Are You An Accredited Christian?

Back in the 90's, I was stationed at a large military corrections facility. Our commanding officer decided that we were going to be the first one to gain accreditation, and through a civilian agency at that. It was an enormous undertaking. There were 480 standards that we had to meet, from feeding prisoners to putting down riots. We actually did the latter, but that's another story.

For every standard, which is an official policy, we had to write an instruction that laid out the procedure for carrying it out. Good start, but that wouldn't carry us over the finish line. We also had to show practice, which documented the training for, or actual performance of, every procedure.

What would this look like in our Christian life? Well, we could look at the whole Bible as our policy. But that's an awfully big bite. So, for the sake of this post, let's call the Ten Commandments our policy. How would we carry it out? We might identify our procedures as the mission statement of a particular church. In my case, it's "Connect With God, Connect With Others, Connect Others With God." Great, but of course we need to provide evidence that we do so.

The programs, ministry and outreach that a church involves itself in provides evidence of practice. My church does great on "Connect With God" and "Connect With Others," but not so great with "Connect Others With God." Yes, the world has changed a lot in the last couple of years, but that's an excuse.

God hasn't changed.

So we're changing.

Recently, I read an article about the growth of Christianity in various continents. Between 2010-2015, Europe lost almost 5 million Christians, mostly because the death rate greatly exceeds the "born again" rate. Africa gained almost 65 million. The article included great detail on how they do it there. North America gained close to 5 million, but most of that was attributed to the area south of our border.

The article eventually led me to a website, www.unstuckchurch.com. It was created by businessmen and provides training to help churches chart the way forward. There was a free section that provides a general assessment of your church. So, I answered the 50 questions, some of which I felt were skewed in order to get you to agree that you needed professional help. I get it, it's a business. They have identified 7 phases in the life cycle of a church, from it's birth to being on life support.

At one point in its cycle, I recognized my church as being at 6.5, between preservation and being on life support. We said goodbye to the old pastor and his leadership, and we survived. The new pastor was a breath of fresh air and gave those who remained fresh hope. But it wasn't without its challenges. For me, the greatest challenge has been learning about patience and preparation. So here we are. The results of the Unstuck assessment:

"You are in the Launch Phase (which is position #1). This is the starting line. In this period, everything is new. Typically, these are brand-new churches taking their very first steps, but there are also a small number of churches that choose a fresh start and get to launch all over again. You may be a new congregation with a new pastor, or an older congregation relaunching with a new mission. This is a time for dreaming about what the church could potentially be in the future. It's exciting and scary at the same time. The leaders celebrate every time someone shows up, but they also regularly wonder if anyone will show up."

That's a good summary of my church. And we're leaning on the Holy Spirit for the right dreams.