"Spiritual Capital"
We just turned eleven years old as a church.
That’s old enough to mow the lawn…
but still young enough to eat glue.
As a church, Old enough to have organized teams for tech, band, youth, kids, and hospitality…
but young enough that most of them are volunteers and slightly sleep-deprived.
We’ve always thought of ourselves as a growing thriving ministry
But for about the last year, we’ve hovered around a hundred people.
It’s like we hit cruise control.
It’s probably not good to hit cruise at 100—not in my mini-van anyway.
There’s a tiny voice in the back of the mind that’s like:
“Is this it?” “Is this who we are now?”
Not in a pathetic way.
I’m not giving up…
But like when your car makes a noise that’s not loud enough to pull over and call a tow truck, but it’s not something to just ignore either.
So that puts me in strategy mode.
“Maybe we need better systems.”
“Better marketing.”
“Cooler graphics.”
“Maybe we need a fog machine… that makes the room smell like apple pie.”
(We are not getting a fog machine but I’m always open to apple pie.)
Maybe everyone is already saved. Yeah, that must be it. We’re not growing because everyone we know is already plugged into a local church. I mean… look around! Clearly, right?
And then I read Luke 10.
And Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful.”
Not, “The harvest will be plentiful once you upgrade your website.”
Not, “The harvest is plentiful if you get the brand right.”
We don’t need to make the harvest ready. It already is.
The harvest is already plentiful.
Which means the issue isn’t supply or demand.
The issue is workers. People willing to step up and work the harvest.
I’ve heard things like this ever since I came to faith at 14. It’s why I went to Bible college right out of high school—I wanted everyone to have what I have. Jesus saved me, not only from my sins in this life and hell in the afterlife, He saved me from a life of violence and poverty. I want everyone to know what it’s like to have peace, and purpose, and joy, and hope.
So, I’ve dedicated my entire life, no matter what else I was doing, to this calling.
We’ve got us a little army here… it seems to me like we should be able to make a dent in this community—this harvest God has set before us.
In Luke 10, before Jesus sends out the seventy-two on a little mission trip, He tells them to pray.
The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Luke 10:1-15
Then He gives some specific instructions… like don’t worry about whether God will provide for you or not, find people of peace (people who are willing to listen to what you have to say about Jesus and help spread the word). He has a really weird command about eating whatever is set in front of you, Luke 10:8 “Eat whatever is set before you.”… you can remember because it’s Luke ten “ate”—like, you just “ate” something you didn’t want to eat. Ha. It’s a great memory verse for parents or grandparents with kids who are picky eaters. We always told our kids, “You don’t have to like your food, you just have to eat it.”
Side note… the Lord reminded me of this verse at pretty much every meal when we were on tour in Japan. Every time we sat down to eat it was some kind of nasty eel or squid that was half alive. Or as I called it, “Sushi-Yuckie.” I ate it anyway… just swallowed it like pills.
Then Jesus says,
“Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.” Luke 10:16
Which is all still true. It’s still the deal—it’ still how the mission works.
Notice there were only 72 of them. There’s about a hundred of us. And we have WIFI.
Notice what Jesus tells them to do…
Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers.
Which is fascinating. Because He didn’t tell them to actually harvest the harvest—just to pray for and recruit more workers. That’s very interesting. I think the reason is because Jesus is the one who actually does the harvesting—our job is to pray for and recruit more workers to plant more seeds.
Our job is to tell everyone what Jesus did for us, not to close the deal.
I mean, that’s not how I would have done it. If I were Jesus, I’d be like, “Okay, quick seminar. Here’s how to close the deal. Here’s the elevator pitch. Here’s the conversion funnel—the leadership pipeline. Four easy steps guaranteed to turn a sinner into a saint.”
No, Jesus says, “Pray for more workers.”
Probably because it’s not our harvest. It’s His. He wants us to pray for more workers to recruit more workers.
And that sounds great to me because I want us to have more workers, too—more people here in this NewChurch army to be on mission. More workers is another way of saying growth. More people around the table bringing what only they can bring to the table.
Wanting our church to grow is a good thing.
And mostly, my motives are good. Mostly.
Of course I also want more people because it would feel encouraging, validating.
It would feel like what we’re doing matters, that it’s working—like we’re successful. Winning.
I mean, those are all very natural human motivations. They’re not bad.
But they’re not the central driver of harvest thinking, either.
Harvest thinking is more about:
There are people who don’t know Jesus yet.
There are families barely holding it together.
There are people one crisis away from collapse.
