Issue 6 – Some Conference reflections

 

Dear Rod

You asked what I thought of the recent Willow Creek Conference.

I thought it was great, although I wasn’t actually there—because I had ministry down south. But I listened to audio tapes of the Auckland Conference and they’ve been a great blessing to me.

Here are some things that impressed me.

The Power Of The Acts 2 Dream

I’ve heard Bill Hybels talk many times about chapter one of his journey—and how God used Dr Gilbert Bilezikian to birth the Acts 2:42-47 picture of a dynamic church in his mind. But perhaps because I’m working with churches all the time now, his words had a new edge to them.

Remember the setting. Bill’s a young student in the classroom. Dr B (as he is called) challenges the students to think what God could do in the world if one of them was mastered by this dream. Most pass his words off as just lecture room talk—and wonder if this ‘stuff’ will figure in the test later! But one student, Bill Hybels, leaves the room overwhelmed by what he’s hearing; and the rest is history.

As I listened again, I wondered what would happen if just 100 of the 4000 churches in New Zealand made the discovery Bill Hybels made in the classroom in those days. And I thought how radically different those churches would become, how transformed their leaders would be, and what a flow of new converts would come from just going back to where it all began—and rediscovering what church is meant to be. Certainly, the cultural expression would be different, but the characteristics and the fruit would be the same.

Do any who read this Letter lead some of those hundred churches that could change our nation?

The Rediscovery Of Grace

I’ve also heard Bill speak many times about chapter two of his journey—those 25 switched off students he began to care for as their new youth pastor, with Dr Bilejikian’s words still ringing in his ears. But I’ve never heard him speak about it like this before.

Remember what happened. Fired by Dr B’s words, he stood before the students on the second day and told them what the deal would be—yes, he’d just speak for 15 minutes, but they’d better listen, and he’d be full on about ‘grace’. And he was. And he kept it up. And the students came to Christ. And the numbers grew. And 25 became a thousand and even 1200 at times. And that led to the birth of Willow Creek Community Church that’s been built on the same message of grace.

As I listened, I wondered how different our churches would be if we’d only pause from the ceaseless round of mundane activity we’re locked into – and rediscover the glorious meaning of grace again. Think what it would do to our church services, how it would affect our preaching, and how it would get us focused again on the only thing that’s going to renew our flagging churches. Rediscovered grace once fired a Wesley, a Newton, a Booth, and later a young Bill Hybels.

Are any who read this Letter making this same discovery; and as they make it, are they deciding that from this Sunday forward they’ll reprioritise grace in their ministry – especially in their preaching?

The Demonstration Of Energy And Passion

I’ve been to the Chicago Leadership Summit five times now, so the next thing that came through on the tapes didn’t surprise me—the sheer energy and passion with which Bill continues to speak!

Clearly, his conversion and the classroom experience with Dr B continue to energise and empower his speaking ministry. And he’s still amazed by grace. But that energy and passion isn’t the same as the shouting we sometimes mistake for spiritual power—the two have nothing in common; one persuades, the other turns people off.

As I listened, I thought how few of us are remotely like Bill when we speak to our people on Sundays. We often seem so tired and pedestrian and unmoved by the things we’re talking about—and we wonder why it bears so little fruit! But if the message doesn’t move us, how can it move anyone else?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great British preacher of last century, captured this best when he asked, ‘What is preaching? Logic on fire!…. It is theology on fire …Preaching is theology coming through a man [or woman] who is on fire.’ And that’s what happens when Bill Hybels speaks; he’s swept along by the grandeur of the grace message he preaches—illustrated so well in his remarks on his journey back to the place where he first came to know Jesus so many years ago.

Think how our churches would change if a hundred of us rediscovered the wonder of grace, prepared our sermons well as Bill does, and came to our preaching task with the energy, focus and passion he brings to his preaching. Listening to Bill again, I yearned to see that preaching fire back in our churches again—a fire that is indeed seeker sensitive! And that led directly to the next thought.

The Call For Better Preaching

Rob Harley spoke on The Communication Target after lunch—and I noted several things in his talk.

First, he made a strong plea for better preaching – noting the hard work Bill obviously puts into his preparation. Then he commented that many of the preachers present would lift their preaching greatly, if they put in the hard yards needed to get there, cutting out their wordiness and crafting messages where every word counts. Rob is right; many of us need to work much harder at putting our sermons in the best preaching shape (they’re not essays!) and crafting the words for maximum impact, learning how to speak persuasively from people like Martin Luther King.

Rob also touched on putting stories about people in our speaking. He told us about a leader of a large children’s work in South Auckland who’d tried to fire his leaders up for the coming year. So for 45minutes, he gave them all the Bible verses he could think of on commitment and wondered why they weren’t switched on! Then he spoke to Rob, who suggested a ‘people’ approach. The result? He used stories, especially one about a little ‘homeless’ girl down the road; that fired up the whole team to ‘super’ commitment! Martin Luther King used this device repeatedly—as in his famous Dream speech, with little black boys and girls joining hands with little white boys and girls as the Day of God comes.

We should do the same—getting away from the heavy matter-of-fact style we so often use, because when it comes to preaching, nothing persuades like people’s encounter with the people preachers feature in their preaching. I’ll expand on all this in a special Preaching Leadership Letter later in the year.

Servant Leadership Explained – At Last!

The other particularly striking feature of the Conference talks was Bill’s extended comment on servant leadership in the local church—and this was the best explanation I’ve seen or heard.

As he commented, there’s been huge interest in servant leadership for some time and it’s all the rage in the States at the moment. But few people have much idea of what servant leadership is. Some think it’s a wimpish, watered down version of leadership, which can lead to those being led running all over the leader. But although that happens fairly often here, it isn’t servant leadership.

