The Church is Like Mater from Cars

by Josh Duncan 

I'd like to suggest that within the church we've been doing things backward for quite a while, and the fix, while it isn't easy, is a necessary adjustment if we're going to truly join God in His mission. I believe the church (as we've come to know it in America) is like Mater from Cars... we'd just prefer to drive backward instead of forward. Truthfully, again like Mater, we're better at driving backward than forward. Here's what I mean...

When Jesus left us with the task of carrying on His mission, He made two statements (along with dozens others) that are important for us to understand. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, "He (Jesus) would build His church." Then, in Matthew 28:19, He told us to, "Make disciples." The problem is that in our efforts to seize the mission of Jesus, we try to accomplish the mission backward. We attempt to build or maintain the church and then make disciples. By the "church" I mean the focus we place on buildings, services, and the organizational structures and routines of church.

As I shared with our church this past Sunday, this backward approach is what The Overflow did in our beginning. Honestly, it's what most new and established churches do in America. Our intentions were good... we wanted to seize the mission of Jesus just as all churches say they want to do. However, we ended up trying to do that in the same way most American churches have been doing it for hundreds of years... by focusing on "church." We started backward! We thought if we modified how people think of church (meet in a school, use contemporary music, etc) we would be able to make disciples. The amazing thing is that God has still touched many lives in the process, but as we've discovered, it's time for us to move forward that right way.

I've learned that if you start out focusing on church (as described above), you'll rarely, if ever, get around to making disciples, but if you focus on making disciples, Jesus will build His church (the gathering of His people). Therefore, we began making shifts almost 5 months ago to start moving forward according to Jesus' plan. This past Sunday, I shared the next wave of shifts that are coming for us as a church. These shifts are necessary so that we can lay the proper foundation of making disciples within our church; it's a foundation that will last regardless of the latest "church trends."

We must stop doing this backward. Does your church (the people) focus more on "church" or making disciples? Seriously. Every church needs to deal with this question. Will you stop trying to accomplish the mission backward?

In June, we adjusted our format on Sundays by including connection times each Sunday. This was important for us to do because it helped us put more emphasis on caring for each other and doing life together. Additionally, we began an intentional discipleship process called Xcellerate, which about 20 people are already doing. Now, as we move forward, we're adjusting the entire atmosphere on Sunday mornings... We're no longer doing a "structured" service... at least for the time being.

By this I mean that our current flow of music, then teaching, and then connections is being adjusted so that there's no exit point during our gathering for those who don't want to connect with others. We feel it's essential for us to view our church as a team/community of people seeking to make disciples. At this point in the progression of our church, we don't need a service that merely attracts attendees. However, we invited everyone, regardless of where they are in their walk with God, to move forward with us. Our commitment is that we'll do everything in our power to personally invest into them so they can be an authentic disciple of Jesus.

What will Sundays look like? It'll be like a community of people gathering together. If you're longing for authentic community that is focused not only on each other, but is also focused on joining God in His mission, you'll love where we're headed!

-We'll begin with prayer each Sunday. We'll have prayer leaders scattered throughout the people who will casually gather people together in circles for a time of prayer. While we won't put people on the spot to pray, this prayer time will be completely led by the Spirit's promptings. You'll just have to experience this for yourself.

-Then, our prayer time will naturally flow into a time of praise and celebration as our band leads us in worship. The prayer time will prepare our hearts for everything the Spirit has for us during our gathering.

-After this time of music is over, we'll then gather into our connections for the teaching time. The teaching is now becoming even more interactive as I'll be teaching and allowing for immediate interaction and application in the connections. I may then teach more and then allow for more interaction in the connections. We may even have the connections share with each other what they've discovered and how they're planning to apply the teaching. The options for exactly how we do this are endless.

The Holy Spirit has been moving in our church unlike ever before since we made the first shifts back in June, and I know that will only increase as we move forward!

If you want the full picture of why we're doing all of this or why your church should consider going "forward" instead of backward, I'd encourage you to download the audio teaching from this past Sunday called "Faith: Moving Forward Day" by going here... http://overflowknoxville.com/media.php?pageID=5 

Questions about these changes, such as the ones listed below, are answered toward the end of the audio teaching beginning at the 49:45 mark.

-If we don't have a "service" won't people, specifically new people, be uncomfortable and turned off?
-What about all the churches who do "services?" Are they wrong?
-Are we the only church thinking this way?

You Might ONLY Be Religious If...

by Josh Duncan

Here's my challenge to you... Are you a religious person or a disciple of Jesus? Do you wake up each day longing to KNOW Him and make Him known? This perspective is not merely a calling reserved for "pastors" or the most visible people in a church. This is the calling for every follower of Jesus, and as The Overflow, our desire is to help you become an authentic disciple... a follower of Jesus who listens to God, does what He says, and teaches others to do the same. After all, this is Jesus' definition of making disciples. Check it out here in Matthew 28:19-20.

People of various ages, backgrounds, and lengths of time spent with our church have been saying the culture of The Overflow is dramatically changing in good way. I'm so encouraged by this. We are making progress, but what exactly are we trying to do?

In everything we do as a church, we're trying to be intentional about making disciples. My prayer is that each person who encounters our church (the people, not just our Sunday gatherings) will realize our passion to BE the church and not just be a group of attendees. However, we're not a perfect church and never will be, so we will all undoubtedly fall short at times.

