think I even want to look at our list right now. I have a pretty strong guess which way the scales would tilt. :(

I can say that we ditched our VBS this year in an attempt to try something different to reach unchurched kids. I don’t know how well it’s working, but it’s something that I’m glad we’re trying. Bring on more of that and I think we’ll be moving in the right direction.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:12:30 +0000

I tend to agree that if we are going to err in any way, it should be in showing people THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE, so that they can experience freedom in Christ. In that context, those who already follow Christ can learn and relearn even the most basic ways to live like Him. Depth is overrated, especially when we generally don’t even get the easy stuff. For those who have mastered the basics, the responsibility is really on them (not the church) to go deeper in their faith.

By: James Higginbotham

James Higginbotham — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:40:23 +0000

I’ve recently been reading Organic Church, and while I have not had time to prayerfully consider everything that is in there, one thing struck me that seems to relate to this discussion:

Jesus told us in Matthew 13 to expect those that hear the word to leave, get distracted, or not like the battles that come with it. This means that we must be willing to let some in our local church walk away until they are ready.

I agree with Tony to the point that churches should leave the back door open. Let those that are not serious about committing to Jesus move on, as there is plenty of ripe fields for us to harvest without spending our time dealing with those that are riding the fence.

To Tony’s point as well, those that are in a strong relationship with Jesus will follow the direction of the Spirit to whatever local church body He would call them to – if we try and block the door, we are simply fighting against their calling.

By: Buck

Buck — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:04:56 +0000

If our ‘mission’ is to make disciples, then how could being ‘missional’ not include both evangelism and edification? When did the emphasis become primarily one or the other?

By: bob c

bob c — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:03:58 +0000

great, great thread here

one of models that we seem to have lost in our go-go, drive-in church world is that of a parish, from the Greek ????? = “house”. a parish is a geographical unit – what meant be thought of as a neighborhood or sud-division nowadays. a church building is a centered point for worship in that parish – pastors work in the parish, not simply in the church building.

my only push-back on your great thoughts is at the very end. what is your definition of “the lost” ? i suspect you do not mean surviving passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 living on a seemingly deserted tropical island.

By: Jerm

Jerm — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:36:34 +0000

But what about us churches that are far too stacked on the other side (ie: programming and resources dedicated to the newcomer/new journeyer/unchurched/whatever the hip lingo is nowadays)? Say you have a steady stream of first-time attenders each and every week. What do you do with them? How do you do follow-up? How do you get them assimilated into the life of the church? How do you grow them up spiritually?

By: Brook Sarver

Brook Sarver — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:07:49 +0000

Well put. I heard Perry Noble speak up at Granger last year and he hit a home run when speaking on this very topic. The work comes when you try to steer an already established “for Christians” church in a direction that basically tells them that your main concern isn’t them. It’s possible to do and we are trying to do our best, but sure as heck isn’t easy. It takes work…lots of it…oh, and thick skin and a great conviction for what you are doing help…