Lessons From the EastSample

Necessary Change

As I’ve traveled around the world, I’ve been to churches that were birthed in this kind of discipleship. They’re amazing and attractive! Our church is trying to make the change. We’ve seen progress, but it’s hard and awkward. In his book The Change Agent, Lyle Schaller has said that change can happen in one of three ways: revolutions, but they’re too bloody; reformation, but it takes too long; or innovation, which unleashes creativity. This kind of change, though, starts with the shepherd because the sheep don’t have a vision for discipleship, they feel threatened by change, and they’re perfectly comfortable with fellowship instead of discipleship.

American churches that adopt a strategy of disciple-making cells may not immediately grow, and in fact, they may shrink for a while. To a significant degree, the energy and resources shift from producing excellence on Sunday mornings to producing excellence in the life of cells. A lot of people who are only consumer Christians won’t want to participate in the new mission. They either leave in a huff or slowly drift away. But those who catch the vision and heart of radical disciple-making, even if it’s only a few, will make a difference in their community, experience more spiritual life in the group than they ever imagined, and multiply themselves as their neighbors and co-workers come to Christ and become disciples. I’ve learned the principle that you can’t let growth continue without periodic pruning—and pruning is always painful.

As Northwood has developed a heart for the world, our new vision enabled us to see the world all around us. We began to reach out to the Muslims in our area. We were bold and fearless. Wouldn't that produce growth? You might think so, but we lost people. However, we’ve seen a tremendous benefit: it’s not unusual now to see people of other religions coming to faith in Jesus at our church. Our vision also led us to a different way of selecting leaders. We didn’t just welcome different ethnicities; we diversified our staff, executive staff, and elder board. Did we gain people? No, we lost people, but our church has grown culturally rich. It’s not enough for a church to have disciples that merely know and teach the Scriptures; we need to model the kingdom. This can’t be done in isolation; it must be done in community, and it starts with the cells, which create a congregation, which connects to the church in the rest of the world. The pursuit of numerical growth without kingdom values plunges leaders toward a credibility crash. The church that refuses to model kingdom values short-circuits long-term, sustainable growth for the sake of short-term gains.

God doesn't have two different plans for the church around the world, one for America and the other for the rest of the world. He has one plan, one mission, and one strategy. The rest of the world grasps God’s heart and plan better than we do in America. It’s time we got on board.

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