LifeChurch.tv gets rid of Church Members, No Longer a Mega-Church

Posted by Scott Williams
26 Comments
January 7, 2008
Controversy | LifeChurch.tv | Strategy

lc.jpgThis past week LifeChurch.tv was named by Outreach Magazine as “The Most Innovative Church in America” for 2008.  Additionally, this past Sunday LifeChurch.tv gets rid of Church Members and instead is asking the people to partner for the cause of reaching people who are without Christ.  Craig’s message was powerful and really set the stage for a clear and Unstoppable Vision for LifeChurch.tv.  I want to share some bullet points from the message that were just awesome.  Here they are:  

  •  No Church Members; instead “partners,” partnering together for “The Cause”

  • We can accomplish more together and do more with less.

  • We are not a Mega-Church, but a Micro-Church with a Mega Vision.

  • If you don’t want to be “All In” here, go find another church!

  • For those of us who committed before God to being partners, Craig prayed that we would be miserable if we didn’t honor our Commitment to God.  Ouch!  ”That was bold and I loved it!”

So what do you think about any of these bullet points…..?  Are you or your church willing to do anything short of sin to reach people without Christ?

  • http://www.blog.aaronhavens.com aaron

    The message this weekend was in my top 5 all time favorite messages. To tell people to be all in or get their butts out….wow we need more of that!!

  • http://cindybeall.wordpress.com Cindy Beall

    The message this weekend was out of this world! I was the one in the back waving my white hanky and saying “Glory”! Not really, but it was that good. I love it when Craig talks vision.

  • http://www.floatingaxhead.com Scott

    This is why so many people are drawn to LC (and others like it). It’s breaking down the traditions and pomp and getting to the heart of discipleship.

    We’ll always have consumers – its the American way. But even if Craig convinced a few of them to get “all in” it’s worth it.

  • http://www.annameadows.com Anna Meadows

    You’re ahead of your time, Scott Williams! Good call on the partnership vs. membership! I love the mind-shift! I can’t wait to see how this changes our people!

  • http://boydbettis.com Boyd Bettis

    I think this type of mindset in leadership is going to begin changing the way people view their role in the church.

    I think once, we begin seeing more church members shifting from members to partners, we’ll begin seeing our churches impacting people and our cities more!

    I am really pumped about that. I think our people are hungry for that. I think it just comes down to us as leaders, empowering and equipping people for ministry. A lot of times our people don’t know what to really do, but once we empower and equip them, they are pumped to be serving.

    I’ll check out the message some time today.

  • http://dturn.wordpress.com david

    I’m ALL IN.

    It’s time for a member-shift.

  • http://kevinbussey.com Kevin Bussey

    Wow! I’ll have to watch it.

  • http://www.readscott.com Scott Magdalein

    I like the points here. In fact, I like so much that I wrote a post on the same topic a couple weeks ago after being inspired by Mr. Scott Williams. Here’s the link:

    Members vs. Partners

  • http://www.greenups.com greenup

    “All in” brings up an old struggle I used to have. (and will probably always echo in my mind) Though I believe that we are all called to share the Good News, I have also come to understand that we are not all supposed to be full-time pastors. (And what kind of witness would that be anyway? SOMEBODY’s got to do the other work)
    .
    There is a lot of work/ministry to be done in a church, and the people there SHOULD be seeing it as THEIR work, not “something my organization is doing”, but at the same time, we have to remember balance. I didn’t hear the sermon referenced, and I may go find it, but the second-hand reports seem to indicate to me that it was Powerful, Moving, and Emotional. These are fine, but an emotional high will burn out, as will the energy of people who have over-committed themselves. This movement seems related to God renewing His church, so I am sure it will see success, but I also pray that it will endure.
    .
    The challenge for Me is to bring God’s work into my daily life, not to make my daily life the work of the church. (my church doesn’t need a full-time webmaster anyway)