There are people who don’t know the grace of God found in Jesus and are on their way to be lost to an eternal separation from Him in hell.
Those are the signs that the harvest is ready.
The world is broken and needs Jesus to save them.
If you’ve read your Bible, you know this is true.
And it should make us look at the world in a completely different light.
All that brokenness and pain means people are ready. Ready to hear, ready to believe.
The harvest isn’t about our ego.
It’s about souls. People who are lost.
I have some good friends who have a church planting network called the Harvest Partnership. They have a concept called the Five Capitals.
Spiritual Capital
Relational Capital
Intellectual Capital
Physical Capital
Financial Capital
These are five categories of blessings God has given each of us, that we can bring to the table of our local church. The church is completely made up of what the people in that local church bring to it.
Today, we’re talking about the first one, “Spiritual Capital.”
Which probably sounds weird. Like crystals and reading auras weird.
But being spiritual isn’t weird. It’s human.
Genesis says we’re made in the image of God.
You’re not just biology.
You’re not just chemicals and impulses.
You are an image-bearing spiritual creature.
C.S. Lewis said, “You have never met a mere mortal.”
And if you belong to Christ? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 that you are also the temple of the Holy Spirit. And that your life is hidden with Christ in God. You are connected to Jesus.
Lots of room for mystery here but the basic idea is God dwells in you and you dwell in God. You are a spiritual being.
So you have Spiritual Capital to bring to the table. But like all of God’s blessings, It’s all a gift from Him.
It’s something we steward. Which means it’s something He gives us to take care of for Him, to use for His purposes.
Saturday Night
Last Saturday. We unlocked the doors. Showed up at seven o’clock. Dimmed the lights.
No stage lights.
No set list. No rehearsal.
No sermon.
Just prayer.
I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but forty percent of our church showed up.
Which is wild. Because nobody knew what was going to happen.
I stood up at seven and said, “We’re just going to sing a few songs, read a few Scriptures, and pray for 77 minutes.”
That sounds like a long time.
Seventy-seven minutes.
That’s longer than most Netflix episodes.
Some of us probably thought time would go as slow as the last three minutes watching the clock waiting for the lunch bell.
At first the room felt… polite. Quiet. Self-conscious.
Like when everyone’s waiting for someone else to go first.
And then Peter said, “Let’s try this… everyone just start praying out loud at the same time.”
And we did. And it shifted. The whole thing was a beautiful experience.
That was bringing Spiritual Capital.
When I was first given the job of designing worship services — I was always tempted to think if I could just get the atmosphere right… God could really move.
Like the Holy Spirit was sitting in heaven going,
“Hmm. I would love to pour out power today, but the lighting is just a little off.”
You ever tried to feel spiritual under gymnasium lighting?
There’s nothing about a basketball scoreboard that whispers, “Revival.”
I never said it out loud.
But I felt it.
If I preach hard enough. I mean, really let them have it!
If I pray with enough emotion.
Say just the right words.
Then maybe spiritual things will happen.
Drum it up. Push it.
But there are Sundays when none of it works.
The sermon feels flat.
The room seems distracted.
The music was just… music.
And afterward I feel like, “Did I fail? Did I not bring enough? Do enough?”
But then somebody would say,
“That thing you said? I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Or someone would tell me,
“I’ve been praying again for the first time in years.”
“I really needed this today, it seemed like it was just for me.”
And I’d think — That didn’t come from me.
I didn’t plan that or make it happen. I didn’t create that moment.
I just showed up. The Spirit was already at work.
I was just there. Trying to be faithful and willing. Present.
It’s something I have to remind myself all the time.
I can’t drum up spiritual momentum.
I can’t force people into transformation.
It’s not my job to emotionally manipulate revival into existence.
Not your job either.
When I let go of trying to create the perfect spiritual atmosphere for God to do His work…
It takes the pressure off me.
Less performance. More dependence. Less trust in my own strength, more faith in His.
Spiritual Capital isn’t something we generate.
It’s a gift. Something we already have. It’s something we steward.
You know what a steward is, right?
A steward is someone who takes care of something that doesn’t belong to them.
If I let you borrow my car and you:
Drive it responsibly
Don’t bang it up
Bring it back clean with a full tank
You were a good steward.
You didn’t build the car.
You didn’t buy the car.
You just took care of what was entrusted to you.
Biblically, we’re all stewards. People God trusts with the things He gives us…
Time.
Money.
Things.
Knowledge
Relationships.
Even our spiritual life.
