Quality vs. quantity – thoughts on building the church

Posted on April 10, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments

According to The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), we are called to make disciples. In those churches which are concerned about making disciples, I have observed that many of them gauge their success based on numbers of people in attendance. When this happens the emphasis is on quantity and not quality of the disciples.

Do we act as if there a quality component to making disciples? What does it really mean to make a disciple? Is it enough to get them to pray a prayer, give them a Bible and get them baptized?

The words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 come to mind:

10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

I notice that Paul is making reference to the quality of the construction, not the quantity. A small amount of gold is worth more than a large amount of hay. The focus is on the inherent properties of the material, not on how much building was accomplished.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:23, that the only thing of ultimate value that we build into other people is a relationship with Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus teaches us in Matthew 22:38-39 that the two great commands are to love God with our entire being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. It’s all about relationships, both vertical and horizontal.

The work that equates to gold, silver and precious stones would be that work which builds in men and women the drive and the skills to fulfill these two great commands. The ability of the disciple to fulfill these two commands is the test by which good or bad workmanship is determined.

I have been in large churches where people were loving and relational. I have been in small churches that were cold and aloof. I have been in churches where a great preacher drew large crowds but there was little interaction between the people who attended the church. What makes the difference?

The difference is a leader and leadership team that works to put the two commands into practice and actively seeks to build relationships with people in the congregation. If the leadership team is functioning in fellowship and then each leader functions in fellowship with others outside the leadership team, then the fellowship radiates through the church like spokes on a wheel.

One hour of one-on-one or small group interaction over a passage of Scripture does more good than ten hours of instruction from the pulpit. In that small group or one-on-one interaction, the emphasis is on quality, on building well. In the large group setting the emphasis is on numbers, on drawing more people in.

Leaders: in your quest to build your congregations, please do not get enamored with quantity and sacrifice quality. Build relationships which facilitate growth and spiritual maturity.

Your final grade depends on it.

Faithfulness – The currency of God’s economy

Posted on March 31, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

Things took a turn for the worse in King Saul’s life when he allowed jealousy to creep into his relationship with David. From reading the account of Saul’s life in 1 Samuel, we know that Saul’s decline and ultimate downfall were his own fault.

Three turning points are presented where Saul took the wrong path leading to a disastrous result. Saul reached a turning point . . .

When he became impatient waiting for Samuel and performed the office of priest (1 Samuel 13:8-14). It was at this point that Saul was informed that his dynasty would not last.
When he disobeyed God’s command with regard to the Amalekites by allowing spoils to be taken and leaving King Agag alive. Saul used the excuse that the spoils were to be used as sacrifices to God. In response, Samuel told Saul, “to obey is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
When Saul started becoming jealous of David as a result of the women of the city ascribing victory over ten thousands to David and only ascribed thousands to Saul as recorded in 1 Samuel 18:8.

It is this third turning point which hit home this morning.

God does not allow each of us to have the same results. This is true in our monetary economy and it is also true in God’s spiritual economy. We all have equal opportunity to serve God, but we will not all enjoy the same level of success. As is noted in point number two above, obedience and faithfulness are what God values, yet it is easy to lose sight of this as did Saul. When comparing ourselves to others who have had larger impact, there is the potential to feel jealous, inadequate or feel like we are doing something wrong. When we look at the results and not at the call, then discouragement can set in.

Should the preacher at the small church quit because there is a mega church down the street that is drawing in thousands? Should the writer of a blog with small readership stop writing because there are so many others who seem to have a larger audience? Should the missionary quit because he has seen so few people come to Christ? If they are indeed doing what God has called them to do, then the preacher, blogger and missionary should not quit, they should press on.

God has called us to faithfulness and we must learn to leave the results to him. After a moment of reflection on this, it can be seen that God is not dependent upon us to accomplish his will. The outcome of God’s program is not determined by our success or failure. The results are not in our hands. Yet, he chooses to use us.

The currency in God’s economy is faithfulness, not results. Am I doing what God has called me to do? If so, then I can be satisfied with my results, no matter how they stack up numerically as compared to others.

Truth Whack-A-Mole – Follow-up to a comment

Posted on March 27, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

In a comment on my blog post entitled Truth Whack-A-Mole a question was raised about Jesus’ claims to divinity. You can read the entire comment, but below is a snippet and my response.

