Missing the Point

I just can’t get away from the frustration that I feel when I see or hear about churches arguing over a style of music, dress, and focus.  It really makes me feel tired.  I understand that these are serious issues in the church today.  Yet, these seem to side track us too.   

There groups of younger people feel that they could reach more people for Christ if their churches would change their Sunday morning program to a modern music format.  In contrast, groups of older people believe that the church should not change and that the modern music is not of God.  They reason that the church must not change so that people will recognize that the church is unchanging just like God.  They also reason that their style of music is sacred and should not be tampered with.   

Some groups dress casual and others dress formal for church service.  Some pastors believe that dress can be a barrier for people to attend their church.  Both believe that the way the other side dresses will run people off.  In my opinion, these groups that worry about these issues have spent their entire lives in church.  Both want to leave something of themselves in the church.   

Most of the time these groups grew up in church rebelling against what was established beforehand.  Each generation fights the other.  Each sees where the other generation has faltered in some way.  Each side uses Scripture from the letters that Paul wrote to different churches to justify why they believe what they believe.  What is unique about Paul’s letters is that he stressed the importance of unity and submitting to one another within the Church.  He even, in a few letters, dealt with how each generation was supposed to treat the other.  Are we missing the point? 

I asked my old pastor if he remembered when I came to the church for the first time.  I reminded him that I did not grow up in church.  My point was that I did not have any traditions that were following me through life to worry about.  I reminded him that when I came to Christ I did not say to him, “Hey, I will accept Jesus as my Savior if you wear a certain type of clothing.” I also did not say to him that I would get out of my Lazy Boy chair and come to church if they would assure me that they would play the right style of music.  He confirmed that these were not issues that I struggled with in the beginning. 

People! Listen to me!  There are not any people who are lost sitting in their homes tonight saying to themselves, “If the church would play my style of music, I would get saved.”  Or, “If the pastors would dress like I think they should would get saved.”  The only thing that  I was interested in was finding salvation.  The only Person I wanted to meet, was not the cool pastor who thinks that the Church is not doing enough to save the starving children, but I wanted to meet Jesus.   

Yes, I do care about the starving children and other injustices.  My point is that we Christians focus on the wrong things too much.  Don’t you think the devil loves our disunity over trivial issues?  My point is that we need to keep the focus on Jesus instead of on the non-essentials. 

When it is all said and done; I think the problem is that we just want to look like what we think a real Christian looks like.  We want to impress people with our huge compassion for the things that matter to the world.  We want to show people how intelligent we are by connecting the Word of God to the issues today.  We want to be the new, and improved, church.  Or, we want to be the church that did not change so that we can look super spiritual.  God’s point is, “When will His people get the point of Scripture and simply be the Church?”  In other words, when will we learn that we can find Jesus when we choose to look? 

I am not hindered by the style of clothing that I, or anyone else, wears.  I am able to enjoy all music that points me to Christ.  Why?  Because I know that I was lost, but now I am found.  I know what fate I avoided because of my desire to let Christ love me and save me which caused me to want to live for Him.  That is the point.

Sunday Ups and Downs

We had a good attendance at Smith Chapel yesterday.  I got to teach about the importance of being connected to church.  Our text was 1 Corinthians 12 and I read from verse 4 to the end of the chapter.  While reading we noted that this chapter is about more than simply trying to figure out what our spiritual gifts are.  The bottom-line is that God connects us to The Church, the church, Him, and connects us (the church) with a lost world so that Jesus can connect to those who do not know Him.  That is it in a nut shell. 

During our service we able to baptize a man, which connected him to The Church, and hopefully to the our church too.  It was a good moment in our worship.  Some of his family was there with tears in their eyes.  This helped us as a Body to focus on Christ and the importance of knowing Him which led to singing praises from our hearts. 

Later, a young man shared with me that he is a universalist.  I hate to admit it, but it is refreshing to meet someone who is honest in the Bible-Belt about their view of God.  Most really do not know what they believe and why they believe.  He challenged me to dig for intelligent answers.  It has been a long time since I’ve focused on Apologetics.  It might be time for a refresher.  Nevertheless, for those who think that there really is not much of a mission out there that requires Christians to share Christ, here is your reminder. 

