Change

When was the last time something you heard/talked about really affected you to the point that you changed the way you live/acted? That is getting me to wonder: when was the last time I made a change at all and what were the circumstances of that change? There have been different character traits I've tried to develop, tried to read more, exercise more, stop bad habits, grow more, etc. When I worked at Starbucks I made a lot of changes in order to work better. I had to learn what it took to be successful and do whatever it took to become a better shift supervisor.

In church the ultimate goal is change. We want people to change the way they think and change they way they act? No small task. But, I was thinking, when was the last time I really changed the way I thought/ acted based on something I heard from church? When was the last time I left a small group meeting really gnawing on something and that something led me towards change? When was the last time I left church really ready to make a change in my life?

I think in small groups, church leaders need to take a look at what they're doing and how they're doing it? What do we hope to accomplish through small groups? Are we accomplishing that goal and what is our plan to help people to get there? In most cases, change doesn't happen on accident. It seems in most churches, the church will first decide to have small groups, then decide on a curriculum, and that's the end. It might then decide what kind of people it wants to build. But, there are two questions there: 1. Is small groups the best mode to build what you want to build? 2. Is the mode of teaching your using helping you accomplish that goal? Instead a church should first decide what sort of disciples it hopes to create, then decide on what is the best way to get there. Finally, the church should decide on what curriculum it will used based on what will truly move people towards change.

When was the last time you made a significant change? What moved you to change? How can you repeat that for others?

Remember

The exhaused Israeli troops gathered to hear inspired mutterings from the 4 star general. Apart from encouragement he candidly asked them what they biggest concern was. Numerou troops quickly answered the need for more sleep. The general looked confused and said, "Sleep, you need to find time to sleep. I sleep a while in the back of my car while being driven around." The frustrated troops went back to their dorms wondering when they were going to get someone to drive them around so they could sleep a little more. The general had no clue and had forgotten what it was like to live like a grunt- in a world without "drivers."
In ministry, paid staff are like that 4 star general. We can't help it, we're a few levels removed from the life of unpaid ministry volunteers. We forget what it's like to have a life not revolving around church. We forget what it's like to not be committed to a ministry with all of our time and energy. We forget what it's like to not have Christian friends encouraging us towards holiness. We forget or just don't understand. This lack of understanding can cause problems in leading. We come up with a brilliant idea for service and then get frustrated at our small group leaders for not attending our service project. We think to ourselves, "If I could be there, why couldn't they?"
As leaders, we have to acknowledge the fact that we're a few levels removed from the life of those who serve. Then we have to take the time to really understand life from their perspective and service projects from their perspective. When we come up with ideas we think are brilliant, it might be worth it to run those ideas by those they will affect to make sure we're not blind to something the common ministry volunteer sees immediately.

Is Church a Business?

Is the church a business enterprise or a spiritual enterprise? There are two extremes in the church that are equally dangerous. On one extreme, the church is seen as a business. The pastor, as CEO. It believes God has given man wisdom to make decisions- so decisions can lean on the logical side, downplaying "being led by the Spirit." On the other extreme is the spiritualized church. Here, everything is "being led by the spirit." Also, this side only reads Christian books and believe all useful knowledge can be gleamed from the Bible.
I was reading numerous book on small group and got to the point that I said, "If I read one more book that spends most of the time trying to win me over to start a small group and explains why small groups are God's purpose in community, I'm going to throw up." So, I've started to read books in other disciplines to apply knowledge from there to small groups. I've read a few business books recently. I loved them so much! But, I couldn't help myself easily forgetting that church is a spiritual enterprise after reading them. I began to think about all the techniques I could employ to help people to change- to move them in the direction I wanted them to go. I've stopped recently and asked myself, "Is this what church is supposed to be, a place where I use cool logic and techniques to move people to where I want them?" In part I think the answer is yes, as long as I remember that the ultimate goal is not just to move people to make the changes I want, but to bring them into a lively relationship with a real God who really shows up in our life. Also to make them disciples to a real Jesus who asks them to die daily. This is my ultimate goal. If I lose sight of that, then I've forgotten why I'm doing what I'm doing. Someone would just be serving because that's how the process works, instead of an opportunity to meet a real God. We must glean knowledge from research that's done out there on groups, but we also can't lose sight of the reason we're learning new things. It's a tough balance.

