Mini-Course: #ReimagineCOMPASSION… 6 Teaching Articles by Jim Morgan @ Meet The Need
{Note: Articles & Resource Link follow this introduction}
Revitalization of our churches and activation of Christ-followers has never been more important. Watching the national or local news, we’re frequently reminded how urgently America needs:
- More love, less division
- More faith, less self-centeredness
- More mercy, less suffering
- More grace, less hostility
- More hope, less poverty
As the impact and influence of America’s churches has diminished, the essential elements of Christianity – Love, Faith, Mercy, Grace, and Hope – have leaked from our culture. Those trends will continue until churches and Christians return to modeling those ideals – like unity in the face of division and compassion in the midst of suffering.
Several fundamental misalignments of church operating principles with biblical practices have contributed to the decline of churches in growth, impact, influence, and perception:
- Seeing “church” as a place or event on Sundays, not people on mission all week long
- Redefining the “customer” of church, focusing on attracting and retaining members
- Not equipping disciples to be Kingdom “employees”, tasked with pursuing the intended “customer” (those who don’t know Jesus)
- Not leading with compassion, as Jesus did, before telling people who He is (the Gospel)
The Church Growth movement has changed the rules for church engagement in compassion by redefining “church” and its “customer”. The latitude no longer exists to train and deploy disciples. Expectations have flipped such that pastors and staff, not members, are held to a performance standard. That shift in the balance of power makes it virtually impossible for churches to conduct compassion initiatives such that they alleviate, rather than perpetuate, poverty.
Churches should be the lighthouse and last line of defense for our culture. For roughly 1,900 years, churches took Jesus’ commands to care for the poor seriously. Local churches were the food bank and homeless shelter – the first place the destitute turned for help. Without reform, the Church’s light will continue to dim. The only way to stem the decline is to abandon Church Growth principles. No organization that targets the wrong customer or ignores its intended customer can succeed. Restoring churches to their rightful places requires strengthening them in ways that matter most and addressing America’s greatest needs – for Love, Faith, Mercy, Grace, and Hope.
Jim Morgan, President 813.230.0189
JMorgan@MeetTheNeed.org
MeetTheNeed.org
MINI-COURSE: #ReimagineCOMPASSION
- Biblical and Cultural Imperative to #ReimagineCompassion
- 7 Non-Negotiables for Church Engagement in Compassion
- Compassion and Evangelism are Inseparable
- Repercussions of Removing Compassion from Evangelism
- The Lure of Transactional Compassion
- How Christians Outsourced the Great Commission
RESOURCE: Begin the adVENTURE Into Your Community
About Jim Morgan
Then, in 2000, it came – and be careful what you pray for. The Lord showed me that the same solutions I was bringing to large corporations were badly needed by the body of Christ. There were significant communication gaps in cities across the country between those in need and those who could help. So we invested the next two decades and millions bringing the first comprehensive solution from the business world to local missions – empowering churches to reach out to families desperately in need of help and hope.
Throughout that process, I wondered why the Church in America seemed to be struggling – in growth, impact, influence and public perception. Being a consultant, I couldn’t help but look closer – and what I discovered was shocking. The modern American church model doesn’t align with the most fundamental principle of successful organizations – nor Biblical mandates. There is a flawed assumption underlying nearly every decision churches make today and we believe it’s the root cause for the Church’s decline…
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