Yep, I’m THAT person – the one who takes ten words to describe my drink choice at Starbucks. The franchise is struggling and the lines do seem shorter in the airport cafes, but that means I don’t have to wait so long for my venti, triple shot, skinny, cinnamon dolce latte or sugar-free, skinny, venti, London Fog. But, hey, at Starbucks it is all about ME – my particular cravings, likes, wants. I have my own, personal coffee niche.
But what I wonder is: has the independent church of God movement turned into a niche market church culture? Is church the way I want it, when I want it, with only the music I like and the types of sermons that interest me, really the right next step in church evolution? (Or is it church creation?)
When did church cease to be about fellowship with like-minded people (not exact same minded people) and worshipping God together and become just another thing we special order? How can this happen?
My personal opinion, which, if you couple with $4.50 will get you a latte at Starbucks, is that this occurs because we don’t drink enough coffee together – figuratively speaking.
When was the last time you got an invitation to the HOME of a fellow believer? Potlucks at church do not count. Going out to dinner does not count. Talking on the phone does not count.
Nothing, I mean, nothing at all, compares with getting together in your home (or theirs) with brethren. Don’t even try to tell me you keep in touch with blogs, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc…
When you have people over to your home (or go to their home) for coffee, dessert, breakfast, lunch or dinner, it creates an entirely different atmosphere for conversation. In a setting where you don’t have to leave until you are so sleepy you are afraid to drive home and no waiter will be pestering you about the check or a refill on tea when you are making an impassioned point, true connection occurs. You can cry openly, laugh without being shushed, kick off your shoes, and toss aside your reservations.
Maybe it is because having people over to your home, were you stuffed things under the bed and into closets at the last minute in preparation for the visit – where a guest could open the medicine cabinet and find out that you have athlete’s foot or toe fungus treatments – where someone could notice (gasp) that you haven’t dusted the mini-blinds lately – is already a act of trust.
I’ve gotten away from that. I’m busy. I travel a lot for work. My house is small, cramped. I don’t dust as often as I should. The yard needs mowing because it has been raining so much. I could go on. You probably have reasons of your own.
I believe that the connections forged by gathering in the privacy, the intimacy, of home, will help us get back to the focus of worshipping, studying, learning, in a spirit of togetherness at church. I believe it will help us pray more intimately for each other. You might actually pray right then and there, in your home, at the moment your guest brings up a need. I bet you wouldn’t do that at a restaurant. I believe it allows us to open up and confess our sins to one-another.
So, I encourage us all to lay aside any excuses and take the plunge – invite someone over to your home this week. Leave all the bedrooms messy and just close the doors. Shove stuff under the kitchen sink. Clean only one bathroom (so the guests can us it). It is okay to start small. Just serve coffee or water.
After all, unlike a custom Starbucks drink, it is about you. It isn’t about the food, the dust bunnies or the state of the yard. It’s about getting back to a sense of “us.”
Love, Nancy
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
POT LUCK CHURCH OF GOD
I’ve mentioned many times in my blogs that I work in an industry that supports magazine publishers and that publishers are in trouble. This week, in a publishing-industry e-newsletter, I found a quote about why magazines are failing that I think applies to the current struggles of many churches.
In explaining why a particular magazine failed, an industry leader said that the title “never had a chance” to succeed, because of where it started – New York City. (Most magazine publishers have their home offices in New York City.)
He explained, "Somehow, for all sorts of reasons, there has grown up in Manhattan, in media, finance and culture--and in what passes for "society"--a narrow establishment so ingrown, so inward-looking, so self-congratulatory, so self-regarding, so gossip-fixated and so all-in-all provincial that it would take the imagination of a Balzac or Flaubert to get it right.” (Emphasis mine.)
It strikes me that this is a very real problem with many church groups today. Look around you next Sabbath. What is the average tenure of your group? Are there any new people? When was the last time a new person walked in your doors – not a visitor from another Sabbath-keeping church, not someone who’d moved back into the area, not a former believer who shows up at Passover time – but a really, truly NEW convert?
