Mike's Blog

Missional Vs. Attractional

2012-02-03T11:40:00+00:00

In a previous post, I said that church is not a place you go to, it's a place you go from. Or better yet, I wrote, church is not a "place where" but a "people who." Let's think about that distinction some more.

When you read through the gospels, one thing you notice is the amount of time Jesus spent walking around. I'm thumbing through the book of Mark, for example, and I notice phrases like these:

"Jesus went into Galilee"
"Jesus got up, left the house and went off"
"Jesus again entered Capernaum"
"One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields"
"Jesus went up on a mountainside"
"Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre"

Like a tumbleweed, Jesus never stayed put. Yes, he would spend entire nights in prayer and take time out to recharge his batteries (because he was true man as well as true God). But his mission was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), and in order to do that he had to be out there where the lost lived, not holed up in the temple. And he called his disciples to follow him out there, not to withdraw into some safe holy place. He "sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:2). Later, he sent out seventy-two others to heal, preach, and prepare people for the arrival of the Savior (Luke 10:1-17). And before he ascended to heaven, Jesus told his followers that they would be his witnesses, not inside the synagogue but in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Jesus was a sent Savior. His followers are a sent people. His church is a sent body. Church is a place we go from, not to.

Another way of putting it is to say that the church is supposed to be missional, not merely attractional. And that's a concept that may be new to many of us. For years - no, decades - many of us thought the way to win people to Christ was to build the biggest, best, busiest church possible. "Build it and they will come," we said. So we planned activities and programs at the church, thinking they would draw the lost to us. We hired staff to create those programs, recruited volunteers to run those programs, and asked for more and more money to fund those programs, hoping they would attract the attention and involvement of the community. And we got busy, and big, and good at what we did, and...tired.

That approach may have worked for our parents or grandparents, but in most cities in America (including east Orlando) it's no longer a viable option. As a matter of fact, many non-Christians view the church with skepticism today precisely because Christians appear consumed with church activities, withdrawn from culture, uninterested in the real world, and isolated from the issues and problems of the community.

Lesslie Newbigin once said, "The church cannot accept as its role simply the winning of individuals to a kind of Christian discipleship which concerns only the private and domestic aspects of life...[Instead], it will be a community that does not live for itself but is deeply involved in the concerns of its neighborhood."

Here at UPC, we are trying to live out this ideal. It's not easy, and we're stumbling and falling at times, but I see signs everywhere that we get this. We understand that God has many people in this city (Acts 18:10), and that we belong out there, where they are. Of course we will continue to invite people to church. Of course we will have programs and activities that meet needs. But we will not rely on these things as a substitute for making friends of unbelievers, doing evangelism, practicing hospitality, giving to the poor, helping the needy, and improving our community. We will be very careful not to create new programs that consume more of our time and energy and make it impossible for us to be out there. And we will learn to say no to things - even good things! - that make life busy and complicated, so we can be more faithful to our sending Savior.

Our vision is a world made new by the gospel of grace, beginning with east Orlando. Let's follow Jesus as he goes out there to seek and to save that which is lost.

Thy Kingdom Come!

2012-01-26T15:35:22+00:00

How would you complete this sentence: "Imagine a future when ____________."

Perhaps you imagine a future when there are no more diapers to change, no more grass to mow, or no more losing seasons for the Jaguars. Maybe you imagine a future when you never again have to floss your teeth, go to the gym, listen to political speeches, hear about Casey Anthony, or get a colonoscopy. Would be nice, right?

Or if you're thinking a bit more spiritually, you probably imagine a future when nations coexist peacefully, roadside bombs are a thing of the past, marriage is a sacred institution, and every family in America lives in a home instead of on the street. Those are a few of my hopes for the future. What are yours?

When Jesus taught us to pray, he kept it very simple. He gave us a prayer consisting of just a few dozen words. We call it the Lord's Prayer. And in that prayer is this powerful phrase: "Thy kingdom come." The kingdom of God is his reign over all of life. Mark Driscoll, in his book Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe, puts it this way: "The kingdom of God is about Jesus our King establishing his rule and reign over all creation, defeating the human and angelic evil powers, bringing order to all, enacting justice, and being worshiped as Lord."

