Thinking Away from the Box Church

Last weekend i had the privilege of speaking at the i3 Conference hosted by our friends Pastor Chris and Seira Sola who pastor a fantastic church -The Dream Centre in our city.
I came away thinking more about ways for the church to stay current and be relevant in our communities!
In my presentation I challenged people to ‘think away from the box’ rather than outside the box.

Here are some questions I ponder over and over again and i encourage all church leaders who want to influence their community to consider. Spend sometime to think away from the box and see what solutions you come up with? Hope you can share them.

1. How can the church be effectively relevant to the community it serves?
2. What are we doing as a church that we need to stop doing?
3. What are the problems of my community and how can we the church be the solution?
4. What innovative ideas that the church can use to reach people that are cost effective with high impact?
5. Do people get inspired on Sundays when they come to our church services?
6. How intentional are we as a church in the Great Commission? What’s our strategy?
7. How intentional are we as a church in discipleship? Is there a definite discipleship pathway for new believers?
8. What is the one main thing we believe God has called our church to do?
9. If you were asked to reach your community without any financial resources, what would you do different?
10. Define Boring?

What are your Goals as a Pastor?

This question came from a total stranger a few weeks ago at a cafe. He probably overheard my conversation with another pastor friend of mine. When he left, this stranger approached me, sat across the table and fired some questions at me. He was very genuine, not a church goer but believe in the role of church in the community!

I have many goals. I remember making a long list the other day. Most pastors have similar goals but here is the one that I am passionate about at this stage of my life and leadership.

Raise Leaders:

I personally believe that this is one of tasks of every leader, is to raise more leaders. Leaders in the Church, leaders in the market place and leaders in the community.

I think it was Bill Hybels who said: “If you change a church leader, you change a church. When you change a church, you change a community, and when enough church are changing you can affect a region, a country and eventually the world with Life-Changing power of Jesus Christ”

In our Vision Statement as a church, we say “………. We see a church that is raising, training, empowering, and releasing a generation……………”

My heart is to see new, godly, wise, spirit filled, young, humble, courageous, vibrant and dynamic leaders released to their full potential to impact the world with the Gospel.

Why are young people not in church?

Many pastors and church leaders, even parents are asking the question, ‘Why are our young people not in church?”

I asked myself this question many times in my early years as a pastor. As a church we have put a huge emphasis on reaching children and young people, which means we have to do whatever it takes to connect with them. For me personally I need to be in touch with today’s generation by trying to put myself in their shoes and what they are facing in this fast paced world.

When you are in your 40′s its hard work. Young people speak a lingo of their own, trying to read and understand coded txt / sms messages is always a mission. Lets face it, it is a culture of its own. The youth of today is quite different from when I was a young person.

Some adults tend to speak negatively about young people but I don’t blame them entirely for their behavior. They are exposed to so much at a very young age. Most young people never had a childhood that most of us adults had in our days.

As to why Young people are not in church, I think the answers lies in our own attitude toward them.

My advice to pastors and leaders is to ‘Stay in touch’ with young people.  Do whatever it takes to get into their world. Talk, txt, FB, high5, bebo, tumbler, tweet, or a good old ‘Hey wazzup man!

I think the question ‘’Why are the young people not in church”, is he wrong one to ask. Instead we need to ask ourselves, “How can we get young people to come to church and love church”.

That will open up a lot of ideas and conversation, that will lead into a mission and a strategy to reach young people. The best people to answer that question are young people themselves. When you get answers, be prepared to make some changes in your church, leadership, music, programs, preaching even the way you dress. That is if you are serious to see young people in church.

(BTW, this has been my experience in our church over the last 7 years).

You can Do it!

LifeChurch Manurewa November Series

I am excited to announce our new series this month at LifeChurch. I believe you are going to be Blessed and Inspired by the Word of God but you must also be willing to allow the Word to challenge and change you so that you can reach your God given potential.

You are more than what you have done! Don’t settle for anything less than Gods best. You can do it!!

If you are in Auckland City, join us this Sunday morning 11:00.  www.lifechurch.co.nz

I Love My Church Pt 2

Acts 9:1-5, “But Saul, still breathing threats of slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, that if he found any men or women belonging to this Way, he might bring them in bonds to Jerusalem. And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew near to Damascus, when suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him; and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ”Saul, Saul, do you persecute me?”And he said, “Who art thou Lord?” And He said, ”I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”

Christ said: ”Why do you persecute me?”. Why didn’t he say ‘Why do you persecute My Church’? It is because His Church is his body and He is the head according to Ephesians 5:23.

The point here is this: Whatever happens to the body is registered in the head. Isn’t that true? Whatever you do to your body is registered in your head.

Church is the Body – Christ is the head. Whatever you do to the Body of Christ – the Church will be registered in the Head.

• When you backstab the body it is registered in the head
• When you are angry at the body it is registered in the head
• When you are not committed to the body it is registered in the head
• When you dishonor the body it is registered in the head
• When you neglect the body it is registered in the head.
• When you don’t give to the body it is registered in the cash register of the head

Whatever you do to the Church you do it Christ

• When you serve the Church you are serving the Head – Christ
• When you speak well of the Church you are speaking well of the Head
• When you represent the Church well in the World, You are representing the Head well
• When mistreat the Church you mistreat the Head.
• When you abuse the Church, you abuse the Head.

