"From Frustration to Fruit"

The frustration in the room was high.

The leaders of this congregation all wanted to see more mission-fruit. That is, they all wanted to see more lost people coming to faith and coming to church.

Commendable.

But how to get there?

Some thought the answer was better programming. Some thought the answer was better participation in the programming they already had. But they were all missing the real problem; and, therefore, the real solution.

So, I asked the leaders this question, “Please give me the name of at least one person you are personally investing in who is living without the grace and truth of Jesus.”

Silence.

No one had a name because no one was currently investing in such a person.

Then I said, “Now, multiply your response out to the rest of the congregation and is it any wonder your congregation isn’t reaching lost people?”

I continued, “I’m not saying this to make you feel bad but to help you wake up. Your congregation is either waiting for your programs to reach lost people or complaining because your programs aren’t reaching lost people. But the problem isn’t the programs, the problem is that you have a whole congregation of people unprepared to reach out to lost people in their daily lives. No lost people are being reached because no one is personally reaching out to lost people.”

Light bulbs started to pop on.

I pointed out, “Programs aren’t bad. It’s just that everyone is tempted to delegate their personal responsibility for joining Jesus to the programs. People think, ‘I don’t have to live a life on mission, because we have a program for that.’ On the other hand, what if every week your current programming was designed to prepare people to go out and live a life of love while joining Jesus on His mission? Think about it: If you have 100 people attending various programs and every week you send home 100 people better prepared to love a lost neighbor or co-worker, what would the result eventually be?”

Now, their heads were nodding.

Once they had identified the real problem, they could start identifying the real solution. And the real solution wasn’t better programming to reach lost people, but doing a better job of using their programming to prepare their people to intentionally love lost people.

With that clarity, they began to see how they could use every program gathering - every Bible study, ministry team, adminstrative meeting, rehearsal, or fellowship group - to better prepare their people to look for those needing God’s love in their daily lives.

By the end of the day, the leaders had gone from frustration to excitement because they had a simple solution that the Lord could use to produce much more mission-fruit.

Would you like your leaders and congregation to go from frustration to fruit? Let’s talk. I still have a few weekends available in October and November. Contact me at finkeonthemove@gmail.com or 281-844-7644.