You know what the answer should be. Welcoming new people should be a routine fact. And if it is not, then ask yourself if any or (gasp) all of the points above apply to your group. Some of the purpose of the church is to feed the flock, no doubt about it. You can’t maintain a healthy congregation and you certainly can’t grow one if you are only looking outward for new converts. But I can’t say that I know of a single group that has that problem.
When asked what New York publishing is all about, this same industry leader replied: "Lunch.” Is your church guilty of being more about pot luck meals than anything else? Do you attend one of the many “Pot Luck Churches of God?” Now, I love a good potluck meal, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with pot luck meals. So, please bear with me while I explain further.
Is your church more focused on internal programs – more focused on getting together and visiting among yourselves – than it is focused on outreach? Is attending your group too much about lunch – too ingrown and inward-looking? Is your group so self-regarding that it can’t move beyond licking its wounds to salving the wounds of the sick and hurting society around us?
What exactly is the risk of this “all-in-all provincial” behavior?
The industry leader’s final shot is this: “At the risk of being called a bad guy, let me just say that I have long thought that a shoulder-fired missile dispatched into any or all of those (lunch) establishments of a weekday lunchtime would do as much to advance the quality and decency of Western civilization as any other act I can imagine."
God is patient beyond what we as humans can even understand. But He will not continue to “beat a dead horse” forever. He won’t sit by forever while we “do lunch” – while we pot luck ourselves to stagnation. He has been known to wipe the slate clean and start over.
Any group can be tempted to spend too much time internally focused. It feels warm and fuzzy to hug the same people every Sabbath – like a family reunion. But that is not the entire purpose of Christian congregations.
But we can’t allow ourselves to get so stuck in that rut that we make it look good to God to wipe out the (church, fellowship, Bible Study, meeting) group and start over – the way He did with the Noachian flood – the way He offered to do with Israel, beginning again with Moses. Get outside yourself. If your group won’t do it, then YOU do it by whatever means you can.
If you put forth the effort, God will bless it. Then, maybe at the next pot luck you will at least have some new dishes on the menu – brought by the new members of your group.
Love,
Nancy
In explaining why a particular magazine failed, an industry leader said that the title “never had a chance” to succeed, because of where it started – New York City. (Most magazine publishers have their home offices in New York City.)
He explained, "Somehow, for all sorts of reasons, there has grown up in Manhattan, in media, finance and culture--and in what passes for "society"--a narrow establishment so ingrown, so inward-looking, so self-congratulatory, so self-regarding, so gossip-fixated and so all-in-all provincial that it would take the imagination of a Balzac or Flaubert to get it right.” (Emphasis mine.)
It strikes me that this is a very real problem with many church groups today. Look around you next Sabbath. What is the average tenure of your group? Are there any new people? When was the last time a new person walked in your doors – not a visitor from another Sabbath-keeping church, not someone who’d moved back into the area, not a former believer who shows up at Passover time – but a really, truly NEW convert?
You know what the answer should be. Welcoming new people should be a routine fact. And if it is not, then ask yourself if any or (gasp) all of the points above apply to your group. Some of the purpose of the church is to feed the flock, no doubt about it. You can’t maintain a healthy congregation and you certainly can’t grow one if you are only looking outward for new converts. But I can’t say that I know of a single group that has that problem.
When asked what New York publishing is all about, this same industry leader replied: "Lunch.” Is your church guilty of being more about pot luck meals than anything else? Do you attend one of the many “Pot Luck Churches of God?” Now, I love a good potluck meal, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with pot luck meals. So, please bear with me while I explain further.
Is your church more focused on internal programs – more focused on getting together and visiting among yourselves – than it is focused on outreach? Is attending your group too much about lunch – too ingrown and inward-looking? Is your group so self-regarding that it can’t move beyond licking its wounds to salving the wounds of the sick and hurting society around us?
What exactly is the risk of this “all-in-all provincial” behavior?
The industry leader’s final shot is this: “At the risk of being called a bad guy, let me just say that I have long thought that a shoulder-fired missile dispatched into any or all of those (lunch) establishments of a weekday lunchtime would do as much to advance the quality and decency of Western civilization as any other act I can imagine."