God doesn’t give us Spiritual Capital for us to hoard—it’s not for us.
We only have it because the Spirit of God dwells in us—because we’re made in His image.
We have these spiritual things to bring to the table because He gave them to us...
Prayer.
Faith.
Encouragement.
Courage.
Confession.
Repentance.
Worship.
None of it originated with us.
We just return it.
Bring it to the table—to the altar—to our local church—to bless others.
It might not seem like much at the time but Spiritual capital is the Spirit of God dwelling in the people of God — flowing back to Him and outward to others.
Jesus says in John 15:5
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
Those are fightin’ words to high-capacity people. Offensive!
But it’s freedom to the anxious.
In 1st Corinthians 3:5 Paul says,
“Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field.”
So that means you don’t produce the fruit.
You plant, you water, you remain.
You don’t save people, or make people have faith, you don’t work the miracles.
You abide.
You don’t create spiritual capital.
You steward it. Take care of it. Nurture it. You put to use what God gives you.
You bring it to the table.
Everything we bring to this church — prayer, service, generosity, talent —
It’s all trusted to you so you’ll use it for the purpose He gave it to you.
It’s still His.
We’re just supposed to use it for the reason He gave it to us. Give it back as part of our worship.
Jesus said in John 20,
“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
Because of that mystical union with Christ—He’s in you, you’re in Him—because of that…
You carry the Spirit into your workplace.
Into your gym.
Into your neighborhood.
Into your family dinners.
The harvest doesn’t just happen here at 10 o’clock on Sundays.
It happens wherever you go.
And wherever you go, is where Jesus sent you.
Remember, Luke 10 says look for people of peace.
People God has already prepared for you.
God is already working in all those places you haven’t even gone yet.
10:02
There’s something the Harvest Network does, I think it would be good for us to do, too.
They set an alarm for 10:02 every day. Then, at 10:02 every day — because of Luke 10:2 —
The alarm goes off and they stop what they’re doing for sixty seconds and pray, “Lord of the harvest, send workers. Start with me.”
I think we need to do this, too.
For real. Take out your phone and set an alarm for 10:02. AM or PM, I don’t care, whichever time you’re awake. Ha. “Hey Siri… Set an alarm for 10:02 every day.”
And when it goes off, pray, “Lord of the harvest, send workers. Start with me.”
Say that with me… “Lord of the harvest, send workers. Start with me.”
Not, “Send someone else.” “Start with me.”
It’s a dangerous prayer… because the next person you see might be the answer to the prayer.
I know we usually want a comfortable church more than we want a challenging one.
I know we usually prefer stability over sacrifice.
But it doesn’t make much sense to pray for growth while avoiding personal growth—personal surrender.
Kim and I used to go to church at a beautiful cathedral with a professional choir. Gothic architecture, stained glass everywhere you look. When they would sing my favorite hymns, I just wanted to close my eyes and listen… like they were singing just for me. But I knew that was kind of missing the point, you know? So, I would start singing along, and every time, oh man… it would take it to another place. My heart would swell, my voice would get weak, my eyes would flood with tears. Participating was so much more powerful than just listening. The life of a Christian is a life of actually doing the things we are called to do—not just thinking about them, not just watching other people do them. Participating is so much more powerful than just observing.
Some of us have been listening to the choir sing for us for years. It’s time to add our voices.
The Christian life is a life of remembering and responding to what Jesus has already done for us. Wanting other people to share in everything He’s given us. Remembering He went before us, He did all the heavy lifting, got everything ready…
Now it’s harvest time.
But the harvest doesn’t depend on you. You just get to share in it.
Jesus already took care of everything.
He took your sin and took your death on a cross.
He was planted in a tomb.
He rose as the firstfruits of the resurrection.
Promised that you’ll rise just like He did.
The life of the Spirit is already in you.
The promise of eternal life and salvation is the hope you get to hold onto.
You are filled to the brim with spiritual blessing, ready to overflow.
So bring it to the table.
We start with all the Spiritual Capital we can bring because that’s where it begins…
before strategy.
Before systems.
Before growth.
You might think, “I don’t have much to bring.” Oh yes you do. We call all…
Pray, we can all bring our
Faith
Repentance
Humility
Encouragement
Forgiveness
Obedience
Courage
Gratitude
Worship
Wisdom
Patience
Unity
A willingness to be sent
All of this is received from God first — then returned to Him and shared with each other.
Jesus says the harvest is already plentiful.
Let’s ask the Lord to send workers. Starting with us.
Amen.