Finally, I capped off the day going to see someone who might be hours from slipping into eternity.  This person has not received Christ as Savior and Lord.  These are always tense moments for me as a pastor.  There are nurses and family around who do not want you to bother someone who is passing away.  I understand.  However, we must realize that receiving Christ is also how someone can pass away peacefully.  I asked the question, “Would you like to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior?”  There was no answer.  We must remember that God gives us all a choice.  I wish I had better news, but I don’t. 

Sunday started out with a sense of victory, but it ended with the reminder that there are still many who do not know who Jesus Christ is.  Further, there are many who choose not to know Jesus Christ.  Yet, God is merciful and longsuffering.  He continues to astound me by trying to save right up to the last breathe.  To Him be all glory and honor forever.

Does God use you?

It is a simple question really.  Does God use you?  In my years of being a Christian, 14 years now, I have met all sorts of people who asked questions about why God had not done anything big with them like He did with those in the Bible. 

I have also met Christians who were jealous of other Christians when they saw amazing things happening in someones life.  They felt that God did not helped them to make a difference.  Then there are those who attend churches that do not seem to be making a difference in anything.  These people are continually looking for a place where it is happening.  This sounds fair, right?  Yet, it is likely that it is not happening because these people are looking for a way for it to happen without faith. 

Consider a large church.  They have many resources like people and money.  These churches can almost do what they need to do without faith.  Yet, God is always at work with His servants.  What I mean is that although we desire to make a difference, He still uses our service to teach us about having faith in Him.  This is how He reveals Himself to us in new ways. 

It is often that we believe that we know Christ in an intimate way.  Yet, we have not seen Him move mountains for us.  This is what happens in churches where it doesn’t seem like anything is happening.  But this is the school of faith for that local body. 

You may ask how then do we know that God is trying to use us?  This is another question that I get asked sometimes.  The answer is in the condition of your heart.  This is the key.  I say this because there are a lot of people who just want to go out and get busy for Jesus.  That is fine, but if you want the Spirit to be part of it, it should be something that burdens you; not something that looks like what you should do because you are a Christian. 

Here is what I have noticed about Moses recently.  He was a rescuer at heart.  In his own way, he was driven to action to rescue a Hebrew slave being beaten by an Egyptian taskmaster.  In his own way, Moses decided to simply kill the Egyptian.  It seemed like a rescue to him. And it was; sort of.  As a matter of fact, I believe that Moses went home and felt good that he did such a noble thing.  After all, what was happening to his people was wrong. 

After fleeing to Midian because Moses was wanted for murder he bumped into shepherd girls watering their sheep.  I want to pause and say that Moses was awesome.  He not only found God, later, in the desert, but he also found a wife too.  Not many can go into a desert find those two things.  Kudos to Moses.  Anyway, these shepherd women were being bullied by men.  Moses jumped in and rescued them too.  Do you see what is going on in his heart?  He already had a desire/burden to rescue people from injustices.  He was frustrated enough about what he saw to do something about it. 

Finally, God, who had been watching all that was taking place, took a person who had a general desire/burden to rescue, and gave Moses a special burden/call to be used by God to rescue Moses and God’s people.  So God called Moses to be used on His mission instead of Moses being on his personal mission. 

The answer to the question, does God use you?  involves what burden is in your heart?  If you are moved to action already about rescuing someone, God will use you.  Those who desire to be missional must understand that missional is not a glamorous fad to say you are a part of.  Instead, it is a calling for God’s people to be burdened enough to action.  Then God who sees all will give His special call so that we can be used by Him. 

Those churches who are not seeing anything happen might be able to trace their problems to unburdened hearts that do not desire to rescue the lost from going to Hell.  Missional is about rescuing people from a terrible eternal fate and from bondage in this life.  Until we get some Moses’ who will stand up and do something about what is not right, like people missing Heaven because they have not met Jesus, God won’t use any “Christians” until He sees a genuine desire in the heart.

Christian giving in tough economic times

I have written several posts about the importance of tithing and giving above normal tithe.  I have a few thoughts about giving during these tough economic times.  First, we are still required to give during this time of economic hardship.  This is where God builds our faith so that we can understand that we are to trust Him for all that we need. 

