Emerging As a Missional Community

Have you noticed that our church family is emerging as a more missional congregation?  It is certainly a work in progress, but a work that is making progress. Each week I witness a growing atmosphere of caring and responding to human needs that exists both inside and outside our church family. 

Our First Baptist family has a long and treasured legacy of supporting missions, both prayerfully and financially…that is nothing new.  The term missional, however, refers more to how we are driven to be the presence of Christ in our community.  Being missional is about how we invest our spiritual gifts to do ministry.  Being missional is about how we organize, team up, and network so that we maximize our effectiveness.  Being missional is finding our niche, discovering what we do best and doing it well, without trying to do all of the things that other churches in our area do well. Being missional challenges us to be the church, and not just go to church.

Last fall I presented a challenge to our congregation for us to become more intentionally missional:

• Let’s reclaim our local mission field.
• Let’s mobilize for ministry, planning to meet less and minister more.
• Let’s upgrade our model of organization. 
• Let’s organize ourselves into ministry teams according to our spiritual gifts and passions.
• Let’s mentor the next generation.

Take time to inventory your spiritual gifts and passions, and get connected with one of our ministry teams.  And if you are already on a ministry team, use your unique gifts and passion to empower and energize that team toward a higher level of effectiveness.

Beginning last summer, we entered a covenant with the Center for Ministerial Excellence (endowed by the Lilly Foundation) to serve as a Teaching Congregation for future ministers.  Our first Ministry Resident, Paul Hood-Patterson, and his wife, Dawn, joined us in June.  In recent months, we have discovered Paul to be a gifted teacher, a creative thinker, a skilled writer, and a caring pastoral minister.  This Sunday, March 1, Paul will be preaching on the Discipline of Service.

As you pray for Paul, invite a friend or neighbor to join you as our church family gathers for worship and Bible study.

Submission: Knowing When to Follow

Mark 8:34-35

(sermon outline for Sunday February 22)

Central idea: Jesus urges his disciples to be good and faithful followers.

Introduction:

1. I have been asked, “What is the most challenging discipline to preach on?” and “What is the most challenging discipline to put in to practice?”  The inquirers usually suppose that either Fasting or Stewardship is the most difficult discipline.  I am discovering, however, that Submission may be the toughest and yet the most timely of all of the disciplines.

2. Think about these probing questions to help you better understand your own attitude toward submission:

• Do you struggle to follow the leadership of others?
• Do you tend to rebel against authority figures?
• Do you perceive marriage to be a hierarchy rather than a partnership?
• Do you tend to be overly critical and/or withdraw from participation when things are not going your way?
• Do you see God as being there to service your needs, but one who makes no demands of you?  (Some see God as their “spiritual concierge.”)

3. Jesus is on record as telling his disciples to follow him. The Bible instructs children to obey their parents. Jesus taught his followers to be good citizens who “render unto Caesar.”  And ultimately the Bible teaches us to be subject to God.

4.  As followers of Jesus we must navigate seemingly contradictory values and directives. Our parents taught us to stand up for ourselves and not be a pushover.  Our teachers tell us to dream and aspire and think outside the box.  The advertising culture tells us, “Have it your way!”  And the church has even joined the battle by succumbing to a self-service culture that says, If you will come to our church we will do church your way.

5. Jesus gave a firm invitation to follow:  Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.        Mark 8:34-35  The Message

6. Definitions of submission

• Submission- yielding to the will or authority of another
• Submission- surrendering into full cooperation
• Submission is to “partner in the mission.”

Outline:

1. Submission deals with the way we view and interact with others.

• Submission frees us to value other people.
• Submission is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get your own way.     –Richard Foster
• Submission calls us to work for the common good.

2. Jesus taught and promoted radical subordination.

• Jesus gives a total reversal of the popular notion of greatness.
• If any would be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.   Mark 9:35  NIV
• The way of the cross is the life of voluntary submission.

3. Believers are taught to practice submission in multiple areas of life.

• Submission to God.
• Submission within the family.
• Submission to our leaders.
• Submission in community.
• The exception clause is when “submission causes great destruction, or causes you to disobey a direct command of God.”