Nevertheless, I'm taking this change personally in every way I possibly can, and I hope you will too. Please know that everything I do, prepare for, and lead our church to do is being filtered through a commitment to make disciples. In other words, the way I develop people in our church, the way we plan Sunday gatherings, what I encourage other people to do, and the focus of my time and energy spent during the week are all going toward creating a culture focused on making disciples. I spend dramatically less time in sermon preparation and planning for the "service" on Sunday, yet the Spirit seems to be moving within our church (not just on Sundays) more than ever before. I'm saddened to say it's not always been this way, but I think I'm starting to get it now!

Again, what about you? How is God moving in your life? I believe that within each follower of Jesus is the potential and capability to spark a movement of making disciples. Will you give God a chance to accomplish His plans in and through you? It'll never happen if you're only seeking to be religious.

Take the religious test below. Give some thought to these statements. Then, take the necessary steps to further surrender to Jesus as His disciple. If you need help in this or want to discuss this with someone, email me, josh@overflowknoxville.com, and I'll do everything in my power to guide you to becoming an authentic disciple of Jesus.

You might ONLY be a religious person if you...

-Live as if God would rather you be seen at church on Sundays instead of living with integrity and faithfulness to Him throughout the week.

-Have "quiet times" with God on a regular basis yet you're still a hateful, defeated, bitter, judgmental, unhappy person.

-Raise your hands in "worship" at a service on Sunday, but you only raise your fist at people who don't yet know Jesus.

-Are annoyed by people who don't yet know Jesus and you seek to shut yourself off from "those sinful people."

-Think dressing a certain way for a worship service on Sunday makes you more holy than someone else.

-Give an offering on Sunday because you feel guilty or want someone to see you drop something in the plate/box/whatever.

-Are more satisfied with showing up on Sundays than you are with following Jesus 7 days a week.

-Have little to no desire to share with others what God is doing in your life.

-Expect the church to teach your family how to follow Jesus so you can avoid having to practice what you claim to believe in front of your family.

-Faithfully attend the church "every time the doors are open" but have never made an intentional effort to listen to God personally, do what HE (Jesus, not your pastor) leads you to do, and to show others how to do that as well.

Why I Don't Like Counting Attendees on Sunday

by Josh Duncan

I get asked this question all the time... "So how many people attend your church?" Often times, people are just curious how things are going, and they know this is a normal question to ask about churches. After all, success in American church is measured by things such as how many people are attending, how much money people are giving, how many people have prayed to receive Christ, etc. These things are easy to count and easy to measure; therefore, people refer to these things when determining the success (or struggles) of a church.

I too tend to measure success (or failure) by these things. I've felt the pressure for several years in various ministry settings to measure success by what I could count. In my first two opportunities as a youth pastor, our ministries saw numerical growth in attendance, salvations, baptisms, etc. All the typical, measurable, numerical things went up. We even had some students who starting giving consistently as teenagers!

Then, God allowed me to enter the American culture of church planting. We busted out of the gates with great marks numerically. Attendance was great, and we were seeing some people make professions of faith. People were even giving at a decent rate.

However, things haven't stayed this way... partially because of the mistakes we made even before we started having services, which then continued after our launch, but also because God's been preparing us for a specific vision. Honestly, right now, we're running about 60-70 in attendance, which is actually slightly lower than where we were at this point last year. God has allowed me to experience seasons of "apparent" failure as a leader, and the devil has tried to capitalize on my selfish desires to measure success by the cultural norms as he's attacked me, frustrated me, and sought to destroy my self-esteem.

Nevertheless, through this, I'm learning the real heart of Jesus...It's people. It's making disciples. It's NOT the numbers. I've learned that God often times must take certain things away in order for us to see what matters most.


Are you doing this as an individual?
Do you find yourself counting the money in your bank account, the number of people you supervise, the square footage of your house, or the number of degrees on your wall as measurements of your success? If you're a follower of Jesus, please don't forget, we're each called to be a disciple who makes disciples. This is what truly counts. I pray God's Spirit realign our passion with His passion!


Are we doing this as The Overflow? 
I believe God has us at a point where we must sell out to what He says matters most. I do think we're moving in that direction, but honestly, only time will tell if we truly get it. Attendance may go up or down. Giving may go up or down. People may say they've prayed to receive Christ, but only if we're making disciples, will our church grow and multiply as God wants. At the end of the day, this is all I want for our church.... to see people living in the power of a relationship with Jesus and surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

Look, I've heard it all before. People say things like... "We count people because people count." Hey, I used to even say this myself. The truth is, all of the people who say things like this have plenty of people and things to count. But what about when there's not that much to count?...

You have to change or realign your scorecard. Even if you have plenty of people and things to count, you must be sure your ultimate scorecard is aligned with that of Jesus, which asks, "Are we making disciples?" As a leader, you must ask... Are we moving in a direction that will show people what it means to follow Jesus by listening to Him and obeying what He says throughout the rhythms of life? Are we urging people to then introduce others to what it means to follow Jesus? This is all Jesus cares about. Here's why...

-Hundreds or even thousands can attend our "churches" each week to hear our music and sermons, but we may not be making a single disciple.

-People may give extreme amounts of money to our churches, but their giving may simply be a substitute for having an authentic relationship with Jesus.

-Hundreds may pray to receive Christ, but only time will tell if they're true disciples who've genuinely responded to the gospel of Jesus.

I've come to realize Jesus called me into a season, a life-long journey, of learning how to make disciples, not planting churches. Actually, He's called me to come to grips with what it means to be a disciple myself. So I''m now understanding that making disciples is all that matters, and this is ultimately what we must measure.