Missional Business

For some time now, I've been intrigued by the idea of participating in a "missional business." This is a for-profit enterprise that incorporates one or more of the following characteristics:

• Providing opportunity to connect with people for kingdom purposes
  
• Using a portion of the profits to support missional projects
  
• Providing employment for individuals who may be otherwise unemployable
  
• Training employees for jobs in the larger market
  
• Providing financial support for the owners to do mission work or other ministry (in addition to the ministry done directly through the business)
  
• Bringing economic stability to impoverished areas
  
• Providing a product or service to improve people's lives (in the name of Christ)
  

I'm sure that there are several other things innovative entrepreneurs are doing in the context of a for-profit business model.

Here are some examples:

• Coffee Ambassadors
  
• Remote Link
  
• Just Food
  
• Freeset
  
• The Well
  

I have discovered an opportunity that many of you might wish to take advantage of to create your own missional business. By downloading this free report you can find out how you could use your skill and knowledge to make a difference in a for-profit setting. I have enrolled in this program myself. The guys who run it are focused on helping their subscribers make money, but their business model depends on providing real value to the end users. It doesn't require much imagination to adapt this excellent training for setting up your own missional business.

In addition, stay home parents or people in bivocational ministry could use this missional business as a means of financial support while also doing good.

If you sign up for the training (after reading the free report) using a link from my site, I will get a referral fee. But this is not multi-level marketing. It has nothing to do with multi-level marketing. Read the report and it will all make sense. There is no obligation. Even if you decide not to sign up for the training (on how to set up your online teaching program) you can use the information to do it yourself.

This is not about selling overpriced t-shirts or mouse pads in an online store. This is about serious teaching and education. It is driven by providing people with something of substantial value that they are glad to pay for.

Remember, the Teaching Sells program itself is about helping people to make money using the Internet as a delivery mechanism for teaching and training. The missional business angle is my own suggestion. I am convinced that the for-profit model avoids a lot of problems inherent in the not-for-profit mindset. But even if you decided to provide the online service for free, the Teaching Sells training will save you a lot of time and money getting things set up.

I will be providing details of the particular missional business I am establishing along with information about learning theory as it applies to this context.

Seriously, this training could be an answer to prayer for many of you.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Shiny Happy People

In 1991, REM released the song, "Shiny Happy People":

Everyone around / Love them, love them
Put it in your hands / Take it, take it
There's no time to cry / Happy, happy
Put it in your heart / Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine.
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing.

While the song was a parody of a Chinese propaganda poster, it could well have been a satire of North-American Christianity.

It seems that we are obsessed with celebrity, wealth, power, attractiveness and success.

Even our counter-culture movements within the faith have their own celebrities.

Michael Spencer tells the story of a co-worker who certainly would not fit most people's image of the beautiful people.

One arm barely works. One eye is non-functional. One leg is almost immobile. He's deaf in one ear. One side of his head is terribly scarred. He's a soft-spoken, gentle man, but obviously life has not been gentle with him.

Yet this man is a spiritual giant.

Standing in front of our students, saying again and again that God is good. His suffering and loss can't be measured, but his faith has grown every step of the way. In his gentle, Minnesota accent, he says over and over, "God is good. I'm so thankful."

Jesus did not hang out with the popular folks. He spent his time with the outcasts, the untouchables. And those are the very ones that he built his church on.

So today, we spend our time trying to convince others that we are Somebody.

We spend money on our vanity, while others are starving.

We pour billions of dollars into entertainment to stave off boredom, while God is calling for people to participate in the greatest drama in the universe.

And we pastors are the worst offenders.

We've neglected the call to discipleship and self-denial and replaced it with the promise of a "happy life"—mostly because that is the dream that we are chasing.

God forgive us.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Not Safe for Worship

By now everyone knows that "not safe for work" means that media contain images or language that could get you fired if opened at work. Typically, that means items that are sexually explicit or that contain profanity.

Of course, this implies a dichotomy between "work life" and "private life."

Most people have also divided their lives into completely separate "sacred" and "secular" parts.

The "sacred" part involved "spiritual" stuff, which may include going to church on Sundays or saying prayers.

The "secular" part takes in everything else.

I had an experience just the other day that reminded me just how thick most people have made the wall between their "sacred" lives and their "secular" lives.

I was talking with a 40-year-old woman and her mother about the music they wanted to play at her (the daughter's) wedding. She said, "I was thinking about using this song I really like, but when I listened to it I realized that it was not appropriate for church."

I asked what the song was.

She said that it was "Imagine" by John Lennon.

I raised my eyebrows to say, "I'd reckon not." Then I tried to explain that the problem with the song was not that it was "inappropriate for church" but that it promoted a view of reality that was a complete contradiction of Christianity.

I didn't belabor the point and obviously didn't make my point clear.

She ended the short discussion with, "I really like the song, but it's not appropriate for church."

This is the kind of nonsense we end up with when we slice reality into two distinct parts.

This is the point the Apostle Paul was making when he said, "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

If it is not safe for worship, it is not safe—full stop.

• It's not enough that we try to practice Christian principles in our business. We must see our work life as part of our worship.
  
• It's not enough that we try to be good sports in our recreation. We must see our play as bringing honor to God.
  
• It's not enough that we try to avoid road rage. We must think of driving as an act of worship.
  

This reminds me of another shocking statement I heard this week. The president of a community organization that exists to promote good character said that she was reluctant to install a license plate holder endorsing the organization, because she was afraid that her driving might not be consistent with the ideals of "good character."

I used to be that way about identifying myself as a Christian driver.

