Consider what it takes for successful businessmen and businesswomen, effective entrepreneurs and hardworking associates, shrewd retirees and idealistic students to combine forces with a creative pastor to grow a "successful church" today. Clearly, it doesn't require the power of God to draw a crowd in our culture. A few key elements that we can manufacture will suffice.
Interpretation
Success in creating a thriving community or church goes beyond spiritual influence; it requires collaboration and certain practical elements.
David Platt highlights the notion that growing a successful church in contemporary society is not solely reliant on divine power, but rather on the collaboration of various stakeholders, including business leaders and creative individuals. This suggests that while faith may inspire some, practical strategies and diverse talents are essential in attracting and nurturing a community.
In practice
In a church leadership seminar, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of teamwork.
So what is the difference between someone who willfully indulges in sexual pleasures while ignoring the Bible on moral purity and someone who willfully indulges in the selfish pursuit of more and more material possessions while ignoring the Bible on caring for the poor? The difference is that one involves a social taboo in the church and the other involves the social norm in the church.
The price is certainly high for people who don’t know Christ and who live in a world where Christians shrink back from self-denying faith and settle into self-indulging faith. While Christians choose to spend their lives fulfilling the American dream instead of giving their lives to proclaiming the kingdom of God, literally billions in need of the Gospel remain in the dark
What if the very reason we have breath is because we have been saved for a global mission? And what if anything less than passionate involvement in global mission is actually selling God short by frustrating the very purpose for which he created us?
A high view of God’s sovereignty fuels death-defying devotion to global missions. Maybe another way to put it, people, and more specifically pastors, who believe that God’s sovereign over all things will lead Christians to die for the sake of all peoples.
[...]there is no injustice in God. The injustice lies in Christians who possess the gospel and refuse to give their lives to making it known among those who haven't heard.
God involves us in his missions not because He needs us, but because He loves us. And in His mercy He has invited us to be involved in His sovereign design for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
So you have to force yourself out of a comfort zone and really try to figure out what are the key ingredients, the key skill sets, the key perspectives that are necessary, and then figure out a way to attract the very best people to fill those particular roles.
I pick up the details that drive the organization insane. But sweating the details is more important than anything else
Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved.
Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision.
Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.
An orchestra knows during the first two minutes of the first rehearsal whether or not they are going to enjoy the person on the podium.
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