What is the Church?

Evangelicalism is being challenged by the emerging church. Actually the challenge is to what the Evangelical church has become rather than its premise when it started. Evangelicalism was born through rediscovering the truth that the gospel had to be applied personally before it could address and transform the culture. Unfortunately the emphasis on "personal" salvation has created a hybrid of the gospel that sounds and is practiced as more of a self-help, self-realization, self-transforming message, rather than being seen as a call to become part of God's plan for changing the world through reconciliation.

Over at Out of Ur, David Fitch takes and makes this fascinating and insightful quote:

"The term missional asks this question: what is the purpose of the church? To enfold and warehouse Christians for heaven, protecting them from damage and spoilage until they reach their destination? Or to recruit and train people to be transforming agents of the kingdom of God in our culture? The missional church understands itself to be blessed not to the exclusion of the world, but for the benefit of the world. It is a church that seeks to bring benefits to its nonadherents through its adherents." (Brian McLaren)

It seems that too many of our churches are becoming warehouses for the redeemed rather than training camps for world changers. The goal seems to be to insulate believers from cradle to grave with Christian programming and facilities dedicated to making them comfortable and entertained. This approach funnels too much of the kingdom's resources to non-essential activities while those who need to hear the gospel are left with their noses pressed up against the panes of our Christian country clubs.

I don't want to be misunderstood. I love beautiful facilities built to the glory of God. I believe that there needs to be extensive numbers of groups, classes, workshops and other opportunities offered for equipping believers to live like Christians. But somewhere along the way the trained army must be deployed. We are saved to serve. Not saved to sit or saved to be satisfied. Ultimately all of our energy in discipleship, mentoring, equipping or whatever new buzzword is being used, must result in engaging in the work of reconciling the world to Jesus. That is the essence of being a church

Welcome to Our Friendly Church

I was a pastor for 30 years and I always wondered what visitors thought about our church. Well now the shoe is on the other foot. I have relocated to Jacksonville, Florida and I am no longer in pastoral ministry having taken a new ministry assignment at a Christian college and graduate school. I now find myself as a church visitor looking for a church home for my wife and I.

In the past 4 weeks, we have visited 3 churches, one of them twice. Our observations were mixed as we found that all three churches had much to be commended. The ushers and greeters were friendly, the worship services were orderly and well developed, the preachers were well prepared and delivered their messages with passion, and their church ministry programs were plentiful and practical. But all three churches had one thing in common.

At the conclusion of the service, everyone pretty much filed out the door with little or no interaction. There were a few small groups of people having conversations, but the vast majority of the people just made their way to the door and parking lots. It left me wondering about the depth or lack thereof in relationships within the church.

I am mindful of the fact that we only made one visit to two of the churches, but it was somewhat odd that people who are going to spend eternity with each other have so little interaction after having not seen each other for at least the better part of a week.

I left more convinced than ever that small groups are essential for intimacy and relationship development. I would even venture to say that unless church attenders participate in some sort of small group, there is very little in a typical church service that would warrant all of the preparation necessary to put a church service together.

Every week each of the churches we visited has hundreds of people who will set their alarms, take showers, dress appropriately and drive to a building for an hour or ninety minutes. They sit through some decent music, somewhat meaningful rituals and a message by their pastor that is meant to feed their souls. Then they file out. With the exception of those who hung around, or are involved in a small group the service could have been dispensed with by the majority of the crowd and be substituted by a longer night of sleep, singing along with a worship CD while taking your shower and tuning in to the radio or TV to one of our fabulous national preachers.

That almost sounds sacrilegious. I'm not saying that Sunday morning services should be eliminated. What I am suggesting is that all Christians engage in a small group. Doing life together is what being the church is all about. The large group celebration is wonderful, but the smaller group interaction will allow you to learn more about intimacy with God and His people than the church service allows for. As a matter of fact, I believe that the collective gathering of the saints on Sunday will be more meaningful because you will have the added dimension of the reunion of your small group, conversing, sharing stories of your week, praying for each other and reminding each other of the upcoming small group meeting that will be held later in the week.

I have a feeling it will make a greater impact on church visitors as they see a bigger part of the church attenders co-mingling after the service. Better yet, look for new people and invite them to join your group. It will make the church experience so much more meaningful.

A Challenge to the Church to Be the Church

I came across this post while visiting one of my favorite blogs. what do you think?

In his book God in the Wasteland (pp. 214-215) David Wells writes:

I want the evangelical church to be the church. I want it to embody a vibrant spirituality. I want the church to be an alternative to post-modern culture, not a mere echo of it. I want a church that is bold to be different and unafraid to be faithful . . . a church that reflects an integral and undiminished confidence in the power of God’s Word, a church that can find in the midst of our present cultural breakdown the opportunity to be God’s people in a world that has abandoned God.

To be the church in this way, it is also going to have to find in the coming generation, leaders who exemplify this hope for its future and who will devote themselves to seeing it realized. To lead the church in the way that it needs to be led, they will have to rise above the internal politics of the evangelical world and refuse to accept the status quo where that no longer serves the vital interest of the kingdom of God. They will have to decline to spend themselves in the building of their own private kingdoms and refuse to be intimidated into giving the church less and other than what it needs. Instead, they will have to begin to build afresh, in cogently biblical ways, among the decaying structures that now clutter the evangelical landscape. To succeed, they will have to be people of large vision, people of courage, people who have learned again what it means to live by the Word of God, and, most importantly, what it means to live before the Holy God of that Word.

HT: New City Church Blog

Why People Change Churches

There is a restlessness among church-goers that is cause for concern for many pastors. It seems that no matter what pastors do the turnover rate can't seem to be slowed or stopped. Lifeway Researchers has done an exhaustive study and found that the trend is national. People are changing churches at an alarming rate. Even doctrinal issues have become less important as Baptists are going to Pentecostal churches, and vice-versa.

The study found, that even in fast growing megachurches two things stand out. Most of the growth is transfer growth, and 80% of new attendees end up leaving within 2 years. No one seems to being "doing it right." Pastors are just hanging on and being taken for a wild ride.

The culture of consumerism has been so ingrained in the church, that people come with certain expectations and if they are not met, they walk. The programmatic approach to ministry has created stress levels among professional staff that increases the chances and occurrences of burnout.

Pastors. Elders and other church leaders, need to take stock of what they are offering their congregants to determine if they are part of the problem of creating a consumerist market in their ministries. A whole new approach to defining church in historical orthodox terms needs to be attempted. I am convinced, that unless we are successful at recapturing a first century understanding of church (See Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37 for example), the greatest level of church success and kingdom expansion will continue to be evidenced in second and third world countries.

Meanwhile back in the U.S. we'll continue to play musical chairs.