In other words, Jesus wants his will to be done on earth, just as it is now being done in heaven by the angels and saints in glory. So when you pray, "Father, I long for your kingdom to come," you are asking God to exert his rule and reign in the dark, ungodly places of the world. You are praying for abortion to cease, for Bibles to be distributed, for children to be discipled, for churches to grow, for unemployment to disappear, and for non-Christians around the world to be converted. And more.

It's important to remember that until Jesus comes back, we who follow him are supposed to be his kingdom ambassadors. Our King has temporarily left us in charge of his world. We are his vice-regents, his deputies. And that means that we are supposed to be investing our time, brains, money, and energy in the full-time job of introducing him to others by our words and deeds. The vision of UPC is a world made new by the gospel of grace, beginning with East Orlando. If you're a member of the UPC family, you have a dog in that fight. Your calling is to partner with God in his work of world renovation.

Question: How can you do that?

Answer: One way is to participate in UPC's Saturday of Service. It's coming up soon, on February 4. This is a church-wide event we started last year, and it's a core piece of our mission. It's a time for our entire church family to go out into our community and display God's reign over all of life.

At the Saturday of Service on February 4, we will disperse to four different places of need:

Christian HELP - a ministry to the unemployed headquartered in Casselberry
Community Food and Outreach - a ministry that gives a hand up to people trying to break free of poverty
University High School - a public school located a mile from UPC needing our help with clean-up and renovations
United Global Outreach - a non-profit trying to bring renewal, education, and gospel change to the neglected community of Bithlo

UPC family, I'm boldly asking you to free up half your Saturday on February 4 to serve at one of these sites. Meet at the church at 8:30 a.m. and go out to serve the King. Not only is it a great way to show the world the reality of Jesus' love. Not only is it a fun way for us to enjoy and get to know one another better. It's also a step forward for the Kingdom of God.

Mission Imperishable

2012-01-18T11:58:09+00:00

I'm going to say something that may cost me my job: "Don't go to church."

Now that I have your attention, what I should probably have said (if I want to keep my job) is "Don't JUST go to church."

Here's what I mean: Church is not a place you go to, it's a place you go from. Better yet, as someone else has put it, church is not a "place where" but a "people who." Our mission statement says it well: "UPC strives to be a community of grace that makes a difference in the lives of people in East Orlando and around the world by leading them to know God, grow together, and serve others." We are not a building, but a body. We are not about creating programs, but developing people. We are not here to merely fill seats, but to send disciples. Our destination is not 2562 Rouse Road, but the neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, marketplaces, institutions, people groups, and nations to which God sends us.

These distinctions are vitally important if UPC is going to be used of God to make all things new through the gospel.

I read about a recent survey in which a thousand people were asked why the church exists. Eighty-nine percent of them said something like this: "To take care of my needs and my family." Only 11% said the church exists to reach lost people.

That's a problem! The church's fundamental identity is that of being a sent community. Jesus says to us the same thing he said to his disciples: "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you" (John 20:21). UPC exists not as a dispenser of goods and services to the congregation, but as a sender of well-equipped disciples into the community and throughout the world.

Last weekend the Session had a retreat where we talked about these things. Our speaker on Saturday morning, Ralph Enlow, reminded us that church happens outside our walls. We come to church to be equipped to go be the church. And as your senior pastor, I must say this mindset shift is a difficult one. We must fight hard to have an external focus, and resist the seemingly inevitable slide toward an internal, program-driven, me-centered focus.

