Lessons from the Sachse Experience
In 1987, Sachse Assembly of God was a struggling congregation of fewer than 20 members in a city of about 5,000 people on the northeastern edge of Dallas, Texas. Church attendance grew over the next 17 years to more than 800 each week as the congregation and church leaders embraced and applied biblical principles for a healthy church. Explosive growth continues with weekly attendance in 2009 of more than 1800. The following lessons from the Sachse experience are drawn from a question and answer session on Democracy vs. Theocracy before work began on The Church that Works!
Mel: What factors were in place at Sacshe Assembly that helped make it possible to implement biblical principles and practices?
Rick: It was brand new, not a new church, but with only 17 people, it wasn’t a huge crowd, and they were desperate. There was a new desperation which quickly changed to a new church vision and commitment. We, all of us, wanted to build a new church impacting the whole area for God. So I didn’t have to fight the established system.
Then, the church grew by new people and the new people came in under Bible teaching for a church that works. They learned how the church should function and we were able to grow it from the ground. I learned also as we moved forward.
If I had been in a church where I had to fight for change while I was still learning, I don’t know that we would have gotten there so well. Now, I believe I am in a position to help other churches. The number one factor in our favor was not having an old control base. Where that does exist, those involved need to search their hearts and come to the place where what Christ wants for His church is all that matters.
Church leaders and members need to ask themselves, “If there were no church here, what would we do to reach this city for Jesus?” They should answer that question by considering others, “If we were the church God wants us to be, what would we look like and what would we be doing?” Honest answers followed by positive actions will result in a healthy new church.
In Sachse, the people we reached were very young and they weren’t set in their ways. We were able to look for truth together without having to defend something handed down to us. In terms of democracy vs. theocracy and not voting on every matter, I’ve had some later to argue that the biblical way is to vote. They really believe there is a Scripture that teaches everybody is supposed to get a vote and, if not, they want to vote anyway! So, I have dealt with those issues, but we didn’t have any of that in place at the outset. That really allowed us to do what was needed.
Mel: What factors tended to hinder the process of becoming a church that works?
Rick: The only times we had battles were when people came from other churches, who did not get saved at Sachse, if they brought with them a different mindset of how church is supposed to be. Some strong independent churches had been very much congregational along with the majority of Baptists and Assemblies of God churches. If they brought that perspective, as we would move forward, some would question why we operated the way we did. They would want us to change. We had some confrontation, but it never gained a foothold because we started, or restarted, correctly.
It was interesting that people really would be offended by the fact they didn’t get to vote on every $100 spent or have a voice in staffing and every ministry matter. I realized they were not coming to win souls. They were coming to vote. They were coming to be leaders, not followers, because that’s how they were raised. We would combat that by saying, “This is how we do it here, but there are many churches that do it that way. If that’s what you’re looking for, we can give you a list of places you might be more comfortable.” We were determined to stick with what we believed God had put into our hearts. God blessed at Sachse and He’s still blessing in an incredible way.
Mel: What were the results?
Rick: First of all, we were able to do what God was leading us to do without a lot of fanfare. We just could do it. We were allowed to make mistakes, and everybody would say, “Oh well, let’s try another one.” It really created an atmosphere conducive to trying things we’d never done. If it didn’t work, we didn’t have to go back to the body for another plan. We did a lot of new things and a lot of the things we did worked really well. The atmosphere was there for success.
We ended up with a lot of people involved in ministry because they understood that their purpose was ministry, not just leadership but every kind of ministry—in worship, small groups, children’s ministry, the church office and a whole spectrum of activities to touch people with God’s love. I taught a lot on gifts from the Father and I tried my best to empower people and keep them focused on ministry for their sake and the sake of the kingdom.
Because our people concerned themselves with winning others to Jesus, we were able to focus on reaching the lost around the world. We became very strong in missions giving and even going because we weren’t wrapped up in ourselves. I think all of that, the level of getting church right in its process, really does release people into ministry. So we had a lot of people busy out there doing what God called them to do.
Mel: You started with 17 people and began to release them into ministry from day one. Those who stayed began immediately to get involved. How did that take shape?
Rick: We didn’t have any money so everybody had to have a job. It was all about the ministry. We had more jobs than people—mowing, cleaning, bookkeeping, and everything that needs to be done in church and by the church—so everyone had to do something.
Another important thing was we realized we were not able to reach what I call the “professional Christian” because we couldn’t compete. People who already attended church and were just looking for a new location probably were not going to find what they wanted with us. We didn’t have all the stuff that the really successful congregations had in place. The only people we could reach were the lost because they didn’t have an expectation of what a church was supposed to be. They just needed Jesus, so our people began to win souls. We focused on individuals who were not Christians.
When you make the focus and keep it on lost people, never the people already there, it keeps you healthy. Since our people concentrated on being the church not trying to control it, we continued to multiply, and leadership stayed with God-called leaders.
Three years before becoming a sovereign church, we established three positions for deacons. Their purpose was not to be leaders but workers at a different level. It already was in their spiritual DNA through our ongoing training. They just took more responsibility for the work load, and the church did even better because that was their reason for being elected, not to be power jockeys.
Years later, the church still is doing well. The pastor is doing an incredible job and he’s handled everything well. The church continues to operate with basically the same men who had been on the board, rotating off and on, and they’re still 100 percent behind him. He is allowed to lead.
Mel: When you resigned as pastor, you didn’t just walk away and leave the church to muddle through, how did you help with the transition to keep the church on track?
Rick: We followed a process to expedite and simplify the pastoral transition. When it came time to leave, I did a seven-week “Goodbye Series.” I dealt with who has control, who has authority, and who has responsibility in such times. We made it clear, one more time, the ministry belongs to the people but there are authorities in the church. In symbolism, I wore a mantle the last day and I hung it over what had been the pastor’s chair. (In those days we had a pastor’s chair on the platform). I reminded them that this mantle doesn’t belong to anyone until God’s man comes and accepts it.
After the new pastor was elected, I came back for a Sunday service and put the mantle on him to establish that he is now the spiritual authority in the house. On my final day as pastor, I also put certain mantles on the deacons and other mantles on the ministry staff members. This was to remind that those who are anointed for ministry of the Word operate in a different way than those anointed for the work of deacon. We established that they all would work together to keep the church healthy until the new leader came and then would give him full support. All this helped keep the priorities and the process clear for everyone before, during and after the transition.