Building churches that align with Jesus’ outcomes

In my new role at Novo Canada, I’ve been thinking about how we measure success. Part of that process requires that we are brave enough to ask the question, “What do we measure? ” As a mission organization do we measure conversions, for instance? Is that measure helpful? What does it say about our priorities as an organization? More importantly, is it something that Jesus measures? What began with me thinking about Novo Canada, led me to think about the church at large. Wouldn’t Christians in the church be better off if we all understood what the measures of our success were? We’d be able to organize ourselves better, create priorities, and apply resources where they are most needed. Right?

Has Jesus made outcomes or goals for the church known?

Among disciple-making movements (DMM) around the world there is a diagnostic tool that is used to help evaluate whether we are on-track as disciple-makers. It’s a great tool because the same elements scale up and down and are equally applicable to an individual as they are to a group. If we rightly discern God’s heart, then we have a good lens to understand the behaviours that God wants his people to exhibit. When we use this tool, we always start with what Scripture tells us is on God’s heart for his people. A simplified way to express this is that God wants us to love him (Matthew 22:37,38), love our neighbours (Matthew 22:39), and to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

I’ve gone a step further and tried to describe specific behavioural outcomes that correspond to each of the three larger categories of Love God, Love Neighbour, and Make Disciples. Identifying the outcomes becomes a framework for talking about what kind of people Jesus wants us to become. Growth in the areas listed below should be an indication of our growth in Christ-likeness. The list is not comprehensive, but it’s a good start. When you read this list consider how these behavioural outcomes apply at both an individual level and a group level. Another caveat, even though each outcome is listed once, there is a fair bit of overlap.

Love God

Ask the question – How are we loving God? We know from Scripture that some of the behaviours and attitudes that indicate that we are loving God are^[1]:

• Abiding – Jesus makes clear the importance of abiding in John 15:9 where he says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”  Abiding is an intentional commitment to relationship and is the key to effective mission. Jesus says this in John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Abiding is one of Jesus’ desired outcomes. A people who abide in Christ receive Christ’s life, and in turn can be witnesses of that life.

• Faith – In John 14:9 Jesus says that “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” As we see Jesus more clearly our faith in him increases and so does our boldness to ask him for anything (John 14:14).

• Hope – 1 Peter 1:3-6

• Repentance – Psalm 32:3-5, 1 John 1:9

• Thankfulness – Psalm 9:1, Colossians 3:15-17, 1 Thessalonians 5:18

• Obedience – Matthew 7:24, John 15:10-14, James 1:22-25

• Filled with the Spirit – Acts 1:8, Acts 4:31, Acts 10:38, Romans 8:9-11, Galatians 5:22

• Holiness – Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter 2:9

Love Neighbour

Ask the question – How are we loving our neighbours (both inside and outside the family of God)? We know from Scripture that some of the behaviours and attitudes that indicate that we are loving our neighbour are:

• Hospitality – Acts 2:46 describes a community with open homes. People eating together in their homes with “glad and sincere” hearts can only happen if a friendly and generous reception is given to guests. Our welcome to others matters.

• Generosity with time, talent, and resources – Galatians 6:2, Acts 2:45, 1 John 3:17

• Being unashamed – John 19:11, Acts 4:8-13, Romans 1:16

• Justice – Deuteronomy 27:19, Jeremiah 9:24, Isaiah 1:17, Proverbs 21:13

• Ability to gospel in word, deed, and power – Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:4, Luke 10:34-35, Matthew 10:1

Make Disciples

Ask the question – How are we making disciples? We know from Scripture that some of the behaviours and attitudes that indicate that we are prepared to make disciples are:

• Bible reading that leads to obeying God’s will – The apostle Paul makes it clear that if we want to become mature then we have to invest in understanding Scripture (Eph 4:14). Learning to self-feed is essential to overcoming the many “wind(s) of (competing) doctrine”. But reading isn’t enough. In James 1:22-25 we’re told that what we learn has to be applied through obedience. That’s where transformation takes place.

• Prayer (listening, thanksgiving, intercession, blessing, etc.) – Psalm 5:3, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Matthew 6:19-13, John 15:7, Colossians 4:2, Romans 8:26

• We are growing as disciples ourselves – Matthew 28:18-20, John 15:16, Philemon 1:6

• Community (We are in meaningful, vulnerable relationships with other believers who are in proximity to us.) – Acts 2:42-47, Romans 12:9-18, 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, 1 Peter 2:10, 1 Peter 4:8-11

• Accountability (Mutual submission) – Romans 12:1-21, Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 5:21-33, Colossians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, 1 Peter 5:5

• Characteristics of a leader – Matthew 20:26-28, John 13:13-17, Acts 20:28, Ephesians 4:11-16

Listing these behaviours alone isn’t particularly helpful. A list adds to our knowledge but may not lead to change. Our desire is change that leads us to be more like Christ, both as disciples and as communities of disciples – the church. As Aila Tasse says in his book Cabbages in the Desert, “An emphasis on planting churches doesn’t necessarily focus on whether the people in the churches are really disciples. It doesn’t always give clarity about what people are doing when the church meets…Our intent is to focus on the central command of Matthew 28: ‘make disciples’. The disciples come together to constitute a church and those churches multiply to become movements of churches” In other words, a church isn’t a church when it has a building and a service. A church is a church when authentic disciples of Jesus gather and make ‘new’ disciples.

To recap, for an established church that is trying to make disciples who make disciples, the first step is to understand God’s heart. We then need to consider what our measures of success are. If we want disciples who manifest behaviours that are in line with God’s heart, we must be ready to change, not just as individuals but as a community. We must ask what decisions we are making today that lead to the outcomes that Jesus wants. This is hard and requires, in many cases, that we confront the idols at work in Canadian society. This is a process that Novo Canada is on, and one we invite you to consider for your community as well.

John Hall is President of Novo Canada. Novo Canada is a mission organization that raises up teams of ordinary Christians in Canada to reach Canada, and the nations. Prior to working with Novo Canada John led Mission Central for 9 years.

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[1] For greater clarity, I flesh out the first outcome in each section so you can see the biblical basis for each.