September 27, 2007
What's Missing?
I enjoy doing puzzles and games that challenge you to find something missing or hidden. There’s definitely something missing from the description of my church as put forth in the weekly bulletin. It says, “WE ARE A CONNECTING CHURCH. It is our desire to connect people…to Jesus Christ and to one another…thus, providing the opportunity for life-change! Our Mission: To Make and Mature Disciples for Christ to the Glory of God! Our Mandate: “Grow Up and Move Out” Our Methods: 1. Celebrate in large group settings! 2. Study & serve through small group settings! 3. Reach out in all settings! Our Motive: We are compelled by the Love of Christ! II Cor 5:14.” What ever happened to ‘worship’? I suppose it’s just another one of those traditions riding off in the sunset.
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3 comments:
Gail;
-----Regarding whatever happened to worship, read my response to your blog dated 10-12-07. I think there is something more fundamental missing from the description of your church. In fact, the more description of your church there is given, the more description there is missing. We all have heard that God cannot be put in a box; He just does not fit. Well, neither can His church be put in a description; it just does not fit. There is far too much to fellowship among one another, fellowship with the Lord, and freedom of conscience to fit into a simple statement. For that matter, there is too much to fit into a simple book, or even a set of volumes. The more you try to describe it, if truly Scriptural fellowship is indeed the topic of your heart, the more you notice there is to be described. Then the more you describe that, the more you notice you are merely describing your own individual understanding of it, which God blesses you to have. Then you realize there is another understanding held by another brother somewhat different than yours, but just as blessed by God. And how can you deny another to have God’s blessing? Therefore as soon as you include that in your description as well, you notice many others having even other understandings yet, all blessed by God. The volumes you once realized you had to write to describe the church becomes a library you will now need to write.
-----So what do I see missing in the description? Simplicity, brevity, and summary, maybe, its non-existence more certainly. Many churches have chosen the Great Commission as the description for their gathering. But it tends to overemphasize one aspect of the church when there are others just as important. I would tend to opt for something from Micah 6:8 like maybe, “Gathered to act justly, love kindness and mercy, and walk humbly with our God.” But that would de-emphasize the aspect the Great Commission over-emphasizes. I liked the approach of the Restoration Movement, “No Creed but the Bible.” But we have seen from the recent history of your church that simpletons can do the worst damage with simple statements.
-----I come more and more to understand that the church is not for man to lead. It is for the Holy Spirit to lead. If Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, are we trying to stuff it up with our little, jingoistic, political propositions we call mission statements and church definitions? Does the Head need our summaries for His steering guidance? In fact, look at the history of the church. It is one train wreck, after another car crash of disasters that proceeded from this guy’s thoughts or that guy’s quips. And if we do adopt some sort of saying that describes our church, have we not then limited what we are allowing the Lord to make of our church? Is that not actually following the men who come up with these pithy tidbits? Maybe the Lord would actually have a rather different basic path for the church to walk. I don’t like the idea of denying Jesus His headship. If there need be any statement, why not simply, “Obeying the Bible.” Oh! But of course! It all depends on what the meaning of “obey” is…and according to whose interpretation…and which translation…but...or…except…bdah…bduh...bdee…Why not forget the whole jingle thing and just live godly lives together.
I really feel, Gail and Steve, that the one component the church of the 21st century lacks the most is maturity. If there is no maturity within our leaders, we will continue to make the same mistakes over and over, because no one leader will have the courage to step out and make a difference. Instead, he will go with the flow and allow himself to be a simpleton.
I think I wrote a while back that I have been in churches throughout the world and all over the United States and I have seen my share of mission statements. I've even helped construct a few of them. I mostly see them as words on a page unless the whole church practices them. Certainly they are not inspired writings like those of Peter , Paul and the rest; But if used correctly they can create focus for a church. The problem with your church Gail is that your mission statement is very, very long. My poor eyesight guesses at about 100 words, which was usually the length of those first essays we wrote in school. They should be short and memorable. I always thought that, "Our mission is to go, teach, baptize and teach," is quite enough. But you can't please everyone... which leads me to your subject Gail -- worship. I love a good worship service, but what is a good worship service, exactly? We could debate hymns v. choruses, but that's not the real issue. I'm more of an old hymn person, however I like how some of the new songs capture my spirit and move me closer to God. So. to me hymn/chorus issue matters not a wit. With worship, the question should always be, "What is the purpose of our worship service today?" If the answer is "whatever makes me feel better." then it is the wrong answer. In worship, it is a matter of what we are doing to please Him. Over and over again in the NT the fledging church worshipped to honor God. I think many churches are losing that idea by focusing on the people to help them feel good. If God is honored and pleased by our acts of worship, then we will feel good. The former seems like some new age Christianty, while the latter puts its focus on God.
It seems in many churches the focus is on the people rather than God. It is a sad state.
And yet, an even sadder state is the condition of the educational system in our churches. Weekly Bible studies are fine if you really study the Bible. However, if one is using a study guide written by someone else, which most leaders do because they do not have time to prepare it themselves. We all write the right answer in the book, because that's what is written in the back of the book, and we move on happy that we have copied the authors answer. Hooray for us we got the right answer, now let's pray so we can eat. It's not very structured and it is not very good. Our lazy approach to Bible study has put God's people in a quandry. This sort of education will make our churches (here comes the cliche') a mile wide and an inch deep. The Sunday School has been made irrelevant by people who do not want to take the time to make it what it should be. If we go, teach, and baptise, how will we take new Christians from infancy to maturity. Seems we've come full circle. Maturity in one's faith. It's not about age, it's about seeking God; but how will people know how to teach. It becomes more and more amazing to me that God chose people to do this. The giraffe would have been my choice. He's already aticking his neck out.
Daniel
Daniel,
Amen and Amen! Good to hear from you again. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Gail
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