For a long time I have tried to read a lot of good books. It must have been from my years in book publishing. Anyway, 2007 was no exception for me. Here are several book I read in 2007, and which I recommend. The links take you to the Amazon store entry for that book. However, you can order any of these from the UB bookstore by calling 888.622.3019 and asking for Marilyn.

George W. Bullard, Jr., Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation (Chalice Press, 2006; 226 pages). For congregations who thrive in the midst of great challenge; Vision Plus Intentionality.

Jim Collins, Good To Great and the Social Sectors: Why business Thinking Is Not The Answer (HarperCollins, 2005; 42 pages). A small booklet that describes how the principles of Good To Great can apply to organizations that are not profit-making businesses.

Thom S. Rainer & Eric Geiger, Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples (B &H Publishing Group, 2006; 272 page). Describes how a church must organize to have effective spiritual transformation of its people.

Andy Stanley & Lane Jones, Communicating for a Change: 7 Keys to Irresistible Communication (Multnomah Press, 2005; 208 pages).

Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, Lane Jones, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry (Multnomah Press, 2004; 192 pages).

Andy Stanley, Making Vision Stick (Zondervan Press, 2007; 74 pages). This is the most concise book on vision I’ve ever read.

Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches (B&H Publishing Group, 2007; 224 pages). Research report on how 300 churches turned around and how they did it.

Anything you would recommend to me? Mention them in the comments.

Posted by Ron Ramsey at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple days ago, in Part 1, I discussed my dismay over the many churches that are disobedient to the Great Commission. Now I'd like to tackle a second issue that has concerned me as I interact with our churches.

2. The amount of conflict that exists in so many of our churches.

There are people in conflict with the pastor, pastors in conflict with the people, and people in conflict with other people in the church. Dealing with conflict in churches is without a doubt the most tiring part of this job. I’ve come to the conclusion that these two issues are related. Let me put it this way: if you aren’t going to fish, you will probably fight and may ultimately flee.

I can’t recall any church in severe conflict over whether they should have a goal of reaching 50 or 75 persons. I am sure there have been those places. But most conflict situations I experience can be summed up as control issues. Who gets to set the agenda for the church? Who determines ministry direction? Again, who is in control? But who really gets to set the agenda for a local church? Is it the pastor? The board? And how many agendas can a church have? Who gets to decide? I’ve sorta come to this: since the church really belongs to Jesus, maybe He should be the one to set the agenda.

Now, I am smart enough to know that disagreements which lead to conflict do arise from time to time in congregations. I don’t think that conflict in and of itself is sin. The sin is how we choose to deal with it. We can’t leave our “Christianity” in the closet while we disagree. A great deal of conflict could be resolved if people followed Matthew 18. It is simply amazing how well that process works. But it is much easier to “triangulate” (means gossip) than to follow Scripture.

Matthew 18 says that if you have a problem with someone, go to that person and confront him about it. Don't complain to everyone else about that person or, as too often happens, call the bishop's office before talking directly to that person. If the person won't listen to you, take one or two other persons with you and confront him again. If the person won't listen to you, then you pass it to the church to take action.

When the conflict is not handled in a biblical manner, it often escalates into a raging inferno of who is right and who is wrong. Feelings are hurt, relationships are damaged, and the church's reputation gets a black eye when the conflict boils out of control. It has been simply amazing to me how people address one another in our churches when in conflict. Paul had a word for it in I Corinthians. It was carnal. Jesus called it “worldly,” as in acting just like the world. Is it any wonder why persons outside the church don’t see any difference between themselves and church attenders? How can we build spiritual ministries when we try to operate just like the world?

Jesus said in Matthew 18:19-20, “Again I tell you that if two of you agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Our Lord said this in teaching how to deal with someone who sins against another. We often hear it quoted when we show up for church and there are just a few present. Well, when Jesus said "where two or three are gathered," it was in the context of conflict resolution--not in justifying only a few showing up for prayer meeting.

For those churches embroiled in some form of conflict, I implore you to follow the process giving in Matthew 18. Even then, it might not remove the conflict. Then you might need someone to help you process the conflict further. I can happily refer you to persons skilled in conflict resolution. This is a much better way than choosing up sides and seeing who can out-duel the other side.

This may be far to simplistic, but churches that are being obedient to the Great Commission will probably also be obedient to the Scriptural instructions about dealing with conflict.

Also for what it's worth, Chapter 28 in the Discipline, "Local Church Conflict Resolution," might be helpful.

