Discipleship and Integrity.
There’s nothing more important for your church to be concentrating on right now than those two principles and the behaviors that flow from them.
If the church faces a crisis today (which we always do, to one degree or another) it is not because of a lack of attendance, a need for better methods, or even for more engagement. The two biggest challenges we face are a lack of discipleship and a loss of integrity.
(NOTE: This article was written and set to release today long before the horrific news we received last week about Philip Yancey’s confession of adultery. Sadly, it’s hard to write about the need to be people of integrity without having a recent moral failure of a church leader that makes it far too relevant.)
First, Discipleship
In a recent article by Aaron Earls, Survey: Pastors Say Church Does Worship Services Well, Discipleship Ranks Last, only 11 percent of pastors said discipleship was what their church did best.
But discipleship was the main instruction Jesus gave us to do when we gather as the church!
Our calling is not to build the church. Jesus said he would do that, and he is. He told us to go and make disciples.
As I noted in one of the chapter titles in De-sizing the Church, Discipleship Fixes Everything. Literally everything.
It is not possible to find a problem in your church that discipleship won’t fix. From finances, to theology, to volunteerism, evangelism, and more. Discipleship is the long-term key to church health and vitality.
We need to set everything else aside and make disciples.
Second, Integrity
I won’t take the depressing time to begin to list the number of church scandals that have come to light in recent years that have exposed “successful” ministry leaders and their hidden sins.
There are no shortcuts. If the church is to repair what has been broken and move ahead in healing and restoration, we must be laser-focused on being people of integrity. Including confessing our sins to one another.
It doesn’t matter how big your ministry is, how many accolades you receive, or how many people are following you. If you’re living with a hidden sin, it is already causing damage to yourself and others. And it will come to light.
Repent, confess, and seek help now. Be one of the (sadly) few people who confesses and seeks restoration before you get caught.
The Only Way Forward
If discipleship fixes everything, integrity sustains everything.
And a lack of integrity and discipleship will ruin everything.
We are not called to be successful, we’re commanded to make disciples, act with integrity, and be like Jesus.
(Photo by Filip Chudoba | Flickr)
