Groupthink

This week I was introduced to the Abilene Paradox. The story goes something like this. A family was sitting on the porch playing dominoes when granddad says, "How about we all head out to that little diner in Abilene." His wife says, "sounds good." Despite having reservations because it was a hot day and a 53 mile drive the son says, "O.K., count me in."

Four hours later they arrive back home after a hot drive and a mediocre lunch. The daughter-in law who had been silent says, "Wasn't a very good trip was it." The son then says, "I really didn't want to go to Abilene," and the grandmother says, "I only went because I thought everyone else wanted to go." Finally, the granddad says, "Well, I only suggested it because everyone looked so bored."

Groupthink is the phenomenon of social conformity that plays out when we don't want to be in conflict with what we believe is the group consensus. How often have you seen people try to use groupthink to influence decisions makers. "There are a lot of people who feel the way I do," or "Nobody is going to support that decision..."

God gave us minds and intellect and expects us to use them. We do not have to be disagreeable, or contentious to express a differing opinion. There is real value in open debate and having a dissenting opinion. Even our Supreme Court justices publish the dissenting opinions in a judgment or ruling.

I have a friend who serves on the board of a well-known college. I asked him why he was selected to serve. His answer revealed something very healthy about that institution. "I was selected because I am not afraid to hold a contrary opinion, or to express it if I think the group is wrong.

For far too long our society has preached a doctrine of conformity that has encouraged moral compromise and social decay. Take a minute and make sure your backbone is not made out of rubber, or that your mind isn't so open that your brains fall out. Stand up for what you believe in and have the courage to share those convictions with the world.

By the way, I was thinking of going to Abilene, anyone want to join me?

A Thorny Situation

Conditions and circumstances in life are never quite what you want them to be. Many people add to thier own unhappiness because they believe the grass is greener in another pasture. They walk through life always thinking life would be better if only... If only I had more money; If only my husband treated me better; If only I could fit into the clothes I wore ten years ago.

I believe this is a universal condition. Even the apostle Paul struggled with this his infirmities. Three times he prayed that God would remove the thorn in his flesh (II Corinthians 12:7-8). Paul believed that life would be better, that his circumstances would be more productive if only he could get rid of that stubborn problem in his life.

We don't always enjoy the way God works. Many of the lessons we learn come through hardships and adversity. I don't know how many times I have prayed that some challenge or difficulty will be removed, only to have God say, "my grace is sufficient for you" (II Corinthians 12:9).

God perfects us the same way that gold is refined in the fire. We must walk through the furnace of affliction if we are to come out pure, brilliant and ready for use in God's service. Paul put it best when he said, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (II Corinthians 12:18-19).

Tomorrow

Anne of Green Gables was one of my mother's favorite mini-series. I think the thing I truly enjoyed about it was the eternal optimism of Anne. No matter what mischief she seemed to find, her wonderful philosophy of life shined through. "Tomorrow is fresh and new with no mistakes in it."

When I look in the rear view mirror of my life, there are lots things that I would do differently given the chance. I am not sure I share the sentiments of the person who says, "I wouldn't do a single thing differently, because it has made me the man I am today." I now understand that had I done a few things differently I could have been a better father, husband, leader, employee and a better representative of God's kingdom. While I can't change the past - I certainly can learn from it.

The good news is, tomorrow is fresh and new with no mistakes in it. Now that may all change by 5:30 in the morning, but for the moment I prefer to put on my rose colored glasses and plan for the best. As David reminds us, "This is the day which the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalms 118:24).

Time is a precious commodity. I prefer not to squander it! Tomorrow I might lose my job, wreck my car, or discover I have cancer. Most of those things I have little control over. I can worry about the weather, the economy, or the war in Iraq, but that would rob me of my joy. I could worry about all those things, but why should I allow the future to rob me of the present. For the moment I choose to be happy, I choose to love God and my family, I choose to believe in what is good, noble, and honorable in this world.

What does this all have to do with ministry? I am not sure, except I believe that God created us to love life and love our fellow man. I believe when we hold up our heads, expect the best and walk uprightly with God that others are drawn to that. They want to know what is different about us. My disposition clearly affects my ability to effectively minister to others.

Ministry & Money

This is probably one of the more delicate topics related to faith-based institutions. Every good work needs money to operate, but it often creates a moral dilemma for those seeking financial support. I have been involved in fundraising efforts since entering the mission field in 1988. During that time, I have seen all of the good and bad that comes from with dealing with money. Let’s look at a few important facts surrounding Ministry & Money.