I agree with C.S. Lewis that he was either lying, delusional, or the son of God. I have in the back of my mind that there’s a fourth option, that Jesus did not claim all of the things about himself that his disciples and Paul wrote about…maybe that Jesus was glorified after the fact

Chuck Colson uses the Watergate conspiracy as an illustration of the unlikelihood of the disciples and early church leaders of inventing this story. Mr. Colson points out that soon after the Watergate conspiracy began some of the conspirators revealed the truth to save their own hides. Contrast this with the Apostles who (with the exception of John) all went to a martyr’s death because of their claims about Jesus. It is a remarkable thing that someone would surrender his life for the sake of the truth. It is preposterous to think that all of them would go to their deaths for a lie.

The question I have is what would be the motivation for them to invent this Jesus if in reality he was less than what they claimed? Did the lie get them riches or influence? No, it brought them persecution and martyrdom. Was it wishful thinking on their part? If so then they were delusional.

This leads to a further unlikelihood – that of a whole lot of people sharing the same delusion and being willing to die for it. The church in its entirety faced persecution for the first 300 years of its existence. It is hard to imagine that this persecution would be endured for a lie.

In my mind, this whole line of questioning leads to an evaluation of the resurrection. The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:5–8 made the following claims:

“and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Paul most likely wrote 1 Corinthians in the early 50’s which was approximately 20 years after Jesus’ death. Were he to have penned a lie, there would have been people available to refute the lie. Paul even indicates that many of the 500 witnesses were still alive. Paul’s readers had the means available to verify the truth of these claims.

If you rule out the possibility of resurrection, then the only conclusion you can draw is that either Jesus or his disciples were delusional. If however, you are open to the possibility of Jesus being “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4), then a cohesiveness of the data can be seen.

If Jesus was delusional and his followers cooked up a legend about him, then he is powerless to save either himself or any part of humanity, noble intentions or no. But, on the other hand, if he is who he said he is, if he was proved to be God through his resurrection, then I have hope that tomorrow can be better than today. I cling to that hope, not despite the facts, but with their support.

Speed dialing with no signal – Dealing with frustration in prayer

Posted on March 25, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

Recently, the lyric “speed dialing with no signal” from a U2 song caught my ear. It grabbed my attention because it described my recent experience in prayer.

I take some comfort in the fact that many saints before me have had similar experience. In the Psalms, we find David and the other Psalmists asking God the question “how long?” at least twelve times (Ps. 4:2, Ps. 6:3, Ps. 13:1-2, Ps. 35:17, Ps. 62:3, Ps. 74:10, Ps. 79:5, Ps. 80:4, Ps. 82:2, Ps. 89:46, Ps. 90:13, Ps. 94:3). The “how long” question is an indication of frustration and impatience.

So I am not alone in my frustration in prayer. I am not the only one who has ever felt that his prayers were bouncing off the ceiling. Knowing that this is a shared experiece brings some comfort, but what is the solution?

As I consider this, three things come to mind as remedies to frustration in prayer:

I need to remember the character of God as revealed in Jesus.
I need to remember that Jesus teaches me to be persistent in prayer
I need to remember the two great commands

The Character of God

In John 14:9, Jesus indicates that those who have seen Jesus have seen the father. Jesus reveals to us the character of God. In Jesus, we see a God that is patient, forgiving, gentle and loving. I seen in Jesus a God who wants to grant my prayers, and if he does not grant them, there is good reason for the denial.

Persistence in Prayer

In Luke 18:1, Luke introduces a parable as one that teaches us to “pray and not lose heart.” In the parable, Jesus is giving us permission to be persistent in prayer. We are to continue to come to God with our needs and requests. There is no downside to sticking to it. I cannot over-pray.

The Two Great Commands

In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus gives us that the two great commands. The first is to love God with our entire being. The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. I need to focus first on God and then on my neighbor. My conclusion is that I am not to focus primarily on myself.

My “speed dialing with no signal” experience has been primarily caused by lack of attention to this third focus. When I get focused on what I want, I can get rather petulant when it is not provided. I may hide my petulance or I may even spiritualize it, but it remains a behavior that God will not tolerate or reward.

In Matthew 6:33, I am told to seek God’s kingdom before all (that first great command again) and everything else will be taken care of. My job is to get my priorities straight and keep them straight.