ECCLESIOLOGY Part 11 - DEVELOPING A HEALTHY CHURCH CULTURE

Every local church has a culture. Culture is a sociological term. It encompasses what a community regards as: proper, acceptable, and honourable. Sociologists refer to these as morēs. Conversely, culture conveys what is: not proper, not acceptable, and is disgraceful and shameful. Sociologists refer to this negative behaviour as deviant. Culture celebrates what a community regards as important, and, what it frowns on. Every local church as a culture, but sometimes that culture is not entirely healthy. In this instalment in the Ecclesiology series, I am sharing some of the insights that we deal with in my church leadership seminar.

 

WHAT HEALTHY CULTURE ACHIEVES

The other week I saw a YouTube video of a Western tourist in Japan who showed a video of passengers on a Tokyo train. The passengers sat in an orderly fashion and were seated in silence. The tourist wondered if there was a Japanese law requiring the passengers to sit silently on the train. He found out that there was not. The reason the Japanese passengers sat on the train in silence was due to their culture. They didn’t need to be told to sit quietly – they just knew that it was the proper thing to do. This kind of positive culture is something any local church can achieve, if it works on the following two principles.

When I Kim and speak at a church for an extended weekend it is our mission to serve that church community and to help them to be even more effective in their mission to reach their community. This involves sharing on a Friday night with their youth or young adults about relationships; then sharing on a Saturday morning with Kim speaking to the ladies and myself speaking to the men; then a mid-morning leadership seminar with Board members/elders/team leaders;  a Saturday night dinner with the pastor/s elder/s; and on Sunday sharing in the morning service/s followed by an open (for anyone attend) Q&A luncheon. In the church leaders’ seminar we look at what makes for a healthy church. It is in this interactive seminar that we discuss the elements of what makes for a positive culture in a church. In essence, from my study, and the feedback we have received from these seminars, I can reduce what is needed are these two factors: firstly, the leader, and secondly, the attitude of the church.   

 

1. THE INDISPENSABLE RÔLE OF THE LEADER

The leader of a local church may be identified as the elder, pastor, senior pastor, senior minister, rector, or even the leader. Their title is not necessarily a critical issue. What is indispensable though is that they lead. It simply can not be overstated just how important their role is. The leader carries the weight of responsibility for the tone of a local church’s culture. It is not only the leader’s preaching which contributes to their culture-setting. It is their example –

• How they treat people, how they deal with interruptions,
• How they speak to their spouse and child/ren,
• How they interact with their staff and/or volunteers,
• How they manage their time,
• How they admit their mistakes,
• How they take correction,
• How they deliver correction,
• How they respond to tragedy,
• How they they open their home to show hospitality,
• How how they use those who are better than them,
• What they laugh at – or – what they get angry at, and,
• How they strive to improve their strengths and weaknesses. 

 

2. THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH

While the leader is ultimately responsible for teaching sound doctrine and to exposit the Scriptures, as critically essential as this, it is not enough to ensure a positive and healthy church culture. It must be supplemented with a demonstrated explication of sound doctrine and the Scriptures. That is, a preacher can be a brilliantly powerful preacher who is an amazing teacher of God’s Word – but this is almost irrelevant if this preaching and teaching is not reflected in their godly attitude. When a leader consistently models a godly attitude it has an incalculably positive effect on their church’s attitude. Therefore, the senior leader must preach, teach, and model the biblical description of a godly attitude. This description is found in Colossians 3:12-17.

(12) ¶ Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
(13) bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
(14) And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
(15) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
(16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(17) And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
COLOSSIANS 3:12-17

If I was to list these attitude qualities, and then ask you, “How would you feel if your church was described by others as:

+  Compassionate

+ Kind

+ Humble

+ Meek

+ Patient

+ Forebearing

+ Forgiving

+ Loving

+ Harmonious

+ Peaceful

+ Thankful

+ Biblically literate

+ Wise

+ Prayerful and Pious (worshipful)

+ Sincere and holy?

Conclusion: The Gospel informs us that a culture can change. People can change. But what is needed are champions of cultural change who embrace the Church’s God ordained charge to be counter-cultural. When there is a champion of change – and better still – a champion team of change – building a healthy culture within a church is absolutely possible. And as this culture continue to be pursued I suspect that there will be many people who will be attracted to this church’s Christ-fragrance. Please pray that it does!

Amen.

Complementary Audio Podcast

THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT

Tinted glasses change the way we see things. Attitude changes the way we hear. And there's something very simple that can change attitude - which can make all the difference in a business, a club, a church, a family, and especially a marriage. But it's so unwell known, it might as well be a secret. Until today.

Phil. 2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had

When your attitude changes, your perspective changes. With the right attitude a hopeless situation can look hopeful. With the right attitutde a marriage on the skids can become a marriage to be envied. With the right attitutde a church that is struggling can become a church that is triumphing. 

But how do you change someone's attitude? Answer: by changing yours. And changing your attitude is quite simple.

First Peter 4:1 ¶ So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin,

Changing our attitude begins with our behaviour. If you want a positive attitude you must first behave like a positive person. If you want a hopeful attitude you must behave like a hopeful person. If you want the attitude of an on-fire, Holy Ghost filled, spiritually passionate, loving, thoughtful, fully devoted follower of Christ, then you must begin by behaving like one. 

I just described the type of attitude that I want. As you all know, this means that I've got some behaviour modification required. But I've got a huge advantage - I want this attitude. I don't want to be an insipid, half-hearted, luke-warm, distant follwer of Christ. As the pastor of our church I am increasingly feeling like the most blessed man on the planet. As I see you each Sunday morning in worship, I am encouraged that you also want to be a fully-devoted follower of Christ. As I join in prayer with you at our Sunday night prayer celebration I am stirred and greatly encouraged to hear the passion for God, for the lost, for our church, for our community. As I hear the testimonies of young and old each Sunday night about how God has been so good to them, I find it incredibly easy to be a happy, positive, hopeful pastor. It's my hope that when people come into our church looking for God, answers, hope, and love, that they will find a church that has an attractive attitude shaped by our worship of and devotion to Christ. 

This reminds me of something I heard from two preachers. The first preacher said that he went to a conference where the speaker was utterly terrible. During the first break in conference proceedings he grumpily went to the refreshments complaining under his breath. It was then that he said the Holy Spirit rebuked him about his attitude. He determined to go back into the next session with a renewed attitude. He took his pen and notepad and was ready to take notes of the profound points that the speaker was about to utter. He says that the exercise was made all the more easier because the speaker was vastly different from their first session! In the first session the conference speaker said nothing profound, nothing moving, nothing informative. But in the second session, suddenly the speaker was dopping the most profound insights, moving her audience from tears to laughter, and revealing truths that would change lives forever. The pastor found himself sitting on the edge of his seat eager to soak in all that the conference speaker was sharing. 

The second example occurred recently. A pastor was training younger pastors when he told them that how they sit during the worship service was extremely important. When the senior pastor of the church is speaking, he said, don't sit slumped in your seat - instead, sit on the edge of your seat and look attentively to your pastor. "You'll be amazed how much more interesting he will sound if you sit on the edge of your seat attentively than sitting slumped in the seat!"

So there you have the great untold secret to changing an attitude: sit on the edge of your seat attentively. Apparently it not only changes attitude but what you hear as well.

Psa. 34:8 ¶ Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Oh, the joys of those who trust in him!

Ps. Andrew