The implications of this shift of thinking are huge. It raises questions like:

How can UPC free you up to serve where God is calling you, rather than burden you down with responsibilities and activities that keep you inside our walls?
How can the worship service include time for celebrating what God is doing in your particular mission field and through your unique gifting?
What is the best context for educating the congregation - classes? seminars? sermons? online courses? Life Groups? Q & A sessions after worship?
What do you need most in order to be equipped to share your faith with lost people? And how can UPC best deliver that to you?
How should we measure the growth of UPC? If it's not just numbers, what are the yardsticks that will tell us how we're doing?
How might our Life Groups be not only caring communities but also missional communities?
What will UPC's unique place in God's rescue plan for East Orlando look like in the years to come?
How can we share our amazing facilities with our community, so that UPC becomes a thoroughfare, not a fortress?

I invite you to wrestle with these and other questions, pray, study the Word, and talk with each other about these matters. It's an exciting time to be the church! God is opening doors of opportunity for the gospel all around us. May UPC be faithfully sending disciples through these doors and into the world until Christ returns.

Prayer for the New Year

2012-01-02T15:30:06+00:00

Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) is one of my heroes. If for no other reason, I just love his name. But more than that, Zinzendorf was a German evangelical reformer and bishop of the Moravian church. He founded Herrnhut, a Moravian village that became a center of Christian renewal and mission. Zinzendorf himself was a missionary. He traveled to America, the West Indies, Switzerland, Holland, England, and Livonia with the gospel.

But another contribution Zinzendorf made to the kingdom of God was writing some great hymns. My favorite is "Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness." Another is "Jesus, Still Lead On." This one makes a very good prayer as we turn the calendar to 2012. Here is an 1846 translation by Jane Borthwick:

Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
And although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless,
Guide us by Thy hand
To our fatherland.

If the way be drear,
If the foe be near,
Let not faithless fears o'ertake us,
Let not faith and hope forsake us;
For through many a foe
To our home we go.

When we seek relief
From a long-felt grief,
When temptations come alluring,
Make us patient and enduring;
Show us that bright shore
Where we weep no more.

Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
Heavenly Leader, still direct us,
Still support, console, protect us,
Till we safely stand
In our fatherland.

Have a Resolution-less New Year

2011-12-20T20:09:55+00:00

It's customary to start a new year out with resolutions. We resolve to eat less, exercise better, pray more, read our Bibles with greater regularity, drink less Diet Coke, and all sorts of other things. The standard joke is that such resolutions stay with us a few weeks, maybe a couple months if we're lucky, and then fall by the wayside. Why is that? It's because most resolutions to change behavior just don't go deeply enough into the motives behind our behavior. Another way of putting it is that resolutions typically address the sin but not the sin beneath the sin. Human beings live from the inside out. Behavior change starts with heart change, and most New Year resolutions simply don't touch the heart.

So here's a thought: Let's start 2012 not with resolution but with repentance.

Repentance is different from resolution. Repentance is not so much a change of behavior as it is a change of direction. Repentance is not so much a decision to "do better" as it is a deep, shocking realization of why we don't want to do better.

C. S. Lewis put it well in Mere Christianity: "Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor - that is the only way out of a 'hole.' This process of surrender - this movement full speed astern - is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death."

Lewis is saying that it's relatively easy to change behavior, especially for people who are pretty self-disciplined anyway. We can teach ourselves a few new tricks. We can develop new habits if we try hard enough. But the funny thing is, we may develop new habits and find out that we're farther away from God than we were before. God is not really calling us to pray more, as though the mere outward act of prayer is what he's after. He's calling us to be less self-reliant and more dependent on him - and that's potentially very different from simply chalking up more hours in prayer. It's the heart that God is pursuing. He doesn't so much want my time as he wants ME. He doesn't so much want my money as he wants ME. And so on.

I'm not knocking all New Year Resolutions. But I'm saying that far more potent, far more transformational, and far more dangerous, is repentance. Lay down your arms. Identify the ways you avoid God and his people. Ask a trusted friend to tell you what he or she sees in you that is less than godly. Name people in your life for whom you have contempt. Name your idols. Identify ways you hide your true self from others. These are the kind of steps we should take throughout 2012 to practice repentance. It's "a kind of death," as Lewis says. But it leads to life.