Leaders exercise servant leadership when they move outside their planned schedule or normal activity—to face up to a special challenge. Jesus gave us the great example of servant leadership in John 13:1-17. The foot washer, who would normally wash the feet, hadn’t shown up, and the disciples didn’t volunteer to do it. So Jesus himself (vvs.4,14) washed the disciples’ feet. Normally, he wouldn’t have done the foot washing, but as a servant leader he stepped in to fill the gap.

Then Bill, whose primary responsibilities are leading and preaching, told us about the various servant leadership uniforms he’s used as senior pastor at Willow Creek.

1. Sometimes he’s put on a Fundraiser’s uniform, like in the disastrous situation in late 2003 when they had an $18 million shortfall to complete their new building—because of a massive economic downturn in Chicago that left them with 1500 people unemployed and many unable to keep the pledges they’d earlier made. Even Board members lost their homes.

So having worn that fundraiser’s uniform for 12 arduous months in the original campaign that brought in pledges for $80 million, Bill put on the uniform again, and after 10 torrid weeks, $18,400,000 was pledged and the building then completed. Putting that fundraiser’s uniform on again, was something he simply had to do as senior pastor. No one else could do it.

2. Sometimes he’s put on a Staff Recruiter’s uniform, like when John Ortberg and several others were leaving to go to other churches. Sometimes, as Bill said, we’re one key staff person or volunteer short, and although leaving the vacancy hurts the work, we tend to dither around hoping to stumble on the right person. But as Bill does, we as senior leaders should be strongly proactive in filling the vacancy—even though recruiting isn’t one of our main roles. As servant leaders, we take responsibility for finding the right person to fill the vacancy.

3. Sometimes he’s put on the painful Casualty Assistance Calls Officer’s uniform (the officers who tell families their son or daughter has been killed in battle)—because sweeping changes have meant a once viable position is no longer needed. So with all the changes around Willow, he had to go to the office of someone who’d served them well for 30 years; and it was the ‘longest’ walk he’s ever made. And although the person accepted another position and flourished in it, Bill had to initiate the change.

4. Sometimes he’s had to use the Punching Bag uniform (though strictly speaking, not a uniform)—like when they changed the Gen X meeting time. Shortly afterwards, when he went down to meet people after a service, a whole line of them got stuck into him, ‘YOU changed the …!’ He’s reluctantly realised that as senior leader he’s got to absorb the blows; and the best way of doing it is to say to angry people, ‘Just help me understand why the change is so much of a problem to you’ and the situation is often quickly defused. But as servant leader, he had to absorb the blows—no one else could.

5. And sometimes he’s had to put on the Cheerleader’s uniform (though he assured us he didn’t cross-dress!)—when church morale was low, and his own morale was too. But seeing he led the church, he was responsible for lifting congregational morale again, so he did it because he’s a servant leader.

Servant leadership doesn’t have anything to do with lying down and letting people run all over you. And it may have little to do with how you exercise your ministry on a routine, day-to-day basis. But it has everything to do with how you rise to the unexpected and unscheduled challenges that suddenly appear in the life of the group you lead. If you’re the senior leader of a church, or other group, you’re responsible for leading your people through challenges along the way. That is servant leadership!

Some Conference Reflections

Rod, you’ll see why the Conference blessed me so greatly—even though I wasn’t there!

The Conference reminded me of five great, related challenges we need to address in our churches – if we’re to win in the run through to 2010.First, we all need to recapture the power of the Acts 2 dream to spur us on to better things – our present laboured progress simply isn’t good enough for the Kingdom of God. Second, we all need to rediscover how ‘amazing’ grace is, as John Newton discovered generations ago—think what it would do for our preaching! Third, we all should put far more energy and passion into our speaking, as Bill does – especially as it all focuses on ‘Amazing grace’. Fourth, we all should lift our preaching hugely, putting people in our preaching and mastering how to persuade people with well-crafted sermons—theology on fire! Finally, we should all rise to the challenge of servant leadership, responding to the great moments in our church’s journey where we do as Jesus did, and Bill does—filling the gap that only we can fill.

Leading 21st Century Churches

When the story of the run through to 2010 is told, it will be the servant leadership aspect of our ministry most people remember—how we stood in the gap that only we could fill.

As they look back on the journey with us, they’ll say, ‘When we had an unexpected financial crisis, our pastor rose to the challenge and led us through the crisis. When we’d tried so hard to fill the staff/volunteer vacancy that held us back from God’s best for us, our pastor took responsibility for finding the right person—and the church has since made great progress. When we closed a ministry that wasn’t bearing fruit, so we could resource one that was, our pastor eased the leaders affected through their pain, and all are now happily involved in other ministries. When we shifted the main children’s focus from Friday nights to Sunday mornings when church meets, our pastor stepped up and absorbed the flak from angry parents and volunteers—and the children’s ministry is far stronger now.

And when we went through that building programme, and were so tired and frustrated with the endless delays, our pastor energised us so we at last completed it—and it’s been such a blessing to our church and community. Our pastor is a servant leader’.

Rod, leading a church today is an enormous challenge—but God’s grace is sufficient. You’ve made a great start to your ministry, and I hope these conference reflections help you have your best year yet.

Goodbye.
 
Gordon Miller
Church Growth & Development Consultant

For discussion at Leaders’ Meetings

• What steps should we now take to grow an Acts 2, community-impacting church?
• What should we as leaders now do to help our church rediscover the ‘amazingness’ of grace?
• What do we need to do to be more energised and passionate about the ministry God has given us?
• What steps will we take this year, as preachers, to lift our preaching to a new level of effectiveness?
• Had we known what we now know about servant leadership, what would we have done differently in 2004—and how will that now reshape our ministry in 2005 and beyond?

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