Check Yourself – Part 4

The last few weeks on Conversatio Morum we talked about having a check yourself mentality, what that means and why it’s important. You can read about that here, here, and here. Today I’d like to talk about another way to gauge this for your entire group. The Purpose driven movement has been well received in large, and at the same time has been given a lot of flack from certain parts of the church. With that being said, I do think that Rick Warren gives some great and practical thoughts on ministry. Specifically, when looking at the Purpose Driven Church the 5 purposes in purpose driven church are thermometer to help gauge how your church as a whole is doing. [tweet that]

If you’re unfamiliar with the 5 purposes listed by Warren and Saddleback, they are:

  1. Fellowship
  2. Discipleship
  3. Worship
  4. Ministry
  5. Evangelism

You can pull these purposes out of Acts 2:42-47 so they are rooted in scripture. Now, the question is how you begin to utilize them as a measurement for health and effectiveness. When you begin to think of the 5 purposes as a thermometer they begin to make more sense in terms of a metric to show health. The best way to view this is that each thermometer should be at the same level as a good gauge of health. On the other side of this coin, if you have an imbalance, that’s a good indicator of lack of health. For example, if evangelism is at a 8 and everything else is at a 3, your situation is like growing a 3-year-old with steroids. [tweet that] Not the greatest picture of health.

So part of the goal is to have each of the thermometers be at the same level. The other part of the goal is to have them go higher. You don’t want each purpose to be at the same level and that level be 0. The goal is to continually be growing in each of these areas and, on a scale of 0-10, have them all be at a 10.

This is a common tool used by some of the most effective church’s in our nation. Does this seem like a helpful measurement tool for you? Can you see the advantage of utilizing this tool to determine the health and growth of your congregation?

So….This Is Awkwardly Awesome

Hey folks. Here’s a post full of both Awkward and Awesome. It’s Awkwardly Awesome. So I was supposed to publish the last of the Throwback Thursday posts in its current iteration today. However, that isn’t going to happen. So that’s the awkward part. Why aren’t you publishing the Throwback Thursday goodness? Well I’m glad you asked. You see, there’s an awesome part of this post.

Xanga, you remember Xanga right? Well, that’s where the original posts are held. Xanga has decided to do something and become awesome. Unbeknownst to me, they’ve moved their backend to some sweet WordPress awesomeness. Great! Right?!?! Go Xanga! So that’s awesome and changes my attitude towards them on a significant level. Now, on another note because of this, they’re in the middle of the transition. So that leaves me without content to move over for the last Throwback Thursday. So sorry. I’ll post it as soon as it comes back up. Hopefully next week.

OK, well, there’s something else that’s awesome. John Saddington‘s new app Pressgram was released today and I got my first name as my username! (I’ve been waiting my entire life for that, considering how hard it is to get Joshua as a username for anything.) If you have an iPhone and WordPress, you should definitely get in on this. So with that, you might see some photo posts appearing on here. I promise I’ll make them go to a separate page in the next few days, but stick with me as I clean up the mess that this may cause. In the meantime, enjoy and photos and throw me some comments.

OK, love you all.

Joshua

Happy Labor Day!

Hey all. It’s a day off here at Conversatio Morum. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still working hard. I’m just working on some other projects today. Next week we’ll get back into the check yourself series. For now, have a Great and Happy Labor Day!!!

Check Yourself – Part 3

The last few weeks we talked about having a check yourself mentality and the need to gauge your effectiveness, you can read about that here. We also talked about ways to gauge your effectiveness, you can read about that here. Today I’d like to talk about another way to gauge this. This is geared more towards leaders as opposed to the 1/3 rule that is geared towards entire groups. You need to gauge how your leaders are doing personally and in their task since they set the pace for everyone else. [tweet that] Continue reading “Check Yourself – Part 3”

“Who do you say that I AM?”

Originally Posted: Monday, March 06, 2006
Mood: lyrical
Now Playing: Other people talking
Topic: the character of God

Currently Reading
CUCKOO’S EGG
By Clifford Stoll
see related

OK. I’m going to do this thing….I’m finally going to post. Wow, three months is a long time. A lot happens within that time. I can’t fill in everything. I guess this’ll be like starting over. It is time to start over. Hmmm…I like that. Starting over. Much like Jesus lets us do. I like that He covers and gives second chances and lets us start over. I need that. I know that I’m not the only one. Continue reading ““Who do you say that I AM?””

Check Yourself – Part 2

Last time we talked about how in leadership having a “check yourself” mentality is necessary. You can read that here. I want to spend some time talking about the specifics of effectiveness when dealing with church for the next several weeks. One thing I want to clarify is that effectiveness does not mean bigger numbers and more people. If you relegate to numbers as a metric of success then you’ll end up with a big group and not much life change in that group. In the end that becomes a big social club. I will also say that my observation has been that what is needed to attain growth is counter intuitive in that the best way to do that is to not concentrate as hard on numerical growth. Continue reading “Check Yourself – Part 2”

Hearing God’s Voice

Originally Posted: Thursday, December 08, 2005
Mood:  quizzical
Now Reading: Clowning in Rome
Topic: the character of God

Currently Listening
Lay It Down
By Jennifer Knapp
7. You Remain
see related

I knew it. Why am I listening this? I know that it tears me apart every time I hear it. Tears. I love Jesus, but sometimes the lies and feelings that we have seem so real. Real enough that even sometimes the lies seem strong enough to win against the truth that I must acknowledge. Continue reading “Hearing God’s Voice”

Check Yourself – Part 1

When we talk about mission, specifically related to church, there seems to always be this running tension between offering grace and seeing effectiveness. Usually people don’t want to have those harder conversations regarding someone’s effectiveness at what they’re doing. Whether that thing be leading a small group, leading worship, inviting others to follow Jesus, or even pastoring a church. Part of the reason for this lack is that as leader’s we don’t have the “Check Yourself” mentality for our own lives, much less for the lives of those we lead. The average median church size in the US is roughly 75 people. 90% of all church’s in the US run 400 or less. Now 400 is a good size, but when you take population growth into account, what this really means is that we aren’t keeping up. Continue reading “Check Yourself – Part 1”

Night and Day

Originally Posted:Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Reading: Clowning in Rome
Topic: Living in the Epic Story


Currently Listening
Gladiator: Music from the Motion Picture
By Original Soundtrack
see related

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I think I can start posting more now. I think that I can break the silence.

I guess I should start with what God is doing in my life. The only way to do this adequately is to draw back. About two weeks ago I wrote this. For those who don’t know, I got away. I went and stayed in the middle of the woods, alone, for two nights. I needed adventure and could sense it. I needed to get away and wrestle with God on some stuff, and that seemed the remedy for it. That seemed where I could meet Him. It was good. Continue reading “Night and Day”