3 Mindset Traps that Sabotage Jesus’ Mission to Wounded People

As the church, we are Jesus’ hands, feet, voice, and heart to the world. We invite wounded people into transformational intimacy with our Savior by stewarding both truth and compassion. But there are 3 mindset traps that sabotage Jesus’ mission to wounded people.

These 3 mindset traps are so insidious and sneaky we often don’t realize we’ve fallen into them. But they can sweep whole churches away from their Kingdom calling and make them completely ineffective. Worse, these Christians (and even whole churches!) don’t know they’ve been spiritually shipwrecked because their metrics (the measures of man) look so good.

So let’s go through these 3 mindset traps. And then we’ll talk about the mindset the church, and we as Christians, are called to have.

Mindset Trap #1: Empire Building

We fall into this one when we’re more concerned about building our empire than we are about building the Kingdom of God. If our goal is to have people swoon over our personal importance and status, we’ve received our reward in full from the people we’ve impressed. We have none from God. (Matthew 6:1-21)

If we’re not stewarding hearts well, our numbers don’t matter.

The thing about these mindset traps is they’re sneaky. They’re really easy to fall into because they look so good on the outside. And often, from just superficial outside appearances, you can’t tell someone building their own empire from someone walking out their calling and building the Kingdom. The actions can look the same. It’s all about the motivations.

Still, here are some example litmus tests to check our hearts to see if, and to what degree, we’ve fallen into empire building:

• We base ministry decisions on how they will affect our numbers (giving, attendance, etc.) rather than on how they will affect the hearts we minister to.
• We’re not willing to do it for the one.
• The ROI (Return on Investment) is considered rather than whether God is calling us to do the thing or not.
• We avoid making changes that will offend the biggest tithers.
• We believe the ends justify the means, compromising our integrity or principles for “the greater good.”
• We worry about which church gets the credit.
• Decisions are based on protecting our power rather than what God’s calling us to do.

Jesus chose and poured into 12 guys. He had lousy numbers. But his Kingdom impact changed the world.

Mindset Trap #2: Legacy Saving

The hallmark of legacy saving is when we prioritize preserving the church experience we grew up with.

Although safe, comfortable, and familiar, such churches do not enable transformation. In fact, they shut it down. Can’t have the Holy Spirit coming in here and changing things! But God’s Kingdom is about saving lives not legacies.

We know we’re legacy saving when:

• We’re afraid to make changes for fear of offending people.
• We have “sacred cows,” emotional attachments to things, or to doing things a certain way.
• We care more about preserving the church experience we grew up with than about reaching the changing neighborhood around us.
• We hold on to things that used to work, but no longer are effective.
• There is anything that’s not “on the table” to be cut if it interferes with reaching the region around us. The Bible calls these things “idols.”

The movie Jesus Revolution is a true story and a great example of a pastor (Chuck Smith, played expertly by Kelsey Grammer) deciding not to be a legacy saver when he opened up his church to the hippies in the early 1970s. He paid a high price. He lost friends who had been in his church for decades. That had to hurt. But he gained so much more. He gained partnering with the manifest Kingdom of God in one of the greatest revivals the United States has ever seen.

Mindset Trap #3: Sin Winking

We “wink” at sin when we condone, or don’t speak out against, self-destructive, sinful lifestyles. Too often, the gospel’s message of God’s grace to all people has been hijacked as an excuse to make people feel good about themselves, just the way they are, sin and all.

Yes, Jesus’ message is “come as you are.” You don’t have to get all holy first before you come to Jesus. In fact, you can’t. But Jesus’ message is never, “stay as you are.” He invites us into life-changing transformation, where we can no longer live sinful lifestyles that break his heart.

We know we’ve slipped into sin-winking when:

• We’re afraid to say the word “sin.”
• We pursue peace (unity) at any price. (Unity not centered on Jesus and his holiness is a false peace.)
• We care more about offending the culture than we do about offending God.
• We condone, look the other way, or are even proud of lifestyles that are blatantly anti-Biblical and self-destructive, such as sex outside of marriage (between a biological man and a biological woman).

When we don’t call out sin for the self-destruction that it is, when we tell wounded people they aren’t wounded, we are slamming the door of God’s healing in people’s faces.

What We as Christians and the Church Are Called to Be

I have another post here that describes the church as a lighthouse, a life-saving team of rescuers, in a shabby little building, saving shipwreck victims from drowning.

Yes,

• Numbers are important.
• It is right to honor our history.
• Everyone is welcome in the Kingdom of God.

But the mindset traps we’ve discussed take legitimate concerns and twist them out-of-balance, into an end in themselves. And they are each motivated by fear.

The Way Out

The way out of all of these mindset traps is a single-minded focus on what God is calling us to do. As a Church. As an individual Christian. As a family. And the answer will be different for each church, each individual, and each family. Because nobody can do it all.

Yet we can all trust God to partner with us in what he’s calling us to do. It may be a rocky road at times. But we are never alone, even when it feels like it. We need to be willing to sacrifice:

• Our importance and reputation
• Our comfortable and familiar way of doing things
• The approval of the culture and of others

And instead pursue what he’s calling us to with both hands. Then he will work all things together for the glory of his Kingdom. And that is the best possible outcome for us and everyone around us.

Your Turn

Does this resonate? What part of this post speaks to you? Tell us your story in the comments. And please share this post if it would bless others.