Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, ...

Matthew 28:19 (a)

Volume 14, Episode VIII

August 2013

Mark 16:15 (b) ... Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. PRAISE: For Gods faithfulness and goodness during these hot summer days. For Holy Spirits inspiration to WRITE and to PREACH the Word of God. PRAY:
For NEW provi-

A Closer look at the Great Commission (III)

MATURE DISCIPLES NOT BETTER PROGRAMS:
It seems that in the past three to four decades, the priority of the Christian leaders have shifted from spiritual growth via discipleship to creating better programs. By doing this the emphasis moved from the inside transformation of church members to the outside show put together by the church. This situation has made the discipleship vision stated so clearly in the Great Commission to become the elephant of the local church. In most local churches, the best efforts, energies, and budgets are invested not in the genuine spiritual transformation inside of Gods children, but in creating the best programs for Sunday morning church service. Winfield Bevins in his essay The Discipleship Challenge writes, There is a lack of biblical discipleship in the North American church. Dallas Willard calls it, Non-discipleship the elephant of the church. (http://www.acts29network.org/. Accessed on April 25, 2010). We shall see if the local churches and its leaders will continue to maintain the same statistics or will radically change the course of action. As I mentioned earlier, Rick Knoth, managing editor of Enrichment Journal, visited with McNeal to discuss insights from The Present Future and Missional Renaissance as they relate to church revitalization and transformation. Knoth asked McNeal, You state that church leaders are asking the wrong questions to solve todays church problems. What should they be asking? McNeal responded: Church leaders are asking: . . . How can we get people to come to church? He continues, To me the most important questions are: . . . How can we create better followers of Jesus rather than thinking about simply creating better churches ? How can we have better communities rather than simply creating better churches? ... We have shrink-wrapped our notion of what God is doing in the world by assessing the health of the gathering. Did the worship go well? How many showed up? Did the choir get their stuff done? Did the band do well? Was the PowerPoint good? Was the sermon good? We act as if these things have an impact on the health of the Kingdom and Gods activity in the world. (http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/. Accessed on April 29, 2013). I believe that the aspects raised by McNeal are typical of most local churches. Most churches measure success using the ABC formula: A Attendance, B Building, and C Cash. Please, I beg you, do not misunderstand me. We need people to attend our churches; we need buildings to conduct our meetings; and we need cash to support our churches and ministries, but our ABC based-success is alive and well in the United States if we can bring ourselves to use the words alive and well. Its safe to say that a large majority of Protestant congregations have made attendance, building, and cash as opposed to Christs Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 to be and to make disciplestheir organizational bottom line. Programs are poor substitutes for vision, and completely unacceptable as any Christian groups reason for existence. A second standard feature of the ABC church is the tendency to rely on hard work as the way to go forward. If the program isnt producing, well step up our efforts. If the goals arent being reached, our leaders will simply have to keep a few more balls in the air. ABC churches, in summary, are more preoccupied with: (i) structural issues than with spiritual vitality; (ii) tend to seek programmatic solutions to problems; (iii) rely on the gifts, energy, and over functioning of one or just a few key leaders; (iv) value an environment of command and control

sions necessary for URFM in 2013. For NEW students/disciples to enroll into the ADT in 2013. For deep awakening regarding the Great Commission. Amen! Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

