glenwolf communication, discipline, encouragement, leadership, marriage, unity

Team Work: Church Unity

Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

2 Timothy 2:23-26 NLT

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

1 Corinthians 1:10 NIV

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!

Psalm 133:1 NIV

Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

Ecclesiastes 10:20 NIV

The bible gives imagery that the church is like a family, army, and team. None of these function without unity. Unity in the church is something worth striving for because it is something the Devil is fighting against.

Satan is wanting to steal, kill, and destroy the work of God in our local church. The number one way this will happen is through division.  

Below are major areas in which the church must be unified and the ways churches nowadays are divided.

5 major areas in which we must be unified as a church body:

1.  Theological Unity

This means that the leaders and members of the church come in agreement on non-negotiable doctrine. When it comes to minor issues, we can agree to disagree. Lets never major on the minors and minor on the majors. We must always keep the main thing the main thing.

2.  Relational Unity

We must have relational unity where people and leaders in the church love one another and demonstrate it by being cordial, respectful, friendly, and kind in their interpersonal interactions. Especially in areas where they differ.

3.  Philosophical Unity

Our philosophy on how the church should function according to the word of God must be the same. If one believes everyone should wear robes and the other thinks that their should always be an electric guitar, we have problems. While small things might be on opinion, the church must have common agreement on larger things such as: baptism, communion, evangelism, and discipleship. 

4.  Missional Unity

We must be in agreement to the mission God has called our local church body to fulfill.

5.  Organizational Unity

There must be organizational unity on how things are done in the church. This is accomplished by job descriptions, clear vision, assessments, and policies being made.

7 ways churches are divided:

1. Heretics divide churches.

A heretic is a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted. There are real heretics in our churches. Remember there was a Judas with Jesus. We as a believers will always have people who do not agree with our faith and or practices. The problem is we have people in the church who fight every word or accusation against them and end up getting themselves into sin. On the other side, we have people who won’t fight at all. We must find a balance and listen to the direction and wisdom of the Holy Spirit on when to fight and when to let go.

2.  Pride divides churches.

Pride is an ugly sin that we are all guilty of to varying degrees. Proud people act like leaders whether they are or not. They think God prefers to communicate to His people through them. Proud people only think about themselves and their family choosing not to be a part of the greater community of believers if it does not immediately benefit them. They love to tell others what to do, but when confronted for their own sin and pride, they welcome correction as warmly as a cat does water.

Proud people use emotion and manipulation to keep the attention away from their own sin, and on that of others. Pride invariably leads to division. The only way that a church can get on and stay on Jesus’ mission is to practice Jesus’ humility.

3. Legalism Divides churches.

Legalists, in simple terms, act like God by making rules. Legalists love to make rules about the rules. Legalists love to interpret how the rules are interpreted. When it comes to grace and truth, they will always err on the side of truth. Life is sucked out of churches run by legalists.

4. Traditionalism Divides churches.

Jesus had some pretty mean things to say to those who loved their man-made traditions. I define tradition as anything done in a church three times in a row. Traditionalists will fall in love with a wall color, a program, or a pastor, and have fallen out of love with Jesus. We must always allow Jesus to be Lord over our traditions.

5. Mission-Loss divides churches.

Churches that are not actively involved in the Missio Dei, will always become weird because we were never designed to exist away from the great commission. People that are working in the field do not care about the color of the barn. In other words, people that are not missional will find themselves having issues with things that are not important. Those issues can turn into division.

We must strive to be team players and fight against division at all costs. We are not ignorant of the devils attacks. We must humbly see the divisiveness in ourselves and be willing to turn away from those traps.

Questions to Ponder:

  1. What characteristics in you did you find in this session?
  2. Have you seen churches split before? Have you seen teams divided? What happened? What was the cause?
glenwolf communication, discipline, encouragement, leadership, Uncategorized

Spiritual Authority: Embrace It

“Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” 

1 Corinthians 4:15 (NIV)

Many Christians today run away from authority and discipline because they simply have not been taught the bible. As a result, we have become misled on why we are on this earth. We are on this earth to glorify God, by being a disciple and by making disciples.

The key word in our purpose is “disciple,” which is where we get the word “discipline.” A disciple is someone who follows the disciplines of God’s word and Jesus. As a result, Jesus has commissioned spiritual leaders to bring authority into a believer’s life so he can be a better disciple.

We need to become people who embrace spiritual authority and don’t just tolerate it because submission to spiritual authority sets the stage for full spiritual maturity.

In the 1976 classic Rocky, Rocky Balboa an amateur boxer is given the chance to fight a heavyweight champion. When he begins training on his own, Mick, the owner of the gym Rocky attends, ends up kicking him out. The lack of discipline and drive Mick notices, would eventually lead Rocky to become a loan shark instead of fulfilling his dream of becoming something better. He calls it “a waste of life,” knowing that in order for Rocky to succeed, he must let Mick impart the wisdom of 50+ years in the boxing industry and teach him to work harder than he has before. If Rocky wants to be a great fighter and multiply himself into other great fighters in the future, then he needs to go find someone more disciplined than him, submit to their authority, and give that person the invitation to discipline him to be better.