Conclusion:

1. Summary: In every church, in every family, in every community, in every vocation, there is a time to lead and a time to follow. There are a lot of workshops, classes, and seminars to teach you how to be a good leader.  Jesus wants to teach you how to be a good follower.  When you become a good follower, there are others who will readily follow your lead.

2. Life application:

ü      Upgrade your marriage to a submissive partnership where each partner leads in his or her area of expertise and experience.

ü      Upgrade your citizenship by supporting, praying for, and cooperating with your elected leaders.

ü      Upgrade your church engagement by setting aside your personal preferences and your list of favorites and start working toward the common good of the whole body.

ü      Upgrade your discipleship, your daily Christian commitment, by deferring your ambition and making the tough sacrifices to follow Jesus.

Knowing When to Follow

This week marks the halfway point in our journey through the Spiritual Disciplines.  In recent weeks we have focused on Mediation, Prayer, Fasting, Study, Simplicity, and Stewardship.  During the next six weeks we will highlight Submission, Service, Confession, Worship, Guidance and Celebration.  A few of you have speculated on which disciplines are the toughest to preach on or to practice, and the usual assumption is that Fasting and Stewardship must be among the top two.  Actually I am thinking that Submission may be the toughest to deal with in a sermon or to practice in our daily lives.

From early childhood, our fast food culture indoctrinates us with counter-Christian mantra, “Have it your way!”  Rather than pressing to get our way, the Discipline of Submission teaches us to follow God’s way.  It is necessary, but not at all easy, to forego our personal ambition and submit to God, submit to our spouse, submit to our leaders, and to submit to our spiritual community.

On Sunday morning we will tackle the discipline of Submission: Knowing When to Follow.  Many of us are surprised to learn in our Bible study that Jesus focused more on the importance of being a faithful follower than he focused on the role of being a leader.  Perhaps Jesus knew that the key to becoming a good leader in your area of giftedness or expertise, is to first learn to be a good follower.

On Sunday afternoon we continue Ministry Madness with an equipping workshop from 5-7 in Chipley Hall.  Bob Bumgarner, a gifted facilitator in the area of spiritual gifts, will lead us in Building Powerful Ministry Teams.  All church members are invited.  Deacons and ministry team members will certainly not want to miss the training event.  If you have not yet signed up for a Ministry Team, you will have an opportunity before and after the workshop.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we gather for worship and Bible study.

 

Celebrating 400 Years of Being Baptist

Getting Better Acquainted with our Missional Partners

(outline for Wednesday Feb 18) 

Introduction:

1. I want to challenge you to get better acquainted with our First Baptist missional partners.

2. In order to better understand why we have multiple mission partners, you need to appreciate the emerging history of Baptist and missions.

3. Baptists have had a pulse and passion for missions since their inception as an identifiable Christian movement in 1609.

4. Baptists origins in the United States are usually associated with the establishment of the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island in 1629, identified historically as the First Baptist Church in America.

5. Southern Baptists began at First Baptist Church of Augusta, Georgia in 1845.

6. First Baptist Church of Pensacola began as a mission in 1846 and was constituted as a church in 1847.

7. Tonight I wish to walk you through a brief historical timeline which could help you understand the emergence of our support for multiple mission partners, as well as encouraging you to think, pray, and dialogue about future scenarios of missional support.

I.  Past trends

• Mission Societies: From 1609 until approximately 1925, missionary Baptists supported missions congregationally through a variety of Mission Societies. (see http://www.centerforbaptiststudies.org/pamphlets/style/missions.htm)
• Cooperative Program: Baptists longed to find more efficient ways to cooperate in maximizing their mission efforts and dollars.  The first Cooperative Program budget was adopted in 1925 as a commonly agreed upon portfolio of mission support. 
• Multiple Options: Beginning in the early 1980’s, as new leaders were elected to leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention, leaders who had previously been more identified with independent Baptist causes, or leaders who did not have a history of strong support for the Cooperative Program, a gradual revision of the Cooperative Program began.  Many entities once considered a vital part of the Cooperative Missions effort were replaced with entities more aligned with the theological persuasion of the new leadership.  Many Baptists who longed to continue to support traditional Baptist causes created auxiliary agencies designed to serve as networks of support and conduits for missions.  One such entity was the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, organized in the 1980’s.