Today I had the opportunity to give another we besides monetarily.  I drove to our local Blook Connection and donated blood.  This is a great way that we can practice Christian stewardship.  Yes, I believe that we are supposed to manage God’s resources.  So if we are in Christ, and our bodies are the Temples of The Holy Spirit, then our blood is His.  This means that it is a resource that we can give so that others can have life.  Christians you should be doing this too. 

Wait, before you say that you are scared of needles, you should know that I am too.  The nurse laughed at me today when I looked straight up as she stuck me.  It doesn’t hurt as bad as we think it does.  You can do it too. 

While at The Blood Connection I noticed that there are other ways to give too.  You can give plasma.  I found out that plasma is needed for burn victims.  Here are some of the reasons that you should consider donating plasma.

Now, there are many people who have seen those commercials of children fighting different types of cancer asking for financial help.  If you are like me, you may try to figure out how to budget some money so that you can help.  Yet, you may not have the resources to do this.  A good alternative to giving financially to those who are fighting cancer is to give platelets.  Cancer patients need platelets and The Blood Connection said they need 50 platelets a day.  That averages out to 50 donors a day.  Now, this will take a little longer than simply giving blood.  You will need and hour and a half.  You can give platelets a little more frequently than whole blood.   

Those who desire to be missional to their communities should consider how they can help meet the needs of all who are victims whether of disease, or any other trauma.   

Giving these types of God’s resources only requires that you care, are not looking for recognition, love others as your self, and able to sacrifice/steward God’s time.  Plus, you get free cupcakes and soda.  And, if you are a husband, you don’t have to do any strenuous work around the house for the day.  This means that your wife will have to allow you to relax so that you blood can begin to build back up.   

My advice is that we should all do our part while we are healthy.  Because a day may come that we will be those who are in need too.  Plus, I think God is glad when we do.

Struggles that small Wesleyan Churches face in SC

I am living dangerously now.  Yep, you saw the title and know that this is going to be a debatable opinion.  Remember, it is my opinion.  I am not a researcher and I am not a big name.  So read it and know that these are my thoughts.

First, let me acknowledge that we serve a powerful God who can accomplish anything through those whom He desires.  If He is able to work through our small Wesleyan church too. 

Here are some possible problems.

• South Carolina is Baptist and Presbyterian country.  Yes, it is true!  We serve the same God, Jesus Christ.  Can we say it?  There is church competition.  What I mean is that there are other churches who are financially well off that can offer many different ministries to their attendees.  Child care is huge.  Professional musicians.  Great speakers.  Many different specialized ministries.  Unlike our earlier Wesleyans, when these churches build a church, they mean it!  Their facilities are beautiful and useful.  They can accomadate large amounts of people and hold community services.  In other words, they can be of a huge service to the community.  Yes, that is important. 
• There are only 48-50 Wesleyan churches in the entire state.  The good news is that we are working to fix this by planting churches.  Our brothers and sisters in other denominations have understood this for a long time.  They have been able to acheive a partnership with each other that is really awesome and this is how they take care of each other.  This is what we must do too.  Some Wesleyan churches are doing this already.  Yet again, we are small in number and time is what we will also have to work with. 
• We have had bad press in the past.  Some have called us a cult.  Pleeeezze.  People are shocked when we talk about Sanctification and when we acknowledge that we do not believe that once you are saved that you cannot lose your salvation.  Sorry.  Free will overrides that.  Now, listen.  Okay, the last is a non-issue.  Really it is.  Holiness is, and it is in the other denominations too. 
• It seems that some of our churches have hidden themselves away from the communities.  We did not want to be around sin.  Big mistake!  As a result, a lot of people that I talk to have not heard of Wesleyans and do not know where our churches are.  This is tough on advertisement. 
• Most of our facilities are outdated.  This leaves most pastors and laymen to choose between being missional or contemporary.  I would like to be both. 
• A lot of our churches are missing several generations.  This makes it tough to build strong children’s and youth ministries.  When this happens finances tend to go toward building needs and upkeep. 
• I think all churches are facing this next problem.  Because we live in the Bible belt it is a tougher assignment to get people to attend church and serve.  Consider, it is more of a social statement to attend church than to come out of a passion for Christ.  God and Sundays are those things that many take part in only on Sundays and then leave what was heard at church.   People have gotten used to the idea that God has chosen them and gives them finances which confirms that He has chosen them.  People get used to this.  Then there  really isn’t a need for God because we have the resources to take care of whatever problems might arise.  This leads to entitlement.  Yet, those who don’t have anything, anyone, or realize that God cares will come to Jesus.  But, they never hear because we are always entertaining ourselves. 
• The really most frustrating problem that we struggle with is that we cannot hire full-time youth pastors to minister to children and teens.  This is really hard to stomach because here is our future.  Man!  We can have all of the best intentions in the world.  We can dream.  We can talk.  But, nothing is going to happen until we have faith in God and sacrifice.  To get to the next step on the ladder we have to believe in God and give to God.  It has to be a united effort. 
• Southern Wesleyan helps us by being here.  This school helps us to get our name out there and put everyone at ease that we are not a cult. 