WWW.URFM.ORG, (734) 972-5717, valy@urfm.org

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VOLUME 14, EPISODE VIII

more than giving permission; (v) and expect little more than compliance from church attenders instead of world-changing personal transformation. (Adapted from: Glenn McDonald, The Disciple Making Church: From Dry Bones to Vitality, pp. 4, 5, 6, 13.) In my opinion, these types of observations should give us all plenty of food for thought. David Platt writes, Imagine your church. Dont picture the building, or parking lot, and dont envision the activities and programs. Just the people. Weather there are fifty, one hundred, five hundred, or five thousand of them, simply imagine the people who comprises your church. So if you had nothing but the people no buildings, no programs, no staff, and no activities and you were in charge with spreading the gospel to the whole world, where would you begin? Would you get the best speaker, the greatest musicians, and the most talented staff in order to organize the presentations and programs that appeal to your families and your children? Would you devote your resources to what is most comfortable, most entertaining, and most pleasing to you? I dont think your church would do these things and neither would mine. Not if we totally believe Gods Word and we were honestly looking at Gods world. (Follow Me: A Call to Die, A Call to Live, p. 176. Greg Hawkins, one of Hybels senior assistant pastors, became aware that the effectiveness of the church service was wanting, and that Willow Creek Community Church [Willow] had become more of the place to be than a place to follow Christ. He approached Hybels (Willows Senior Pastor) and asked for funds to conduct an in depth study of membership to determine: (a) their state of maturity, (b) their satisfaction with teaching and programs, and (c) their feelings about their church journey in general. The study was based on more than 11,000 individuals who completed the survey from Willow Creek and six additional churches of various sizes from different geographical locations. This research totaled 2.6 million points of data. I read somewhere that Hybels said this was, The biggest wake-up call of my life and the worst day of my life. In the summer of 2007, Willow published the results of that self-study under the title: Reveal: Where Are You? The report's front cover says that readers will learn surprising research findings that rocked Willow. The findings are absolutely astonishing! The results indicated: 1. Involvement in externally and internally focused church programs didnt necessarily translate into spiritual growth (p. DONATE ONLINE 33). 2. Spiritual growth is all about increasing relational closeness to Christ. [ Using Visa or PayPal ] Why is this? Very simple: Because God wired us first and foremost to be in a growing relationship with Him not with the church (p. 39). 3. More than Go to www.urfm.org 25 percent of those surveyed described themselves as spiritually stalled or Click << DONATE >> dissatisfied with the role of the church in their spiritual growth. ( This should make every pastor and church leader think deeply about what type of spirituality they proFill out your information mote.)

There was much more information that surfaced, but the interesting aspects were as follows: (i) Far too much emphasis was put upon church involvement, and far too little on encouraging personal growth through a personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ. (Does this sound familiar in your church too?) (ii) The church spends far too much time catering to seekers with their teaching and programs, what they called the spiritual equivalent of diaperchanging, while letting spiritual adolescents fend for themselves (p. 55). (iii) We have been wrong. We need to URFM offers Advanced Discipleship Training rethink the coaching we give you as (ADT) over the INTERNET. Any person, anyyou pursue your spiritual growth (Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, where in the world, can benefit from this REVEAL: Where are You? pp. 64, 65). Conclusion : We should give ENROLL into ADT for MODULE IV (which will Hybels credit for he was sincere and indicated that the emphasis on programs start in September 2013). and meetings did not produce disciples. Of course, the study does not address the enormous need for spiritual growth in all churches. However, Willow displayed a lot of humility to undertake a self-study and genuine vulnerability to publicize the results. Still, this is provoking us all to think more deeply about what it means to be the church. It is admirable that Hybels admitted that while they have spruced up the worship, spiked up the sermons, and become great at organization at the same time they were failing to produce disciples. The real question is: Would there be more congregations with such passion and humility? Would the church in America wake up to Anticipated Thanks!!! for your support for the Mission Christs original vision Go therefore Trip in Europe this coming FALL. God bless you ALL!!! and make disciples? (Valy Vaduva, Lack of Spiritual Maturity among Christians, (MSFL Spiritual Formation Research Program Paper, Spring Arbor University), 2011.) I pray that the Church would, indeed, wake up to the Great Commission and its implications for the twenty first century. (To be continued . . .) PS: As I said it last time, I choose to believe that With LOVE in Christs Service, you will continue your financial support to URFM for the Great Commissionto make disciples, so we Valy Vaduva can fulfill the destiny God called us to accomplish. Spiritual Mentor Thank you very much!!! God bless you all!!!

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