2. Current partnerships: For the past few years, First Baptist Church of Pensacola is one of almost 2000 Baptist churches to offer multiple mission giving options.  Here are our current primary partners:

• Baptist World Alliance: The Baptist World Alliance is a global movement of Baptists sharing a common confession of faith in Jesus Christ, bonded together by God’s love to support, encourage and strengthen one another, while proclaiming and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to a lost world.  The Baptist World Alliance is a fellowship of 214 Baptist conventions and unions comprising a membership of more than 37 million baptized believers and a community of 105 million.  The Baptist World Alliance began in London, England, in 1905 at the first Baptist World Congress.
• Cooperative Baptist Fellowship: The CBF is a resource and networking group, not a convention or denomination, designed to assist Baptist churches in supporting local and global missions.  The identity of CBF can summarized as a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission of Jesus Christ and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice.
• Southern Baptist Convention: The Southern Baptist Convention began as a loose affiliation of missionary Baptist churches who shared a similar, but not uniform, faith.  Their beliefs were confessional and not creedal, and are documented in the Historic Baptist Distinctives and The Baptist Faith and Message.  The SBC may be described as follows: The term "Southern Baptist Convention" refers to both the denomination and its annual meeting. Working through 1,200 local associations and 41 state conventions and fellowships, Southern Baptists share a common bond of basic Biblical beliefs and a commitment to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world.
• Locally directed Missions: First Baptist Church of Pensacola has an active locally directed missions committee to guide the church to invest designated local missions funds to projects and mission entities that share our passion for missional work.

3. Future possibilities:

• Continued Multiple Choice Options:  We may continue to offer multiple options, occasionally revised and upgraded, to allow FBCP members to individually choose their preferred missional partner(s).
• Alignment with a Single Partner: Our church could choose to align with one missional partner to the exclusive of others.  While this scenario does not seem likely, considering the diversity of our church and the plurality of Baptist agencies, it could be likely that one or more of our mission partners could exclude us. You should be aware that some state conventions and the SBC have considered disallowing participation (“disfellowshipping”) Baptist churches who continue to choose to network with other missional partners.
• Customized Church Missions Portfolio:  Some churches are moving away from an envelope selection methodology and creating a Church Missions Portfolio that includes multiple mission agencies such as the partners we currently support through designation and through budget. Such a Church Missions Portfolio is reviewed, revised, and upgraded annually so that the church is supporting the mission partners who are most efficient, most accountable, and most cooperative with the local church.

Conclusion:

1. Baptist life can get a little messy at times because, compared to other faith traditions, we allow extraordinary freedom of expression.  I tend to avoid controversial political statements or entanglements.  However, when it comes to missions, it is worth having a few tense and honest conversations to be sure that we are networking with partners we can trust and respect, and partners who will respect and trust us.

2. Through seasons of war and peace, schism and unification, prosperity and adversity, Baptists have always found and will continue to find a way to partner for the purposes of doing ministry and missions.

Postscript:

Often I am asked about the best way to get information on Baptist History and the best sources for accurate information on Baptist life.  As a pastor, and as one who served for eight years as an officer of a Baptist state paper, here are my recommendations for dependable sources:

www.baptiststoday.com

www.abpnews.com

www.baptisthistory.org

www.ethicsdaily.com

www.westernrecorder.org

www.baptiststandard.com

www.biblicalrecorder.org

www.thealabamabaptist.org

www.centerforbaptiststudies.org

 

 

Stewardship: Opening the Windows of Heaven

Malachi 3: 6-12

(sermon outline for Sunday Feb. 15)

You can honor God in the way you manage your resources and responsibilities.

• Stewardship is management of all of the resources in your care.

• Tithing is a prime stewardship discipline.

Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.
                                                Malachi 3:10 The Message

·        The discipline of stewardship leads us to continually re-evaluate and reorganize our priorities and commitments.

• God opens the windows of heaven in response to our stewardship.

God’s plan for Christian stewardship is relevant for all of the seasons of life, whether seasons of recession or seasons of prosperity.

God has entrusted you with a crucial management opportunity.  And God is cheering for you to succeed.

