Why So Many Churches Have a Culture of Striving
WELCOME to The Seedhead from Alex and Hannah at Dandelion Resourcing -
a weekly confidence booster to help you step into naturally
supernatural discipleship and mission!
WEDDING FEVER is gripping Chateau Absalom, as one of our sons, Joel, is marrying Bekah this coming weekend! We’re thrilled!! We’ll pop a photo into next week’s Seedhead (or follow Alex on Instagram for a few shots before then).
🔔 🍾 ❤️
In issue #163 of The Seedhead we’re looking at why so many believers have been discipled into equating striving with maturity - and then we’ll suggest what to do to change this mindset!
And then further down, we’re sharing a half-off Coupon Code to next Wednesday’s (October 11) Seeding Session on the powerful assessment tool, The 3 Circles of a Kingdom Culture!
So let’s dive in…
..in a totally chilled, non-tasky sort of way, of course. ◡̈
Something we’ve noticed in a lot of otherwise good churches is that they are often characterized by a striving mentality.
By striving we mean an environment where everyone is doing (or urged to do) a lot tasks, programs, and to put plenty of effort in. You can spot a place like this because the calendar is permanently packed out.
People ARE pursuing Jesus and seeking to do meaningful things for the sake of God’s Kingdom… but it is all quite frantic and never ending in feel.
It’s almost as if we may be saved by grace but sanctified by the quantity of our works!
Much of this comes from a good heart. There is a…
Correct urgency about reaching the lost
Godly desire to offer God our best in our public worship
Understandable emphasis on running lots of programs so that as many people as possible have a pathway for growth
But the down side of all this activity is that it’s easy to slip into striving.
That’s a place where we rely far more upon our organizational skills and planning abilities and high-productivity in order to advance our Kingdom agenda. And what can result is that we do all these lovely things in such a way that if the Holy Spirit doesn’t show up, few people will likely notice.
It’s like we’ve forgotten to operate first from a place of faith, rather than thinking God might intervene only as a last resort.
And here’s the primary reason why striving occurs: there’s an absence of a deep rooted reliance upon, and trust in, the Holy Spirit
Here’s another way of describing that cause: a culture of striving arises at the intersection of living on mission and making disciples, but where we don’t make room for ALSO being naturally supernatural.
It’s a place where the ministry of the Holy Spirit is kind of viewed as an optional extra, a bonus that’s nice to have but slightly frivolous and a distraction from the real task at hand.
We think that’s a massive mistake!
→ To be truly effective in reaching the lost we need to make intentional room for the Spirit to be actively at work, revealing God’s love, power, and authority, esp through the fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
→ To be truly effective in making disciples of Jesus we need to actively carve out space for the Spirit to shape lives, as people learn to listen to His voice in all things, and follow His prompts and resourcing into all aspects of life.
Here's a fuller video version of this content...
Reflect and Act
Is striving in the pursuit of serving God a pitfall for you?
Pause in God’s presence and ask Him to show you.
Repent if necessary.
Breathe in the Spirit’s reassurance and love.
Join us live THIS WEDNESDAY!
You can operate at the intersection of naturally supernatural, discipleship, and mission - which is where Kingdom cultures are formed!
SEEDING SESSION #1 - The 3 Circles of a Kingdom Culture
A powerful tool that shows you how to connect naturally supernatural with discipleship and mission.
October 11 (NEXT Wednesday) - 12pm EST/ 9am PST
You have two options to purchase your seat -
individual sessions, or become a Seeding Sessions Annual Member!
TEST OUT SEEDING SESSIONS!
As a new initiative, you might wonder how good this training will be!
To help you out, we're offering all subscribers to The Seedhead a 50% discount for Session #1!
The usual cost to purchase an individual session will be $49, while for you it will be only $25 - BUT the offer expires at 12pm EST on Wednesday October 11 (when Session #1 starts)!
On the checkout page, enter Coupon code: 3circlescode
This will give you:
🌱 a seat at the live training
🌱 the ability to ask questions in the Q&A time
🌱 AND access to the recording at any subsequent time (so even if you can't make the October 11, you're still able to use this resource!)
Click the button below to find out full details & book!
