There was a time when church signs aimed to be informational. At the least, they aimed to be encouraging, thoughtful, or even humourous.
When did “bone-headed” become the goal?
I wonder how many God-seeking guests Pastor Manning spoken to that weekend…
I never said all thirty of these would be originals, so let me stitch a few pieces together that my brother-in-law has tossed out there.
Here was recent post of his…
A few months ago I cancelled my bloglines subscriptions to many emerging / postmodern / missional / do-church-different blogs.
Yes, there is a time to criticize, reflect upon and review how things are being done, but it’s just not helpful to sit deeply in that posture for long – you end up stiff, cranky and critical. Better to get up and get busy doing things the the best way that you know how. I needed to be doing.
Just like in many areas of my life, I realized I was educated way beyond my obedience. For now, I’ve read enough about new paradigms, structures and church plants. I know the arguments for mega-church, house-church, wholistic-organic-church and frankly I’m not really convinced that one is any better than another. Sticking the word missional on something doesn’t make it missional. Finding your particular church structure in history doesn’t make you right.
The groups of Followers that I want to learn from don’t write blogs or books about “how it should be done.” They are too caught up in doing it and it’s too messy to fit into a new “paradigm.” I am realizing that there comes a time when a drop of inspiration is much more valuable than a waterfall of education.
Now, I can appreciate a few of those feelings, as I’ve often wondered how anyone (specifically myself) is to make much sense (I mean, actually reach useful points of conclusion) of all the things that are bound to come up over coffee with some of my “wanting to make church better” friends.
So I particularly enjoyed this Eugene Peterson quote, though I have no idea where it’s from (Here points to here, which points back to here, where I couldn’t find it!)…
“What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church. There’s sin in the local bank. There’s sin in the grocery stores. I really don’t understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don’t get it. Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.”
So to those who spend thought on such things, there are a couple more logs to throw on your fire.
No idea what to title this post, so I’m stealing from myself…
In my quiet house, I finished “Telling Secrets” by Frederick Buechner tonight.
Towards the end, he speaks about some healing experiences he had through involvement with an AA group.
The thoughts that followed echoed in the corridor where my mind camps out occasionally…
“I do not believe that such groups as these… or Alcoholics Anonymous… are perfect anymore than anything human is perfect, but I believe that the church has an enormous amount to learn from them.
I also believe that what goes on in them is far closer to what Christ meant his church to be, and what it originally was, than much of what goes on in most churches I know.
These groups have no buildings or official leadership or money.
They have no rummage sales, no preachers, no choirs, no liturgy, no real estate.
They have no creeds. They have no program.
They make you wonder if the best thing that could happen to many a church might not be to have its building burn down and to lose all its money.
Then all that the people would have left would be God and each other.”
A Few Points from…
“The Church of Irresistible Influence”
by Robert Lewis and Rob Wilkins
INTRODUCTION
The book begins with a quote from Robert Kennedy…
“Some men see things as they are and say ‘why?’… I dream of things that are not, and say ‘why not?’”
Then the author asks for some imagination to be used…
Can you imagine the community in which you live being genuinely thankful for your church?
Can you imagine city leaders valuing your church’s friendship and participation in the community—even asking for it?
Can you imagine the neighbourhoods around your church talking behind your back about “how good it is” to have you church in the area because of the tangible witness you’ve offered them of God’s love?
Can you imagine a large number of church members actively engaged in, and passionate about, community service, using their gifts and abilities in ways and at levels they never thought possible?
Can you imagine the community actually changing (Proverbs 11:11) because of the impact of your church’s involvement?
Can you imagine many in your city, formerly cynical and hostile toward Christianity, actually praising God for your church and the positive contributions your members have made in Jesus’ name?
Can you imagine the spiritual harvest that would naturally follow if all this were true?
I’ve been chewing on something for a while. Now it’s sharing time.
Spiritual gifts…
What do you think of when you hear that phrase? Maybe a hundred images. But its core is easy enough to find. We are each created differently, no two of us alike, and that is a good thing.
4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (Romans 12)
Simple enough. And what is the point of all these gifts?
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
(1 Corinthians 12)
Okay, beautiful but easy stuff here. God gifts people, each one uniquely, and this is done “for the common good” (NIV).
So what have I been chewing on?
In a recent read, an author named Lynn Anderson made this comment on the topic…
“The specific work of each part is DETERMINED PRIMARILY by the specific spiritual gift God has given to that part (person). We all have the same spirit, and we all have gifts. But we do not all have the same gift. And God has given these gifts for the ‘common good’ or ‘to serve’.”
Here’s the concern that I’m feeling.
I agree with Anderson’s comment. The Spirit’s gift-providing should primarily determine the works of service that a given individual might give themselves to, the role which he or she might play within a congregation, even within the world.
But I fear that for many the works of God’s people are actually being determined primarily by the current structures and forms of their given congregation. In many churches, if one is not obviously gifted in public speaking, music/singing, or teaching some age group of people, then it’s silently assumed that your gift is to hold down a seat faithfully each week, thus equating your Spirit-of-God-given gift to the gifting of an anvil.
In such a church, frustration may mount because a few are “carrying the load” of the many. Why won’t people get involved? Could it be that they have no idea what their gift is? Or that they have a sense of what their gift might be but they never considered that this would be significant alongside the task of simply fitting into what the congregation is already doing? And they’ve concluded that they don’t really fit.
One clarification: I am familiar with small churches. That’s all I’ve ever been a part of. So I am not suggesting that people need to switch churches to find their niches elsewhere. And I am not saying that churches need to develop more programs so that there are more potential slots for people to fit into. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m no major program fan. Nor is this a plug that we should all attend mega-churches where we can find the longest possible list of options on the church program menu.
So what’s my point?!
Sigh.
I’m just wondering how much Spirit-given creative, redemptive power we might be squandering because of an innocent inability or a stubborn refusal to look outside the box.
I’m simply questioning why it seems like a novel idea that gifts should be looked at first BEFORE programs are set up, as opposed to the opposite, which seems to be a route destined for dryness.
I guess I’m asking how one goes about assessing things like spiritual gifts apart from any open-the-box-then-fill-in-the-blanks-then-add-up-your-score-and-see-how-God-made-you-to-be tests.
I just want to use my imagination. I just want to ask people I know to use theirs too…
If church as we knew it didn’t exist, if you were just a God-loving, Scripture-searching, prayer-offering, “man-I-want-to-follow-Jesus” man or woman who slept in and ate pancakes every Sunday because there was no such thing as church to go to…
The way I see it, answering questions like that might serve us well. Our answers might even teach us how to serve our world in a way “primarily determined” by what the Spirit has placed within us, as opposed to being “primarily determined” by any forms or structures (great or otherwise) that just happen to already be in place within a given congregation.
Sigh.
Okay.
Now I’ve been sharing something for a while.
Who wants to chew this with me?