Remember what it's like

I read an article recently that I found challenging. Do we remember what it's like to be a volunteer at different levels? A guy tells the story of being in the army and how the army worked his butt until it fell right off. Well, one day a general came to encourage the troops and asked how they were doing. They said bad and that they were too tired. He told them that that can find time to sleep and that he sleeps in the back of his car while being driven around. The troops were so angry at how out of touch the general was. The troops aren't driven around and seriously don't have time to sleep- that's what they were telling him.

What would our volunteers tells us if we asked them?
Are we listening to what volunteers are saying or brushing off their thoughts on accident.
How are we doing respecting their time?

Good challenges for me.

The Inevitable Dry Spell.

The Inevitable Dry Spell.

I like to think of myself as a creative person. I am part of the creative team at Common Ground, and I make really low-quality (but still funny) videos in that role. I also come up with silly things to do on Sunday mornings. outside church, I like to write music and poems and essays and whatever else strikes my fancy. However, I often find myself in dry spells, or in the throes of writers' block.

My spiritual side sometimes feels that way, too. Sometimes I am very in tune with what God wants from me (or at least I feel like I am), and sometimes I feel like I am going through the motions. My faith doesn't flag, but my passion is dryer. But, what's crazy is that I just keep going.

When it comes to writing, if I have writers' block, I keep writing. When it comes to serving, if I feel disconnected or dry, I just keep serving. And inevitably, the dry feeling goes away. EVERY TIME.

I'm currently feeling some writers' block, hence the long absence from blogging, but I'm just writing to write, and starting this post with no agenda, I now know to add one more thing to my considerable list of things to teach about and that's even though your passion may flag, God's does not, so if you keep serving, you will encounter him.

Feeling like an insider

I'm not sure if this has a specific application. But, I've been working at Starbucks for the past 2 weeks as a part-time job. I haven't liked it at all. I haven't felt connected to the store and have felt like an outsider- and haven't felt cared for.

Well, tonight I worked with the manager for an entire shift. It was my first time since I started working at this Starbucks. I was surprised that I suddenly felt more connected to the store. My theory is that it was primarily b/c I worked with the manager and I felt like I got to know her better and felt like she got to see a little more who I was. It made me feel cared for. I just found this interesting.

I'm not sure that there's any leadership lesson or church lesson. The only thing I could think of is, as a leader, people will naturally feel more connected to what I do by feeling more connected to me. So, it's at least worth being aware of that. Just something I was thinking about tonight.

Critique.

Everyone's a critic with big long fingers that point out flaws with the greatest of ease. I appreciate these people sometimes. They are the ones that open my eyes and heart. They show me where I can improve and close the gap between where I am and where I want to be. I think churches need to invite criticism to some extent, but where is the line?

It always seems to me that so many critics have no desire to get their hands dirty and make any changes themselves. At work or at church or at home, it is so easy to say there is something that is less than perfect, but if you aren't willing to sacrifice time to help make it perfect or to teach me how I can make it more perfect, then don't get mad if your criticism is ignored. If you talk to me about something someone else is doing in a less than perfect way, don't be surprised if it falls on deaf ears. The truth is that I don't want to hear it. That is a slippery slope into a mud pit of gossip and misinformation. The reality of things is often that things aren't perfect because there aren't enough hands to craft a perfect product or gossip has undercut the foundation of trust required to make a perfect product. It is my opinion that if you aren't willing to be constructive if even in the providing ideas and alternatives to the status quo, then your criticism isn't helpful. It is only a chisel nicking away at what apparently is already a shaky foundation.

This is why I'm sick of reading editorials in newspapers and why I don't subscribe to half the number of blogs I used to. My challenge is how does church leadership inspire a system or gracefully inform people that criticism is always welcome so long as it is intended to be constructive and aimed at improvement rather than undermining and focused on creating division?

In a World of Information

If there is one thing I notice the church realizes and is trying to work on is information overload. Americans get too much info. Yahoo is my homepage. I look down over the homepage, read the head lines and that's where I get most of my news. Sometimes I click on an article and read half of it- sometimes not. And I probably remember none of it. Sometimes I'll watch t.v. while looking on the internet- I wonder how much information I've been given in a 30 minute time span. I think the church sees there's a problem.

We can either A. Compete and try to put more info out there. Or B. Find a different approach.

