Mindset Changes in the Church

Yesterday at Catalyst One Day, Craig Groeschell (Life Church) challenged us the the this verse.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:2

Mindset changes are one way we can bust through the barriers to take our church to the next level. I talked about thinking differently about our church culture and our programming in yesterday's post. Today lets look at the other two mindset changes.

#3 - Think Differently about the Mission
This one applies whether you are leading people at a fast food restaurant, a car dealership, a furniture store or a church. If you have the wrong person in a position of leadership, the mission suffers. Our initial reaction is "oh, we can't hurt someone's feelings...it's not that bad." Excuses, excuses, excuses! The mission of Auburn Church is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. We are dealing with an issue that has eternal consequences. Can hurt feelings trump people spending eternity separated from their heavenly Father? Absolutely not! So...mindset change...we cannot allow someone to hold back the mission of the church. Will it hurt feelings? Will it break your heart? Yes and yes, but the mission of the church is too important to not make a move.

#4 - Think Differently about Limitations
Think about Peter and John traveling past the temple gate called Beautiful. They encountered a lame man there begging for money. What was Peter's response? "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus, walk!" Peter could have said we can't give you money, because we don't have any money. Instead, Peter established this principle: "God guides by what He doesn't provide." Don't fly past that too quickly.

"God guides by what He doesn't provide." - Craig Groeschell

For a church plant, this is a huge principle. It would be easy for us to look at our limitations and say we can't do this or we can't do that because we don't have ___________. But at Auburn Church, we are on mission to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Our vision is to create a church where unchurched people love to attend. The mindset change is that God is guiding us by what he doesn't provide. Our progress is God's guiding to protect the mission and vision of the church. We will not sit by idly because of what we don't have. We will follow the guidance God has given. We will live out our mission.

Tomorrow, I'll share with you three assignments that Craig gave us to immediately practice busting barriers with mindset changes.

Bobby

Catalyst One Day

What a privilege it was to attend Catalyst One Day at North Point Community Church today. Craig Groeschell and Andy Stanley are two men who I highly respect. Their messages challenged me as a leader and as a follower of Christ. If you missed today, I'll try and summarize what I learned over the next few blogs.

Busting Barriers with Mindset Changes :: Craig Groeschell

Mindset Change #1 - Think differently About Your Church Culture
Craig defined the term "culture" as what your church is passionate about and the actions the church takes to support that passion. Many times, I blame the people of the church when I see a lack of either passion or action. I think, "The people of Auburn Church just won't ______________________ (fill in the blank...i.e. serve, tithe, invest & invite, etc). Blaming people is easy. However, the mindset change is this if the people of Auburn Church just won't ___________________, it's because I, as the leader, have not led them to ___________________ (serve, tithe, invest & invite, etc). It's not a people problem, it's a leadership problem. I need to lead our people by example and affirm those who take appropriate actions.

Mindset Change #2 - Think Differently About Programming
The common misconception here is that we have to do more to reach more. We've all heard of the church that has tons of programming choices. Leaders of these churches are of the mindset that we can reach more people if we offer more options. Usually what happens is that resources (volunteers, leaders, money) are stretched thin and most if not all programming is mediocre at best.

The mindset change here is that you can actually reach more people by doing less. Instead of starting more programming to reach more people, begin to think about what programming you need to stop in order to be a good steward of all your resources. Do a few things. Keep it simple and do them with excellence.

That's enough for tonight. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the first two mindset changes. How would your church experience change if the leadership of the church thought differently about church culture and programming?

Bobby

Sunday Rewind

If you happened not to make it to Auburn Church today, you may be asking yourself, "What did I miss?"

Here's one of the songs the band nailed this morning::



You also missed the conclusion of "On Location." Andy Stanley took us on a road trip. He introduced us to four individuals who are being "salt" and "light" in the marketplace. Each of them had a very conversational and relational approach to sharing their faith. After hearing their story, we were introduced to four statements that will help all of us carry our faith into our marketplace, our fraternities & sororities and our community.

1. Learn to listen to other's stories. The object is not on the spot conversion. We want to develop a relationship and start a conversation. The old adage is true, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

2. Ask open-ended questions to begin conversation. Questions such as, "What did you do this weekend?" open up opportunities to begin a faith conversation. Usually people will ask you the same question giving you an opportunity to share what you learned at Auburn Church. If the change the subject, move on...don't press. If they dive in, be a light!

3. Pray for the people you work with. Don't just talk about the people you work with. Talk specifically to God about these people. Listen to their needs, pray for them and then just let them know what you did. You would be surprised at how many people have no one praying for them.

4. Address people's emotions. Many times in the workplace, when people get emotional, the tendency is to pull away. Emotional times are open doors to share how you've made it through emotionally trying times.

God has strategically placed you in your location to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Preserve & illuminate...preserve & illuminate...preserve & illuminate. Let's bring hope (Romans 15:13) to our community by being who God has created us to be. Be a light!

You can watch Sunday's message here!

Bobby

Weighing In

"You are the salt of the earth." - Matthew 5:13

Thank you for your generous support of our ||do something||now|| project. The Food Bank of East Alabama was very grateful. If you would like to volunteer at the Food Bank, click here.

What are you doing this week to be the "salt of the earth?"

Bobby

||do something||now||

Last Sunday, we presented a very simple ||do something||now|| project as a practical application to what we learned in part one of the "On Location" series. In this introductory message, Andy Stanley read Matthew 5:13 where Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth." Andy shared that God has placed Christians on location to preserve hope in the lives of the people who think life is hopeless.

Did you know:

13% of Alabama's population is "food insecure" meaning they have uncertain or limited access to enough food for a healthy life.

One out of every five children in our area lives in poverty.

One out of every four Alabama's seniors lives below the poverty level.

42% of our neighbors that are "food insecure" had to choose between buying food and needed medicines.

||do something||now||

You are the salt of the earth. You can bring hope where hope seems fleeting. You can make a difference in our community. We are asking each person that walks onto the Auburn Church campus at the Marriott at Grand National to bring four cans of food. It's just that simple. Cans collected will be delivered to the Food Bank of East Alabama.

See you this Sunday for part two of "On Location."

Bobby

Thirty-One Thousand and Counting

Last week, I received an email from Scott Tanksley. Scott is a Strategic Partnership Director at North Point Ministries. Here’s what he had to say:

Just heard in the halls yesterday that we are now over 31.000 people in groups across all the campuses and strategic partners. 31,000! Isn’t that amazing? I can only imagine the stories God is authoring in all those groups.

We believe that sustained life-change happens best in the context of small groups. In small groups, you can experience accountability, belonging and care. Learn more about community groups at Auburn Church by clicking here!

So who are you doing life with?

Bobby