Giving, Tithing, and Stewardship are all important Biblical topics. Some authors have indicated that money is talked about more than any other topic. I don’t know if that is true, but the Word has a lot to say about it. I don’t want to use this column to preach a sermon, so here are my observations.

Faith or Works: I have sat in board meetings where Executive Directors have emphasized the importance of trusting God and the money will come to the exclusion of getting out and asking. I have seen board members so concerned about the bottom line that they forget to include God in their calculations. What is the balance between stepping out in faith and being a responsible steward? I don’t know that there is a clear-cut answer, but the simplest way I know to explain it, is to pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you. Make sure it is God’s voice you hear calling you to step out in faith and not your own arrogance or Messiah complex.

Money & Power Corrupts. This is the greatest challenge I have seen on the mission field. We are so eager to help we place large sums of money in the hands of those inexperienced in handling it. They will see more money in a week than they have seen in a lifetime and it can corrupt local workers who were at one time good men. American diplomacy has failed because we have created an international welfare program. In too many cases, the church has done the same thing.

Finally, never sacrifice your mission to chase dollars. I have seen too many organizations change their vision, mission and values because they believed that the money they would receive justified the move. A well-meaning individual may promise $500, 000 if you will build a clinic in Honduras, or sponsor students in Ukraine. If those works fall under the umbrella of your mission great, if not help steer them to the organization that can fulfill their mission. I have seen dozens of faith-based organizations who lost their vision, then lost their zeal. They chased dollars, rather than pursuing souls and sought financial increases rather than striving to expand the kingdom.

I believe that God requires us to manage money in our personal lives and in our ministries for a series of reasons: 1) It requires us to exercise stewardship; 2) It demonstrates our ability to walk with integrity; 3) and it reminds us that “every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights…”

The Great Experiment

Democracy is often called the great experiment. Some very learned men took the best of ancient and modern political systems and tried to build on a foundation of morality and Christian principles to build "one nation under God."

When I look back at the early work of the Spring Meadows Church of Christ, I see some similarities. I wouldn't venture to say that those of us involved had the wisdom or education that many of our founding fathers had, but it was a great experiment in this regard. There were decades of "church experiences," that played a role in what we tried to accomplish at Spring Meadows. Most of us had experienced periods of wonderful congregational growth and the tragedy of division and discouragement. We took those experiences into consideration as we planned.

As we drafted our by-laws, talked about our services and prayed about reaching the community of Spring Hill with the gospel of Christ, we were very intentional in the things that we did. Most of us understood that every step we took set a precident for the future. We did not want to establish human laws that were irrevocable and we wanted to insure that we preached the whole counsel of God. To date our experiment seems to be a success. I do however have some questions I would like your help with:

1) Can you take the lessons learned in a new church plant and implement them in an existing congregation? (i.e. How do you bring about positive change in a struggling work?)
2) As we grow, how do we avoid falling into unproductive patterns?

I believe that most works (new or established) have two fundemental challenges: 1) Not allowing standard practices to become unchangable traditions; 2) In an effort to stay fresh, not chasing every new trend and philosophy that comes down the pike. That takes deliberate prayer and planning. I am not sure what all the answers are, but I would love to hear from the readers about how to bring energy and enthusiasm into an existing work that is struggling and how to keep a good work on track.

A couple of quick items:
1) Please forward this blog to others for response.
2) Please leave your thoughts on the blog for others to see, or if you prefer for them not to be public, please send them to me at trent.wheeler@charter.net

The Battleground State

I am as disappointed this morning as I have been in any election. I have strong political leanings and I prayed fervently during this election. Last night as I watched the election I thought about the "battleground states." When Ohio was called for Obama I struggled, when Florida fell my heart sank.

Despite my disappointment I woke up this morning thinking about the real battleground state. As children of God we are not battling over Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida, we are battling over the hearts of men. We are fighting that battle one person at a time. I realized this morning that I spent two years living under a socialist government; I have worked in regions where I have been accompanied by armed military guards hired to protect me and slept in villages where the worst kind of abject poverty was evident. In all of those situations God's people not only survived, they endured, the persevered and grew.

Many today are discouraged. We are concerned about the life of the unborn, about gay rights and homosexual marriage and the socialist slant of the incoming administration. Please, please remember that God's people have the unique ability to excel in the most adverse of situations (Daniel in Babylon; Joseph in Egypt, Christians in Rome). God was honored and exalted under the most brutal and despotic nations our world has ever known.

