On April 10-12 a handful of us at Venture had the opportunity to go to the Q conference hosted by Gabe Lyons. It was a three day event that consisted of a myriad talks that were either 18, 9 or 3 minutes in length and ranged from topics on Humility, Power, Abortion reduction, Social Networks, Books, Worship, Politics, Discipleship, Identity, our place in the public square and many more.

I have gone to this conference for the past three years now. Each time I have been appreciative (though now, not so overwhelmed) my the magnitude and care of the conference.

I will be writing over the next few weeks about different talks I heard and how they have been influencing my reading and thinking but before I do all that I wanted you all to listen to a song that was sung at the conference.

It is by the group Young Oceans and I have found it to be a very beautiful, worshipful song.

Each speaker at Q has to boil his or her presentation down to 18 minutes. Once he or she steps on the stage, a digital clock everyone can see is set to 18 minutes. Once the clock hits 00:00 – the speaker must stops whether or not he or she is finished.

After several 18-minute sessions, audience members can choose to go to one of the speaker’s talk-back sessions. A talk-back session is a time to question the speaker on his or her presentation, to share ideas, and to brainstorm about ways to put ideas into action.

What most struck me about Q is it left me with more questions than answers. Sometimes two speakers would have directly opposing views. Both were well-thinking people addressing the same issue and coming up with opposing answers. This paradox made me realize how important it is to really consider things – not just to think I know the answer.

In future blog posts, I’m going to try to give a thumbnail version of some of the issues Q’s caused me to ponder. Because of Q, I am reading Flickering Pixels – How Technology Shapes Your Faith by Shane Hipps. So as I’m using technology to write this blog, I’m wondering:

How does technology enhance my faith?
How can technology impede my faith?
How would God have me use technology?

My thoughts on these questions and more are coming soon….

The idea is simple, for every pair of shoes you buy TOMS also gives a pair of shoes to someone who does not have shoes! I recommend getting them as gifts, telling coworkers and friends and even encouraging your grandmothers to buy them! They are doing a good thing.

It is a really great idea and a way to help others while getting some nice foot coverings at the same time.
anyway, its a cool thing.

In this post, I’d like to address three questions about giving to the church, specifically as they relate to Venture people giving to IBC. The questions are: Why should I give to the church? How do I give to the church? Why the urgency now? The answers to these questions will be personal, honest, and challenging to all of us in Venture.

Why should I give to the church?

Quick answer: To worship and express thanks to God, to become more like Christ, to participate in ministry.

Explanation: We give to the church because it allows us to worship and thank God for all that he has given to us. Psalm 24:1-2 says,

The LORD owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it.

For he set its foundation upon the seas, and established it upon the ocean currents.

Because God made and maintains the world, he owns everything in it, and that includes everything that we have. So when we give to the church, we are acknowledging that our money and our things are not our own. We are worshipping the one who made us and gave us everything that we have. We are thanking him for his provision for us.

Giving also causes us to grow in dependence upon Christ. When we give, especially in times like this, we are acknowledging Jesus’ sovereignty, that he is indeed God and that he can provide for all of our needs.

Also, giving to the church allows us to participate in the ministry that God is doing through our church. Personally, I give to IBC because I want to be a part of all of the incredible ministry that goes on at our church. Specifically, I believe deeply in the ministry of Venture, that God is using this ministry to change lives, chief of all my own. I believe in the work that the children’s ministry is doing. I see the fruit of it in the lives of my children. I believe in the missions ministries. I see lives being changed in Rwanda and Nicaragua and around the world. My gifts provide support for this excellent work that is impacting lives.

How do I give to the church?

Quick Answer: sacrificially, joyfully

Explanation: Giving is never easy. It means that we are denying ourselves more money in savings or some thing that we might want to buy, etc. It is a sacrifice. But again, it is this very sacrifice that causes us to depend on Jesus and trust his sovereignty more and more. And in fact, our whole lives, not just our bank accounts, are to be sacrificed to him. After talking about all of the great things Christ has accomplished for us, Paul in Romans 12:1 says:

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice– alive, holy, and pleasing to God– which is your reasonable service.

