Dr Kevin Blackwell

“This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here.” Romans 13:11-12a NLT.

The letters of Paul are laced with a particular urgency. For example, three times in the Corinthian letters Paul uses terms like “time is short,” “the age has come,” or “sober up.” To the Thessalonians he writes, “So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober” (1 Thess. 5:6).  To the Ephesians, “Awake you who sleep” (5:14), and to the Romans, “wake up.”

The urgency of Paul is based on his belief that the day of the Lord was near, and the days of grace were numbered. Paul writes these wake-up calls to churches. Paul could not fathom the mindset of a sleeping lethargic church in light of the impending return of Jesus Christ. Far be it that Christ should return to find his Church slumbering in apathy. It would be similar to Mark 14, where Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, goes to spend time with his Father, only to return and find his followers asleep. His retort rings through the ages, “Are you still sleeping and resting?” (14:41).  Since that original wake-up call, the church has needed the same rousing often in its history.  Who can ever forget the church awakening to the pounding of a hammer in 1517 on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg? Luther’s 95 thesis was a wake-up call to a slumbering Church. There have been key moments in church history, where it needed to be reminded of the urgency of its mission.  We find ourselves today in a similar moment. In our day of precipitous ecclesial decline due to watered-down doctrine, wavering convictions, secular appeasements, pastoral moral failures, and lethargic believers, it is time that the victorious Church of Jesus Christ awakens to the urgency of this moment. It is high time for the Church to become uncomfortable in its current condition, desperate to see God move among the dry bones, and refocus its mission to a lost and dying world in need of Jesus.

A deep sleep comes to those who find comfort, relaxation, and contentment. One sure sign that deep sleep is taking place is when one finds little need to shift or move in the dead of night. Herein lies the core issue of the current slumber of the Church, particularly the Western Church. We have forgotten what it is like to make the necessary missional shifts essential to the perpetuity of our mission.  Experts have taught us that the best sleep happens when the body goes into the REM state (rapid eye movement), and it is this stage of sleep where a person experiences dreams. Yet for the Western Church, the REM state we currently find ourselves in has led to a lack or total loss of dreaming. In fact, that might be our biggest problem, we have stopped dreaming. We no longer dream of churches filled, members on mission, ministries flourishing, spiritual awakenings, and community impact. Our slumber has led to our own REM (relaxed evangelistic mission) which has resulted in a lack of dreaming. What is needed? We must awaken through a series of seismic necessary shifts.  I recommend 5 key shifts for revitalizing the Western Church back to its mission.

1. Shifting from Member Focus to Missional Focus. Growing churches love their community fiercely. Missional churches know how to pray, reach, invite, and get involved in their community.  The community that God placed them in is never far from their heart and mind. All churches must see themselves as agents of gospel change. Ministry must always be formed by the needs of the community and not the wants of the members. I am talking missional purpose over member preference, restless hearts over restful pews, and choosing every day to be desperate to see the lost saved instead of the saved comfortable.  Every church is a mission center and not a religious museum. Every. Single. One. The Body of Christ must mimic the heart of its Savior. What is the heart of the Savior? In Luke 19, Jesus stops as he rides into Jerusalem and weeps over the lostness of his city. Our people must have a burden for the lost in their community. Healthy churches weep over their city, and it starts with the church leaders. For almost a century the Church has practiced a myopic ministry in which the needs of members trump the urgency to rescue the perishing. It is time for a shift in focus.
2. Shifting from a Stained Glass Vision to a Satellite Vision. When Churches become inward-focused, they will never be outward-focused. Insulation always leads to isolation. It is the difference between a stagnant Pond and a life-giving stream. If left unchecked congregations always default to a sleep mode. Just as your cell phone goes into sleep mode, if not tapped, the phone screen dims. The same is true of every congregation.  Every church needs a regular tap reminder that it must awaken to its gospel calling.  Church leaders must be vigilant. Many members enter into the church each week and see only the inside of the church, in other words, a stained-glass view. But what if that Church sees a satellite view of its surroundings? I mean a Google satellite 3-mile radius of what is surrounding the church? The houses and buildings on that map are filled with people in need of what the Body of Christ has to offer. I am not talking about programs and activities; I am talking about the good news of Jesus Christ. What is God doing in your community and how can you join him in that work? Every church is placed in a community as a mission station, and we have to keep a broad God-sized vision of what is around us.
3. Shifting from Developing Programs to Discipling People. There is nothing more important for church revitalization than disciple making. Remember, you are not trying to revitalize an organization, you are revitalizing people because the Church is people. To awaken the heart of a church, it must be done individually, organically, intentionally, and consistently. Church leaders can develop a strategy, but that strategy has to be carried out by members, and if leaders have not invested in them spiritually, they will never be successful in implementing it. We are not revitalizing churches as much as we are revitalizing people. Don’t fall into the trap of the programmatic black hole. If we are not careful, we can develop a strategy, throw a bunch of new programs on top of it, and ask everyone to be involved only to find out that programs have life cycles. Do what Jesus did, invest in and disciple people. It will be the most life-giving, church awakening thing you do all year.
4. Shifting from Preaching Random Subjects to Preaching Expositional Sermons. Waking up a church always begins through the work of the Spirit as the Word of God is preached faithfully, and expositionally. Pastor, feed your people spiritually and allow the Word of God to lead in the revitalization process. Healthy churches have healthy preaching. Prepare well, preach strong, and petition for change. Church revitalization means the pastor has to, at times, say hard things to initiate change. The Bible says those hard things for you, and it has God’s authority behind it. When possible, let God’s Word speak rather than you. Preaching expositionally will enact that change.
5. Shifting from Looking for Answers to Asking the Right Questions. Church leaders in sleeping churches often find themselves looking for answers. The problem, however, is you can’t find answers if you don’t first know the questions. Healthy churches that have asked the right questions and are on a continual journey to find the answers to those questions. These questions include: Why does this church exist? What is God’s ideal purpose for the future of this church? How does this church live God’s ideal purpose out? Three basic questions will launch a church into missional orbit.  These questions, if approached well, will arouse a sleeping church toward a great spiritual and missional awakening.

It is time to wake up. It is time to arouse the sleepers. The time is urgent. Jesus is coming back soon, and the age of grace has an expiration date. On the night in Gethsemane, Jesus returned to arouse sleeping followers, God forbid that when Jesus comes again, he will still find us slumbering.