Love Christ by loving the Church

How to maintain vision during challenging times

I was at a leaders gathering recently and someone asked  me a question on ‘maintaining your vision’ during difficult times, meaning when people criticize the vision and no resources to fulfill your dreams and so on. My immediate answer was: ‘Its HARD’, I gave him a few tips, hope they were ok, but here are some lessons I have learnt along the way that have helped me to sustain my faith in God and the vision that God has placed in my heart.

1. Don’t listen to critics. The negative people, especially the ones who never took any risk in their lives for God. Just because they have been Christians for a long time, it does not give them the right to criticize the risk you are taking to extend the Kingdom of God. Most people are critical because they are scared of the risk or the costs involved. By the way if you are a pastor, those are the types of people that should not be on your leadership team. They will kill the dream, suck the life out of you, come up with all sorts of excuses, even quote Bible verses to satisfy their lack of faith. These are the people who will try to make church ‘a nice little kumbayah fellowship’.
2. Prayer. Your prayer life is so important during challenging times. Maintain an open line with God. I have a spot on Mangere Mountain where I go to when I need to pray those prayers that I don’t want anyone to hear. There is a tree there that knows all my prayer requests, my complaints to God and even the names of the people that I mention in my prayers. One of the best advice I received as a young pastor was ‘Find yourself some intercessors”. Let them know of what is going on and any opposition you are facing.
3. Let the problems become your teacher. Look at the situation you are facing, let it teach you something new. Open your eyes, ears and heart and learn, even if you have faced that problem before. Its never too late to learn. Find the lessons in every trial, and in every problem. Journal those lessons, write them down so that when the storm is over you can say, ‘thank God for those times, I am now a better person, a better leader because of those problems’.
4. Maintain a sweet spirit. Criticisms can quickly give you a long face, a hardened heart and an angry spirit. Listen to worship songs.  Always operate in the opposite spirit. When they criticize you, speak well of them. When they talk of you, you pray for them.
5. Surround yourself with the right people: Listen to people who are encouraging and positive. People who have your heart and your back not just your face. Hang out with them. You may have to pay for the meals but it’s worth it.
6. If you have to confront the culprit, go for it. God will give you the wisdom and words to say. Let love be in abundance!
7. Never listen to the ‘Lack of Resource’ lie. There is no such thing. Resources follow ministry. If ministry follows resources you will end up in a mess. Some people will only start a ministry if there is money available. My advice is, start a ministry if God has called you and if there is a need. Money or no money!  Negative people find it hard to believe and understand that principle.
8. Focus on the Big Picture and the end result. Most critics only see the tip of the ice berg. You the visionary know more and have seen more in your spirit. Stay Focused.

Weekend Reflections

• Its such a joy to see people give their lives to Christ for the first time. At the end of the day that is what church is all about. It is about people making a spiritual connection with their Father in heaven. It is about souls saved. The rest is daily obedience to Christ and applying the truths of His Word.
• It was my birthday on Sunday and they had this humongous chocolate cake outside the courtyard during morning tea. Thanks church, I appreciate you aroha. I felt like a five year old blowing his 42 candles. I enjoyed watching so many kids standing in the line to get a piece of my birthday cake. One of them said to me, ‘I want to have my birthday on the same day as you so I can get a chocolate cake! I felt like giving her the whole cake to take home.
• Some great connections with new people on Sunday. One of them said to me ‘Man your church is so different, how often do you have these special services?. I said, ‘Every Sunday is special’.
• Saw some people that we have praying for specifically, coming to church. God is still in the business of answering prayers. To the all the people in LifeChurch who are still yet to see their loved ones in church and in Christ, keep praying. Seeing them surrender to Christ is like spending a few seconds in heaven. Its worth it. Kia Kaha!
• They made me dance on Sunday morning in front of the whole church. Its not a good idea to have your birthday fall on a Sunday at LifeChurch. I have been doing it to the church over the last few years and on Sunday I had to swallow my own medicine. Michael Jackson was one of my best moonwalk students!!
• Our friends David & Debbie Katina pastors of Great LifeChurch in Hawaii spoke powerfully on Sunday Morning. Debbie a teacher of the Word and David an evangelistic preacher with unusual word combos!!
• Had a great time hanging our with the Katinas and our leaders for lunch after church. Formosa is a great place!
• Who said you can’t play ‘Eye of the Tiger’, &  ’Whats the time Mr. Wolf’ at church? We have a cool band. These young people are so talented.
• Over the last 2 weeks we have our pastor friends from California and Hawaii minister at LifeChurch. We have been so blessed with the ministry of the Word by Pastors Solomona and Kuka Mageo & Pastor David & Debbie Katina and their daughter Sia. Its a hard act to follow this Sunday, but according to Pastor Davids sermon on Sunday ‘I know who I am’.
• I am taking the platform this Sunday and I believe I have a Word from God for the next few Sundays.

