Skin in the Game: Church
This week we’ve been focusing on the concept of “Skin in the Game.”
Today I think it’s important to stop and look at an area where every single Christian should have skin in the game: the church.
The Scripture is really clear on this. It is critically important for the Christian life for believers to gather together with other believers (See Hebrews 10:24-25, 1 Corinthians 12:20-25) for encouragement, strengthening, and care.
This shouldn’t be revolutionary, but in today’s society we have plenty of believers who think they are doing just fine without being part of a church. There are “nones” and “dones” who believe they can believe in Jesus but never have to interact with a specific group of believers on a regular basis. This flies in the face of Scripture that calls us to live closely enough to each other (believers in Jesus) that we can practice the “one anothers” with them regularly (see The 59 One Anothers of the Bible).
Now, I am the last person to tell you that you need to show up at 10:00 AM on Sunday morning to a building where songs are sung and a speech is given. I gather in my living room with other believers, sometimes with no real plan for what we’ll do when we gather together. But I know the people who are part of my church. They know me. We have access to each other’s lives and we gather together to strengthen each other.
To be fair, this doesn’t always happen in the lives of people who are part of traditional churches, either. While I know many wonderful people who are part of traditional churches who are meaningfully connected to other believers, I also know many who go to sing and hear someone speak. Their Christian experience is an hour on Sunday, instead of a meaningful connection with real believers.
So, my encouragement to you today is to be a part of a local body of believers. Don’t tune into a church half-way across the nation that doesn’t know you. Don’t sit around and wait for the perfect church (or even the church that isn’t perfect but checks all of your boxes). Go and be a part of some type of gathering where other believers gather and imperfectly attempt to encourage and strengthen each other. If you don’t have one of those near you, you should start one.
Lastly, don’t just go. Be a part of the church. Have skin in the game. You know you’re doing it right when you hurt when the people that are part of your church are hurt. You know you’re doing it right when you consider it your job to make disciples, not just the pastor or the pastoral staff. You’ll know you’re doing it right when you’ve stopped picking and choosing who you want to be your “church” and let God give you a love for the people in your spiritual family. You’ll know you’re doing it right when the health and the vitality of your church is your responsibility, not someone else’s.
When it comes to church, it’s critical you have skin in the game.
Photo Credit: Two Men Hugging on Focus Photo by Erika Giraud
Don’t Forget:
My new book, “Stick Your Neck Out” was just released. If you’re looking for a short introduction to house churches for yourself or others, this 71 page book will help you or someone you know move from interested to invested in planting churches in the harvest. Get your Kindle or paperback version here.
Skin in the Game
Here’s a scenario:
A friend comes to you and tells you about an investment that is guaranteed to double in the next year. All you have to do is sink some of your hard earned money into the investment and in a year’s time you’ll have twice as much.
That sounds great, but how do you determine how seriously to take this investment advice?
Well there’s an easy way to tell how honest your friend is being with you: Ask how much of their money they have invested in the project. If they’ve invested none, you wouldn’t take them very serious, right? But if they’ve invested a little bit of money, then you might take them a little seriously. And if they invested a significant amount, then you might take them a whole lot more seriously, right?
Why?
The answer is “skin in the game.”
Someone who really believes in something being valuable would put a lot of eggs in that basket, right? We shouldn’t take someone seriously if they’re not willing to commit to it.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduced me to this concept in a profound way in his book Antifragile. He said in the ancient world, architects who built buildings would sign a foundation stone with their name on it. If the building ever collapsed, those who survived would find the architect and demand recompense from the family of the architect. If a son died in the collapse, the architect’s son would be killed. I’m not advocating for the killing of people, but you’d be hard pressed to argue that those architects didn’t have skin in the game. The result was these buildings were stronger and lasted much longer. They built buildings better because they knew their family’s life depended on it.
There’s a Kingdom parallel here.
There’s been plenty of times people have been willing to “help” our churches when what they really want is to take over. Sometimes they are even well-meaning, but offer ideas that don’t translate very well to the real world. Often these people have never been to our church, but they know how to fix our problems. This doesn’t work.