Report on the Japan Mission Trip

2011-11-18T13:00:48+00:00

The UPC mission trip to Japan was all of the following: demanding...exhilarating...fun...hard...educational...bonding...challenging...unpredictable...tiring...and more!

Nine of us from UPC flew to Japan on Friday, November 4, and returned late Sunday, November 13. We assisted with the bi-annual Japan Church Planting Institute, which drew around 400 missionaries, pastors, and church planters from all around the world serving in Japan. Our main task was providing a program for their children so they were free to attend conference sessions and training modules. JCPI's mission is to encourage these workers who face daunting challenges. Japan is only about .22% Christian. Church planting is slow and arduous. Japan's highly secular mindset, combined with the prevalence of Buddhism and Shintoism, means that missionaries must invest years into building relationships and gaining trust before they begin to see the fruit of their labors. This year's conference was particularly important to the missionaries because of the impact of the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year, which the Japanese call simply "3-11."

Besides working the children's program, our team took responsibility for setting up classrooms and the main meeting area, leading small groups, moving equipment, assisting with registration and administrative tasks, and helping with various technical and communication aspects of the conference. We went to Japan with roughly 21 volunteers from other US churches. A special group of MKs also joined us over there and were valuable help with the children.

A special part of the trip for me and four others from UPC was visiting Ishinomaki - a city heavily damaged by the March tsunami. We spent a morning there cleaning up around a damaged home, assisting with feeding and entertaining members of the community, getting to know some other volunteers from various parts of the world, and seeing first-hand what the tsunami had done. I was speechless at times. The destruction was that profound. 20,000 people in and around Ishinomaki lost their lives. Thousands more were injured, displaced, and had to start anew.

The most memorable aspect of the trip for me was getting to know some of the missionaries who give their lives everyday to see Christ exalted in Japan. I led a small group made up of missionaries from Germany, Singapore, and the US. I also met with dozens of missionaries who work with our denomination's sending agency, Mission to the World. I was encouraged to hear about the progress of the gospel in Japan through MTW. I learned that in 1955, there were but 30 worshipers in three churches in the Japanese Presbyterian Church. Today there are over 2,450 worshipers in 60 such churches. MTW has established six presbyteries and has five teams working in Japan. A new presbytery is being created in the north part of Japan. The goal of our MTW missionaries is to plant churches that plant churches. They build relationships with the Japanese through music concerts (especially black gospel!), doing seasonal outreaches (recently they held a big Thanksgiving dinner), providing children's programs, teaching English, doing disaster relief, and assisting indigenous churches in any way they can. MTW has also established a seminary. It currently has nine students preparing for gospel ministry.

But we have a long way to go. Japan is a nation of 127 million people. Tokyo is the world's largest metropolitan area. Though a world economic leader, Japan is spiritually dark. While 20,000 Japanese were killed by the 2011 tsunami, over 30,000 Japanese kill themselves every year. There is one suicide in Japan nearly every 15 minutes. There are only 8,000 Protestant churches in Japan...and only a portion of them are gospel-centered. Even if you include those churches that are not gospel-centered, there is only one church per 16,200 Japanese. In Toyosu, where our missionaries Jon and Sarah Pfeil live, there is NO church for 126,000 people. In Shin-Urayasu, where Robert and Lisa Stewart now live, there is NO church for 40,000 people. I was saddened to hear that the number of missionaries serving in Japan is actually on the decline.

What can we at UPC do to see Japan made new by the gospel? We can PRAY, GIVE, and GO. Pray for our missionaries who face rising costs, constant spiritual warfare, and unreceptive hearts. Give generously: the dollar is fast losing value against the Japanese yen. And go to Japan. Perhaps God is calling you to leave the US and live in Japan. Perhaps you should go to seminary and be equipped as a missionary to Japan. Perhaps God wants you on our next mission trip to Japan.

I would love to see us plan another UPC trip to Japan in 2012. Stay tuned.