Dallas Willard said, "We have counted on preaching, teaching, and knowledge or information to form faith in the hearer and have counted on faith to form the inner life and outward behavior of the Christian." He notes that we've used the concept of give people info and they'll go do it as our mode of spiritual transformation in the church. He doesn't think that's working, especially in our world of info overload today.

Another book I'm reading called, "The Big Idea," talks a lot about how we need to simplify what we tell people. The author talks of one pastor in South America who preaches the same sermon over and over until he feels his people put it into action. The author's church come up with one big idea for a sermon series and then every part of the church works around that idea- small groups, kids stuff, worship, etc.

Simplicity is in. Another book called, Simple Church talks about how church needs to simplify down to be as basic as possible. I think that instead of the church competing for our attention, maybe we do need to streamline and try to make everything more simple. Give every sermon one clear point- find ways to make it easily applicable. Make the church easily accessible for anyone. I'm not quite sure all the ways to do this, but I know that when you have a contemplative theologian like Dallas Willard and a cool church on the edge guy like the author of "Big Idea" and "Simple Church" saying the same thing, you need to listen.

Perspective

We all have a perspective. I've been thinking about this recently. There are a few theological ideas that I keep bashing my head on and all I end up with is a bruised head but no clear answers. For example the question of the role of women in leadership of the church. What does God want his church to do? I can honestly say I have looked into it about as deep as one can and still don't have a clear answer. Also recently a situation came up where someone stood very strong on a specific stance on baptism and I was trying to explain that that was only one way to look at it and that there are other valid ways to view baptism that also do not negate scripture. He would have none of it and posited that his way was the one true way to view baptism. I was frustrated and it really got me thinking how so much of the strong views we take we need to be careful about thinking that we have the best hold on God that there is.

It is frustrating b/c with some of these issues, i.e. women in leadership in the church, how one comes down on the issue affects a whole lot of people- not a great time to be ambiguous. But, I do think it is worth remembering that there are many God-fearing, Bible-loving people out there who come down on different sides of numerous issues. I just like to remember that. I was thinking that maybe this is healthy for the church in some ways b/c it helps keep church orthodoxy well within its bounds. One strong bible-believing group believe one way, another come down on the opposite side. Therefore one can look on that and figure out that orthodoxy is found somewhere between the two. I can see how that can be good for the church.

After thinking about it a lot I decided that we should contribute to this by taking a stand on certain issues b/c it can help contribute to keeping church orthodoxy strong. But, we also must realized that what we believe is only one perspective and there could be other valid perspectives that are not Biblically outside the realm of orthodoxy. It seems that all was can do is to respond to the Holy Spirit and the Bible and if we take on a belief that goes against what either are telling us- we sin. We must believe in accordance with what the Bible says and with where the Holy Spirit is leading us.

People have been trying to get a hold of God forever. Moses tried to ask God's name, possibly as an act of manipulation. God would have none of it, responding, "I'll be whoever I'll be." It is important to seek God to figure out who He is, but we should be wary when if we feel we alone have it truly figured out with no mystery.

Note: In this post, I'm not speaking about big Truths like Jesus is God, but more of the smaller stuff like mode of baptism, women in leadership, the stuff that people passionately believe in but may not have any direct link to salvation.

Openness and Communication are Key

To quote someone I know, "I like to think about church-to a point." I like questions like "What do I want a church I plant to look like?" and "How do I make people feel part of it?" I can sit all day and draw pictures in my head of what church should look like.

I can read things like this: "On the Day of Pentecost the Jerusalem congregation grew to more than 3,000 multicultural, multilingual Jews (Acts 2:41). Several thousand more were added in the days that followed (Acts 4:4, 5:14, 6:7). The church was multicultural and multilingual from the first moment of its existence. [United by Faith by Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Michael O. Emerson, George Yancey, and Karen Chai Kim]." I get excited by that.

I can read all our blogs since July and be overwhelmed (in a smiling, face hurting way) by how some of the ideas evolved through discussion. I think honest, open, sometimes even just stream-of-conciousness writing has really fleshed out some ideas, and I think that needs to be translated from a small group environment to a church-wide one. Not necessarily the back-and-forth aspects of the discussion, but the openness and honesty about church vision, mission, values, events; basically everything.

