4 Marks of a Deeper Church

http://store.churchlawtodaystore.com/4maofdech.html

[Christianity Today] 8 Apr 2008--"How deep is your ministry?" Seven years ago, I found myself asking this question. As senior pastor of an inner-city church in Indianapolis, I was responsible for developing a long-range plan for our congregation. Our church offered a wide range of ministries to the poor, including a soup kitchen, tutoring program, and a sports ministry that reached 2,000 children. At Thanksgiving we served hundreds of turkey dinners. In the fall, we distributed shoes, book bags, and winter coats as part of a back-to-school program. We appeared to be doing an effective job of serving the poor. We were proud of our reputation as "the church that stayed" instead of fleeing to the suburbs. Nevertheless, I sensed something was wrong. None of our outreach programs were leading people to faith in Jesus Christ. Neighborhood residents who received our charity were not being invited into the life of the church. Despite our outreach efforts, the church remained an enclave for affluent, educated whites.

What was wrong? While wrestling with this question I happened to read Luke 5:1-11. It's the story of Simon Peter, who spent all night fishing on the Sea of Galilee without catching any fish. In frustration, Peter called it quits. When Christ encountered him, Peter was picking seaweed from his empty nets. Stepping into the boat, Jesus gave one command: "Put out into deeper water and let down your nets for a catch."

I was struck by this biblical event's similarity to our church's situation. We had a tremendous breadth of outreach, but we lacked depth. Like Peter, we needed to venture out into deeper waters.

In September 1996 I preached a series of sermons entitled "Deeper Waters," in which I suggested four ways we needed to deepen our outreach.