Category: missional

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Church Signs: “A Church Alive…

…Is Worth the Drive.”

This was on the sign in front of a church just down the road from our house. Now, I have no firsthand knowledge of how “alive” this church is, so I won’t address that. My issue is more with the idea of making a (possibly long) drive to a church.

When Jan and I were in the process of trying to find a church a few years ago, we visited a few churches within the metro area of which our city is a part. Most of them had good things going for them, and probably could be considered “alive” by most folks. None of them had any doctrinal issues that would have been a deal breaker.

There was one thing that steered us away from all of these churches. They were all at least a twenty to thirty minute drive from our house. While that would have been fine if all we were looking for was a Sunday morning worship service, we were looking for something quite different. We were looking for community, a place where we could serve, love, and be loved. We were looking for a group that we could join with in living as brothers and sisters who saw life together as the church as far more than just a once or twice a week meeting. We wanted a spiritual family that spent time fellowshipping and discipling as a part of day-to-day life.

We wanted to serve with the folks we worshipped with and worship with the folks we served with. We desired to be fully part of a community of faith. Fortunately, we have found that and I can’t imagine traveling one day a week to worship with people who I only see on that day.

There are a lot of folks who do prefer the drive in order to find a church which is “alive.” I know that there are churches like that who do kingdom work and truly make disciples. However, I believe that the model of smaller, parish type churches who live in community and are a part of the neighborhood where they are located are what is going to do the most work for the kingdom in the days to come. I believe that a time may come in this country when followers of Jesus will have to live in community in order to continue. It might do us good if we started now.

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Church Signs: We Are Not Closed

In my travels driving a shuttle bus for a local camp, I pass a church that has a sign out in front. Over the years they have put up some interesting messages, some of which have been fodder for my blog posts. Early in the summer, there was no message on the sign. The sign remained silent for a number of weeks, and I began to look for signs of life each time I drove by. Evidently I wasn’t the only one who wondered if they had gone away. Just recently, a message appeared advertising their vacation Bible school. At the bottom of the message was an addendum, which read, “We are not closed.”

As usual, the wheels in my head started to turn. I started thinking about what people would say if a particular church closed. Maybe it would be useful if we asked ourselves, “If my church closed, would anyone notice? If they did notice, why would they notice? What difference would it make?”

Would folks notice because the Sunday traffic in their neighborhood suddenly dwindled? Maybe the sudden ease of getting a restaurant table on Sunday afternoon would catch their attention. Would the people in your city take notice that they are no longer harangued by people yelling at them, telling them how wicked they are? Would your neighbors notice that you are no longer there, and rejoice?

Or, would your city discover that you are gone, and mourn? Mourn because there is now a gap in the care for the poor in that city. Mourn because there is a lack of salt and light in certain areas of the city. Mourn because the church was a place from which people went out and brought the kingdom of grace, love, and shalom to their city.

There are other questions. If your church closed, would it, should it make any difference in how your city is blessed? Do you need an organization or program to love your neighbors or serve those less fortunate? I know that there are things that are better accomplished by larger groups, but do we need them to love others and be good neighbors?

Let us, as individuals, shine our light and love those around us as Jesus loves us. Let us, as groups of Jesus followers, band together to be a blessing to our cities. Let us take the words of Jeremiah seriously and seek the good of the city in which God has put us. Let us live such lives as would cause those around us to be glad that we are there, whether as individuals or as part of a church congregation.

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Church

The other day, a friend posted something on Facebook to the effect that the church needs to detox from religion and awake from its spiritual numbness. This is a common thought among many who feel the church has drifted away from what God intended. As many of you know, I have been critical of church in many ways, and I would agree with my friend’s statement. Having said that, I want to focus on what I think is a solution, or at least what is being done correctly.

I want to make a distinction between the Church as the body of Christ and church, as a local assembly or institution. The Church was given a mission. If we are in the body of Christ, we are commanded to love God by following Jesus, to sacrificially love others as Christ loved us, and to make disciples who also love God and love others. That is what we are called to do. How that will play out can and will vary according to time and culture. The basics remain the same. I believe that the church at times has done an excellent job of fulfilling the mission. There have been times where the church has failed miserably. There have always been local assemblies that have done what they were called to do, and there have been local assemblies that have failed. We tend to think of the first century church as the ideal,  but a good bit of the New Testament was written to correct problems in various churches. The local assemblies of the early church had some serious problems, ranging from division over leadership to major sexual sin. Down through the centuries church history has been up and down, as assemblies and institutions have drifted away from the mission. The Church, however, has always been there, advancing against the gates of hell and bringing the kingdom of God to bear.

Things are really not much different today. Only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. The church in the West has gone of the rails in many ways. Part of the reason is Christianity has become Christendom, and the mission of the Church has been lost in the mission of one side or other of the political aisle. We have been caught up in culture wars, building empires, gaining “influence,” and divisions over personality, tradition, or practice. Much of what is done is not very different from
what a number of other organizations do. Many gather each week to hear a motivational speech, or a
diatribe telling them how they must try harder and do better.

What I believe the church needs is not more preaching on 5 steps to be a better __________________, more ranting about getting rid of the “sin” and getting “right with God,” or more talking about influence in a particular kingdom of this world. I don’t care how big your church may be, how wonderful you’re weekly speaker is, or how many programs you have. If you are not making disciples who go out and give the good news of God’s grace and what Christ has done, you’ve lost me. I believe that the church needs to be reminded of what we were without Christ, what Christ did for us on the cross, and what we now are because of that amazing grace of the Father. We need to be taught what it means to follow Jesus as we walk through our day-to-day and try to love God and love others. We need to be in each other’s lives, not just one or, at most, two days a week. We need to be discipled and taught how to disciple others. We need to live life together in a community that is gospel-centered and concerned with joining Jesus in the mission of reconciliation. We need to see, and be, examples of sacrificial love for our neighbors. We need to rest in what Jesus has done, not in
what we do. These things can be done in a variety of local assemblies, from a mega-church with missional communities within the church, to a house church that is out and about in their neighborhood, to everything in between. The assemble can be part of a denomination, or an independent. Traditional or contemporary, or some mixture. As I have learned, you can find the Church within the church.