Let me be honest for a second. When I first joined Here Today in 1999, I was very suspicious of Christians because sometimes I didn't feel like I was involved in their circle because I felt I was being judged. I wasn't being judged, which I know now, but that suspiciousness developed because people weren't always forthcoming with what was going on. It would be like, "Hey we're going to play a show at a church." Then, we'd arrive at a church and have to participate in church-stuff before we played. I'd be there like, "What the heck?" It's not even that I minded the church stuff, and ultimately, it changed my life more than playing bass ever did, but if everyone had been forthcoming with me, I wouldn't have felt like I'd been tricked into going to church. I could have just gone and soaked it in without bitterness.

Especially if a church is going to unite people in their faith, I think a "cards on the table" approach is wise. Again, let me be honest; a lot of people don't naturally trust the intentions of people of other races. I was thinking about this a lot a couple days ago, and I know that my current openness to diversity is only through a years-long effort to be open and is not something that was necessarily passed down from my parents. Not that they are racist; they are status-quoists, and that's not good enough for me.

If nothing is hidden from people, and if the mission, vision and values are openly and often shared, then there will be no mystery. I have seen how suspisciousness can develop even where you feel it never could and cause division in the body. The more open and the more people know what is going on, I feel the less would have to be suspicious about. Obviously, in our world, division is going to find a way to crop up, but I feel like this would be one way to hellp protect against Satan and his plots to divide and devour.

Look at our country and how suspisciousness has arisen because nobody feels politicians are forthcoming and trustworthy. Transparency, love, and grace could help the church avoid becoming like the government and help church leaders avoid being seen as politicians.

Retreat Observations.

I want to be part of a church filled with Guerilla Lovers...not to be confused with Gorilla Lovers.

I went to a men's retreat this weekend and we talked about how Christianity is supposed to be a revolution rather than a religion. Christianity is supposed to be something that hopes to strangle out evil in the world, but not by frontal, accusatory assault, but rather through wild, crazy acts of love. The speaker called us to be Guerilla Lovers. Love where it is not expected. Show love where to do so is unusual and even crazy.

Life is uncomfortable so often, so often love will be, but love can cross all boundaries and there are nearly no defenses against it.

Consistency of Movement...Belonging to Discipleship.

This is a practical blog more than a conceptual blog, though an obvious add-on to a previous blog.

There is something to the clean-cut, intentional-seeming (hopefully more than just seeming) Sunday service, but even the most organized revolutions are going to have unexpected events. A power cable isn't going to work. The speaker is going to flub a word and say something funny, though unintentional. The projector is going to flash out for a second as the operator inhales so sharply those near him are afraid he'll suck all the air out of the room.

I think there is something cool about the feeling of "Anything Can Happen" when it comes to Sunday Morning. I think people are drawn to that. It makes them feel in on something; part of the experience; part of something.

How do you make people feel like they belong without making others feel like they don't belong? First, things need to be consistent. If you have a rough graffiti style look to your graphic design work, then you should consider having an unrehearsed feel (which is much different than "unrehearsed") to your service. I think churches should make more effort to include attendants in Sunday service.

Now, as I type this, I think an unrehearsed feel (while still having the readiness of rehearsal) can create camaraderie.

My friend, Mike Doornbos, likes to know where the rubber hits the road. Here are some ideas for creating an atmosphere that could lead to ad-libbing and community:

1. Just by getting them out of their chair. This can be done through communion things or calisthenics (which CG used to do with great success and laughter).

2. Just by getting them to laugh at something live. Laughing at a video is great and should by all means continue. However, laughing at something live creates a sense of being on the inside of an inside joke which builds community, I think. An example at CG is how Sean, Kevin, and I tell harmless jokes about each other on stage (i.e. Sean's love of food or Kevin's crazy hair)

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In one of my wikipedia journeys (which started with X-men and led me to gang warfare), I read the unsurprising news that gangs are attractive to youth (and I think older people, now, too) because they build a sense of family. Why aren't churches doing that? Where is Acts 2:42-47?

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Finally, how do we turn individuals into an army (of love rather than war) if we don't make them believe that they are actually part of one body?

