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This comes from a big problem we have in most churches today, that is the tendency of leaders not effectually growing in the Lord and thus do not practice their faith and this dispenses down to the congregation. And the outcome is a church that has missed its point and reason for being; as its people, who Christ has brought in, go without being taught or discipled because the pastors and leaders are not being taught or discipled. Being mature means you know not just Who Christ is, but His impact has gone deep and has occupied all aspects of our life and faith. Life is all about Him and not about selfish ideas or perceptions. We have gone to His throne and His priestly duty has been received, our Milk, and then the meat is feasted upon, His wondrous precepts and Truth. So our faith is real, personal, fully transformed and becoming fully engaged followers of Christ seen by a life well lived. If we want to be an impacting Christian pastor or lay leader in a church that impacts its community and world, we have to be eating the meat of God’s precepts with passion and conviction, in love and in truth and then sharing it with others.

Healthy churches have a deep love and gratitude to Christ and desire to equip and empower the people He brings them!

They seek to serve in humbleness and effectual faith. They value people and do not depend on their programs, rather on Christ; they allow Him to produce what He wants, when He wants. They grow from the inside of their faithful journey before it is exercised outward. Inward faith is formed before outward faith is expressed. The average healthy church is where people feel good about God and others; they display personal, spiritual, and relational maturity and have hope and life in Christ, all because they are growing in the Word and Spirit. Gossip is absent and conflict is dealt with; spiritual growth is glorifying our Lord, and the Fruit of the Spirit is at hand. The pastors and leaders model to the people a faith that endures as they look to Christ.

© 2008, Research from 1998- 2007, R. J. Krejcir, Ph.D., Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development www.churchleadership.org

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…by being encouraged to read through the Bible, do devotions, and practice the disciplines of the faith as modeled by the leadership.  

From our thirty years of research the churches who equip and disciple their people, not just in the basics of the faith, but also in how to be Christians in their daily lives and to live their lives to His glory thrive! The pastors and leaders teach and model passionate spirituality; they challenge and model for their people how to grow beyond themselves in achieving spiritual passion and conviction and are joyful in doing so. From this pool, new leadership is formed and recruited. Churches that cannot find leadership have people who are not discipled, and who are not willing or do not know how to lead. 

        We can master the entire Bible and even be totally transformed by the Word, but, if your leadership principles do not come from it, then nothing from your ministry will come from it, it will meaningless and nearly worthless. This is one of the main points of the book of James. True leadership also comes from our faith and maturity which comes from the application and result of a life transformed. You may attempt to lead your church or ministry or life and seek to do good works without Christ, but the results will not be good. In leadership and maturity, we must allow ourselves to be established in the disciplines of the faith. We must get in the Word daily–not just now and then. We cannot allow obligation and guilt to be our response to our Lord. If we do, it comes from our pride and laziness or, in other words, from our sin nature. We need to respond to Christ from gratitude that our sin nature has been covered by Grace thereby creating in us a willing and loving heart to model maturity, the character of our Lord (Matt. 7:24-27; Gal. 5:19-26; Rom. 12:1-3; 1 Tim. 1:6-9; 2 Tim. 1:10-14)! 

You search the scriptures because you believe they give you eternal life.  But the Scriptures point to me… 

John 5:39

Filed under: Church Growth Ideas | Tagged: applicable, Bible, Bible teaching, challenged, Church, Church Development, Church Growth, Church Leadership, Church Leadership Development, Church Research, convicted, cultivate, Development, devotions, disciplines, good works, gratitude, grow spiritually, leadership, Leadership Development, leadership formation, Leading Churches, Research, Results, stimulated, transformed, Word | Leave a comment »

…because the Bible is taught in a real, effectual, and applicable way.

They want to be a part of it. The people who leave because of the Bible teaching are the people who do not want to be challenged or convicted. These people will not serve anyway and will not give, but they will cause trouble. We are called to reach and care for them, but as the Bible says, these are the “tares.” God asks us to cultivate His wheat. (John 3:5, 30; Gal 2:20-21; Phil. 3:1-14)

If the Bible is not where you place your trust and leadership formation from, then where is your trust and where will it lead you? We cannot have the Words of Jesus without the Bible! The Bible is the chariot that carries the voice of God!

We as the people of God who have been saved from our sins by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ have a call, a mandate: to preserve His Word, to be led from His Word and to proclaim His Word, the Bible. We must remain steadfast in this call to our individual selves, as well as our neighbor and especially as we lead others for Our Lord and to Him.

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

Hebrews 2:1-3

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.

Psalm 119:9-12

Filed under: Church Growth Ideas | Tagged: applicable, Bible, Bible teaching, challenged, Church, Church Development, Church Growth, Church Leadership, Church Leadership Development, Church Research, convicted, cultivate, Development, devotions, disciplines, good works, gratitude, grow spiritually, leadership, Leadership Development, leadership formation, Leading Churches, Research, Results, stimulated, transformed, Word | Leave a comment »