I’ve been meaning to write this for a long time; it’s been on my mind a lot, I’ve had numerous, very lengthy discussions around it, and I’m very much personally interested in the subject: the church.
I could rant and rave all night about what’s wrong with churches and people today, but ultimately, I do believe in the church as the body, the means of action, for Jesus. I believe firmly in the potential and power of an international network of people following Jesus. The church, as the earthly remnant of Jesus’ ministry, has the potential to be an unbelievably beautiful expression of God's love for the world, or a reminder to the world why they don't follow Him..
In the interests of conciseness, let me define the church model of today, then outline the faults I see, and then briefly describe what I see as an alternative. None of these are original thoughts, or very few of them, but I think it’s very worth discussing.
Church today: church staff employed to do the work of the local church; pastors are employed at the will of the church members, and are considered ‘professional’ Christians; church business is carried out in the context of a church building; Christians, with many local church options in every community, have the option of leaving a church when they feel it’s no longer ‘a good fit.’ Church services are once a week, usually Sunday morning, consist of ‘announcements,’ augmented a bulletin with an announced program, music of one of several varieties (often a point of contention), the pastor preaches, mingling occurs, and the people disperse. Church ministries are carried out through programs like Sunday School, prayer chains, maybe an ‘outreach ministry,’ a missions group or funding program, kids program, youth group, maybe a food or clothing pantry, and church library. Outreach usually involves special events, inviting people to hear a speaker or band or go to a conference. Cool.
Pt 2 coming soon...
9 comments:
yup, yup. sounds pretty accurate to me, remembering that is from my experience as a church-goer. we all know there are excpetions to the norm, not that there is anything bad with the norm. like i was telling u both- i think we should really keep in mind and check each other to not make this into an us versus them kinda deal. not that it is right now- i just think it has the fragile potential to go there- not so good.
good call
diddo
So, what should church look like? Can you imagine an "Acts" like church today? How'd you do that?
Y'all are on the correct trial. Questions: hard questions and reflections are good. Offering an alternative to feed those starved is great.
Most hip churches are saying what you are saying, they just aren't doing what you say they should be doing... or maybe we don't see what they are doing so we call foul... hmm?
I've been burnt by church, several times. I've not been burnt by Christ. So, frankly, I don't care what man does. I'll do what Jesus would do... OK, well NOT all the time, but I try.
Often, that's not good enough for the CHURCH LADY (that dates me, I know).
I apologize.
I read one post and thought you didn't do your homework.
This is good stuff, and it is not an "us v. them" issue, but it is a question of how would Christ make things happen if he where here.
That frustrates me. Much of what you have described tells me that the "Christian" culture is just following the "modern" culture in the hope of gaining converts. A sad tale.
I'd like to see Christians moving the culture forward, as opossed to following its norms hoping to harvest another tithing member.
Exactly. I believe that Christianity was never meant to be a religion of the mainstream, that Christians were to offer a counter to any culture with their radical love and involvement with the poor and each other. I think what the world needs is a group of people loving each other in real, visible ways - 'moving the culture forward'.
Ok, one more thing on that. I'm all about doing what Jesus did - and I think that one of the most important things He did was abandon individualism. Jesus taught community, so yes, the church has hurt us, but that doesn't mean we abandon the church. For some of us, it means seeking out alternatives to the church we see, but it never means going it alone.
Only a non-believer or a very arrogant believer could think anything gets done alone...
Jesus gave the Jews culture. Problem is it fetl to them much like a THROAT CULTURE... and man that makes me gag.
haha. fair enough.
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