God is patient beyond what we as humans can even understand. But He will not continue to “beat a dead horse” forever. He won’t sit by forever while we “do lunch” – while we pot luck ourselves to stagnation. He has been known to wipe the slate clean and start over.
Any group can be tempted to spend too much time internally focused. It feels warm and fuzzy to hug the same people every Sabbath – like a family reunion. But that is not the entire purpose of Christian congregations.
But we can’t allow ourselves to get so stuck in that rut that we make it look good to God to wipe out the (church, fellowship, Bible Study, meeting) group and start over – the way He did with the Noachian flood – the way He offered to do with Israel, beginning again with Moses. Get outside yourself. If your group won’t do it, then YOU do it by whatever means you can.
If you put forth the effort, God will bless it. Then, maybe at the next pot luck you will at least have some new dishes on the menu – brought by the new members of your group.
Love,
Nancy
Saturday, April 25, 2009
UNPLUGGED OR UNHINGED!
Does anyone else feel overwhelmed with the job of reporting on every second of your life or is it just me? I’ve got FaceBooks, MySpaces, LinkendIns, Twitters and Blogs – not just one, but multiple accounts for most of them – personal, DCM and work. I tweet. I blog. I post. I can’t keep up with all the telling of all the things I’m supposed to be telling or reading about all the people I’m “connected to” on all the places we are connected.
I’ve got calls to make, thank you notes to write, introductory letters, you name it – if it is a way of communicating, I owe someone a reply using that method. If I could, I would hire a full time assistant to take care of keeping the world at large informed of my every thought, deed or feeling.
With all the communication media needing to be feed – and often – is it any wonder I feel like yelling “leave me alone!”? Sometimes I feel like if I don’t get unplugged I’m going to come unhinged!
There is no doubt in my mind that we (meaning Americans in general) are over connected to non-living things – our Blackberries, cell phones, computers and various social networking accounts. In the publishing industry discussing how to use social networking to gain business is the hot topic.
As Christians, we’d all do well to remember that there is only one source of power we really need. That source is God. He gives us the Holy Spirit. It is our direct cord to His power.
Jesus set an example of “unplugging” from the business of day-to-day life on the earth – and remember, He was in the business of spreading the Gospel – to plug into the source of all life, hope, power – well, the source of everything important – the Father – and to be refreshed and renewed.
Can any of us expect to have a quality Christian life on less that? So, today, I encourage you to unplug from everything that has a battery or electric cord and plug into our true source of power – God. Charge up on the Holy Spirit. The rest of the day will go much better.
I think I’m going to go now and take my own advice. Now, if I can just get Wes to stay of HIS laptop too….
Love, Nancy
I’ve got calls to make, thank you notes to write, introductory letters, you name it – if it is a way of communicating, I owe someone a reply using that method. If I could, I would hire a full time assistant to take care of keeping the world at large informed of my every thought, deed or feeling.
With all the communication media needing to be feed – and often – is it any wonder I feel like yelling “leave me alone!”? Sometimes I feel like if I don’t get unplugged I’m going to come unhinged!
There is no doubt in my mind that we (meaning Americans in general) are over connected to non-living things – our Blackberries, cell phones, computers and various social networking accounts. In the publishing industry discussing how to use social networking to gain business is the hot topic.
As Christians, we’d all do well to remember that there is only one source of power we really need. That source is God. He gives us the Holy Spirit. It is our direct cord to His power.
Jesus set an example of “unplugging” from the business of day-to-day life on the earth – and remember, He was in the business of spreading the Gospel – to plug into the source of all life, hope, power – well, the source of everything important – the Father – and to be refreshed and renewed.
Can any of us expect to have a quality Christian life on less that? So, today, I encourage you to unplug from everything that has a battery or electric cord and plug into our true source of power – God. Charge up on the Holy Spirit. The rest of the day will go much better.
I think I’m going to go now and take my own advice. Now, if I can just get Wes to stay of HIS laptop too….