I take comfort in Jesus’ declaration the hell itself will not stand against his Church. Not because we are such great folks, but because we are the body of Christ. It is Christ that lives in us, and it is Christ
that is accomplishing the mission that the Father gave us. Does that mean we will always get it right?
Nope. It does mean that God can redeem even our poor efforts to do his will. The Church is there. It always has been and always will be. I do believe that the time is coming when the church as we know it will fade away, and the Church will be much stronger.

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Signs and Wonders

At our gathering yesterday morning, one of our number told of buying supplies for a local homeless shelter and the way God moved others in the store, including an outside delivery man, to help her find what she needed to buy. Some of them then helped her load the supplies in her car. Our teacher made the statement that maybe the signs and wonders that accompany the Gospel today are the acts of mercy and kindness that we do for those around us, especially those in need.

I think he is on to something. In the early day of the Church, the signs and wonders that authenticated the message that Jesus is Lord included healings and other miracles, and speaking in other languages. In a world where medicine was primitive, and many health problems that we never experience were fairly common, healing a person was a pretty big deal. The gift of speaking in tongues was many times , in a world without many translators, the only way the Gospel could be communicated. Some of these same things accompany the Gospel in developing nations where conditions are not that far removed from those of the 1st Century.

In 21st Century America, medicine has advanced so that most of the problems found in the early days of the Church have been eliminated. God does miraculously heal, but it is not so widespread as to be seen as a sign authenticating the Gospel. Language is not usually a problem, as there are a variety of ways to communicate and be understood.

I believe that the signs that should accompany the message that Jesus is Lord are the things that stand out as being outside the norm. I’m not talking about carrying a big KJV Bible, or shutting ourselves up in a “Christian” bubble and separating ourselves from those around us. I’m talking about showing that the One that we follow calls us to own him as our Lord, not any person, government, political party, or other organization. Because Jesus is our Master, we do what he says. One of his commands is to love our neighbors, and take care of the least of these. Giving to the poor and doing what we can to meet their needs shows that we take seriously the commands of the One we proclaim as Lord. In a culture that teaches us to look out for ourselves, often at the expense of others, caring for others marks us out as being different.

Jesus said that the world would know that we are his disciples by our love. If we don’t love each other and love those around us how can we expect the world to take us seriously? If we don’t treat the “least of these” as we would treat Jesus, what business do we have claiming that Jesus is our Master? As our faith is marginalized more and more by the culture, the only thing we will have left to authenticate our message is the willingness to lay down our lives for Jesus and others. God help us to live the Gospel that we claim has changed our lives.

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Muddled

N.T. Wright uses the term “muddled” to describe those whose thinking is not altogether organized or clear. That word aptly describes where my head is at right now.

Most of you know that I am in the midst of trying to figure out what it is that God wants me to do concerning “church”, and the timing of that decision. I’m kind of in what imonk calls the “evangelical wilderness”. I’ve been trying for a couple of years to influence the congregation I worship with in a direction that is far different from church as they’ve always known it.

I started reading The Present Future by Reggie McNeal, and God is using it to break my heart and show me the ways I have actually hindered the Kingdom in an attempt to help. I grew up in very conservative churches where the feeling was that as the culture drifted farther and farther from God, the job of the church was to hunker down in the bunker and lob hand grenades of “truth” at the wicked ones who were outside. As my thinking changed I began to think that church was to be a place that was so dynamic, professional, and slickly packaged that it would attract folks to come into the church and be saved. That was my mindset as I began to try and influence change in the church.

Over the past few months, God has been shaping my thinking and showing me that his heart is toward the poor, the downcast, the oppressed. The Father has shown me that his grace is far bigger than I can realize and that attempts on my part to limit grace are not only doomed to failure, but are actually sin. He has shown me that my job is to do two things: go and be. I am to go, not only about my daily life, but intentionally where those away from God are. I am to be an ambassador of the King, a person who shows others the beauty of Jesus and the magnificence of the Kingdom.

Reggie McNeal writes about the mission of the church and how so much of what churches do are more for the comfort of the membership than for the Kingdom. I totally agree that the missio dei, the mission of God, is our calling as followers of Jesus Christ. What has muddled me, and twisted me up in a knot, is that I don’t know what to do next.

I know that what I write may be read by members of the current church (my post Autopsy caused a mini storm), but I have to be open here. I honestly don’t see the church moving beyond the “we need to focus on teaching our people and if the rest of the world ever catches on, they’ll come here ” mentality to a missional one. Because of this, I think my time there is quickly drawing to a close.

The question is, when and how? The pastor is a godly man who I have gotten to know and love over the past couple of years, and I have tried to be supportive of him and his family. He has tried to bring about needed change in the church, but has been met with opposition all along. My heart goes out to him, and that is what makes the decision to leave such a hard one.

I believe now that God is calling me to go down another road on my journey. Where that road will lead, I don’t know. Last Sunday night Jan and I joined with a group for worship and Bible study. Whether that will grow into something the Father wants us to be a part of remains to be seen. There are good people in that group, so even if God widens our circle of friends, it will be good.

Stay tuned to this channel. I’m sure adventures await.