Giving to the church is another part of our service, our sacrifice, to our great savior, Jesus, who sacrificed himself for us. This means that we give significantly. Churches often talk about tithing, a concept from the Old Testament which indicates a 10% gift of our income. This is a pretty good starting point. In addition, if there is a rule of giving in the New Testament, it might be something like this: give as much as Christ means to you. This means we give sacrificially. This might mean 10%. It might mean less depending on your circumstances. It might also mean much more. The point is that we give sacrificially in thanks for what Christ has done for us.

Also, we give joyfully. It is a privilege to be a part of the church, a member of a universal and local body of Jesus’ followers. When we give, we are expressing our joy and thankfulness for being a part of that body, and for being in Christ. Like I discussed above, it is a chance to be involved in worship, spiritual growth, and ministry, which is cause for joy.

On a very practical note, start somewhere. If you have never given and your budget is very tight, give $20. Give as much as you can. Find something in your lifestyle to cut out. Maybe coffee or cable TV or going out to eat less. It is for the work and the glory of Christ; and it gets you started in the discipline of giving. If you are blessed financially, however, think big. Give joyfully and sacrificially and see what God will do in your life and in our church.

(For this entire question, I would encourage you to read 2 Corinthians 8 about the manner and heart in which Macedonian believers gave to the church in the first century.)

Why the urgency now?

Quick answer: We’re going to need it.

Explanation: Money is tight everywhere now. The IBC budget is no exception. The good news: Praise God we are not in terrible shape. In fact, the church received over a million dollars in donations in the month of December, which is just amazing in this economy. So praise God.

At the same time, here’s the deal: our IBC general fund is lagging about 300K behind (in a 7 million dollar budget, fiscal year July-June). Usually by this point in the year, we have evened out and we are able to make the budget by June, with reduced ministry expenses, etc. The problem is that we are consistently missing our weekly budget goals by several thousand dollars each week.

Therefore, we as an IBC staff are praying for new people and new families to give to the church on a consistent basis. In fact, over the next 50 days, we are praying for 50 new giving people/families to support the ministry of IBC. You can watch a video message from our senior pastor, Ron Jones, about it here.

I think Venture can play a big part in this. We are essentially connected to IBC. Every bit of our money and every bit of our resources come from Immanuel as a whole. We depend on the church for supporting ministries as well, such as children’s ministry, missions, parking ministry, etc. In turn, as an integral part of this church, we should share in the load of supporting these ministries, not the least of which is our own.

In addition, if you have never given regularly to the church, you are missing out on the worship, joy, and growth that believers can experience through participating in this discipline.

Conclusion

Therefore, I encourage you this week to consider giving regularly to IBC. If you are already regularly giving, thank you for your generous support of Immanuel and Venture. If not, pray about this opportunity to support your local church, IBC. Look again at your finances and see them as the resources God has given you to serve him. Trust that Jesus can provide for you, and experience the joy of sacrificially participating in the work that he is doing.

So the next time the offering basket comes by, instead of frustration, apathy, doubt, guilt, you can respond by worshiping, rejoicing, and trusting.

A Sense of Calling.

Our service is an overflow of understanding the call of God on our lives. It is a natural response to the facts that that Jesus served, that he calls us to serve, that this is how the church functions, and that this will make a difference in the world (the things that were discussed in the previous post on why we need a culture of service).

It is also an overflow of what God has done in your life: God has saved you, put you in Christ, so you serve. And it’s a privilege. This is how we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. Whether we are cleaning up coffee, pouring over passages preparing for small group, taking food to the homeless, greeting at the Venture service—whatever it is, it is the calling of God. It’s his call on our lives.

And it is true not just here at Venture; it is true for anywhere you might go to church. You should never go to any church and just sit and soak up knowledge and not serve. That is dysfunctional and contrary to Jesus, his word, and the gospel. We are called to serve, and a place that has a culture of service understands that.