Love, Nancy
Monday, April 20, 2009
PROXIMITY PART TWO
I love hugs from little kids. They hug with total abandon, squeeze as tight at they can and have no hang ups about what is or is not a respectable length of time to hold on. Much better than the kind of side-ways hook or butt out hugs we are forced to do as adults for the sake of propriety.
Ever pull back from a one of those little kid hugs only to realize that the remainder of the banana they’d been eating was now matted into the back of your hair? I have often regretted not checking those chubby little hands before letting them around my neck.
Last week we discussed the benefits of proximity to God. Now let’s tackle the benefits of proximity to other Christians and to the non-believers you hope to help. The saying goes that people don’t care what you know until they know that you care. It is an overused saying, but no less true for the ware. In order to facilitate any real change, you have to get close.
You can give money anonymously to a person or a cause, but the real work of a Christian is often down and dirty, personal and close. You may pray with a perfect stranger in a time of crisis in their life, but unless you really know someone, you aren’t going to know the situation well enough to give a prayer of real intervention and understanding. You won’t know that they are glossing over the pain or putting up a strong front when they are about to crumble. You won’t know if they are lying to themselves or you about the real truth of their needs. People sometimes need you to pray with them over things difficult to reveal – like a drug problem, an addiction to pornography, or marital difficulties. You need to be close and create a bridge of trust to get to that point.
I used to have a repairman that I trusted so much that I’d just call, tell him what was wrong and leave my door unlocked as I headed to work. I’d come home to find the item fixed and a few days later, he’d try to catch me at home to give me a bill. There was trust there. I trusted him not to steal my TV. He trusted me not to stiff him on the bill.
Apparently, he’d long ago given up deodorant – maybe even given up soap. I always knew when he was in my home, because hours later when I returned the smell of years of accumulated sweat, grime and garlic-infused meals hung in the air like the dust around Charlie Brown’s friend, Pig Pen.
Sometimes people smell bad. Sometimes they leave unpleasant things behind for us to deal with after they are gone. There is risk in getting close to people. But if we allow fear of these things to keep us from ever getting close to anyone again, how will we be able to really help, really encourage change, really grow with them, really show them God’s love?
God expects us to risk closeness to others for the sake of reflecting His light into their lives.
Getting close has probably caused you harm, pain, or trouble. Don’t give up. In the end, one saved brother is worth thousands of smashed bananas in your hair.
Love, Nancy
Ever pull back from a one of those little kid hugs only to realize that the remainder of the banana they’d been eating was now matted into the back of your hair? I have often regretted not checking those chubby little hands before letting them around my neck.
Last week we discussed the benefits of proximity to God. Now let’s tackle the benefits of proximity to other Christians and to the non-believers you hope to help. The saying goes that people don’t care what you know until they know that you care. It is an overused saying, but no less true for the ware. In order to facilitate any real change, you have to get close.
You can give money anonymously to a person or a cause, but the real work of a Christian is often down and dirty, personal and close. You may pray with a perfect stranger in a time of crisis in their life, but unless you really know someone, you aren’t going to know the situation well enough to give a prayer of real intervention and understanding. You won’t know that they are glossing over the pain or putting up a strong front when they are about to crumble. You won’t know if they are lying to themselves or you about the real truth of their needs. People sometimes need you to pray with them over things difficult to reveal – like a drug problem, an addiction to pornography, or marital difficulties. You need to be close and create a bridge of trust to get to that point.
I used to have a repairman that I trusted so much that I’d just call, tell him what was wrong and leave my door unlocked as I headed to work. I’d come home to find the item fixed and a few days later, he’d try to catch me at home to give me a bill. There was trust there. I trusted him not to steal my TV. He trusted me not to stiff him on the bill.
Apparently, he’d long ago given up deodorant – maybe even given up soap. I always knew when he was in my home, because hours later when I returned the smell of years of accumulated sweat, grime and garlic-infused meals hung in the air like the dust around Charlie Brown’s friend, Pig Pen.
Sometimes people smell bad. Sometimes they leave unpleasant things behind for us to deal with after they are gone. There is risk in getting close to people. But if we allow fear of these things to keep us from ever getting close to anyone again, how will we be able to really help, really encourage change, really grow with them, really show them God’s love?