  • roger

    Did Craig pull that idea from you or did he already have the same feeling you did? I thought it was brilliant when you posted on it before. just like American Express “membership has its privileges” but our faith should not be a privilege but a challenge. I believe that being a partner will get people bought in and give them ownership and hopefully the yearning to do more

  • http://http:/knowgreaterlove.org/wordpress1 Avery

    Sounds interesting…

    I can’t wait to see the message…

    At a first thought (not having seen the sermon) this is a great way to make people feel invited…

    It levels the playing field, and challenges everyone the same way…tro stop competing and start being a benefit other ministries and Christians… good stuff

    It makes me think of Romans 12 and also the precept for Christian competition… (that being to outdo one another in service to one another)

    I like what Scott from Floating AxeHead said…

    I am interested to see how those points you mentioned from the sermon will be applied, and how they will be implemented…

    I am definitely going to catch this one…

  • http://www.floatingaxhead.com michael

    i’ve contended for a while that christ would deconstruct the church as we know it if he were physically present…too organizational, too static, too introverted. as much as i like feeding my spiritual buddha, we need to hear we have missional atrophy.

  • Scott Williams

    Aaron- “All In” Baby!
    Cindy- It was good! Gaaaaloooory!
    Scot- Yesir!
    Anna- It will be cool!
    Boyd- The message was awesome!
    David- I know you are, thanks for all you do!
    Kevin- Thanks for the comment! Check it out!
    Greenup- Good Stuff! You can click the link in the post to find the message>
    Avery- A must See!
    Michael- Well said!

    Thanks for all of your comments, the message is a must see

  • Scott Williams
    Thanks Avery, I am officially a blockquoter! LOL

  • http://www.ichilly.typepad.com Chilly

    I’ll gladly partner with this kind of passion & vision! It’s bold and it’s Biblical… enough said.

  • Scott Williams

    Roger- He had the same feeling! I pray that our people have a yearning to do more, or be miserable! :-)
    Chilly- You keep it short, simple and real. That’s a real pastor!

  • http://princessjes.wordpress.com princessjes

    LOVED IT!!! I absolutely fall to pieces when vision is cast with passion and integrity!

  • http://www.headyco.com Yhonce

    I LOVE IT! Partners not members. Stay committed. Stop being lazy…I love it! GO LIFE CHURCH.

  • Kyle Stickens

    Scott…I had to work on Sunday afternoon, so my wife and I worshiped with LC.tv via their internet application from Facebook. It was awesome! I loved Craig’s message and hope I can be one of the people who are instruments of change within my own congregation. Great stuff! Peace!

  • http://biblebasics.wordpress.com mlc

    can i be a tad cynical and ask is this just organised religion just re-organising itself?

    What if we were really ‘not about us’ and said ‘lets not do anything within our church – but lets all support other ministries. let’s not do church on sundays but instead spend time building relationships and meeting needs of the unsaved’.

    I dont have the answers dont get me wrong. I love innovative churches.

    Our (young and small) church has a thin layer of fellowship and worship over a mass of external serving and relationship building.

    It comes from the question – what are we really willing to sacrifice to see people saved? The church could start from the position of sacrificing everything and compromise from there.

    blog on!

  • Pingback: Latina Liz » Blog Archive » A Micro-Church with a Mega-Vision

  • Pingback: Rethinking church Size; does it matter? « SCREAM

  • Pingback: Big Is The New Small - Monday Madness!

  • http://creditcardforum.com/blog Sam’s Finance Blog

    Scott I think this is a good thing and the people that aren’t giving L.C. credit should give it a second thought – it’s not about bringing in the people that already go to church, it’s trying to recruit people that don’t. I think they are doing a good thing by breaking the mold and being different.

  • http://www.yams.com TomPier

    great post as usual!

  • http://www.gbielshaddai.org city church

    I think this type of mindset in leadership is going to begin changing the way people view their role in the church.

Designed by EightDay Studio. Powered by the Standard Theme. Developed by Milk Engine.