Working With or Against God

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Tony Morgan offers a summary of some of the points made by Andy Stanley at the recent Drive Conference at North Point Church. His post is titled "Smart Things Andy Stanley Said: Part 1." Here are some of his summary points. They relate closely to some of the subject matter in our Go series.

  • We all do ministry in communities where people think church is for church people. That's the type of world we live in. People care about God. People want to connect with God. There's a hunger for God, but the church is in the way. "I'm giving the rest of my life to change that."
  • Since the beginning of the church, the "insiders" have been making it difficult for the "outsiders." From the very beginning, the church has tried to change the outsiders before they can connect with the church. (Acts 15)
  • If we create obstacles for people to connect with the church and God, we are working against God.
  • The majority of churches have made it difficult for people to turn to God.
  • The gravitational pull of your ministry is to create insider language, rules and programs that makes it more difficult for people to turn to God.
  • We had to create empty seats at optimal times in order to make room for people who were unchurched. Otherwise, I would have just been talking to the Christians.
  • When a local church gets off-mission, God gets uninterested. God says, "They don't need me."
  • We made a fundamental decision years ago that we were going to be more committed to reaching people than keeping people.