God expects us to risk closeness to others for the sake of reflecting His light into their lives.
Getting close has probably caused you harm, pain, or trouble. Don’t give up. In the end, one saved brother is worth thousands of smashed bananas in your hair.
Love, Nancy
Sunday, April 12, 2009
THE BENEFITS OF PROXIMITY, Part One
The other day I was running errands for work – preparing for a visit from a potential client. I’m the sales person for this company, so everything about the visit of a potential client is my domain. I was waiting for 200 color copies to be run at Kinko’s and needed to pick up some items from a craft store. I planned to stop at a store I’d been to before on my way home; but, conveniently, there was one in the same shopping center as Kinko’s. The other craft store lost my business because there was one closer to Kinko’s. There was no other reason to shop at Store B instead of Store A. Both stores had what I needed. It all boiled down to proximity.
In the world of real estate the saying goes that there are three things to remember when buying – location, location, location. I take that to mean that the “where” of a place is as important as the place itself. Makes sense. For a business, the value of the business and its ability to thrive depend on where it is in relation to other thriving businesses.
So, what does this have to do with Christianity? Simply this: your value as a Christian and especially as a Christian leader is in your proximity to God. Your usefulness is directly related to your proximity to other Christians. I’ll address the first part this week and the second part next week.
God loves you. You are His child. As such, His love is unchangeable. That part of your value is unchangeable. I’m not talking about that. I’m speaking of the value you bring back to God. Does having you in His service bring God a two-fold, five-fold, ten-fold return? Or nothing at all?
God wants a return on His investment. He knows what talents He gave you. He also knows that He can’t use you unless you are close to Him. It boils down to proximity.
From the shadow of His wings, you are protected from the bumps and bruises that fighting the good fight brings. Fresh from conversation with Him, you can work smarter and not just harder in the daily fight to grow. Within the confines of His armor, Satan can’t get an arrow in edge-wise.
During this, the Passover season, while we remove the leaven of sin from our lives, and eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, lets commit ourselves to staying close the to the Father in the year ahead. Let’s commit to a new year of closer proximity to Him – a closer walk each day – so that we can be used in His service.
Living a daily life nearer to the Father, the Spirit can flow freely from us and we can bring Him fruit – 20 fold, 60 fold or 100 fold. It all boils down to proximity.
Love, Nancy
In the world of real estate the saying goes that there are three things to remember when buying – location, location, location. I take that to mean that the “where” of a place is as important as the place itself. Makes sense. For a business, the value of the business and its ability to thrive depend on where it is in relation to other thriving businesses.
So, what does this have to do with Christianity? Simply this: your value as a Christian and especially as a Christian leader is in your proximity to God. Your usefulness is directly related to your proximity to other Christians. I’ll address the first part this week and the second part next week.
God loves you. You are His child. As such, His love is unchangeable. That part of your value is unchangeable. I’m not talking about that. I’m speaking of the value you bring back to God. Does having you in His service bring God a two-fold, five-fold, ten-fold return? Or nothing at all?
God wants a return on His investment. He knows what talents He gave you. He also knows that He can’t use you unless you are close to Him. It boils down to proximity.
From the shadow of His wings, you are protected from the bumps and bruises that fighting the good fight brings. Fresh from conversation with Him, you can work smarter and not just harder in the daily fight to grow. Within the confines of His armor, Satan can’t get an arrow in edge-wise.
During this, the Passover season, while we remove the leaven of sin from our lives, and eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, lets commit ourselves to staying close the to the Father in the year ahead. Let’s commit to a new year of closer proximity to Him – a closer walk each day – so that we can be used in His service.
Living a daily life nearer to the Father, the Spirit can flow freely from us and we can bring Him fruit – 20 fold, 60 fold or 100 fold. It all boils down to proximity.
Love, Nancy
Saturday, March 28, 2009
IF YOU ARE STUPID...
My husband has many sayings – phrases or sentences – for which he is well known, for example: serious yellow, which I just taught to three rambunctious preteen boys. (It’ll have to be explained at a later time.) But the one that comes to mind today is “God will let you die if you are stupid.”