Listen, Baptists, Wesleyans, and etc.  We are all in this together.  To my fellow Wesleyans.  We have got to be more involved in our communities.  We especially have to be stepping out into the waters that only God can get us through.  We cannot please Him until we allow God to lead us into waters that we cannot navigate which will cause us to turn to Him by faith.  We must begin giving our resources to the next generations because they do not know Christ yet.  He is pursuing them in a big way.  If we do not join Him in His pursuit, then some might say that we are committing spiritual abortion.

Missional Small Church

How does a small church become missional?  This is a question many small church pastors might ask.  This is also a question that many witnesses for Christ might ask also.  While at New Life Wesleyan Church, we were missional in the late 90’s, and they still are.  This is where we focused on a ministry called the ROCK, Reclaiming Our Community’s Kids.  Our goal was to be Jesus, otherwise known as be Incarnational, to children. 

What each church should know is that each church is different.  We are different because God sets every mission up.  In other words, he creates the opportunities while preparing the church that already exists and while sending new lay people in to take part in the mission.  God goes before because He prepares the way, and God’s people must respond to His lead.  Duh!  We have heard that before.  Yet, what does it look like when God is leading you to a specific mission?

God uses frustration over injustices.  He breaks hearts.  Here is what frustrated our church and broke our hearts which brought us to action and this is what our mission looked like. 

Our community’s kids were not recieving proper love from the adults in their lives.  These kids were struggling with school, social skills, and having adequate clothing and a home.  Our kids did not have any adult in their life to create the sense of being valued.  They were not being heard.  Some were staying in multiple houses and where they stayed depended on where the party was the night before.  Some kids’ parents were working multiple jobs which meant they were too worn out to do things with them, or even cook supper at night.  In other words, our kids were too worried about what they needed to live in this life to learn another Vacation Bible School story about Jesus in the next. 

Notice that I said, “Our kids.”  You have to look at God’s children that way.  You have to own or take responsibility for the mission.  Plus, our goal was to let them know that Jesus wants to be part of their lives in this life.  Lordship now is what they needed too, on top of the sinner’s prayer to escape hell when they die.  Jesus wants to  be known now as the God who is with us. 

To other churches, mission may start to take root from frustration that some in the church might feel about any type of injustice that they see in the community.  This becomes the seed of something great.  Think about it.  If Christ’s people are frustrated about any type of injustice, then there is a huge chance that the Spirit of God is spurring that frustration so that we will get burdened enough to move. 

Next, someone needs to talk about a practical Jesus way of dealing with the injustice.  Practical means finding a way to be the hands and feet of Christ while sharing the Gospel.  One without the other won’t do.  They must be happen jointly.  This ministry must not be one that is duplicated from what someone else is doing.  A better way to say that is the ministry or mission should not be developed because someone else, who seems successful from doing that type of ministry, is doing it.  It is a ministry that should meet two requirements.  One is that the ministry fits the community, or situation, like a glove.  Two is that the ministry will have to be accomplished by faith.  This is important for God to demonstrate His awesome power to individuals.  Why?  He wants to show those who are lost that Jesus Christ is the answer.  But . . . He also wants to demonstrate His power to the individuals in the church too!  This is faith education 101. 

