Though the world is traversing unknown territory with the coronavirus protocols, we will continue to move forward addressing the eight virtues of rapidly growing churches. I’m praying for you all and our families we serve as we count it all joy on this new adventure with grace and creativity.

Matt Miofsky, founding and lead pastor of The Gathering, a multisite United Methodist congregation in St. Louis, Missouri,  together with Jason byassee, Butler Chair in Homiletic and Biblical Interpretation at Vancouver School of Theology, wrote Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches.

Matt came to North Georgia to lead a day of education and awesome colleagues made sure I got the materials since I was unable to attend. I have discovered in my deep dive into the book and through discussions with other kidmin professionals we are all in a state of living the life of a ‘church planter.’ Knowing where the local church sits in today’s culture, the authors remind us, “We are all church planters now.” There are some commonalities of the culture and vision of today’s successful church planters. What does that look like for those who serve in ministry with children and families especially if we are not part of a new church plant? Find my thoughts about Virtues #1 through #4 here. 

Virtue #5 – Rapidly Growing Churches Elevate the Practice of Giving
“People want to give to something that is exciting, making an impact, and visibly connected to changing lives.” (p 55) Don’t we all want to make a difference with our resources? YES! So tell the stories and take the time to celebrate how God is present in our generosity. He gave (John 3:16), so we give. He is a generous giver, so we provide environments and invitational moments for generosity. Giving is an expression of generosity, but not the only one. Little people do not have jobs, but they have much. Just last week our CLUB345 decorated 250 cupcakes to give to a recovery center and ate not nary a one. Generosity is a holy habit and growing churches ‘invite people to participate from the beginning.’ If you start something new, we will begin with a opportunities for acts of generosity, not a regular practice of only receiving ‘free’ or practicing consumerism. We must fight the entitlement culture. Let kids serve. Let kids do for others. Let kids know that to be like Jesus is not to receive as an individual, but live with a heart for others in response to our generous God. ‘God hard-wired us to give, and when we operate in a manner that is consistent with our creation, good things happen in our life. We would never ask someone NOT to do something that we believe makes them happier, healthier, and better able to follow Jesus.’ (p 60-61) Teach at a young age that all we have belongs to the Lord and by returning to Him a percentage, we live a life of trust and obedience. How are you teaching the holy habit of generosity as a thread in all you do?

Virtue #6 – Rapidly Growing Churches Work in Teams
Most of this chapter speaks to the trustworthy ‘number twos’ who come alongside the number-ones. Number twos are those who sit in the second chair of an organization. It may not look like the second chair on the org chart, but it’s the second chair that REALLY makes the church go ’round because of their influence. “Whether you are a youth pastor over thirty kids, a Sunday school teacher with a class of ten, or a pastor of a church of 150-there is power in having a number two.” (p 78) The gifts of a number two include loyalty to God and the organization without being a yes person; loyalty to the congregation’s mission as a noticer with an intuition tuned to individual needs; loyalty to the visionary leadership with ‘nuts-and-bolts know how’ within that body of believers; and is accessible. “Methodism at its best is a tradition that encourages Christians to ‘watch over one another in love.’” (p 76) Who’s your next Timothy or your next Mary in your area of influence? These number twos will not just do the work, but they lead the work, and will take the ministry to the next level with great humility, joy, and love. Jesus never sent out disciples one at a time, but rather two, or three, or 70. My colleague at Asbury UMC in Lafayette, Louisiana coached us to always surround ourselves with people who would die for you and know where all the bodies are buried. You laugh, but you know what she’s talking about. Not just taskmasters, but those who get the big picture and arrive early, stay late, take out the trash because it has to be done. Humility abounds and enjoys the company of other Jesus guys and gals. Is your leadership so trustworthy that number twos can find you, can trust you with confidential info, can grow with you, and you notice each one with great love, compassion, and interest? We are family and we share life, we share laughter, and we share the load. We are brothers and sisters in Christ and we treat one another accordingly. We are better together! Who is on your team?

See you here next week with kidmin thoughts on the final two virtues. Which of the virtues mentioned so far are the easiest to implement? The most difficult?

“Methodists are people of the revival tent and the warm heart that John Wesley spoke of and inspired in others.” 8 Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches, pg 73

Matt Miofsky, founding and lead pastor of The Gathering, a multisite United Methodist congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, came to North Georgia recently to present an education opportunity for church leaders. Dear colleagues made sure I heard about what he taught and made sure I had the material. I’ve been drinking from the fire-hose every since.

If an organization is healthy, it’s growing. Matt Miofsky co-authored the book Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches with Jason Byassee. Jason Byassee is the Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Interpretation at Vancouver School of Theology.  He previously served as senior pastor of Boone United Methodist Church, a 1500-member congregation in Boone, NC. The accounts shared in the book give insight to some commonalities of the culture and vision of today’s successful church planters. Knowing where the local church sits in today’s culture, the authors remind us, “We are all church planters now.” Find my thoughts on the first two virtues as it relates to children’s ministry here.