But if we are going to be true followers of Jesus Christ, we must be serious about it when we are driving, when we are relaxing, and when we are listening to music.

There is no part of our lives disconnected from our worship.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Not Everyone Should Talk about God

In today's world everyone seems to have his or her own idea of what God is like. Everyone is suddenly an expert in theology. People say, "The God I believe in would never do that."

The problem is that most of these people have no idea what they're talking about.

It would be like me giving my opinion about the proper way to do a heart by-pass operation. At best, no one would pay attention. At worst, someone could get hurt and even die.

Chris Bounds has an excellent article summarizing some of the thought of Gregory Nazianzus.

Here's the condensed version.

• Not everyone should philosophize about God.
  
• This should be limited to those who have been prepared intellectually.
  
• It should also be limited to those who are living a holy life or pursuing it.
  
• It should be restricted to those who can handle "holy things in a holy manner."
  
• Theological discussion should be limited to situations when there is time to do it justice.
  

He also has some things to say about the appropriate audience and the appropriate topics for theological discussion.

So what do you think? If he is right, does that mean that we should shut down 98% of the theology blogs?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Pastor, It’s Not About You

Sometimes as pastors we get the idea that everything depends upon us.

William Martin has written an excellent book, The Art of Pastoring: Contemplative Reflections, to disabuse us of this notion.

If you are a pastor, or know one, you need to read this little paperback. It only has 81 pages. And some of those have considerable white space. But this book is crammed full of wisdom.

Here are a few quotations:

A wise pastor does not inspire the people with grand visions for the visions will become idols. A prudent minister will not call attention to achievement for that will separate the people into "achievers" and "non-achievers."

You are not a pastor so that you can give birth to your own dreams.

Live modestly. Keep your thinking serene and simple. Bestow grace upon yourself and others. Never try to control your congregation. In your vocation, do that which you most enjoy.

Take a long, prayerful, meditative look at your calendar. Who are you trying to impress? God? Give me a break. The congregation? Possibly. Yourself? Bingo!

When your congregation despises you, it is a great sorrow. When your congregation holds you in awe, it seems somewhat better. When your congregation praises you far and wide, it seems even better still. But when your congregation hardly notices that you exist, you have become a pastor.

If you want to bring health to your people, show that you are wounded. If you want them to do what is right, show that you have done wrong. If you want them to be filled with God, show that you are empty. If you want them to have life abundant, show them how to die.

How blessed are the countless thousands of little congregations who quietly go about the business of giving their modest gift to the world. For the souls of those pastors whose congregations are large and powerful, we pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.

There are powerful illusions that hinder the working of the Word through a pastor:
The illusion that there is something to achieve.
The Illusion that there is something to lose.
The illusion that there is something to do.

How would you pastor if you could not speak? How would you love the parish if you were immobilized in bed? If you can answer these questions, you know the truth of your calling.

For all your belief in the grace of God, you seldom apply it to yourself.

Perhaps the greatest spiritual temptation facing a pastor is the pressure to provide "leadership."

You are not a professional religious person. You are a soul, naked before God like all other souls. Let go.

A congregation does not exist to fulfill the needs of its pastor. You are not the dreamer of your people's dreams, nor are they the characters in your life's play.

Do yourself a favor and click the link to Amazon. Buy a copy of this book and study it.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

It’s the Gospel, Stupid!

When Bill Clinton ran for President, James Carville made a sign for the campaign office to keep everyone "on message." It had three points, the second of which was

The economy, stupid.

I suspect that we need such a sign in our churches.

We spend too much time and energy trying to convince people

• that the Bible is inerrant
  
• that miracles are possible
  
• that evolution is impossible because it violates the second law of thermodynamics
  

Instead we need to be reminded that

It's the gospel, stupid!

This is the only real argument the church has.

The proper form of apologetics is the preaching of the gospel itself and the demonstration—which is not merely or primarily a matter of words—that it does provide the best foundation for a way of grasping and dealing with the mystery of our existence in this universe.
Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence, p. 94

We must keep the focus on the Good News.

And this should not be confused with systematic theology. Theology is important, but the gospel is primary.

We talk too much about

• immutability
  
• soteriology
  
• eschatology
  
• theories of the atonement
  

That is not to say that these issues are unimportant. But compared to the gospel itself, they are simply "details."

And don't fall into the trap of thinking that "the gospel" is about

• Four spiritual laws
  
• A few quotations from Paul' s Letter to the Romans
  
• Getting signed up for heaven
  

The gospel is the announcement of a new reality.

The business of the church is to tell and to embody a story, the story of God's mighty acts in creation and redemption and of God's promises concerning what will be in the end. The church affirms the truth of this story by celebrating it, interpreting it, and enacting it in the life of the contemporary world. It has no other way of affirming its truth. If it supposes that its truth can be authenticated by reference to some allegedly more reliable truth claim, such as those offered by the philosophy of religion, then it has implicitly denied the truth by which it lives.
Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence, p. 76

And the only effective way to convince people of the truth of this new reality is to live it.

It is only as we are truly "indwelling" the gospel story, only as we are so deeply involved in the life of the community which is shaped by this story that it becomes our real "plausibility structure," that we are able steadily and confidently to live in this attitude of eager hope. Almost everything in the "plausibility structure" which is the habitation of our society seems to contradict this Christian hope. Everything suggests that it is absurd to believe that the true authority over all things is represented in a crucified man. No amount of brilliant argument can make it sound reasonable to the inhabitants of the reigning plausibility structure. That is why I am suggesting that the only possible hermeneutic of the gospel is a congregation which believes it.
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 232

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"