The Local Church and Earning the Right to be Heard
Matt Bouknight and Paul Richard
1. Who is the Church?
a. The church is the chosen people of God
i. Gal. 3:29; 1 Peter 2:4-10
b. The church, in Christ, is the one body of believers from all tribes and nation.
i. One: Eph. 4:3-6 (Talk about denominations ie the local congregation vs.
the church universal)
ii. All Believers from every nation: Eph 2:19-22; Rev. 5:9-10
2. What is the church?
a. The Flock of God (John 10:1-18)
b. The Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-27)
c. The Family of God (Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 2:19)
d. The Bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23-32)
3. What is the mission of the church? (Spend a few mins talking about the fact that we
are all on the same team and use this to transition to Paul)
a. The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by
declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit, gathering these
disciples into churches that they may worship and obey Jesus now and into
eternity to the glory of God the Father.
4. We must not forget the local church for 3 reasons
a. Unity in Christ is commanded in Scripture
i. Ephesions 4:1-6 - Positive approach
ii. Galations 5:19-21
1. Discord come from the Greek word eris which means contention,
debate, strife, variance
2. Dissensions comes from the Greek word dichostasia which
means disunion, division, rebellious disorder
3. Factions comes from the Greek word hairesis from which we get
the word heresy which means disunion or sect. Acts 5:17 this
was used to describe the sect of the Sadducees.
b. Young Life encourages us to be in a local body
i. Its in the mission statement
ii. Its in Job Descriptions
c. Practical Reasons
i. In areas without a college, Leaders, Committee Members, and Teachers
who have the desire to reach lost kids will most likely be found in the
local Church.
ii. Pastors are big community of faith influencers. Market Research shows
that a person will tell twice as many people about a bad experience
versus a good experience. And BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAST.
1. In their congregations are:
a. School Board Members, School Administrators, Teachers
b. City Officials including Judges, Elected Officals
c. Police officers, Firemen, EMTs
d. Doctors, Lawyers, Reporters and other influential
professionals.
2. In their congregations are:
a. People who pray.
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The Local Church and Earning the Right to be Heard
Matt Bouknight and Paul Richard
b. People who give.
c. Kids who want to reach their schools
d. Existing and Future Leaders
e. Existing and Future Committee Members
Issues
Separating
local
Churches and Young Life can usually be overcome by Wining
5.
the Right to be Heard. “Winning the Right to talk to a person” results from the
natural flow of carefully chosen words or weeks or months of casual contact
work.”
a. I am not suggesting compromising on important doctrinal differences
i. Salvation by Grace through Christ Alone
ii. The Bible is the Word of God
iii. The Virgin Birth
iv. etc.
b. I am not saying that we should become door mats either.
6. Character of the one winning the right to be heard
a. Ephesians 4:2-3 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with
one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace.
b. Ask Questions
c. Approach issues directly but not accusing.
d. Apologize when necessary but do not take responsibility for things
misunderstood.
e. Be a teacher about the mission and how we love the local church.
7. So what can we do? These are some things I have done over the last few years
a. Started with friendships with individual pastors. As I got to know them and they
got to see how we worked in Young Life the respect grew.
b. When ever I heard a criticism of Young Life through the grapevine or directly
from a pastor, I called, arranged a lunch appointment and discussed the issue
with them. These guys run in packs together. They talk to one another. I may
not have been able to solve their issues but we grew together as friends.
c. I became part of a network of Youth Pastors and participated with them in their
events.
d. When the Passion of the Christ movie came out, I arranged for a private
showing and invited 3 churches to come and participate with me in the showing.
e. We held a pastors luncheon. We try to do this as an annual event. The
invitation letter went out with my signature and two pastors’ signatures inviting
other pastors to come hear a report concerning Young Life. One was a white
pastor the other a black pastor. We invited pastors from many denominations.
We treated them to a really good lunch and had Bill Paige, John Wagner and
Scott Hamilton in to speak as well. I also invited other Young Life Staff to come
because churches cover geography which overlaps Young Life Areas.
f. I meet with three pastors weekly in a Bible Study.
g. I have done youth worker trainings for churches.
h. I have taken youth pastors with me in contact work, and trained them to do so.
i. As the unofficial chaplain of one of the high school football teams, I helped the
football boosters to organize meals for all the varsity games by inviting
churches to cook and serve the meals. This gave churches vision for
involvement in the local schools.
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The Local Church and Earning the Right to be Heard
Matt Bouknight and Paul Richard
j. I encourage Youth Pastors to come to club, campaigners and chew on this.
They do attend.
k. I am currently developing a Sunday school class that I can take to churches on
incarnational ministry.
l. Every year I do a fund raising bike ride through my area. I go to each school in
the area and pray at each one. I contact the youth pastors and encourage them
to come and have their people come and pray with me at the schools.
m. At club we do question and answer clubs where the kids can ask those nagging
questions they do not feel they have had answered. I invite pastors to come
and sit on the panel with me and my leadership team answering the questions.
n. Much of the outreach in our area is with African American kids. In order to earn
the right to be heard in that community I would go to a different African
American Church each Sunday and meet the pastor. I would follow-up with a
phone call and schedule a lunch to explain the mission of Young Life.
8. Ideas presented to Area Directors and Committee Chairs at the Committee Chair
Summit
a. Invite church leaders in your area to be adult guests at a Young Life property.
b. Approach a church about using their facility for club or committee meetings.
c. Ask a pastor you know to join you in doing “contact work” with others in church
ministry.
d. Sponsor a concert or crazy games field day. Bring different churches and youth
workers together to spend a day or evening having fun and getting to know
each other.
e. Join a small group in your church so you can connect with a church yourself
and provide mutual support and encouragement to each other.
f. Invite a church staff person (and their family) to a sporting event or do
something active together. Think beyond sitting in an office or around a lunch
table. Sharing an experience will make the time more comfortable and help you
find things that you have in common.
9. Net Results:
Churches call me for ideas. The call me to celebrate their successes. We receive more
donations from churches than ever before. Pastors ask us how we are doing financially. I
can call pastors for favors, the use of their facilities or even support for other area directors. I
am frequently asked to speak about the ministry of Young Life to churches. We have a great
reputation in the community. Our leader base includes folks from many churches. It is mutli
racial. We are poised to have other leaders and committee members join us from a variety of
churches.
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