BACK TO THE FUTURE
In 1991 I came to Leesburg Baptist Church as pastor. In 2001 I left the church to take on a worldwide ministry through the Baptist World Alliance. In 2009 if I return to the church as pastor everyone needs to realize that Leesburg is not the same, I am not the same, and the church is not the same. My goal is not to reproduce the past, but to move into God’s future for the church and for my ministry. While much has changed, the biblically based mission, vision, values and dreams that make a church successful in the eyes of God have not changed. If I am to return as pastor, two issues must be agreed upon by the church to make it possible to turn the situation around as quickly as possible.
ISSUE #1: If I return to Leesburg I would want the church to return to the biblical emphases that made it possible for God to use this church to reach many people and have a world-wide impact through projects like the Angel Flight (DC-10 loaded with relief
supplies after the fall of communism distributed through the Moscow Baptist Church).
The current mission and vision statements taken from the church’s website are not ones that I would be comfortable ministering under. The Mission Statement says, “We are committed to a singular mission: Leading people to discover abundant life through Christ.” John 10:10 is then quoted. The problem is that it suggests that the Christian life is all about us—its not—it is all about God. Jesus did come to give us an abundant life, but when most people hear that verse isolated from the rest of the biblical message, they don’t understand that the abundant life Jesus is talking about is the by-product of being willing to die to oneself and being alive to God. Jesus said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). The church’s current Vision Statement says, “We will influence our friends and neighbors with the winsome love of Jesus Christ. Our priority will be to provide a safe and challenging environment that enables children, students and adults to reach their God-given potential through commitment to Jesus Christ, and then turn and share this new found faith with others yet to be included.” It is unclear if the primary purpose of the vision is to include friends and neighbors in the membership of this church, or to get them to commit to service in the worldwide Kingdom of God. I want to call people to join the great adventure of faith in which they may be asked by God to risk everything. While I understand the language of creating a “comfortable and safe environment”, a church with the “priority” of safety and comfort is not going to produce people who are willing to give a lower priority to the normal values of human life and make building the Kingdom of God their priority. ► If I am to return to the church as pastor, the church would have to be willing to return to mission, vision, and values that characterized our shared ministry together. I have reproduced these below:
OUR MISSION: TO KNOW CHRIST AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN. To help all come to know God through Christ and grow into fully devoted disciples led and empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve God and others. This is summarized: To Know God intimately. (Matt. 6:33; Phil. 3:8) To Grow into the image of Christ. (Rom. 8:29; 1 Thess. 5:11) To Go in witness and service to others. (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 10:45) OUR VISION: To be a creative, world-class mission center used by Christ to change our world.
OUR DREAMS:
- To work together to build a renewed church ready to chart new territory in a new millennium. - To express the Christian faith in a way that is relevant to each person’s everyday life. - To build bridges to those who don’t know Christ so that their lives can be changed by God’s love and power. - To make church membership a carefully considered commitment, rather than a casual act. - To forge a true Christian family through “house churches” where mutual support, encouragement and love are experienced by each person.
OUR FIVE CORE VALUES: 1. Unchurched people matter to God. 2. Christianity is a relationship - not a religion. 3. The greatest joy in life comes from knowing and serving God and others. 4. The church should be culturally relevant and theologically pure. 5. Full devotion to Jesus Christ is the standard for every believer. OUR METHODOLOGY: 1. Congregational Worship is essential for every believer and must be regular, relevant to the individual, biblically based, evangelistic, and God-directed. This church has chosen to utilize a variety of styles of worship and is committed to continuing to change our worship, and begin new worship services to better praise God and meet the needs of His people. 2. Small Discipleship Groups are a major factor in Christian growth and maturity so every Christian should be in one. We have chosen the “House Church” approach to small groups as our major discipling strategy. 3. Ministry based on our God-given gifts is biblically mandated so every Christian should be involved in serving God and others through some ministry. 4. Personal Bible study and Prayer is essential for spiritual growth and should be a daily part of every believer’s life. 5. Church growth is important—numerically and spiritually. Numbers aren’t important to God but people’s lives are and a healthy church is reaching new people all the time. CHURCH GROWTH: I. Most small churches are small, because their structure and culture keeps them small. ►The issue in most churches is control. For church growth to take place the goal of the church organizational structure must be to help people grow in their faith, not to “run the church.” ►Streamlined administrative structures. We must try to involve most of our people in ministry not administration. ►Become a permission giving church. In a permission-giving church guidance and accountability come from the church’s Mission, Vision, Values statements. We try to say “yes” to as many ministries as possible, not to find all the reasons we shouldn’t do more. II. Church growth is biblical. ► Jesus structured his ministry to speak often to large crowds. Jesus traveled around the country and went to the people to reach out to as many people as possible. ► The Jerusalem Church grew from 120 to 3,120 in one day. Acts 1-2 describe the church growing from a core of disciples after the resurrection from a relative small number to the addition of 3,000 on the Day of Pentecost, people who responded to Peter’s preaching after the Holy Spirit was given to the church.
► The New Testament says the church grew daily. Acts 2:47 says, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” That means there were a minimum of 365 conversions each year. III. God will reward big dreams and big faith. ► While we wait for God to work for us, God is waiting to work through us! 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. John 15:16
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Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Matthew 21:43 (NIV) Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…. Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)
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II. Issue #2: The Church’s Name
While we operated under two names for approximately 8 of the 10 years I served the church before, it is now clear that this has become a stumbling block to the church family and a cause for continual dissention. This issue must be settled if the church is going to be turned around. No one wants to pastor a church or join a church where there is continual fighting and dissention. I would like to suggest a solution that has been used at First Baptist Church Clarendon—the church was incorporated using the name, “First Baptist Church of Clarendon”. That will always be the church’s legal name, BUT it is doing business as (DBA) “The Church at Clarendon.” I suggest this church incorporate as Leesburg Baptist Church to preserve our historic name and identity. But I suggest the church operate under the name:
Leesburg Community Church
“A Baptist Heritage, A Heart for All”
with the tag line,
I am proud of my Baptist heritage. I am the son of a Baptist deacon. I attended a Baptist University and Baptist Seminary. I have served five Baptist churches as their pastor, been General Secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship and a Director of the Baptist World Alliance. But what makes me Baptist is not the word Baptist, it is the biblical things that Baptist believe—the priesthood of the believer, salvation by grace alone, and a determination to be faithful to Christ’s Great Commission and Great Commandment. Only 15.8% of the population of the USA is Baptists. If we want to reach out to all people we have to have a name that says to those from any Christian background—there is a place here for you. Jesse Jackson and Jesse Helms are both Baptists but they are as different politically, theologically, and socially as any two people can be. I don’t want to spend time explaining to people what kind of Baptist we are or we aren’t. I want to spend time telling people about Jesus Christ.
► If I am to return to the church as pastor, the church would have to be willing to accept the name compromise I have suggested and move past the time of division and strife.