For years, George Barna, president of Barna Research Group, has been studying trends in churches across America. To date he has written almost thirty books about his findings. Lately he has transitioned from being a mere conveyer of raw statistics to being a passionate prophet and mouthpiece of God to the Church at large.
What he has observed is a severe lack of transformation in the lives of faithful church attendees. This is happening to the degree that there is virtually no moral distinction between churched and unchurched people. He points out that we should be known for our authenticity, our depth of relationship with God, our genuine love for people, and for the spiritual fruit we produce. But too often, spiritual and moral transformation is the exception in our churches, and not the norm.
Before we explore why this is the case, I want you to think about a few of the questions Barna asks in his recent book titled Growing True Disciples.
- Do you consistently obey all of Jesus' teachings?
- Do you always love other people in practical ways, especially fellow followers of Christ?
- Have you forsaken all other attractions and distractions in this world to focus on knowing, loving, and serving God?
- Do you live in such a way as to show others what the Christian life looks like?
- Do you relate to other Christians consistently in a spiritual setting and for spiritual purposes?
- Are you sharing your faith in Christ with those who have not embraced him as their savior?
- Are you helping other believers to grow spiritually?
- Do you consistently seek guidance from God in all that you do?
It is doubtful that any of us could ever score a perfect ten on these questions all the time. But these questions force us to ask some tough questions of ourselves. Am I being changed? Am I being transformed? Am I growing? Am I maturing? Is God's Spirit molding me into Christ-likeness?
Making spiritual growth a reality.
Few, if any of us are completely satisfied with our spiritual growth. On the one hand we sense we are growing. But on the other hand we are frustrated that we are not growing as quickly as we know we should. And we are tired of just talking about it all the time. We want to make spiritual transformation a present reality!
This last week during our staff meeting I told my staff that I don't want to spend my life being a could-have-been. I don't want to look back on my life five years or ten years from now talking about what I could have been in Christ if only, or what this church could have been in Christ, if only.
The last thing any of us want to be is a bunch of can-be's or could-have-been's. We don't want to spend our lives only being full of good intentions. We want God's power to be unleashed in our lives. We want something vibrant and real. We want people to do a double-take as they observe God's work in our lives. We want our lives to make other people crave God's work in their own lives.
Why do we experience little transformational spiritual growth?
In Growing True Disciples, Barna reveals why we experience little transformational growth. First, he points out that there is no clear and measurable definition of success. The average person in church has no idea who or what he is to become. We are still asking the most basic questions. What is a disciple? What is godliness? What does God expect of me?
Bill Hull, who has written many different books on discipleship, points out that we haven't ever sat down and defined the product we are called to make. We approach discipleship haphazardly instead of intentionally and systematically. We have no clear way of measuring progress. We just kind of float along hoping that we will just sprout into a mature Christian by accident!
Second, Barna points out our tendency to focus on transmitting knowledge more than on developing character. We've got enough study Bibles, Christian books, Christian radio programs, counselors, classes, tracts, video series, tape sets, and websites to stock a complete library. Knowledge is not a problem for us. Our problem is that we have a preference for gaining knowledge over developing character. It is easier to attend a seminar on Christian living than it is to say "no" to our passions and obey God's will.
Third, Barna says we emphasize programs and efficiency more than people and transformation. This is very important. We are more interested in looking spiritual and in being busy than we are actually concerned about being transformed. It is so much easier to load up the calendar and build programs than it is to focus on those few life-changing habits that build lives for Jesus Christ.
Fourth, Barna points out that we are largely ignoring true discipleship among children. The average child has his complete moral development set by just nine years of age. By age nine, many of the moral patterns a child will follow for the rest of his life has already been firmly established. We have a door of opportunity that is being squandered as we leave the bulk of our children's moral development up to the public school system, television, and total strangers who may not share our Christian values.