 

Historic Baptist Distinctives

(outline for Wednesday Feb. 11)

Biblical Authority - our one, sole authority for faith and practice

We believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative word of God, which reveals His will and our duties, which is able and sufficient for us to know His will and do our duties, and which is the final source of appeal regarding faith and life among His people.   2 Timothy 3:15-17

Autonomy of the Local Church -directly answerable to Lord Jesus Christ
We believe that the local church is self-governing under the headship of Jesus Christ and the superintendence of the Holy Spirit.  While fellowship with other like-minded churches is encouraged, the local church is the final authority in such matters, surrendering nothing to any individual or organization's external control.  Revelation 2:1-3:22

Priesthood of the Believer - able to go directly to God through Jesus
We believe every believer is a priest before God, having no mediator except the Lord Jesus Christ.  Every believer has equal, direct access to the throne of God.  1 Peter 2:5,9

Two Ordinances - Baptism and the Lord's Table
We believe Christ commanded the local church to observe two ordinances.  The first ordinance is believer's baptism by immersion.  In baptism a believer publicly confesses participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ by faith and is received into the church.  The second ordinance is the Lord's Table.  The church regularly gathers together to call to remembrance the death of Christ as the basis for its union and communion with Christ and one another.  Matthew  28:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11.17-34

Individual Soul Liberty- personal freedom and responsibility before God
We believe every believer has personal freedom and responsibility before God.  The believer is free from any coercion others might place upon him, yet also responsible for his own actions before God and for treating others in love as he would be treated.  Romans 14:1-12

Saved, Regenerated Membership- regular assembly of believers in a church
We believe that the local church is to have a membership composed of those who have given a credible testimony and confession of faith by believer’s baptism. The evidences of regeneration involve the fruits of faith, repentance, and holy living.  The evidence of regeneration is manifest in a desire to identify with fellow believers in regular worship, fellowship, and service of a local church.   Acts 2:41-42, Acts 14:23-24, Hebrews 10:24-25

Two Offices - Pastor-Elder and Deacon
We believe Christ has ordained two offices for the local church.  The pastors-elders provide spiritual leadership. They feed and care for the congregation, model experienced spiritual maturity for the congregation, and take oversight of the ministry of the church.  The deacons provide service and physical assistance.  They serve the needs of the congregation under the direction of the spiritual leadership, relieving them of duties of vital, yet secondary importance.  1 Timothy 3:1-7, 1 Timothy 3:8-13

Separation of Church and State - mutually exclusive
We believe the Church and the State have been ordained of God, but that each has a mutually exclusive place and purpose.  The State exists to provide general safety, order, and peace in society.  The Church exists to proclaim the Gospel and to provide instruction in the word of God for itself and society.  Though the well-being of society is commonly shared, neither must cross into the place or purpose of the other.  Matthew 22:21

Simplicity: Highlighting the Simple Gifts

Luke 12:13-21

(sermon outline for Sunday Feb. 8)

Central idea: Followers of Christ can recognize and embrace simple gifts that enable us to live a meaningful life that honors God.

Introduction:

1. Simplicity is something we often long for, but seldom obtain.  Perhaps the best way to enjoy life’s simple gifts is to practice the discipline of simplicity.

2. You might need to re-visit the discipline of simplicity if…

• You spend an excessive amount of time wanting things you don’t have while ignoring the things you do have.
• You are a chronic worrier, frequently worrying about things over which you have no control.
• You feel like your life is overly complicated.
• You experience flutters of despair about the current recession.
• In the busyness of life, you sometimes lose your spiritual center and need to return to ground zero.

3. In between Jesus warning his followers about the hypocrisy of the religious legalists and cautioning his followers about the dysfunction of chronic worry, Jesus tells a story about a foolish man’s pursuit of wealth for wealth’s sake. In that story Jesus stressed that life is not measured in the abundance of possessions.

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."     Luke 12:15 NIV

4. We live in a culture where prime importance is placed on material possessions. But many are so dismayed at their own personal situation, they seem to be reevaluating the value of possessions.  Are you possessing your possessions, or are your possessions possessing you? 

5. Possessions can bless us or imprison us.  Richard Foster contends that Simplicity is freedom. Duplicity is bondage. Simplicity brings joy and balance. Duplicity brings anxiety and fear.

Outline:

1. A life of simplicity is based on a profound covenant of trust.

o       Simplicity begins by placing childlike faith in God.

o       Simplicity is realized when you live out of a deep covenant of trust in God who will provide for your needs and guide your decisions.