You will know that you are on the right track when the needs to run this ministry are being met continuously, by those outside of the church, those who did not know that there was a need, and from people inside the church who are willing to do without luxuries, like never before, and give their money or time.   This is when you are able to see God working.  This is when the church is supposed to join Him.  Joining God in His work is the only way to success.  God is missional and this is why His Church is led to be missional. 

Finally, for small churches, the mission might consume the entire focus of the church.  It may be all that the church will do.  Being missional is not necessarily a way to achieve growth.  Instead, it is how we introduce others to Christ.  When we expect to grow numerically from this mission or ministry, this is when we begin to get discouraged.  Pastors and lay people listen to me, “It is not about receiving, it is about sacrificing.”  Being missional will have a heavy work load for pastors and the men and women who attend church with a light pay off.  In other words, the pay off may be something different than what one might expect.  There will be a huge pay off in Heaven because people will receive Christ as their Savior, but it may not have anything to do with building a mega-church here on earth.

Can Churches and People be taught how to be Missional?

First of all, I want to clarify that I desire to be missional.  As a matter of fact, if I was looking for a church to attend with my family,  I would attend the missional church that is was capable of teaching the Word of God while striving to be missional.  In other words, there needs to be a good balance between missional and teaching God’s Word.  This means that one should not exist without the other.   

I am a Wesleyan pastor.  So if you are reading this article you should be aware that I am coming from a Wesleyan point of view.  Although, I do not claim that we Wesleyans have a lock on theology and are the only people who are right, I do, personally, feel more comfortable with the Wesleyan point of view.  Here is web site that you can see what we believe theologically compared to our Calvinist brothers. 

Anyway, theology between the camps is not really what I want to discuss.  I would rather hear both views  about whether or not we can teach churches and people to be missional or if we must be surrendered completely to Christ to be missional.  In other words, do we have to be full of the Spirit in such a way that we cannot help but be missional? 

1. From a Wesleyan theological point of view if we are Sanctified (Full of the Spirit and God’s love), do we need to be taught how to be missional?  If we have surrendered to Jesus Christ and asked HIm to come into our hearts so that He can be Lord of our life, and sought victory over our sinful nature, then He has filled us with the Spirit.  This would mean that we now have the nature of Christ in us and that our motives and desires have truly been changed.  If this is so, then we would instinctively know to be those who are sent to take the Gospel of Christ into the world. 
2. If we are Sanctified, then we have a natural love for God, others, and ourselves now.  This would mean that we are free from the bondage of selfishness so that we can give with great joy in our hearts to those who have needs.  We would not have to check the Sermon on the Mount because we would be living it.  It seems that if there are people and churches who are not living this way that there might be a spiritual problem.  If there is a spiritual problem, then are we really doing any good to teach people how to be missional? 
3. I hope this is wrong, but is the desire to be missional driven by the fact this type of Christ-living grows churches numerically and financially?  The danger in teaching others to be missional, and in people seeking to learn to be missional, is that we are only trying to appear to be something that we truly are not inwardly.  Again, if we have the nature of Christ now, then we are going to be missional because that is what we are now.  Why?  Because Jesus is. 
4.  To me, being missional is finding what upsets you in your community.  Once you find it, because of the love that you have for God and others, you will decide if it is something that only Jesus can fix.  If it is, then that is when His people spring into action.  If it is a church body, then they will all know what is expected of them if most are truly sold out to Jesus Christ. 
5. If we are not really Spirit led, of full of the Spirit, then when we seek to be missional can it just be classified as a social gospel?  Frankly, if we are not really surrendered to Christ, then we are merely taking part in community action that mirrors the governments purpose for community action. 

To my Wesleyan brothers and sisters: if you are trying to learn how to be missional, then have you forgotten your first love?  Our denomination was a movement first before it was a denomination.  When we were a movement, we were missional!  We were a movement because of our love for God and others.  We saw the world as a realm that needed delivered from the bondage of sin by our Savior.  Freedom was always at the forefront when it came to slavery and sin.  We helped to stop slavery, and for a while, we were used by the Holy Spirit to preach deliverance from sin ruling over us.  Now, we go to seminars and buy books to learn how to used by God.  It is time for us to surrender again to God’s will and seek to join Him in the work He is taking part in.  Yet, to see God’s work taking place would mean that we have to go out into the lowly places to help Him.  We can’t go until we love Him and others. 