I will continue to call our church back to the Great Commission ministry of reaching those who are not yet Christ followers and seeing them become fully devoted followers of Jesus.

I will continue to pray that our local church leaders might become convicted over the lack of any “fruit” as a result of their ministry. At the end of 2006, reports showed that 58% of our churches were either stagnant or declining. In a few days we will mail the report forms for your church's 2007 stats. What will they reveal about your church?

Here is my commitment to each of our churches for the remainder of my time in office. For any church or pastor who wants to see the church experience a turn-around from dysfunction and unhealth to being a vibrant, healthy congregation, I will marshal my energy and the resources of this office to do everything I can to help make that happen.

Posted by Ron Ramsey at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow, 2008 already. I have been reflecting over the past two years of my term as bishop. People often ask me if I enjoy what I do. I usually laugh and tell them I am not sure this job is supposed to be enjoyed. That is, however, not altogether true. I then explain that some aspects of my work are very enjoyable. They have included:

• Opportunity to ordain a pastor.
• Seeing congregations decide to become healthy.
• The National Conference 2007, where God showed up!
• Speaking in many of our churches, meeting some great people.
• Working with a fine staff: Pat, Gary, Steve, Marci, Tom, Donna, Marilyn, Cathy, Darlene, Phylis, and Mabel. They truly have a heart to serve you.
• Seeing some sparks of renewal in a few places and trying to fan those sparks into an inferno.
• The privilege to serve the United Brethren in Christ, USA
• Serving on the Huntington University board of trustees.
• Talking with pastors who have a passion and vision for the ministry God has given them.
• Working with our leadership teams.
• Helping to develop and participating in our weekend assessments of various congregations.
• And probably a lot more if I just thought about it.

However, certain aspects have been very challenging. When thinking about the challenges, I can’t help but think of that great “theologian,” Pogo, who once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

There are two issues that I would like to discuss with you. I'll post one today, and the second one on Friday.

1. The number of our churches that are being openly disobedient to the Great Commission.

The Great Commission is a command that our Lord left for his church. It is not something an individual Christian or a church can vote on. It is only something we can choose to obey or not. Do we really believe Jesus meant it when he said to go into the entire world and make disciples? Or was that just for those guys in the book of Acts? I think he really did mean it when he said we were to make disciples.

It could be that some are not clear about what the Great Commission involves. As a result, they might suffer from “Great Commissionitis” (Dr. James Engel, Contemporary Christian Communication, pg 27). Dr. Engel says Great Commissionitis is “when evangelism is defined as the sum and substance of both individual and corporate Christian life.” Reaching those who do not know Jesus is certainly a big part of the Great Commission, but it also involves seeing the new believer become a fully devoted follower of Jesus. Thus the Great Commission does include evangelism, but it also involves training them to walk as mature believers. If a church is unhealthy, neither evangelism nor maturity is taking place. It is very simple: if Christians are maturing to become fully devoted followers of Jesus, they will also be developing contacts and relationships with individuals who do not yet know Jesus.

It really saddens me when pastors argue with me about this. Listen, every person we meet is somewhere on a continuum of become a fully devoted follower. Some may be far, far from God. Others might be closer. Some might be nearly ready. But if we do not engage them where there are, how can we ever move them closer to accepting Christ and continuing on the path to becoming a fully devoted follower?

So, whenever I use the term Great Commission, I am referring to the entire process--engaging persons who are far from God, helping them reach the point of trusting Jesus as their Savior, and then beginning the exciting process of becoming a mature follower.

I don’t get it! I mean, I really don’t get it! Why do so few pastors and churches seem to have the foggiest idea of what I'm talking about? I mean, this isn’t rocket science. Even those ignorant, smelly fishermen that Jesus called finally got it.

Let me ask you pastors and church leaders who might be reading this: what systems does your church have in place to allow this to happen? I mean, if a total stranger walks into your church this Sunday, what would you do? Do you have an assimilation system? An evangelism system? A discipleship system? Are any of the systems you have age-related, or do you just treat everyone the same? I can hear someone say, "Well, we don’t have any strangers that just walk into our church." Probably not! I’ve found that most “strangers” that came to our church came on the arms of people who attended our church regularly. They may have been strangers to me, but not to the persons that brought them. God wants us to have individuals in our heart and on our arm.

This is not place specific. Even in the smallest of communities there is someone around that doesn’t know Jesus, whether it be strangers, friends, or relatives. What is your strategy to reach them in 2008?

That leads me to the second issue of concern: the amount of conflict that exists in so many of our churches. Check back on Friday for that.

Posted by Ron Ramsey at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)