Countdown to Japan

2011-10-31T11:03:37+00:00

Imagine a place where there is a suicide every 15 minutes...where a recent tsunami took 25,000 lives...where fewer than one-quarter of one percent of its citizens are Christians...and where the average church has 20 members. Now imagine you're trying to plant a church in this place. You are discouraged, lonely, strapped for cash, and wondering if you're making any difference at all.

That place is Japan.

Nine people from UPC, along with 21 others from the US, will fly to Japan this Friday, November 4, to provide leadership for the Japan Church Planting Institute (JCPI), which takes place the following Tuesday through Friday, November 8-11. Our assignment is to provide a children's program and other forms of technical, logistical, and admin support for the Institute. Several of us will also spend a day (November 12) distributing supplies to people impacted by the earthquake and tsunami.

If you don't know abut JCPI, go here to learn the details. It's a conference that happens every two years to encourage and renew the spirits of hundreds of church planters and missionaries from all over the world serving in Japan.

There are two ways you can lend support to our team. One is by donating cash. It's not a cheap trip: roughly $2900 per person. Funds are still needed by some of our team members. If you'd like to donate money toward the trip, write your check to UPC and drop it off at the church or mail it to us at 2562 Rouse Road, Orlando FL 32817.

We also need a team of people to pray for us while we're in Japan. Here are some things about which to pray:

Pray for cheerful flexibility and endurance for the team as we serve the children of JCPI. Thirty US volunteers will be in charge of over 104 children ranging in age from birth to Grade 6. We will be the smallest team ever to work with so many. Our days will start early and end late. We will be in small rooms in the basement of a hotel. Some of the kids have traveled with their families from faraway points in Japan. They will miss their parents during the long days of the conference. We will desperately need God's grace to serve with love and excellence.
Pray for creativity. We will be using the same material we used with our own kids this summer at Vacation Bible School. The difference is, we're going somewhat blind concerning the facility, supplies we have to draw from, and what to expect from the weather, the mood of the children, etc. We will need to make some quick decisions once we arrive on the ground.
Pray for Ruthie Delk, leader of the children's program; and Goldie Anderson, our US team leader.
Pray for unity and love among our team members.
Pray for me. I will be giving daily devotions to the team, teaching Bible lessons to the children, leading singing, and a number of other things I'll find out about when I get there! Also I will preach in Japanese churches on the two Sundays we will be in Japan. Please pray that God's Word will overcome the language and cultural barriers and that I'll be peaceful and restful about my responsibilities.
Pray for those of us who will be serving the tsunami and earthquake-damaged area of Japan on Saturday, November 12.
Finally, please pray that our experience in Japan will be a blessing to UPC when we get back home. We will share pictures and stories. Our hope is that UPC's involvement in Japan will grow year by year.

Come to the Fifth Sunday Summit

2011-10-28T23:58:05+00:00

Whenever there's a fifth Sunday in the month, we call a meeting to make sure we're all on the same page. It's this Sunday at 6:00 p.m. in the Worship Center. You'll hear a review of our vision, mission, and objectives. Some of our leaders will get up and talk about their ministries. You'll hear about where we are financially. People will share testimonies of how God has been at work at UPC. And we'll spend some time praying together for one another and for the church.

There's a lot going on at UPC, particularly with the holidays approaching. So don't miss this meeting, especially if you're one of our leaders. Everyone's welcome and encouraged to attend.

Let’s Love Our City on October 22

2011-10-05T14:34:57+00:00

On October 22 we're going to have our first Saturday of Service. You may recall that in August we celebrated a Sunday of Service. Well, we're at it again, only this time we've chosen a Saturday for the event. Our goal is to have a Saturday of Service on roughly a quarterly basis.

The plan is to meet at the church at 8:30 on Saturday morning, October 22. After a quick prayer, we'll split up into teams and each team will drive to a work site. We've lined up several options, including the True Life Choice Pregnancy Center, Habitat for Humanity's warehouse, homes in the Bithlo community, and more. One of the sites - Community Food Outreach - welcomes families with kids of all ages. The others require workers to be at least of middle school age.

