A minister pointed out that in order to sustain its mission to reach out the world, the Church needs to work on laying a strong foundation for the next generation.
Pete Scazzero, former pastor of New Life Fellowship Church (NLFC), spoke to Todd Wilson during the Exponential's Reset Summit on Wednesday, saying that the church needs to develop discipleship and leadership.
The minister stated that the pandemic conveyed an "invitation" to church leaders to reset.
"I do think there's an invitation from God for the Church globally and not just here in North America, and it's a very, very important moment," he said, as captured by The Christian Post.
Further, he noted that the success of the Church before the pandemic hides some lack of integrity and that God has been exposing those through scandals in recent years.
The minister added that the Church needs to have a "very solid" foundation, for its long term sustainability of "doing mission out in the world," this means having a "depth of discipleship and leadership development that's not simply skill development and out of our gifts, but actually out of our inner life with God."
He went on to say that leaders must spend equal time in their "inner life" as with their "outer life of getting the mission done," which he observed was disproportionate.
He declared that the increasing secularization in the Church is "not our biggest problem," stating that "the early Church did just fine in a totally secular pagan Roman Empire." But he is more concerned about the Christians today, their "inner life as the Church and [their] integrity."
"Because if we've got that together, we'll do fine regardless of what's happening out there in the empire of the world and the secularization of the culture around us. The challenges are not out there - they are in here," Scazzero argued.
Moreover, he emphasized the importance of having adequate time on inner life development and discipleship.
"Discipleship is going to make or break the future ... you've got to get serious about discipleship. There's a need to slow some of the outer stuff down so that our inner life catches up to what we're doing externally," he said.
The minister presented four gaps that caused a number of churches to be unhealthy and dysfunctional.
First, church leaders ignoring "the emotional component of who [they] are for the sake of getting the job done." When one is feeling stressed and overloaded, God is speaking to that person to stop and slow down.
Next, their "being is not sufficient to sustain [their] doing for God." One must ensure that he is "being with God and [himself]."
Third, refocusing on silence, solitude and slowing down, which he said are "treasures of history of the global church."
Finally, redefining success in the Church, currently measured in a way that is "faulty, Western, very American, which is bigger, better, faster, and we feel good as long as there's a crowd in the room," which he said is not biblical.
"My definition for success is becoming the person God's called you to become in doing what God's called you to do. ... It's critically important for the mission, longterm, of the Church," he shared.
In addition, he stressed that everything he said "rises and falls on discipleship." He said that it should be done right so as to be able to "[multiply] leaders who are able to multiply leaders."
He noted that the Church has been drawn into "crowd-building-centered wineskin" but the Bible has a better perspective on it.
"If we get discipleship, and thus leadership development right, the wineskins are easy ... because you've got the people, you've got the internal fire to pivot and shift. But if you don't, then crises that come become devastating," the minister concluded.
Scazzero co-founded and hosts the Emotionally Healthy Leader podcast, after pastoring the NLFC for 26 years. He also wrote a number of books, including "The Emotionally Healthy Leader" and "The Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life in Christ."