Business and details

I had to post about something I learned this summer.
We had an ice-cream truck project, where we rented an ice-cream truck and passed out ice-cream to neighborhoods. It was great.
Well, there was this one family that seemed to have problems with me. It seemed like our every conversation had disdain in it- for me. They didn't feel communicated with during the project. Anyhoo, after the project I wanted to sit down with them to debrief the feelings I was getting from them. They flat out refused. After a long, long while, and a specific phone call from Dan- they decided they would meet with me. The conversation was fine, but they didn't really hear what I had to say and any time I said anything that admitted guilt they only seemed to use it to fuel their ultimate rightness.

So, I was thinking about what I learned from this situation. One thing is that both the man and his wife are business professionals. They are very detail oriented. They do a lot in the business world, and bring that experience to the church. It got me thinking about people like them in church. It really reminded me why it is so important to do everything we do professionally and not with a "whatever" mentality. In their job they spend a lot of time writing e-mails and being scrutinized over the detail they use in e-mail. To them the detail matters. In working on a project and giving out directions, I need to remember people like them. If we are going to serve people in the business world, then we must be professional. The things we do must be professional.

On the other hand, I also made a big note that sometimes people in the business world don't "get" church. They don't get that imperfect people are volunteering their free time to accomplish church. In a job a boss can order his workers to do whatever- but they get paid for it. Church is made of volunteers. A business person should not be allowed to complain unless they are willing to help make it better using the skills they have. There is a big difference between an organization made up of volunteers and one made up of paid workers. We do need to remember t hat. We can still accomplish a lot and do awesome stuff, but it is worth acknowledging.

So that's my story.

Disicple?

We are supposed to go make disciples.
But, what does a mature disciple look like?
I think it's worth thinking about b/c churches often exist to create disciples and help them to grow- but towards what? We could say- to be like Jesus- but what does that mean?

Some Dudes.

You can't start a church with just some dudes. I mean, you probably could, but it probably won't turn out right and in all liklihood, the church will just end up another statistic in the "failed church plant" column. Just some dudes are going to cause frustration, no matter how organized they are unless they have "heard" the voice of God and taken the time to think things through.

Have you seen the "you think of everything" commercials for Smirnoff Ice? Some dudes are at a poolside bar, and in one of the commercials, a gigantic catapult is in the background containing a equally gigantic tennis ball. Dude 1 says, "What's with the catapult?" Suddenly a HUGE dog steps over the fence and sweeps a person up in its mouth. Dude 2 hits a button and the catapult launches the tennis ball. The dog drops the person in the pool and chases the ball. Clearly, Dude 2 thinks of EVERYTHING.

The Boy Scouts taught me a thing or two before I got "too cool" for them. The Boy Scouts' motto is "Be Prepared." My wife sometimes jokes me about my desire for preparedness. I LOVE sponteneity, but I want to be prepared for it. I want to have back-ups and people who can take care of my dogs if I want to hit the road out of the blue.

So...Let me advance the situation. Eventually some dudes are going to listen carefully and hear the calling God has placed on their life. This kind of falls into the Tension category from the blog below. How do you prepare for a church while still leaving space for the Holy Spirit to move?

Let's be honest. No dudes can prepare for every eventuality, but a lot of us will try to control everything. How does this work in an environment where God is supposed to be in control?

When some dudes try to control every aspect of the church and sanitize things, what will people think? I've seen first-hand peoples' reactions to a church that makes no bones about life being easy with Jesus. Life isn't easy. Living is easier with Jesus because you have hope. You have purpose. Hardship, however, isn't going to automatically disappear. Most people latch onto this, but some people don't. Some people want church to look like Joel Osteen's church; clean, well-dressed, HUGE.

I think if some dudes want to start a church, they need to make the transition from some dude to servitude (it rhymes, that's why it's cool). They need to prepare for the things they can prepare for (which are too numerous to list here). They need to get on the same page. Then they need to get out of the boat and live on faith.

How can a pastor teach people about faith without living it out himself? Part of faith is mystery and certainty in God beyond the conventional, worldly view of certainty that is based on the promises of fallen men. Pastors have accepted a calling which requires them to be role models in and teachers of what it means to be faithful.

People are looking up to CEOs, sports-stars, musicians, actors, and politicians; role models who are inherently incomplete and lead to a path that won't necessarily help find completeness. This is across racial boundaries. Stereotypically, persons of different races look up to different people, and this is just a barrier that needs to be addressed (prepared for), then broken down. Like I've said many many times, people want something to fight for, but they need to have an example of what that looks like. It looks like Jesus, and that is where the prepared, yet living by faith, pastor comes in. It is is that dude's job to live in servitude, faithfulness.