I’m thinking about it in relation to recent, tragic death from a head injury acquired in a skiing accident of the actress Natasha Richardson. She was relatively young (seen from my 50-year-old eyes anyway), beautiful, smart, talented, wealthy, athletic (or at least fit) and healthy. She died, when she could have survived, because she thought she was okay when she wasn’t.
Reports say that she turned away an ambulance, saying she was fine. Indeed, she felt fine and, for a while, acted just fine. But she was NOT okay. The trauma to the head was worse than she knew. A CT scan could have told that. The results of the injury worsened while giving no warning. If she was in the hospital under observation they might have caught the worsening symptoms. I grieve for any family experiencing the loss of a loved one.
The Spiritual lesson for Christians is that we cannot assume we are okay when, in fact, we are not. On our own we are NEVER okay. We need God to be okay. Without God, we are destined for death, we are lost, we are condemned, we are not okay. But we may not know it. Without God’s word, the Bible, we don’t know what sin is or even that we are sinners. Without the Holy Spirit we are not convicted of our sin (John 16:8). Without the sacrifice of Jesus, our sin cannot be removed (John 1:29) – we cannot be healed (Isaiah 53:5) – we cannot be restored to relationship with the Father – we cannot have life, let alone abundant life (John 10:10).
It is the Passover season – a time when we can and should focus on exactly how un-okay we are – a time to focus on our need for external help. It is a time to examine our lives and evaluate our progress.
The word of God is our CT scan. The Holy Spirit is our monitoring system. God is our doctor – the judge of whether or not we are well. Jesus is our life-saving medicine. Don’t turn them away.
God will let you die if you are stupid and turn away the help offered to you – although He is going to do everything He can to get you to accept the help you need. He just won’t throw you forcibly into the ambulance.
Don’t be stupid.
Love, Nancy
I’m thinking about it in relation to recent, tragic death from a head injury acquired in a skiing accident of the actress Natasha Richardson. She was relatively young (seen from my 50-year-old eyes anyway), beautiful, smart, talented, wealthy, athletic (or at least fit) and healthy. She died, when she could have survived, because she thought she was okay when she wasn’t.
Reports say that she turned away an ambulance, saying she was fine. Indeed, she felt fine and, for a while, acted just fine. But she was NOT okay. The trauma to the head was worse than she knew. A CT scan could have told that. The results of the injury worsened while giving no warning. If she was in the hospital under observation they might have caught the worsening symptoms. I grieve for any family experiencing the loss of a loved one.
The Spiritual lesson for Christians is that we cannot assume we are okay when, in fact, we are not. On our own we are NEVER okay. We need God to be okay. Without God, we are destined for death, we are lost, we are condemned, we are not okay. But we may not know it. Without God’s word, the Bible, we don’t know what sin is or even that we are sinners. Without the Holy Spirit we are not convicted of our sin (John 16:8). Without the sacrifice of Jesus, our sin cannot be removed (John 1:29) – we cannot be healed (Isaiah 53:5) – we cannot be restored to relationship with the Father – we cannot have life, let alone abundant life (John 10:10).
It is the Passover season – a time when we can and should focus on exactly how un-okay we are – a time to focus on our need for external help. It is a time to examine our lives and evaluate our progress.
The word of God is our CT scan. The Holy Spirit is our monitoring system. God is our doctor – the judge of whether or not we are well. Jesus is our life-saving medicine. Don’t turn them away.
God will let you die if you are stupid and turn away the help offered to you – although He is going to do everything He can to get you to accept the help you need. He just won’t throw you forcibly into the ambulance.
Don’t be stupid.
Love, Nancy
Saturday, March 21, 2009
IS THAT RELEVANT?
Bobby Jindal, Republican Governor of Louisiana, in a recent Q&A session featured in Time Magazine was asked what changes were needed in order for the GOP (rejected by voters in Nov. 09) to become relevant again. He responded, “Republicans need to worry less about fixing the party and more about what we can do to fix our country.” Good answer and great advice for churches (and organized religion in general) today.
