By Steve Pike, National Director, Church Multiplication Network

Today I’m thinking about the tension between three words… well actually between two words and God.

First, some definitions.

Events are things like worship services and altar calls and concerts and seminars… single incidents that we look back on as “watershed moments” in our lives. These are wonderful and often very specific to us. Thousands of other people may have been at the same event, but for them it did not rise the level of “watershed moment.”  That’s what I mean by “event.” A single occurrence that is significant in our spiritual formation.

Processes are intentional practices or disciplines or activities we regularly engage knowing that good habits lay a solid foundation for our relationship with God. Daily devotions, regularly gathering with other believers for to be provoked toward good works, etc. are examples of processes. Typically, a single devotional experience is not necessarily a “watershed moment” but the accumulation of persistent actions in a healthy direction adds up to a solid backbone of spiritual formation in our life.

Then, there is God. He loves us and He is intentional about intervening in our lives. He seems to intervene when we least expect it. Quite often He uses events and processes as the point of contact to intervene. We gather with the church (an event) because it’s a good place to connect with God and He rarely lets us down when we come together with an open heart. We practice regularly disciplines like fasting, journaling and prayer because they provide a place in our lives for our ongoing conversation with God to stay on track. Events and processes seem almost like two wings of a plane… we need them both to fly straight in our relationship with God.

I’ve noticed that church planters (well really everyone, but this is a church planting blog so we’ll talk about church planters) tend to lean more toward either events or processes as their preferred approach to discipleship. Some put loads of energy into making sure every service is packed with powerful God-encounter moments. But little guidance is given for what happens in the daily life of those who they are discipling other than try to hang on until the next time we get together to worship God. Others lean heavily in the direction of process. Personal spiritual disciplines are enshrined as the answer to everything. Personal daily practice of caring for the marginalized and the broken hearted are touted as the only actions that really matter in the life of a Christ follower. But the assembling together of the community of disciples is almost an afterthought.  

Either way, the result is a ministry that is out of balance and thus a bunch of disciples who are out of balance. Not good.

But the real tragedy happens when God is left out of the equation altogether. Events can be pulled off that create highly emotional reactions in people but little life transformation because God is not in the house. Processes (spiritual disciplines) can be executed faithfully with great efficiency but just become dry habits or perhaps even worse, a works based dead religious ball and chain around your neck.

Bottom line…. we need all three. Events are the crisis moments when life change tends to happen. We need to make space for that in the ministries we lead. Processes are the foundational actions that keep us in the conversation with God from moment to moment. We’ve got to develop those daily and regular habits that over the long haul cultivate healthy spiritual formation in our hearts.

An observation and concern I have is that some new church plants are strong one way or the other and I’m fearful that they will end up with a DNA that is deformed. Which ultimately means a community of faith that struggles to be healthy over the course of its life. I’ve talked with way too many planters who have a great weekly event but very little plan for discipleship. On the other hand, I’ve observed some planters who seem to have concluded that the “assembling together” concept no longer applies… they “dumb down” public worship gatherings to the point where if God is in the house He leaves halfway through the service.

We need great “events.” We need healthy “processes.” And we need to make sure God is in the center of both.