The tension is learning to be a prepared Boy Scout while walking on water.






I have posted a brief description of my trip so far from some dude to servitude in the comments section of this post.

-Matthew-F-Murphy-

Finding Comfort in Discomfort.

A fundamental problem with being a human is our constant search for comfort. Those people who thrive in extremes and enjoy the uncomfortable are labeled unusual or boat-rockers. Those people who create uncomfortable situations are systematically alienated from the rest of us, who are searching for ease.

Shouldn't the prospect of being aliens be familiar to us, as "aliens and strangers in the world?" If so, then why do we strain so hard for comfort, and is it okay to strain so hard for comfort?

All that to introduce all this:

Part 1: A step in the right direction.

In my experience with various churches in the last seven or eight years, I have found that there are several churches making no attempt to paint the Christian and Christ-following, Spirit-trusting lifestyle as one that is easy. Getting baptized isn't going to automatically solve your problems, get you a job and a tie and land you on the choir.

In many books I've read, there have been various reports of churches that try to paint the picture that life with Jesus is all rainbows and roses. An implication is made that some established churches proclaim that being saved not only saves us from damnation but also the struggles in life. I have never had this experience. I don't know if that's good or bad. Sometimes, church-wise, it is nice to experience things you would never want to do in your own church.

My experiences have been more along the lines of churches avoiding talking about every day life post-salvation. Sermons to Christians tend to be more along the lines of, "This is what you should not do, and this is what you should do." There is no, "There are people here who know Jesus, but have problems in their marriage. There are people here who know Jesus, but have stuggled and continue to struggle with addictions. There are people here who know Jesus, and they are depressed, clinically, and are not sure about the practicality of continuing to live. I know there are those people here because my life isn't easy. I have issues that come up. My checkbook seems thinner than I need it to be. Here is how faith, community, love, and sacrifice, our own and our God's will help us through that. And once we're through that, here are the amazing places we can go. Here are the adventures yet to look forward to."

Lately, I have been to three different churches that seem to honest about how life really is; Forefront (Virginia Beach, VA), Common Ground (Fredericksburg, VA), and Momentum (Cleveland, OH). The similarities between these churches isn't surprising, as the founders of each came from the same place and influenced each other.

Intentionally talking about the uncomfortable things in life may be the first step toward becoming comfortable with discomfort. It opens the door for discussion about real life issues. As church-leaders, this makes us more accessible and seen as survivors, warriors. Men (or women) fighting the fight with the eyes on the prize. Someone worth following.

Part 2: The Next Step

Loving people. Both Momentum and Common Ground use a variation of the same theme, which starts out with "Love God, Love People." I think Forefront uses some variation of this as well. All three also freely advertise the lack of perfect people.

If we can create an environment where there is certain amounts of discomfort and openness is expected, then an increase of tolerance for things that make us uncomfortable is possible. If that is possible, then with the proper vision, could not discomfort regarding other things be tolerable, expected, and most of all exciting?

If loving God means acknowleding that being a Christian doesn't automatically mean everything is going to be peaches and cream, then loving people should mean acknowledging that it is not always going to be cream and peaches. I don't know how. It just seems like a logical progression.

Breaking down the American (human) desire for everything to be comfortable should be step one because in real life...in my life...it's not. I think Jesus tried to paint this picture in a lot of parables...such as the parable of the lost sheep...Our own comfort as Christians cannot be the paramount concern. The pharisees and probably even some of Jesus' followers were uncomfortable being around the "sinners and tax collectors."
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At Forefront, Vince spoke about the movie, Munich, and he talked about revenge and the almost instinctual (and sinful) desire for vengeance most people struggle with, with or without Christ. He then

At Mo', a guest speaker whose name I cannot recall spoke in depth about the stuggles with fear he was experiencing following a troubled pregnancy/miscarriage. Certainly not the rainbows and roses of a fearless Christian. He then said that through Christ, and with Him through prayer, forward motion away from the acknowledged fear is possible and exciting.