Trip to Samoa with Habitat for Humanity

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I was privilege enough to fly to Samoa for a Day to inspect ‘Rebuild Samoa’ project by Habitat for Humanity. Habitat are building homes for families who lost everything in last years Tsunami. I was moved by the stories of the survivors as well as the sacrifice of the volunteers who are in Samoa rebuilding lives as they build houses.

So far close to 500 volunteers from New Zealand and Australia have been to Samoa to help in one way or another. I met one Maori man from Te Puke who was in Samoa for the third time over the last few months. Tony works for 2 weeks building houses, then come back to New Zealand to see his family. A newly married couple decided to spend their honeymoon building houses in Samoa instead of going away on a vacation. What a sacrifice because they all sleep in a church all with about 50 other people, mosquitoes, cockroaches and geckos!

I have so many stories to share and I have learned so much about people in one day!

Never a dull moment Church!

There is never a dull moment here at LifeChurch. Things have been full on hence not blogging for the last few days.  It’s an exciting Journey with God and seeing people grow in God especially those who have been in the pit for so long rise up in God and begin to take their rightful place in the Kingdom.  Its rewarding and refreshing! As pastors we really believe that you can’t be in church and not grow and bear fruits in every area. That’s why it is so important that you are planted in the House of God firmly.

Recently:

• We baptised 20 new Christians. What a joy to see people making public commitments to follow Christ.

• In Wellington with my wife for a night! Too short!

• We’ve just celebrated Servolution 2010 at a combined service with other churches. So blessed to see the BODY together!

• We had the most incredible Easter Weekend – GLORIOUS! Our teams worked really hard to make things happen. Turning a Theatre into a Cathedral atmosphere was amazing. It brought back memories of going to church as a child.  The presence of the Lord was powerful, turning hearts back to him!

• We kicked off the next  discipleship class for 2010 – GROW 201 on Wednesday!

• Last Friday, we launched our new SWITCH Friday Nights. SWITCH is Life Church’s youth ministry and the aim of SWITCH is reaching young people of Manurewa & South Auckland with this new initiative.

• Spoke at CityWay church leadership Training on Church Leadership and Culture! Great discussion and potential for growth in this church.

• Last Saturday I launched a new radio show on Radio Samoa with Pastor Chris Sola – ‘E afua mai mauga le manuia o le nuu’ – translated – ‘blessings flow from the mountain tops’… or something close to that. The focus is ‘Church Leadership’,  providing both practical and Biblical helps for church leaders and congregations,  addressing some of the issues facing the church of today!

• My wife and I started this Radio Ministry 11 years ago here in Auckland New Zealand reaching the largest Polynesian group in New Zealand – Samoans. It is estimated to be 130, 000 Samoans now living in New Zealand. We stream Radio Samoa live on www.radiosamoa.co.nz

• Sunday I was involved in the planting of a new church in Manukau called ‘Au Uso Kerisiano Manukau’. The kingdom is extended once again.

• Speaking of Sunday……….I missed my wife’s preaching, but from what I heard she totally rocked the place. I have seen this woman grown from strength to strength in this area. She was so nervous on the day she preached her first sermon at church, she was in tears and her breathing was louder than her words…(honestly). When she spoke at our youth camp beginning of this year, she was hot! She is a ‘no beat around the bush’ preacher. When mum speaks in the house all the kids need to listen! You go gal!!

• This week SWITCH is running a School Holiday Programme in Randwick Park Manurewa called U GOT GAME! They have been running this for 2 years now and its growing!

Church Leadership Programme on Radio Samoa

O le faamoemoe o lenei polokalame o le fesoasoani i faifeau ma taitai o Ekalesia. Faafofoga i nisi o faifeau ma taitai o le a fesoasoani ma faasoa mai i lenei polokalame. Ole faanaunautaiga ina ia manuia, malosi le ola faatuatua o tagata i lalo o se taitaiga lelei. This radio programme will focus on church leadership. The aim to is to help lift the level of leadership in our churches by helping leaders. On this show I will be discussing church leadership related issues and provide some practical tips and solutions. Join me and my weekly guests on Saturday nights on Radio Samoa 1593am (Auckland NZ). Below are some of the topics and issues that we will cover over the next few months.

Topics:

• • • • • • • How to appoint new leaders?
            • Accountability in the church
            • The life of a church minister
            • How to handle change
            • The ministers children
            • Woman and Leadership
            • Change the style don’t change the message
            • God, Church and Sex
            • Church and Money
            • Church at Community
            • Developing tomorrows church leaders today
            • Church & Missions
            • Dealing with Adultery in the church
            • Transitioning from a traditional church to a contemporary church

Issues

• • • • • • • Who leads the church?
            • Is he a Fundraiser or a Minister?
            • I love my Church
            • Why are there so many churches?
            • Is it really necessary to read out the names of people who gave money on Sunday?
            • Have we Christianised the Faasamoa or have we Faasamoan Christianity?
            • Church is boring?
            • I can’t stand church meetings!
            • I haven’t been to church since my youth group days!
            • There is nothing in church for my kids
            • I am in a new church and loving it!