Some of us woke up thinking, "we lost the election." Last night Florida and Arizona passed legislation stating that marriage is between a man and a woman. Arkansas also sent a blow to the gay rights movement by banning unmarried couples from adoption or being foster parents. Prior to this election 27 states had already passed gay marriage bans and today we await the outcome in California (update: California has also banned gay marriage).

I am reminded of how discouraged Elijah was after fleeing from Jezebel. God reminded Elijah that 7,000 still had not bowed to Baal. There are many who are still fighting the good fight, who oppose moral evils and stand for godly principles. No government, regime or political power can rob from you your faith, your principles and your commitment to stand for Christ and honor his high and holy name.

Five Critical Mistakes of Church Planting

Planting new congregation's of the Lord's church is a labor of love. For many it can start with great ambition and vision, but when it comes down to implementing your vision, mission and values it is real work. That is one reason I believe that the term "church plant" is appropriate. You have to prepare the soil, plant the seed, nourish the young plant and consistently work the soil if you wish to reap a harvest.

In my 25+ years of ministry I have been involved in several new church plants in the U.S. and overseas as well as working with revitalizing struggling congregations. During that time I have made more than a few mistakes and watched as others make their share. Here are five critical mistakes that mission teams make in trying to plant new churches. These are in no way comprehensive, but I believe they are a pretty good start.

1. Lack of adequate planning. Too often most of the planning centers on two objectives: 1) Finding a place to meet; 2) What will our worship service look like? Those who wish to expand the kingdom and plant new churches need to consider how they will minister to the church and community, where the necessary finances will come from, what will the culture be within the family and what is their vision for ministry and evangelism?

2. Copying the efforts of others. It is a good idea to study successful church plants, but it is a mistake to copy their formula verbatim. Ministry and evangelism has a cultural component. I am not suggesting that we change the gospel, but that we build our ministry around the needs of the congregation and community (contextual ministry). Each new congregation needs to research the needs of their community and their approach to evangelism within that context.

3. Failing to be flexible. During the planning stages congregations write mission and vision statements, plan their outreach and ministry programs, define their times and methods of worship only to discover some of their initial efforts don't work. Don't be afraid to make changes. I have worked with congregations where we changed our mid-week service to Tuesday night, held workshops in community centers (rather than at the church building), and failed miserably in our initial evangelism efforts, only to improve the process over time.

4. Installing formal leadership hastily. To take a phrase from Jim Collins in his wonderful book, Good to Great; "you need to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus." While there is a place for everyone to serve in the Kingdom (I Cor. 12, Rom. 12), putting the wrong people in leadership can destroy a church plant (or any congregation). At the Spring Meadows congregation we spent months discussing the "how to's" of installing leadership before we ever established the congregation. So far God has rewarded our efforts with godly shepherds and faithful servants.

5. Under-estimating God. One of the memorable lines in our current work came from one of our elders. After nearly doubling a contribution goal we set one Sunday our good brother said, "We are not very good at goal setting." We must always remember that God is in control, that God must recieve the glory and that our efforts are to expand HIS Kingdom. Paul reminds us that "He is able to do immeasureably more than we can ask or imagine, throught the power that works in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

What are some of the mistakes you have seen in planting new churches?

Using Technology #1

Over a decade ago I wrote an article for the Gospel Advocate entitled, "Surfing the Internet with the Gospel." At that time I thought it was cutting-edge stuff. The article provided basic information on how to use email, bulletin boards and discussion forums to spread the Good News.

A lot has changed in the past decade and innovation is happening at a pace that is hard to keep up with (both in cost and simply the speed of change). In the next few articles I would like to look at a few ways that churches can use technology in a cost effective and ministry focused way.

As workers together in God's kingdom, we have a fiscal responsibility towards good stewardship. Technology is a great tool for the advancement of the kingdom, but it must be balanced with responsible spending and a clear understanding of the desired outcomes. That being said, let's start by looking at some inexpensive ways to use technology in our churches.

Distribution Lists: Email accounts and listserves can be set up with little or no cost to the congregation, but they can have great benefits to the work. In our congregation we have distribution lists for our leadership teams, our deacons, the men in the congregation, women in the congregation and other sub-groups. Distribution lists have been used effectively for years in other organizations, but they provide a great resource for information sharing, communication and congregational updates.