-Matt

The search for new

I like to think about church- to a point. Eventually my head hurts and I have to stop. I think about questions like, "What does a mature Christian look like?" And, "Discipleship is cool, but to what end?" We talk about discipleship and discipling communities, but to what end. Small Groups are cool, "But to what end?" How do small groups become evangelizing communities that are never allowed to become stagnant and inward focused?
I love these questions and like thinking about them. But, eventually my head hurts and I can be frustrated. I have been learning about a church called Real Life Ministries where they are all about small groups and have hundreds of small groups. I love their ideas. They see small groups as evangelizing communities. They believe that everything happens through relational discipleship. Then I just finished a book called The Church of Irresistible Influence. It was a great book, but it had a totally different view of church structure. They had small groups that people went to for up to three years and then joined small groups called "Common Cause." You committed to these groups for one year and each group was focused on a specific community service project for that year. Cool.
The goal was to get people in the community serving. Well, I was confused and wondered what ideas we could take from both churches and try to see how they fit in with Momentum's specific calling. My head hurt. I called the church from the Irresistible Influence book to ask about their groups because I had a few important questions. Well, I guess my questions landed on the money because they don't structure their church at all like the book anymore. They have resorted back to a more normal small group structure and encourage everyone to serve in the church somehow on top of serving in the community. I thought that was funny, how I was being influenced by an idea in a book that a church had been gun-ho about, but a few years after the book was published, abandoned for whatever reason. It was a good reminder that new ideas can be fickle and that although new idea trains are always leaving the station, it doesn't mean I have to board them all.
I know that we'll never have a perfect church on earth. Honestly, I find that frustrating sometimes. And I do love aspects of many churches. I love Momentum and the things we do. I believe we're as close to all the things I think a church should do as I've seen. I love aspects of other churches to. But, it's frustrating seeing new ideas and hearing differing ideas of all the things the church should and could be. I bet if I wrote down everything the church "should" be, it'd be totally impossible!
Being reminded of your post, a few posts ago. I guess that's why instead of trying to find the newest church ideas, we need to find our personal passion and calling. Then figure out how that specific gifting, passion, and calling work into a specific community. Then all future cool new ideas need to fit into the specific passions and callings I've been given.

Questionsº¿º

This is somewhat off-topic, but it is an offshoot from excitement I had regarding conversations I had with some youths/early 20 somethings in the last 72 hours.

Is there a place for questions and what questions should I be asking? Ironically, those are the questions I frequently find myself confronted with. This weekend, I spent some time at a beautiful Christian camp and got to experience, to an extent, what it would have been like to grow up in a Christian environment. There are some things I wish I would have known, and there are some other things that I did get a chance to know that I would not have if I had gone to such a camp. As far as the color spectrum went, let's just say there weren't many prisms around to break up the white light.

What was awesome and uplifting was the message preached on Sunday morning, titled "Four Questions."

The culture of asking questions, I think, is a healthy change from what I've always perceived as mainline church attitudes. This is addressed in a blog from the links section (Pontifications of the Sinister Minister) who speaks about home-schooling and discusses the perceived attitude in some church circles of not being exposed to things that may bring out questions. If there are no questions, then there are no struggles.

I contend that if there are no struggles, then there is no growth. In the KJV translation, when Acts (which I'm obsessed with right now) talks about Saul's converstion, Saul asks two questions: Who are you, Lord? What do you want me to do? I want to be the part of a movement in the body that urges every single human it comes in contact with to ask these questions, over and over again when necessary.

Where is the line? Is there are a line? I want to be available if people have questions, but I don't want to find myself in a debate that is going to lead to nothing but being emotionally and mentally drained.

Church leaders have to ask questions, too. Their title does not protect them/us from having to communicate with God, though the Acts 29 link on the right of this page shared alarming statistics that most pastors only read the Bible when preparing sermons. Are people growing? Am I helping people serve and love one another? Am I pastoring an inwardly-focused community or am I leading people to reach out? Am I making it so comfortable that people don't want to reach others? Am I making it so uncomfortable that people are distracted from the true purpose of church? Am I talking to Jesus? How is Jesus speaking to me, and what is He saying? (Note in the last question, that it is not "Is Jesus speaking to me?" I may not be able to hear an audible voice, but I think Jesus' movements in my life are there if I look for them.)

A crazy question that needs to be asked because of the financial focus of our culture: Am I trusting in the Holy Spirit in my church's pursuits/finances/seekers while still being responsible with what God has given me in light of our current culture?

