The "Real" Hard Questions

I'm currently in the process of reading two books concurrently; "Rethinking the Wineskins" and "Pagan Christianity" by Frank Viola. These books are part of a 4 volume series Viola has written to examine closer the evolution of the church and how to get back to being what God originally designed the church to be. Wineskins examines what the first church was like. Pagan Christianity looks historically at the evolution of the church and where we get our traditions. In both, Viola is arguing that we have moved away from the "new church" Jesus came to establish and that many of the changes that have occurred have been more harmful than helpful to our DNA.

On a Side Note: Frank Viola has just re-released "Pagan Christianity" co-authored by George Barna. I'm reading the original version first and plan to then scan the second version for additions or changes.

I'll write more about these books later but I got to thinking...
I've visited many church websites in the past that were doing worship series on "hard questions," questions people don't know the answer to or how to respond to those who ask them. Questions such as, "Is the Bible Infallible?" "Does prayer really work?" and "Why do bad things happen and does God really care?"

While these may be questions people have and good questions to tackle and think through, I'm not sure they are actually the "hard" or "difficult" questions. To me, they are the "safe" questions churches are willing and comfortable answering. The REALLY hard questions churches need to be asking and answering are the ones that examine what they do, why they do it and should they be doing it. They are the questions that evoke change, both on an individual level and churchwide.

Questions such as:
1. Would Jesus spend as much time and resources on church as we do?
2. If the Holy Spirit speaks to and through all believers why don't we regularly ask everyone what the Spirit is saying when we gather and let that guide us?
3. Why are most of the ministry opportunities only at church?
4. Where do we get most of our church traditions and do they support or hinder Jesus' ministry?
5. Based on Jesus' ministry and teachings what changes would He recommend we make to our personal lives and church?

Churches don't ever ask such questions because if they did it would threaten their security and stability, rooted in tradition and comfort. Sadly, this misguided and "me-centric" attitude threatens to subvert God's purposes for His people. It is at this point that the church becomes less of a spiritual entity and more of an organization or club run by people.

Why the middle man?

Easter and Christmas are always such big pushes for churches. Create some special series, develop flashy brochures, challenge church members to hand out "invite a friend postcards" and bring their friends to church so that they can hear the saving message of Christ...

And this got me thinking....

Why do churches get caught up in this "outreach trap?" So often, outreach is defined as finding new ways or opportunities for congregation members to invite their friends to church when instead it should be helping church members to directly share Christ with others. In recent years it has been creating something so interesting and exciting, (such as a special, culturally relevant worship series) that our church members will feel compelled and desire to invite their friends to church.

Which made me ask...
When did we turn the congregation member into the middle man? We challenge our church members to invite a friend to church so that the "church" can then share the message of Christ... or should I say the pastor, worship team and/or small group leader shares Christ. We (the church) try and fool ourselves into thinking we're helping the church member share but the outcome is always less sharing by the church member and more sharing by the "church."

I don't think it was in God's design for there to be this middle man.The church equips, encourages, celebrates.... the people share, share, share!

No middle man... each with its own, unique purpose that is meant to compliment each other without replacing.

And I wondered...
If we truly adopted this principle how would it change what we do and say on Sunday's when we gather? Less evangelistic messages for the few unsaved in attendance... No need for an altar call... that's done with your friend, one on one. How would our conversations during Small Group Bible Study change? We'd spend the time talking about the people we're trying to share Christ with, the frustrations of not knowing better how to do it, and the burden we have for our unaccomplished task instead of an intellectual study of scripture.

And the end result would be we would become uncomfortable with how much time we spend at church. We'd be equally uncomfortable with how little time we invest in making friends with people who don't know Christ.

The reality is the church has taken on a role that was never theirs in the first place and the congregation member has lazily relinquished it. It's time for Christ followers to reclaim our God given role of being responsible for sharing Christ. And it's time for churches to throw away traditions, programs and activities that take away that role from the Christ follower.

If we want church members to see themselves as evangelizers then we have got to stop encouraging them to invite their unsaved friends to church. The time to invite a friend is after they are saved when they need to develop a support group of fellow Christ followers who will walk with them through the journey. Such an approach will free the church to be what it was meant to be... equipping and encouraging Christ followers, instead of being all things to all people, saved or unsaved!

On A Personal Note:I realize that what I am saying is somewhat radical. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying I would kick out unsaved people from attending church. What I am saying is that the church should only be seen as a "back door" to reaching the lost. The "front door" which has the greatest impact are through individual Christ followers. Personally, I have become increasingly concerned with the unintentional damage the church seems to be inflicting on its members. I am only using my blog as a way to clarify my thoughts and record them so that they are not lost. As the reader, take it or leave it. It's up to you!

How do our lives overlap?