Websites: I am almost ashamed to put this in this article, but believe it or not there are still churches who do not have a website, or if they do - they fail to update their information. I can't speak for other areas, but a significant number of new people in our community found us through an online search. If you have a website here are a few (very few) basic rules to follow. 1) Allow someone to maintain the website who has some experience and will keep the information up to date; 2) Make your site easy to navigate with the most important information at their fingertips (contact information & directions to the building); 3) Make the website interactive. Put surveys, community information, audio downloads and other resources on your site. Please add your suggestions for effective websites at the end of this article.

PDA's: I resisted getting a blackberry or I Phone as long as I could, now I am wondering why I waited so long. I have always had a bad case of "outoftouchaphobia," but now it has reached chronic proportions. Having voicemail, email and web access at my fingertips 24/7 has its drawbacks, but I feel as though I am right on top of what is happening in the church and in my community.

There is a lot more that needs to be covered, but these are some low-cost ways to begin using technology in our churches. Please drop me a line and let me know what areas of technology are serving your churches, what your favorite toys are, and recommendations you have for responsible use of technology.

Three Steps for an Effective Ministry

All too often we complicate the basic tenants of ministry. We adopt every new idea and trend that is coming down the pike, or we overload our congregation with programs that don't have a clearly defined purpose. Today, I want you to consider 3 basic steps to establishing an effective ministry.

Step One: Take time to identify your congregation's gifts and talents. You will be far more effective in your work if you use the talents people have rather than trying to plug them in where they don't fit. One of the most dysfunctional ministry models out there is to develop programs and then look for people to fill those roles.

If you learn to identify the skills and talents in your congregation, then you can begin to build your ministry programs around the talents you have. One of the best resources I have found for helping members find their gifts is the book, "Life Keys," by Kise, Stark & Hirsch. If you would like a copy of the worksheets I have developed using Life Keys leave me a note and I will send copies of the congregational worksheets.

Step Two: Research the needs of the congregation and community. Start with your own church family. Ask them to help you indentify needs in the church family and in the community. Study your community to see where there may be gaps in community services. Is there a need for Christian counseling, healthcare clinics, financial planning services, marriage workshops, etc? Allow the church to be the light in the community by providing needed services.

Step Three: Look at your members talents and the needs in the church and community and begin to build ministry teams to meet those needs. You won't be able to fill every need, or you may not have the manpower or skills to develop certain programs now. Your work will be far more effective if you build your ministry around your members strengths. If you approach your work correctly, in time your work will prosper and you will develop new people for new programs.

Fireproof a Dynamic Marriage

This past Saturday I spent two valuable hours attending the new movie release FIREPROOF. Not only was it refreshing to attend a movie without profanity and gratuitous sex and violence, but to watch a film with a tremendous message of hope, commitment, and faith.

Three weeks ago Debbie and I began attending the dynamic marriage course at the Spring Meadows Church of Christ. During our first few weeks we learned about our deepest emotional needs and Love Busters (actions and behaviors that negatively impact your marriage). Debbie quickly noted a correlation between some of the themes in the movie and some of the great lessons we are learning in class. Let me share just a few with you.

First, when there is an emotional vacuum or a negative environment in a marriage, people begin to find other ways to meet their emotional needs. Sometimes these are withdrawal, or pursuit of a hobby or activity outside the marriage. More often than not, the withdrawal can lead an individual into an affair or emotional connection to another person.

Second, many of the Love Busters mentioned in class played out in the movie. The visual representation of these actions in the movie helped us to see the negative impact of these love busters. The angry outbursts, annoying behaviors, disprespectful judgements and selfishness all played a powerful role in the struggles this young couple faced. I also appreciate that the movie did not ignore the hard topics like the affects of pornography and unfaithfulness in the film.

Finally, the message of hope that comes through is encouraging. Despite the detoriation that had taken place; when a person surrenders to God and then seeks to meet the needs of their mate wonderful things can happen.

Fireproof is a good movie because it doesn't take a Pollyanna approach to marriage. It shows the hard work that goes into making a marriage great and emphasizes the role that God must play in creating successful marriages.

I would like to encourage all the readers of this post to do three things. 1) Go and see Fireproof. If for no other reason than the fact that we need to support movies with a positive message. If we want good movies to make it to the theaters, we need to support the effort. 2) Encourage everyone else you know to go and see the movie (especially in your churhces). 3) Seek opportunities to improve your marriage. The Dynamic Marriage course from Family Dynamics (www.familydynamics.net) is a great place to begin, but look for opportunities to do all you can to make your marriage great.

Trent Wheeler