One last word, I do not wish to say that we should not buy books and go to seminars.  My wish is that everyone would see that we must be sold-out to Christ to be truly missional.  I have been accused of being unteachable in the past because I was not gushing over reading books by those who are current.  Wow!  I do read some.  Yet, knowledge is knowledge.  But, love is what spurs us.

Sunday sermon recap

• I am preaching a series called “God’s Instructions on building His Church.”  This series is focusing on 1 Corinthians. 
• The bottom-line, the Church is built upon the foundation of the Cross of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection. 
• My desire is to communicate that God wants His Church to rely upon Him by faith, as a group, instead of the wisdom of the world.  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1:18).  The local church as a group of people must make important decisions by faith.  Remember, the way of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.  In other words, when we trust God instead of our common sense, it will seem foolish to us and everyone around us.  Faith in God is what matters. 
• “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building” (3:9).  In reference to the church being divided over whether to follow Paul, Apollos, or Cephas.  These 3 were on the same team and God used them to work in His Church that should be united under the Holy Spirit.  Think about how Paul described the church.  “God’s field, God’s building.”  God sends ministers in to work His field which is the church.  This does not mean individuals, although it does eventually have to, but the church is God’s.  The group submits to God’s doctrine.  If the church does, then the world sees the love of Christ.  Let me take a big step forward here.  When the church as a group is under the influence of the Holy Spirit instead of the wisdom of the world, then Jesus Christ becomes Incarnate in this world that is looking for a Savior.  Don’t believe me then check out Steven Hawking’s comments.   
• When the church does not behave as the Incarnate Christ would, then the world is stuck in a rut looking for a Savior that it can believe in.  For too long local churches have not portrayed the characteristic of Savior who gave Himself for the sake of the lost world.  I fear that human wisdom controls Club Jesus churches all over the United States.  When will the Church engage itself in the imperishable work instead of perishable agendas? 
• I want to revisit a thought from an earlier post of mine a week ago.  With our economy going so poorly, how important is it for the Church to behave like the town of Bethlehem during the time of the famine.  This little town continued to follow God’s Law and still took care of the poor and the aliens. 
• One last thing; we, the Church or the church, will be judged for what we have done to reveal the character of Christ, and what we have not done.  I know this is controversial.  Yet, there seems to be some accountability between the Church and God.   
• Each one of us who lead churches have to decide if we will lead by faith or by common sense decisions.  The bottom-line if God tells us in His Word what to do, we must do it.  If God leads us to do something that requires us to sacrifice we must do it.  We are His field and building. 

What do you all think?

Why I want to grow a bigger church

Last week I took a small part in the funeral of dear lady who went to be with Jesus.  She attended several churches during her life and Smith Chapel was one of them.  One the churches that she attended was a rather large church, the kind a small church pastor might want to become a janitor at or at least covet, this church seated may be a thousand people!  It was truly a beautiful church.  The choir loft seated around 90 or so.  In other words, you could put my congregation in the loft twice. It was well lit and the carpet was clean looking. 

My people from Smith Chapel came in and, if you know me you know that I tend to tell the same joke over and over to people as they come in, I kept telling them to keep the pastor busy while steal his one of his cameras or bongos.  Finally, someone came in and looked at the sanctuary and said to me, “Here you go Pastor, a big church just like you always want.”  After a couple of years of preaching about being missional and reaching people for Jesus Christ I was stunned that this is what someone thought was the reason I talk about growing.  So here are a few reasons why I want our church to grow:

• Growing numerically will help us to grow spiritually. 
• Numerical growth takes us out of our comfort zones and causes us to rely upon our faith in God.
• Numerical growth grants the opportunity to welcome those who other churches may not want into our fellowship. 
• Numerical growth creates more opportunities to bless others.
• Numerical growth brings others into the mission of the church to become servants of Jesus Christ.
• Numerical growth, yes I will say it, brings more resources like finances into the church so that the church broaden her mission to the community and the world.
• Numerical growth, while not the only way to measure success, is one way for the church to see fruit from her labor. 
• Numerical growth creates the opportunity for the church to continue multiplying herself by planting another church. 
• A larger church facility also allows for church growth.  Now I know that there are going to be some purests out there that will say that I am focusing on the thing.  May be so.  But we cannot deny that in this day of plenty, many people choose the more up to date churches that are new looking.  When I first moved to SC, we found two grocery stores in Clemson, Winn Dixie and Bi-Lo.  They sold the same things and had the same sales.  Yet, the Bi-Lo, which is newer, had the people all the time.  While the now out of business Winn Dixie store, which was older and dated looking did not have many shopping there. 
• The better facility is not a hinderance to the gospel.  The hinderance happens when we are only motivated to build a new church so that we can have a cornerstone on the front of the building and a pat on the back from others.
• Church growth is the result of being missional.  It is not the objective.  It just happens when a Body of Christ desires to reach out to the lost world with more than mere words.     

I want to grow a bigger church only if it is the result of faith and obedience to Christ’s mission as the Body of Christ.  I just wanted to clarify to everyone and myself why I want to grow.  It is good to check my motives and that is what I have had to do.  So I am grateful for straight talk from people in my church sometimes because I do not want to be a pastor who is career minded only.  I want to simply here, “Well done; good and faithful servant.”

Devaluing the Church; especially at the local level

I have been reading The Church Jesus Builds while in the dentist office waiting room today.  I focused on the chapter titled, Tensions That Strengthen The Church.  Wayne Schmidt, Lead Pastor of Kentwood Community Church in Grand Rapids, wrote this chapter and dealt with some issues that I have been working through on my own.  I won’t take the time to address all of these but I will focus on a few questions that he asked.

After some church leaders heard Bono say, at Schmidt’s church, that he “previously loved Christ, but couldn’t stand the Church or Christians,” they “snickered.”  This bothered Schmidt, as does me, and he asks, “Is it a sign that even leaders of the Church have surrendered to the cultural conclusions that the Church is at best a dysfunctional family, hopelessly idiosyncratic and beyond redemption?” (166). 

Here are some concerns that I have had, in light of this question, for quite a while now:

• Is it really funny that Christians ”snicker” at the Church and other Christians because the they have come into agreement with the world that the Church is out of touch, a sham, and/or has failed in her mission to be a Godly community in the middle of a Fallen world?  Some Christians would go so far as to say that it is impossible to live by commands to love Him and others until Christ returns.  If that is true, then how do explain Bethlehem in the book of Ruth? 
• Do the more successful pastors, in the churches that everyone considers it a privilege to go to, take advantage of the Church and those who attend when they fall?  In other words, are we bloggers and ministers, taking advantage of the opportunity to finger point so that we can say, or imply, that we are not like that? 
• Have we, as church leaders, “surrendered” to the cultures label of the Church, that she is irrelevant in the 21st Century?  In other words, government, human goodwill, and famous people can fix this world that can be so cruel?  After all,  1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  I guess my question is do we, the Church, even think that it is foolish for the Church to be the Salt and Light of the world? 
• Has the Church made friends with the idea that we are individuals first by looking out for our own interests instead of looking out for others?  As church leaders, are we guilty of hoarding God’s money as individuals, and a local Body, by turning our churches into a savings and loan branch?  The elephant in the room is that we say this is an “emergency fund.”  Isn’t God our emergency fund? 
• I am all on board with church planting.  It is God’s mission in this world.  Yet, are most established churches really beyond redemption?  Can God not turn these organisms around?  He can.  So the question in the end that must be wrestled with is, when do the mega-churches, and/or church plants decide to encourage our creative and gifted people to be a part of the redemption process, instead of jumping ship to take part in the good times somewhere else?  I know that some are called by God to do this, however, I believe that many of the average attendees that leave are not. 

If you attend a church, or a leader, what are you going to do?  Can you still find love for the Bride of Christ in your heart?  Can you trust that God will redeem a troubled community of believers?

Here is an action question that Schmidt asks, “”Do you agree that our culture today, both inside and outside the Church, tends to devalue the Church as a “dysfunctional family, hopelessly idiosyncratic and beyond redemption”?  List several specific ways we can be honest with ourselves about the Church’s shortcomings, yet affirm its biblical position within God’s redemptive plan” (175).  I would add that you might list specific ways in your own church. 

Hope to hear from a few of you.