The reality is we're lucky if we can balance two circles. Throw in a third and it's rare that we're able to live in the center.

But more importantly, who are the people we hang out with? Where do our friends come from?

Churches often struggle to maximize their evangelism efforts. Until the majority of our friends, the people we "hang out" with, are outside of our Christian circle we'll never be successful.

Is eternity not enough? Do we have to spend all of our earthly time with our Christian friends too?

How sad will it be to reach eternity
only to discover our community is not with us...

"Convicted by my lifestyle"

Where Have You Been?

It's been six months since I last posted something on my blog. How TERRIBLE is that! While in those six months there have been several life changes that have consumed my time and focus, it still is no excuse. It comes down to not making blogging a priority and I take full responsibility for that.

Six Month Catch-Up
In September, we found out from our builder that they were continuing to have difficulty installing a retaining wall and they said it wouldn't be until spring before the house would be done. Having waited 9 months already, seeing no progress, and watching the builder's starting price drop 80K we decided it would be best for us to cancel our contract and shop elsewhere. (A wise choice looking back now. Prices have dropped 100K and when I recently went by the construction site everything looked the same and there was still no retaining wall.) Luckily for us the builder was understanding and refunded us our entire deposit. What a God blessing!

In October, after searching for several weeks we found a beautiful townhouse to purchase. It was empty, in move-in condition having only been built in 2004 and in a community that was originally out of our price range when we sold our home. It had a ton of upgrades including hardwood floors, granite counter tops, professional wall and window treatments, etc. But MOST of all, my husband loved the small yard and community landscapers which meant no more mowing or leaf raking! We closed on the 16th and spent the last few weeks of October packing and moving our apartment, getting the rest of our things in storage moved and beginning the process of unpacking.

November began a little rocky. I started the month by visiting the local emergency room for the first time. It was a bit depressing to have only lived there for two weeks before I was already back in the hospital but that's the way it goes. The nice part is we specifically chose a townhouse that is only about three minutes away from the hospital so the midnight run was quite "pleasant" if you had to be going. It turned out I had a quite painful kidney stone (my first) that took some time to pass. But with a little morphine to deaden the pain the world always looks better. I spent the next three weeks feverishly trying to unpack as much as I could before the holiday craze would begin.

On a positive, November ended with a trip to Philadelphia to see my sister who had just moved there and a fantastic Thanksgiving day trip to New York City to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in person. If you haven't done this I would HIGHLY recommend it. It has been a childhood dream for me and I'd do it again without hesitation. We were lucky to have beautiful weather and everything went quite smoothly. We were on the parade route staking out our front row seating by 6:30am, enjoyed the gorgeous balloons and parade entertainment then spent the day touring the city. We ended our trip at Rockefeller Center and had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant overlooking the ice skating rink. What more could you ask for?!?

December was consumed with decorating the house and making preparation for Christmas. Christmas is probably my favorite time of year. I made a point to pull out all of our Christmas things from the garage so that I could repack them in clear storage containers and put them in the new storage area we had a handyman create for us under our stairwell. For the holidays my sister came down from Phili and spent close to two weeks with us. It was great to spend some concentrated time with her.

My favorite part about Christmas was surprising my husband with an iPhone. I totally tricked him into thinking it wasn't under the tree by wrapping it in multiple layers of boxes and weights. About a week before Christmas he even admitted to me that he had hoped there was one under the tree but that when he saw his present he knew it couldn't be one and he was OK with that. It was all I could do to keep a straight face and play up the "there is no way you're ever getting one of those" attitudes. I think the iPhone gift is probably the BEST surprise with the highest impact that I've ever been able to accomplish with him. It was great watching him sit speechless for quite some time just staring at it.

Christmas also marked the arrival of a new family member. Our dog, Rudy passed away around the same time we sold our home and moved. My husband loves dogs and it was quite a difficult loss for us. At the time, we decided to wait to get a new dog until we had settled in our new home. So when Christmas rolled around it seemed like the perfect time to find a new dog to rescue. We found Miss Daisy, a foxhound mix, at a local rescue organization FOHA and fell in love with her immediately. She is a loving, 3 year old that is still quite energetic and playful. While she doesn't seem to have any of the rude habits Rudy had, she is still working on basic obedience skills. The TV show "The Dog Whisperer" has become our new favorite show! Overall, we are quite pleased with her and she has become a loved member of our family.

January and February have been extremely busy also but I'll have to get you updated on that later.

Phew! While I know this is a long post, at least now you're caught up on things. We've had many major changes with a few still to come. Even though changes are taking place I plan to try and be more committed to blogging. If I can discipline myself to making my posts short it shouldn't take much time. No snide remarks! I AM capable of posting a SHORT entry. ;)

Until next time...