We’ve gone the Joel Osteen route – basically the spiritualized version of “Think and Grow Rich” -- God wants you to be healthy and wealthy and if you are not, you just don’t know God wants you to be healthy and wealthy.
We’ve gone the Mega-church route – making the church experience as hip and impersonal as a rock concert, shared with thousands of strangers, repeated twice on Saturday night and four times on Sunday – praise, cry, pay, repeat…
It is a far cry from 12 Apostles going door-to-door, taking the message of personal salvation to synagogues, the steps of pagan temples and the streets of the market place. What connection does a health and wealth message have to the gospel? Does experiencing pack-mentality conversion make it more real? Will a Vegas-style light show set to a contemporary Christian rock beat move you to actually change your sinful ways? None. Nope. Seriously doubt it.
But does any of this make church more RELEVANT in society today? I don’t think so. Does it make the gospel more relevant? Not possible. It always has been and always will be relevant. The good news that Jesus died for your sins, creating a way out of whatever issue you face, no less relevant to the world today than it was in 30 AD.
Church and Christians, who worry (as I do) about dwindling attendance and the aging attendees, don’t need to focus on making church or Christianity more relevant. We need to do one thing – STOP trying to fix church and go back to teaching how to fix sin. Two sentences just about cover it: Jesus died for your past sins. Now, go and “sin no more.”
Smooth words, great music, and quick services aren’t cutting it. Church attendance is down in literally every Christian denomination.
Fix people -- fix broken, sinful, hurting, lost, hungry, angry, suffering people -- and church will fix itself. Greed. Selfishness. Hate. Pride. All the sins that plagued mankind when Jesus walked the earth in human form, are still causing our suffering today. I challenge you to find one national problem that cannot be boiled down to one of these, running rampant and unchecked.
Maybe how you reach people is different – blog, Twitter or Facebook the message, send out a podcast, post a YouTube video – but the message is the same one that Jesus and all the prophets before and all the Apostles after, brought: “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden (carry heavy burdens) and I will give you rest.”
How can THAT be any LESS relevant in our society today?
With Love, Nancy
We’ve gone the Joel Osteen route – basically the spiritualized version of “Think and Grow Rich” -- God wants you to be healthy and wealthy and if you are not, you just don’t know God wants you to be healthy and wealthy.
We’ve gone the Mega-church route – making the church experience as hip and impersonal as a rock concert, shared with thousands of strangers, repeated twice on Saturday night and four times on Sunday – praise, cry, pay, repeat…
It is a far cry from 12 Apostles going door-to-door, taking the message of personal salvation to synagogues, the steps of pagan temples and the streets of the market place. What connection does a health and wealth message have to the gospel? Does experiencing pack-mentality conversion make it more real? Will a Vegas-style light show set to a contemporary Christian rock beat move you to actually change your sinful ways? None. Nope. Seriously doubt it.
But does any of this make church more RELEVANT in society today? I don’t think so. Does it make the gospel more relevant? Not possible. It always has been and always will be relevant. The good news that Jesus died for your sins, creating a way out of whatever issue you face, no less relevant to the world today than it was in 30 AD.
Church and Christians, who worry (as I do) about dwindling attendance and the aging attendees, don’t need to focus on making church or Christianity more relevant. We need to do one thing – STOP trying to fix church and go back to teaching how to fix sin. Two sentences just about cover it: Jesus died for your past sins. Now, go and “sin no more.”
Smooth words, great music, and quick services aren’t cutting it. Church attendance is down in literally every Christian denomination.
Fix people -- fix broken, sinful, hurting, lost, hungry, angry, suffering people -- and church will fix itself. Greed. Selfishness. Hate. Pride. All the sins that plagued mankind when Jesus walked the earth in human form, are still causing our suffering today. I challenge you to find one national problem that cannot be boiled down to one of these, running rampant and unchecked.
Maybe how you reach people is different – blog, Twitter or Facebook the message, send out a podcast, post a YouTube video – but the message is the same one that Jesus and all the prophets before and all the Apostles after, brought: “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden (carry heavy burdens) and I will give you rest.”
How can THAT be any LESS relevant in our society today?
With Love, Nancy
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