Here's one last quote from the Hues in the Pews article:

The Culver Palms UMC, one of 300 "excellent" U.S. churches recently publicized by writer Paul Wilkes, celebrates its ethnic mix but doesn't target percentages. "What we are very serious about is spiritual growth and spiritual challenge" in the Methodist tradition, said pastor Terry Van Hook. "We feel that everyone whom God has brought here has a chance to strengthen their faith and their passion for a ministry that God has given them," he said.

I think this part is important: "What we are very serious about is spiritual growth and spiritual challenge." There is a challenge involved. There is an idea of openness about an ongoing and very personal struggle. There are questions involved that don't have easy solutions. It plays into the idea of having something worth fighting for, a concept that is universal. It is a concept that can spread like wild-fire, if it is shared with acts of love and servitude. It gets my heart beating and begs me to ask, "What do you want me to do, Lord?"

That ended up being about three times as long as I intended it to be.

tension

I tend to think that the best theology is that which is held in tension. That God is grace and justice. That God gives people freewill but somehow predestination works into the equation. How do we deal with the issue of making church “entertaining” and a “safe place” for those who don’t know God where they won’t be “weirded out”, but also allow those who know God to freely express their love for God? That Sunday morning will be a place where people can come to experience a real God who really can show up in ones life?

I love people who go to Charismatic churches for a few reasons, but the main one is this: they worship a real God that really can show up in people’s lives. They also tend to be passionate about prayer and it seems that passion for prayer can be linked to their strong belief that God can speak to them. I love that. It seems the only issue with this is that people who hate going to church can be weirded out by this.
It seems to me that churches like Momentum lean in the other direction, whether intentionally or unintentionally, where logic and purposeful thought reign supreme. Decisions are made by management teams and by “the bottom line,” more than being “led by the Spirit.” It can be more of a “business model,” where decisions are logical and one believes that the Spirit moves by logic and that God primarily gives the minister the gift and freedom to make decisions.
Dan Kimball, in his book Emerging Churches notes how an Asian guy was coming to America to take a tour of American churches to see how they were doing. His comment was that the American pastor was more like a businessman than a holy man. I found that very interesting and challenging. I have been trying to think how to react to that? Maybe he needed to change his definition of holy. Maybe he’s on to something and many newer churches don’t make enough room for the role of “pastor” to maintain meaning as a “holy man.” In the end I feel it is an unfair assessment that is not taking into consideration of our culture. But, I do feel he is touching on something that should challenge us.
I want to be sensitive to those who don’t know or understand Jesus and I do believe that God has given us the faculty of reason to make decisions. But, I also want to be reminded to listen to God, believe that a real God can really show up in a real way in life, and believe that God wants to speak to me and show me where He’s working around me so I can join Him.
I don’t want to be a business, I want the church to always be a spiritual entity. We may look the same on the outside as all Mo-looking churches, but I do want to always remember that we are being led by the Spirit of God. I never want to forget the spiritual aspect of being a pastor that differentiate me from Bob CEO down the street.

Something Worth Being Part Of

I've found there is a simple truth in that when a spotlight is placed on a particular problem, it becomes easier and easier to see the smaller cracks that create the problem. In my experience, I've seen truth in the concept that a church looks like its leader, but my beliefs don't allow me to accept that that is the way it has to be.

I was reading an article called Hues in the Pews about a statistical study by one of the authors of "Divided by Faith." It has some great quotes in it, that I thought I would pass along.

First, "...In other words, few churches are going to grow because they have made integration for integration's sake a primary goal. 'Almost none of the multiracial churches that were successful had [integration] as their goal,' said co-investigator George Yancey of the University of North Texas. 'Something else was the goal that united them,' Yancey said. 'For evangelicals it was reaching the neighborhood and urban areas, and maybe for liberal mainline churches it would be the environment or social justice issues.'

My thoughts: All people want something to believe in. All people want something worth fighting for. All people want the chance to leave a legacy. I have never tied this to the cause of Diversity, but, due to my own circumstances of finding Christ and my own dispositions, this is one thing I am very passionate about: Focus. My church has vision. It has goals that every single person at that church understands and knows they can be a part of accomplishing. This is the first time I've ever experienced that, and the feeling of being part of something, being part of a movement is inspiring. Maybe fostering that feeling and getting behind something all types of people can understand (something like reaching the neighborhood and urban areas) is the first step.

That's all I have time for right now, but more shall come.