Virtue #3 – Rapidly Growing Churches love the local

“Christianity is a local story.” (p 39) Not everyone is born in the area where they are in ministry, but it helps. There are plenty of anecdotes in this chapter where the successful church planter is ‘from these parts.’ They know people, places, history, and have immediate connections. But if not, we can get our ‘extrovert’ on and dive deeply into the community with a maniacal work ethic. Do that dashboard research and make quick, deep, personal connections with people at lunches, coffees, in businesses, schools, governmental meetings, table life. We meet and we meet and we meet and we meet…in the community. I have served the Lord in multiple capacities of professional ministry in four local churches in the Atlanta-Marietta district. I know what families live with, live on, live for, and have lived through in this area of North Georgia. I raised my family here.  I know the local politics and local politicians. I know the systems, the traffic patterns, and deep-dive into the lives of those I serve alongside. Love the local community where God invites you and learn the history of how they came to be. Someone wants to meet, do it. Someone wants to chat on the phone, do it. “We have to love those places (where we’re called to serve), or spend our time and energy learning to do so.” (p 38) 

Virtue #4 – Rapidly Growing Churches exist to reach the next person

“What good is a revivalist sect if you’re not reviving anybody?” (p 44) Evangelism is introducing people to Jesus: talking about Him, sharing testimonies of His presence and faithfulness, and telling His stories as family stories followed up with, “Do you know my Jesus?” Our entire faith is based on an historical fact. It’s not intuitive, so we must tell the story of Jesus. We tell the accounts of Jesus then and Jesus now, then invite people to make Him Lord of their lives. In children’s ministry, we must talk Jesus every time, every week, every day. When we share the gospel of Jesus, we share what we know to be good news, indeed. “Jesus is the sort of good news you can’t keep unless you give it away.” (p 52) Evangelism should permeate all we do with energy, joy, hope, and compassion. Invite kids to believe in Jesus. Invite kids to follow Jesus. Invite kids to become more like Jesus in their world, their school, their family, on their ball or dance team. When we model this invitation to know Jesus with a ‘come to’ rather than a ‘join us’, we are looking for new friends to share life with. Are we building Jesus’ tribe?

We are halfway there. More to come next week.

“Churches naturally drift toward what they like and what has worked for them in the past. Like throwing a leaf in a river, the natural movement is downstream. Thinking of new people takes constant and relentless effort – it is like walking upstream.” (p 51)

Matt Miofsky, founding and lead pastor of The Gathering, a multisite United Methodist congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, came to North Georgia last week to present an education opportunity for church leaders. I was unable to go, but dear friends called me immediately afterwards to chat about what they heard and one gifted me with the books discussed. As a student of church culture and a satisfied customer of the local church, I began reading Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches as soon as I got home because, in the words of the author, “We are all church planters now.” (p xviii)

In elementary science class we learned how healthy things grow, but not all growth is healthy. Same goes for the local church. The anecdotes shared by the authors are not intended as a blueprint for church growth, but hearing the stories of successful church planters of today these common virtues can’t be denied nor ignored. As Methodists, we are known as a revivalist movement. We are accustomed to breaking barriers, engaging in holy habits, disagreeing in love, gathering in community, and serving the marginalized. With all that in mind, the testimonies of the various United Methodist planters quoted in the book speak loud and clear for today. I’ll cover two here and two each week as it relates to children’s ministry.

Can I put out the challenge that if it’s good for children, it’s good for everybody? Just sayin’.

Virtue #1 – Rapidly Growing Churches believe in miracles and act accordingly

God is indeed working miracles in our midst. We have no idea what the children will do with their love for Jesus, but I know of the miracles that it has taken for some of their parents to be here.  “Acting as if the Spirit is moving changes everything.” (p 3). Praying fervently, specifically, and boldly can get us moving in the right direction. I am one of those miracles. I know the stories of some of my parents and they are those miracles. I need to remind them they are and call how they are claiming their kid’s lives for Jesus as a priority and call it the miracle it is.  “Rapidly growing churches have figured out how to not only take risks but also deal with failure in a way that does not thwart future bold decisions.” (pg 11) My home church where I received excellent ministry training from amazing clergy and lay folk was never afraid of taking risks. We’d try something, set the goals, debrief afterward with a clear look at what worked, wipe off the table what didn’t, and share how to edit to move forward. It wasn’t personal, but it had to be fruitful. We did ministry in love and with only one fear: the fear we would disappoint the Holy Spirit which led us to do ministry in the first place.

Virtue #2 – Rapidly Growing Churches integrate new people quickly

Deep in our Methodist DNA is an order, a method, to organize discipleship with Christian education alongside service. We must be great at assimilation, helping a guest to know the path for growing as a deeply committed follower of Jesus. We do this in relationships in small groups, around tables not rows, and in community. People need an organized plan. Children need an organized discipleship plan. Children go through multiple developmental stages from 0-5^th grade. We can’t depend on them ‘catching’ their faith.  We need a plan for developmentally appropriate faith formation experiences in Christian education and the systems in place to move everyone through their next steps. We are in partnership with parents and grandparents. When a child is baptized, we vow to ‘so order our lives in the example of Christ….’  We are not event planners, but rather disciple-makers and we can provide families with the next steps to ‘so order their families’ to love their kids to Jesus. “The question in Methodism is not ‘When were you saved?;’ it’s ‘How are you growing in grace just now?”  (p 20) “Assimilating people as disciples has to be our primary focus.” (p 22) The local church can do many things, but our marching orders are to ‘make disciples of Jesus Christ.’

More to come next week!

“Rapidly growing churches are like ducks. They look placid on the water. But underneath they’re paddling like crazy!” (p 17)