A Willingness to Take Risks

We serve empowered by Jesus. Ephesians 4:7 reads:

But to each one of us grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

And 1 Cor 12:7 reads:

To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all.

Jesus has given grace to each of us; and grace is not just grace towards salvation, but it also has the power for enablement. We can serve in his strength and in the strength of the Holy Spirit. When a task seems risky or difficult, we can get our strength from him. We can trust his sovereignty and his provision for us.

On the list of question and responses about service in a previous post, there were potential responses like these: when asked to serve, I will do it when I know more, or when I grow spiritually, or when I get some experience. Well, that is usually not a valid response. Here’s why: you can trust Jesus and his Spirit to give you strength. You can let him use you and stretch you and you can take risks.

Let’s think about this: at what point will you ever be qualified to serve? When will God say, “OK, you’ve gotten this holy and this wise, now O wise and holy child, you may serve me.” No. We’re all a mess. We all need the help of Christ. So get in there and take risks.

Think about parents. Are they ready to have a baby when the baby comes? From my own experience, I would say, “Heck no.” I did not know what I was doing. Yes, you read books. Yes, you get advice from people. But a lot of it is simply figuring it out as you go along. And to a large extent, that is the mentality that we need to have for a culture of serving. Jump in. I’ll figure it out as I go. I will trust the Lord to help me.

I remember when I was first asked to take over Venture as the pastor, and it was very difficult for me. I had never led a team, never felt the burden of leading a group of people like this. It was very challenging. And I remember often falling to my knees in exasperation after a difficult meeting or challenging conversation. I was (and still am) learning as I go, trusting God to give me strength to face the challenges that will come. This is a huge part of what a culture of service looks like—taking risks and trusting God, even when we don’t have the experience or training or perfection that we think we need to have. Bottom line- it is trusting God and his strength, and not our own.

In the next post, I’ll look at two more characteristics of a culture of service: serving anywhere and everywhere and serving at every stage of life.

Wives, remember, you are to write three “respect” letters or notes to your husbands that say, “I respect you because…”

Well, we want to create a culture of service at Venture not because we as the staff want to do less work, but because of three other very important reasons. The reasons are: church is supposed to function by serving, serving brings spiritual growth, and the world desperately needs us to have a culture of service.

The Church is supposed to function this way.

-The fact that the church functions with a culture of service is clear for two reasons. First, Jesus, the church’s head, was a servant and he called his followers to serve. Look at this passage from Mark 10:41-45:

42 Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them.

43 But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant,

44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all.

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So Jesus, our savior and head, himself modeled service, and he called his followers to serve.

Also, the church itself is designed to function with each member serving. Some passages to refer to for this concept are 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Romans 8:3-8; and Ephesians 4:7-16. In these passages the church is depicted as a group of people who work and serve together, each playing different roles empowered by Christ and his Spirit, to do the work of the ministry.

For these reasons, it is clear that the church is supposed to function with a culture of service. The church in general today is very consumer oriented. People expect to be given a product (and a very well-packaged and enjoyable product at that) to consume. Christ, however, by his own example, calls us to serve. Like the members of a sports team, we all have a part or a position to play. In a culture of service everyone understands this and sees service as doing the work of the ministry and the call of God upon their lives.

Spiritual Growth of the Body

To a great extent the spiritual growth of individual Christians actually depends on other Christians who serve. This is clear from a passage in Ephesians 4:7, 11-16. It reads:

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

11 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ,

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God– a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.

14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.

15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

Several phrases in this passage point to the fact that we depend on one another for spiritual growth. Specifically, it is our service “as each one does its part” (16) that causes the body of Christ to grow together.

When we serve, we have great opportunities to grow spiritually. Serving involves loving others, sacrificing ourselves, out time, our resources, etc. It causes us to depend on Christ when we serve in areas that stretch us. And we learn from ministering to one another and being around one another. So a culture of service, as Ephesians 4 states, causes the body of Christ to grow in maturity.