Barna also points out that limited accountability for spiritual growth is an obstacle. In a workshop he taught that I attended he commented that we are basically spiritual free agents. We come and go as we please. Everything has to be on our terms. No one can stretch us and push us to our limits. No one is allowed to challenge us. We keep people at arm's length, shunning any inquiry they make into our lives.
Bill Hull uses the example of auditing a class. When you audit a class you aren't accountable for fulfilling the requirements of the class. And because you are not accountable, guess what? The reading doesn't get done, homework is shrugged off, papers don't get started or even finished, and the whole effort is basically a wasted charade. Bill Hull says that a lot of us are auditing Christianity, unaccountable to anyone for making an effort.
So the question that concerns us this morning is how can we grow spiritually in significant and substantial ways? As I studied the book of Philippians God's Holy Spirit kept telling me not to skip the introductory verses. They contain a vital truth that we all need to hear. Philippians 1:1-2 (NIV) reads, "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." There were several applications even in this simple greeting.
A vision for personal holiness.
First, Paul is writing to, "all the saints in Christ Jesus." When I looked at the Greek text behind the English word "saints" the original language reads, "To all the holy ones in Christ Jesus." Paul was addressing the Philippian church at large as a "holy" community. What is troublesome is that the word "holy" is almost exclusively used to describe God's moral character and perfection. It is not generally used to describe our moral character!
One of the reasons this phrase "holy ones" is translated to a word like "saints" is to preserve the distinction between God's moral character and ours. In this life we will never be holy to the degree that God is holy. And so the reluctant translators of our English Bibles inserted a softer word, "saints".
Now scholars agree as to the reason Paul inserted this mysterious phrase "holy ones". This phrase was a reminder to the Philippian Church of their calling to live changed lives, lives that increasingly reflected God's holiness with each passing day. Paul was reminding them of their special relationship to God that was based on their relationship with Jesus Christ. They were no longer people who willfully indulged in sin. They were to now operate on a newer and higher ground of existence. They were to be holy!
And so by addressing them as "holy ones" Paul was casting a vision for their lives. He was creating a word picture. He was defining success. Success to the Christian is becoming morally just like God and just like Jesus Christ. Ultimately, success to the Christian is spending eternity in heaven with God the father and Jesus Christ his Son.
The value of Christian community.
A second observation is that Paul is writing to, "all the saints in Christ Jesus." There is no mystery about the word "all" in this verse. It means all, or everyone. Paul was not writing this book to a lone ranger Christian or to some backwoods saint isolated from Christian community. He was writing to all the Christians who were gathered in the name of Christ in the geographical region of the city of Philippi.
The significance of this cannot be overstated. Paul never envisioned anyone becoming a "saint" or "holy one" in isolation from a Christian community. Though some spiritual success can be attained alone while in our prayer closets, virtually every major spiritual breakthrough happens in the midst of God's holy community, the Church. Most spiritual breakthroughs happen in the context of a loving, caring, affirming, encouraging, exhorting, intentional, accountable group of believers. It is when we get off alone by ourselves that we struggle and succumb to sin.
Becoming accountable.
A third observation is that Paul is writing to, "all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons." You are probably wondering just what an overseer is. Additionally, you are probably wondering why the Church at Philippi needed them!
George Barna mentioned that one of the biggest obstacles to spiritual growth is the fact that in the Church there is limited accountability for spiritual growth. He says that we are spiritual free agents. We are totally independent and autonomous. It just so happens that Paul never envisioned significant spiritual growth taking place without the presence of an overseer or spiritual mentor. Accountability makes a decisive difference in our spiritual transformation. And yet accountability is the thing that we resist perhaps more than anything. None of us like to hear nagging words. "Did you do that? Did you remember? Did you? Why didn't you?" And yet those words keep our feet to the fire. Those words push us to excel. Those words remind us that there is growth that we have yet to achieve.
