Attitude makes all the difference

I’m sure that we have all heard the saying that ‘our attitude makes all the difference‘.

I for one know this to be true in mission and ministry, having seen successes and growth, as well as a number of disappointments along the way.

I was recently reading an article by Carey Nieuwhof entitled ‘5 Big Attitude Differences That Separate Growing Churches From Declining Churches‘ in which he explores the attitude of its leaders.

Because I would like to think of myself as being relatively optimistic, I will be focussing on the positive aspects and expanding upon them. However, I will also close this blog entry with some concerns that I find myself facing as we in New Zealand slowly come out of lockdown and start to put plans in place to reopen our places of worship.

• Growing churches and their leaders have an attitude that challenges are not insurmountable and that anything is possible; they believe that they can achieve whatever it is that God is revealing to them, regardless of the challenges that they are facing. Growing churches and their leaders make a way when there appears to be no way, which seems to be what God specializes in if you read the Bible. Even if they’re wrong, at least they have tried something. The mission is important enough to take a significant risk.
• Growing churches and their leaders focus on the people they’re trying to reach. They get creative around how they can get their message out and how they can connect with those in their community. Many churches and their leaders have reimagined what church looks like when they can’t meet together in person, utilising technology in some form or another. The future belongs to those who moved into mission.
• Instead of focusing on the preferences of its members, growing churches and their leaders put more of an emphasis on ways that help them reach new people. It’s not that growing churches ignore the needs of their members, it’s that they realize the needs of their members are best fulfilled by making their lives about something bigger than their preferences (i.e. the mission).
• Growing churches and their leaders are proactive. They choose their agenda and immediately take action on issues that can impact their future. They embrace change and start working on ways in which they can continue the momentum that has started. They see what the mission requires and decide to deal with it, freeing up resources to achieve the results that they are anticipating, refusing to yield to the agenda of others that would take them off mission. As a result, they are often far more effective.
• Growing churches and their leaders act, and act now! They don’t get stuck in no man’s land, talking about things and getting consensus. They understand that action produces traction. So they act on the Holy Spirit’s leadings that come their way and trust that God will journey with them as they step out in faith.

The trouble is as church leaders within the denominational church, we are living in an environment where we are often limited by the constraints placed upon us by others (either in our chain of command or by those that have authority over us). It often doesn’t matter what our attitude is towards mission and ministry as we cannot move past where those others ‘over us’ are at.

It is then further compounded when we add in the issues of finance and sustainability, as those that are comfortable with the no-risk, or limited risk environment that they have become accustomed to, tend not to live by faith, as they feel that they are protecting the wider denomination from unknown variables and security that comes from control.

So the biggest concern that I find myself facing as we in New Zealand come out of lockdown and start to put plans in place to reopen our places of worship is that we are limiting God! Will we be paralyzed by our leaderships inactivity to grasp a hold of the mission and ministry opportunities that God is presenting to us in these times? Possibly, maybe, history would show us – yes.

As I was sharing with a colleague the other day it is almost as if we are left cowering in the trenches waiting on those ‘over us’ to tell us what to do on the front lines, for we are no longer allowed to do what God has called us to be – leaders in His church, that take a hold of our Pentecostalism which emphasises the work of the Holy Spirit. We are bound by the worldly forces where money and planning unfortunately often trump God’s blessing from moving us into a new manifestation of His Spirit.

Habakkuk 1:5 says that God is “going to do something in our days that we would not believe, even if He were to tell us.”

We live in a world that needs God more than ever. Therefore we need to reimagine what church is, not what it has become. Maybe going back to what He intended church to be in the first place, not what we have made it.

We need to be reaching out in to our communities with the Life and Hope that only comes from Jesus Christ. Trusting in God and not going back to normal, for I believe God has so much more in store for His church, if only we would allow Him to work in and through us!

Will that come with a blueprint, a 10 point strategy that spells out exactly what we are going to do and how we are going to afford it, let alone do it? I don’t think so! Because God is a living God, developing, moulding, growing and transforming us into what He intended us to be.

So if our attitude makes all the difference, I am still optimistic that God has not finished with us yet and there is so much more in store for us each. For by the measure of our faith He can do amazing things, things that we could never imagine or fully comprehend – because He makes the way!

We are to “give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (New International Version)

So Lord, have your way in me and in Your church.

May the following band piece, composed by Lt. Grant Pitcher be an encouragement to you, as we each embark on a new chapter in our lives, a life that God reveals to us, step by step as we take a journey of faith.

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