Instead, one of the signs I look for in someone who is sent from God to serve our churches is they have skin in the game. If the church is hurt by one of their ideas, they’re going to bleed along with everyone else. If they cause a mess, they will help clean it up. They don’t dream up ideas for others to execute. They’ve tested their ideas in their lives and speak from experience, not theory. They’ve paid the price to get where they are and want to see others get what they have.
This isn’t to say they have to be from my church to help my church. It just means they will be invested in the success and failure of our own body, like an investor who has put his money into that stock he’s told everyone about. They have a vested interest in our success.
So, in the Kingdom:
Have skin in the game.
Partner with others who have skin in the game.
Don’t waste a lot of time and energy on those who don’t.
Skin in the Game Series
Skin in the Game: Leaders
Photo Credit: Person Holding Band Aid on Left Hand by Diana Polekhina
Don’t Forget:
My new book, “Stick Your Neck Out” was just released. If you’re looking for a short introduction to house churches for yourself or others, this 71 page book will help you or someone you know move from interested to invested in planting churches in the harvest. Get your Kindle or paperback version here.
Early Feedback for Stick Your Neck Out
“Stick Your Neck Out” has been live on Amazon for about a week. I’m so thankful to those of you who purchased a copy and have sent me encouraging notes and pictures over the last few days. It’s incredible to see this book out in the wild where it was meant to be.
One of the exciting things about the book being out in the wild is the feedback I’ve been getting from house church practitioners in the United States and Canada. Below are a couple of quick snippets I’ve seen so far:
“In a world where so many churches have shut their doors, people are craving for a church where they can worship and learn about God with a fellowship of other believers. This book can be the answer for that hunger for Christians to meet together. Travis reminds us that we are not just church members, but we are the church. We are called to gather together for worship, teaching, and reaching out to the lost. We might not think we can lead such a group, but with the Holy Spirit’s help all things are possible. This book is an encouragement and guide to do what God desires for the church in today’s world.” –DJ Washburn
“The problem with most books on simple, organic or house churches is that they are written by people who generally are pushing concepts without having made them work in their own lives, home towns or anywhere else.
Often, they also are hoping to use their books to promote themselves as “apostolic workers” or some such itinerant ‘somebodies’ who make a living off of invites to come help you do what, in fact, they haven’t successfully done themselves.
Those who fall under their influence inevitably end up failing, with great harm caused to the cause of Christ from the resulting discouragement and disillusionment.
In contrast, Travis is writing from the refreshing perspective of actually living out what he’s saying. Plus, it’s refreshing that he has a real job and not trying to promote himself for gain or fame.
As someone who also has helped start and sustain a number of similar churches in my own home county, I can attest to the ring of authenticity in this delightful, straightforward book for others willing to do the same.” –Jim Wright
“I just finished Travis Kolder’s book ‘Stick Your Neck Out: An invitation and Guide to House Church Planting.’ I wasn’t sure, at first, about reading another book on starting house churches. As I started reading this book it seemed it might be the same old stuff repeated. However, as I read further into the book I found myself transported into the stories of the New Testament.
Travis Kolder has done an amazing job of explaining the concept and practice of house churches. There are many good books on simple (organic, relational, house) churches but Travis has written his book to be very simple to understand. He has based it all on scripture as well as making the concept of house churches relevant to today. He was able to bring Jesus’ story to life and invite people to be involved.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to be involved in or start house churches.
‘The church I am describing is totally consumed with Jesus. They eat, sleep, and dream about him. He is more important than the building you meet in or what you say when you get together. The church that you are helping to start is held together by him alone. He brings the church together, you talk about him when you come together, and he is the life force empowering you when you meet and when you go out from your times together.’ Travis Kolder
‘I’m inviting you to take part in a house church planting movement that reaches the lost wherever you are. For this house church movement to truly spread, we need people with the character to sustain it. Skill and enthusiasm can start churches, but without character, these churches will quickly sputter and die.’ Travis Kolder” –Rob Ross
If you’ve had a chance to read “Stick Your Neck Out” and you have the time, would you give it a quick review on Amazon or Goodreads? It certainly helps to spread the word.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 