A Parable of our Time
Folks, one of the things that surprises me about people is how hard it is for most folks to concentrate on leverage. I know prayer is important and that should be a given in anything we do. I know spiritual development is important and should be part of anything we do. But what I constantly see people do is to focus on these things and never get around to the one thing that has to happen if growth is to take place- indigenous worship. Prayer is essential but it is never the kind of leverage I talk about in my book Unfreezing Moves. Spiritual development is essential but it is never leverage. You can pray all day and all night and no one will be transformed in irrelevant worship. you can grow people spiritually until the cows come home and it wont grow a church. want to know why? Ill tell you a story.
There once was a pastor who took his people deeper and deeper into the faith. Night and day he prayed for their spiritual development. every Sunday he preached his heart out while praying that aunt susie didn’t die while playing the organ oh so sloooooooow.
One day he went to church and found that half of the congregation was missing. when he began calling those who werent there he found that they had tried another church that morning. when he asked why, they said, “because our worship no longer feeds us. it doesn’t address our issues; it bores to tears the friends we bring with us who need God. We love you and we thank you for taking us deeper in our faith, but we need a place of worship where people can experience God.”
You see, if you take people deep into their faith they will always begin to think about the spiritual condition of others- that is always the result of biblical faith- those who dont feel that way havent yet discovered the depth of God’s heart. So when you take people deep, they have to worship, not just sit in a pew and soak, but experience a moving moment with God. that is why worship is the leverage.
So this pastor prayed hard and developed spiritual giants and lost his congregation. Give it some thought.
Keep this post in context. worship is the main leverage piece. Leverage means the one thing that makes everything else rise or fall. Sure small groups are important. but here’s the kicker. Willow didn’t have a small group emphasis until they had several thousand in worship. In the early years they focused on having the most relevant worship they could possibly have. the church I go to now and then, bay area, didn’t focus on small groups until they had 3000 in worship.
The primary reason most pastors dont grow churches is they cant get their heads around this one simple point- if worship doesn’t shine, nothing else matters. it that plain and simple. if worship doesn’t shine, it doesn’t matter what you do with small groups, Sunday school, single ministries, period. If you want to grow a church this is what you must do.
Here is where the water hits the wheel - pastors who dont get this dont see the desperate need for a full time worship leader. so they hire a youth director, or childrens director and the church doesn’t grow. both youth and children are important but they aren’t the primary leverage- eveything is a support to worship, everything. that doesn’t mean they arent important. it just means they arent the primary leverage.