2. The discipline of simplicity enables us to focus on our gifts and our passions.

o       Your true wealth is your character, your unique giftedness, and your personal passion.

3. Simplicity counters our cultural inclination toward materialism.

o       You need to recognize that our culture currently propels us toward materialism.

o       Materialism leads you to erroneously confuse your material wealth with your true self-worth.

4. Simplicity uproots distractions.

o       Distractions are things like worry, discontent, anxiety, self-pity, envy, apathy, and workaholism.

5. Simplicity enhances the abundant life.

• Encourages us to live with intentionality.
• Enables us to aim at the right target.
• Empowers us to know “indescribable joy.”

Summary: Embrace the simple gifts in life and honor God with your attitude and your actions.

Without presuming to pass judgment on the lifestyle of any other person, how can you practice the discipline of simplicity?  Would you take the simple gifts that you have received from God and use them to bless and encourage others?

 

 

Study: Becoming a Lifetime Student

Romans 12:1-2

(sermon outline for Sunday February 1)

 

Central idea: You will grow and mature spiritually as your mind is nourished through study.

Introduction:

1.  God created you with the capacity to learn…to access, process, and retrieve all kinds of data that is crucial to life decisions, spiritual formation, and personal maturity.  In other words, you honor God when you practice the discipline of study.

2. In the book of Romans, Paul writes encouraging believers to avoid dittoing the thoughts and behaviors of others.  Rather, Paul urges believers to have our minds constantly fed, nurtured, and reformatted.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.                                          Romans 12:2 NIV

3. We live in a world where people are tired of stale cliché religion but hungry for authentic faith that can be articulated with passion and with purpose.  Practicing the discipline of study will enhance the way you live a Christian life with genuineness and integrity.

Outline:

1. Exercise your intellectual capacity as a gift from God.

a. God created you to be a thinker.

b. You are more likely to conform to the world when you let someone else think for you.

c. One of the many reasons I find myself at home in an authentic Baptist community is because Baptists have historically treasured many distinctive beliefs including “the priesthood of the believer” and “the soul competency of the individual.”  Both of these values empower you to pray, confess, think, and decide for yourself.

d. When the preacher speaks, it is not a papal edict.  Rather, it is a reflection, an idea, or a spark of inspiration that should cause me to consider or reconsider my own perspectives or convictions alongside his or hers.

2. Study is a way to love God with all your mind.

a. Jesus commanded us to love God with our minds: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'     Lk 10:27 NIV

b. When you exercise your mind to do planning, problem solving, trouble shooting, conflict management, imagining, memorizing, or contemplating, you are honoring God.

3. All fields of study present ways to know and honor God.

a. Every believer should study the Bible.

b. But it is also important to read novels, histories, and biographies.

c. History is the study of the events and experiences that have taken place before now.

d. Science, biology, chemistry, zoology, and anatomy study the elements, the life systems, and hypotheses behind what makes life tick.

e. To study art is to explore the creative and imaginative expression of others while maximizing and refining your own passion for artistic expression.

f. To study philosophy is dialogue with the thinkers who explore reason, epistemology, and meanings in life.

g. To study mathematics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, and engineering is to look at the dimensions, weights, measurements, and quantum relationships within God’s universe.

h. To study theology is to think about God in relationship to all other disciplines, all other fields of study.

4. Think of yourself as a student for life.

a. You never reach an age or level of maturity where you can stop learning.

b. When you finish your final degree, whether bachelors, or masters, or doctorate, you are ready to go out and become a student of the most important things in the world, the most crucial values in life.

Conclusion:

1. God wants to grow and mature you through “the renewing of your mind” so that you can discover and experience God’s direction for your life.

2. Today’s scripture passage begins with a challenge to present yourself as a living sacrifice.  Actually it is an invitation to present yourself in totality as a candidate for growth…spiritual growth, social growth, intellectual growth…as you live out God’s will and purpose for you.

3. In the Bible, the word for student is disciple.  Jesus calls each of us to be his disciples.  But a disciple is a specialized type of student… one who learns by following.  Would you commit to being a 21^st Century disciple…one whose studying and learning is concentrated around the adventure of following Jesus?