Why are we serving our city? Consider these reasons:

Because God calls us to! He is making all things new through the gospel of grace - spiritually, socially, economically, and culturally. And he uses his people to do it.
The cross beckons us to do more than just go to church on Sunday morning. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." When you serve others, you are denying yourself, carrying your cross, and following Jesus.
One of the imperatives of the Christian life is to love our neighbors as ourselves, to care about them and help meet their needs. Our Saturdays of Service will make a difference to people who need visible, tangible manifestations of the love of God.
People today are generally skeptical of the institutional church. They have seen the church at its worst and concluded that we have nothing positive to contribute to society. Our Saturdays of Service may not make any converts right away, but hopefully - over time - they will show people that we are more than just talk. We love our community because God has loved us through his Son.
God's promise to Abraham was not only that he would be blessed but that he would be a blessing to "all peoples on earth." Joining together in a Saturday of Service is a simple, effective way for us at UPC to be a blessing to the people of East Orlando.

I hope you'll plan to be here on Saturday, October 22, at 8:30 a.m. so that as a church we can love our neighbors in East Orlando.

The UPC Vision

2011-09-23T13:35:25+00:00

UPC now has a new vision statement. I shared it with the church family on Vision Sunday, September 18. I hope you'll memorize it, tell it to others, and order your life around it.

Here it is: "Our vision is a world made new by the gospel of grace, beginning with East Orlando."

Let's break that down a little more.

We envision a world made new spiritually: We dream of thousands of healthy, reproducing followers of Jesus living out of the gospel and winning their neighborhood, workplace, and campus for Christ.
We envision a world made new socially: We dream of families that are happy, unified, loving, and committed to rearing the next generation for the glory of God and the good of all peoples.
We envision a world made new economically: We dream of poverty and unemployment being replaced with hope, opportunity, and productive living.
We envision a world made new culturally: We dream of cities penetrated by believers with a Biblical worldview bringing all of culture under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

I said this this is "our" vision. But in actuality, it's God's vision. The Bible makes it plain that God is all about the renovation of the earth and the restoration of all things. The fall of Adam brought sin, death, misery, and brokenness into the world. But the Bible tells the story of a Redeemer who came not only to forgive sins and reconcile human beings to God, but to crush the head of Satan and make all things new (Genesis 3:15, Revelation 21:5). Jesus is putting things back the way they were supposed to be - in fact, better than they ever were. At the outset of his earthly ministry Jesus announced that the Kingdom, or reign of God, had arrived (Luke 4:43). He calls his followers to join him as he continues to build his Kingdom and prepares for his return (Matthew 16:18, 28:19-20).

It's important to remind ourselves that we are God's servants. It's his vision for the world that matters. We are here to offer our bodies as living sacrifices in his service. Sometimes I wince when I hear people say, "This is my vision, and I'm asking God to bless it." I think of that story in Joshua 5:13-15, where Joshua meets the Angel of the Lord (that is, the preincarnate Christ). Joshua is getting ready to lead the people of Israel into battle with Jericho when he comes upon a man holding a drawn sword. Not recognizing the stranger, and thinking that he was an ordinary soldier, Joshua asked him a very natural question: "Are you for us or for our enemies?" In other words, "Whose side are you on?" The stranger answered Joshua, "Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." Instantly Joshua knew this was no ordinary human being, but God himself. Joshua fell down in reverence and said, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?"

We need to learn the lesson that Joshua learned that day on the plains of Jericho. It is the height of arrogance to expect God to be on our side and bless our agendas. We are unworthy servants. Our calling is to find out what God's agenda is and get on his side!

Thankfully, Jesus has made his agenda very clear to his people. He is making all things new: spiritually, socially, economically, and culturally. UPC exists to offer Jesus our time, gifts, resources, creativity, energy - our very lives - to serve his agenda. If Jesus chooses to use us in his program of Kingdom building, we will be humbly grateful.

In the weeks and months to come, I will share in more detail the ways we intend to join Jesus in his work. If there's one thing I ask right now, it is that you bathe UPC in PRAYER, that we will respond fully and faithfully to Jesus' call to be about his business.