I'm taking a risk in saying this, but I am partly a preacher today because I knew I needed the accountability that ministry requires. I am a preacher because I know how extremely difficult it can be to stay the course and to keep training myself to be godly when I am unaccountable. I have a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in spiritual growth and yet I need someone to ask me questions every week. Did you read your Bible? Are you praying? Are you and God okay? What's God doing in your life? I need the weekly discipline of preparing sermons, Bible lessons, talks, and classes.
I am the first to admit that I am utterly dependent on this body, on my fellow staff, on the Elders, on my wife Lara, and on my spiritual mentors to ask of me the hard questions of accountability. And if those questions aren't asked, then I am more apt to fall through the cracks than I would ever care to confess or recognize.
An overseer is someone who pays attention to your spiritual life and asks the tough questions of accountability. She/he oversees and watches over your soul! Overseeing is both the informal responsibility of the whole church body and the formal responsibility of the elders of this church. The elders are ultimately accountable for oversight, but we have a real ministry to each other to make sure that we are pushing one another to grow spiritually. And we have to put ourselves in the pathway of this accountability. It rarely finds us where we are, unless we are extremely fortunate.
If there is one thing I would prescribe for everyone in this church, it is accountability. With accountability you will soar as a Christian. Your life will be transformed. Without accountability you are just another free agent auditing Christianity, never fulfilling any requirements, never being stretched, and never growing!
Three levels of accountability.
There are three levels of accountability toward which every Christian needs to grow.
First, we need to be generically accountable by attending corporate worship. In worship we become united with the Church at large in our profession, in our values, in our beliefs, and in our aspirations. In worship on Sundays we get an inspirational lift that refocuses our passion toward serving and living for God. Many people stop at this level and never move on to experience substantial growth. The truth is that we can come every week to worship and sit by a different person every week and never once have someone get to know us well enough that they get the gumption to ask, "How are you and God doing?"
And so at some point we need to move to a higher level of accountability and get involved in a mid-size group. In a midsize group like a Bible school class we hang out with people who are at our same stage in life. They discuss issues that are more directly applicable to our lives. People learn your name, they learn what your needs are, and they begin meeting them. In a midsize group we begin to experience and are given the opportunity to participate in an authentic Christian community that accepts, greets, offers hospitality, serves, gives, and generally "loves one another." But not even Bible school is enough, because in a large Bible school class or mid-sized group, you can still easily slip through the cracks and be unaccountable.
This is why our church has small groups, or home groups. Home groups provide yet another level of very specific accountability in areas where we most need growth. In a small group, masks come off and people get to know the real us. People become aware of our strengths and weaknesses and sour points. They have the opportunity to lovingly challenge growth in those areas where we are weak!
The value of accountability.
It is no secret that those who participate in all three levels of accountability experience more significant growth than those who go the free agent route. It takes courage to move to this level of accountability and yet it is necessary for true, measurable spiritual growth to take place!
If you are not experiencing spiritual growth it is because you are not accountable. If you have been in the Church your whole life and continue to struggle with sin, it is because you have not invited someone to stand beside you. You will not experience life change unless you get plugged into an accountable Christian community. You will forever be a can-be or could-have-been so long as you remain a lone ranger. Do you realize that not one significant Christian leader or mature Christian has ever developed outside of an environment of accountability?
I will not be unambiguous about what you need to do in order to grow spiritually. You need to be accountable. You need to move deeper into Christian community. You need this large group gathering to inspire you in worship and devotion to God. You need the mid-size gatherings like Bible school in order to have your needs met and in order to begin building significant relationships. But you also need the small-size gatherings, the intimate setting of a small group where you can let your hair down and become accountable for those basic Christian habits that promise the greatest return.
Whenever I get the chance, I encourage people to participate in all three levels of accountability and when they're ready, to pursue one-on-one accountability. Whatever you do, don't kid yourself about living the Christian life alone. You will fail if you try. You will be frustrated. You may even quit altogether.
But here is the good news. With accountability, you will soar and you will be transformed.