The World needs it desperately

Again, Ephesians 4:11-12 states:

Namely, he gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry

The reason we serve is not just to minister to the church itself, but also to love and serve the world around us. In general, people look to churches to serve and not simply to fend for themselves. I think the average Joe on the street sees the church as a place that should be helping the world, not just itself. Therefore a true culture of service is one that extends to serve the world around us.

This involves everything from outreaches to the poor and homeless to serving your neighbors in some way. It involves taking the initiative to do the more difficult and tough tasks at work. It also involves going to other parts of the world to bring clean water to people who don’t have it. It can look so many different ways, depending on who you are and where you are.

For us at Venture, we are beginning to try to do this. We have done the feed-the-homeless thing in D.C. and we have done the clean water trips, but some thing tells me we still have a long way to go in this. We still have a lot to learn about how to serve the world around us. Yet, even though we don’t have all the details figured out, one thing is for sure: a true culture of service will extend beyond Venture and will impact the world around us.

So for these three reasons, we do need to develop a greater culture of service in Venture. Not because the Venture staff want to do less work. No. A culture of service comes from the model that Jesus gave us, the model that we have in Scripture for how the church should function. It results in spiritual growth for the church, and it extends to the world around us.

Now that we understand why we need a culture of service, we now need to think through the following question: what does a culture of service look like? That is what the next post will discuss.

The answer to that question, I think, is “not really.” We have pockets of service here and there, and we have a few people who really understand it and get it. Overall, however, I think we have a long way to go. (I think this became very clear when we discussed what a culture of service actually looks like. We’ll get to that a few posts from now.) And as I said on the retreat, it’s really my fault. As pastor of this group, I have done a poor job of emphasizing the need and importance of it. And when I have talked about it, I have not done a good job of following up with it. That is why we made creating a culture of service the topic of our retreat.

And I began the weekend by giving everyone the following list of questions to help them think through their own attutude and posture towards service. Please take a minute to carefully read through these questions, and ask God to search your heart about your own attitude towards service. Just as a hint, you should know that almost all of these answers are bad and do not reflect a culture of service.

What statement best describes your present posture towards Venture?

1. It is a place designed by IBC for me and people my age so that we can grow spiritually and have a community.

2. It is place for me to meet friends and people I can spend time with.

3. It is the place where I can serve Christ and love people.

4. I’m not sure.

5. Why do I care? When is the next fun event?

How do you feel when you are asked or challenged to serve in some way? What is your gut/first response?

1. Why are they asking me to do their job?

2. I can’t do that. I don’t have that gift.

3. AGAIN!?! Why can’t you find someone else?

4. I don’t have time. I’m too busy.

5. I’ve paid my dues. I’ve done enough serving for this ministry. It’s time for me to relax and enjoy.

6. I need to be investing my time in school, my marriage, my job, etc.

7. I need to grow more spiritually before I can do this.

Assuming that you would want to serve, how do you know where to serve?

1. I’ll just wait until someone tells me what to do.

2. I’ll do what I’m good and gifted at.

3. I’ll do what I enjoy most.

4. Whatever. Sign me up.

5. I will do what I can do when I have some time.

6. I will serve only where it’s easy for me. If it is hard, I should not have to be serving there.

What would you think/say if asked to take leadership or ownership in something in Venture where you would have to recruit and/or serve with others?

1. That’s too much of a commitment for me.

2. I can do this, but lead it? Nope.

3. I don’t want to contact or reach out to people I don’t know because it is hard.

4. I’m too busy with work.

5. That’s the job of the Venture staff.

6. I’m not qualified to lead in this way. I need experience.

7. I don’t want to. Stop bugging me. I don’t care enough.

In the next post, I will talk a bit about why it is important that we have a culture of service in Venture. Is it because I want to do less work or because I want other people to do my job? Or is there a greater reason?