The same applies for Christians. If we want our lives to reflect more of Christ, then we must submit to spiritual leaders and give them the invitation to discipline us to be better Christ followers. In fact, this is exactly what Paul said to Timothy in 1 Corinthians when he said, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).  

Once we learn the disciplines from our authority, we do not stop coming under authority, but now we are ready to help someone else become a great christ follower. The goal is discipline. Our generation has a tough time not being the man in charge, but that paradigm never works in the kingdom of God. In other words, you cannot be correctly disciplined without spiritual authority. Paul says we don’t have enough spiritual fathers to bring discipline into people’s life. This means we must not run away from Spiritual authority, but rather embrace it!

How do I find Spiritual Authority?

  1. Pray
  2. Read 1 & 2 Timothy and ask yourself, “Who do I look up to that resembles these qualities?”
  3. Talk to your Pastor

What if I feel like he or she is wrong?

Your spiritual authority are not perfect and will be wrong at times. You must test everything through scripture, bring the issue to them in love and seek reconciliation. (We will look at this further, later in this series).

We are raising people to be disciples and make disciples which is impossible without spiritual authority. The plans that God has for you will require you to submit to authority in one way or another and it’s better to embrace it sooner rather than later.

Questions to Ponder:

  1. How has authority treated you in the past?
  2. Who do you consider to be a disciplined person (spiritually, or unspiritually)? What do you think happened in their life?
  3. Do you have an issue with authority? Are you willing to let go of those issues to pursue spiritual discipline in your life?
glenwolf communication, discipline, encouragement, leadership

Plant Yourself: Understanding Church Membership

“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; 13 planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green..”

Psalm 92:12-14 (NIV)

If you have spoken to any man that has been married longer than thirty minutes, you would know that a great marriage is never built on attendance, but on commitment. There is no greater way to state your commitment then through membership in our local church. Membership unifies the body under one vision and provides clear parameters for the local family of God to live and grow. Membership is a clear statement that a person is planted.

If we do not feel a sense of commitment to one another, as in a commitment through membership in a local church, then we will have no reason to resolve issues and submit to authority.

Here are some thoughts about being planted:

1.  When you are planted, you know you are next to “streams of living water.”

“Streams of water” is translated from the Greek as the point where a stream of water flowing underground suddenly breaks through and flows out freely–a spring. This means that when we are planted in the house of God, we are like a springs breaking out from underground in dry places. We are connected to the source of life and are positioned to be a source of life to others!

2.  When you are planted, you will grow.

When a plant has placed its roots into rich soil and life, it will naturally grow. Growth is always the bi-product of health. Those that are not connected to a church have to struggle to find growth because they are not positioned where God wants them to be positioned.

3.  When you are planted, you will produce fruit.

The result of healthy growth is healthy fruit. When you are planted in your local church, you will produce fruit. Your tithe produces fruit, your time produces fruit, your ministry produces fruit- everything you do produces fruit! The bible says you will even yield fruit in old age.

The kingdom of God is never built on attendance, but on commitment. Let’s lead people to be fully planted in the house of God so they can flourish and bear great fruit!

 

Questions to Ponder:

  1. In your own words, why is being planted in a local church important?
  2. Can we do more committed to the same vision then separate? Why?
  3. What holds people back from being planted?
glenwolf communication, discipline, encouragement, leadership, Uncategorized

Introducing How to Handle Church Discipline And Conflict

Starting off in ministry or leadership can be a difficult transition, magnified if those entering into either have not been given the proper tools as guidance. Many things come by trial and error and delicate situations can make or break a ministry if not handled correctly. In the church itself, there is very little teaching about church discipline and managing conflict. This is because of two primary reasons:

  1. Leaders are afraid to challenge their people with too high a commitment level,
  2. A distaste for the rigid structured church in which authoritarianism has been abused.

The problem is that both of these concepts are two extremes of biblical truth. The seeker sensitive mindset–that of fear–will leave our people immature, lacking a healthy biblical view of discipline. On the other hand, the rigid structured church will lack the compassion and heart of God which will result in discipline coming across hierarchal.

If our mission and mandate is to make disciples of Jesus, then we must understand how Jesus disciplines. I am convinced that our people are always caught off guard with church discipline and conflict because they are typically only taught about it after an incident has occurred and not before. Not only do I want our people to be informed, but I want our people to be informed at an early age.

In an upcoming blog series, I want to present a crash course on church discipline that will empower youth volunteers to understand the importance of commitment, spiritual authority, unity, conflict, and church discipline. On the first Monday of every month, I will be posting a different part to the series that will be accompanied by small group questions because people will always learn better when they talk things over.

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