I often speculate about the future of the church in our local communities and broader culture. What will it look like to be the church in 10, 15, or 20 years? What will our established churches become? What new ways will the Christian faith be expressed, practiced, shared, and experienced? There are a few observations I have that inform my speculations as I think about the future. Let me be clear, these speculations are not and should not be the determining factor of "how" and "why" the church should evolve or change. The "how" and "why" for the church is always God's Spirit. But making observations and looking into the future as best we can will help us see what it is we are doing that must change and what it is that must not change.
My main observation about the effectiveness of the church is that authentic and engaged relationships are the only thing that will sustainably advance the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Put another way, if we as the church do not engage in authentic relationships with new people who are currently disengaged or alienated from the Good news of God's Kingdom, the gospel will not advance in a sustainable way. Programs, ministries, acts of benevolence, publicity, and worship services are only as effective as the relationships they produce, nurture, and strengthen.
This is why I believe our focus must be on establishing and strengthening relationships more than maintaining facilities, building staff, and producing programs. If you think about it, the "success" stories of any program or ministry is a story of relationships. If relationships are indeed the point and method of the gospel itself (which I believe they are), then the church's focus should be on relationships. If our call is to extend the gospel hope to those who do not have it, then our focus should be on building relationships of authenticity with those people.
The challenge with this relational focus in the church is that it requires commitment from members, many of which never signed up for such intensive and personal responsibility. The good news is that all of us were made for relationships - they come naturally out of us and feed us as they take place. If we can somehow create opportunities for disciples in established churches to naturally initiate relationships with those who are not disciples, we may have a future after all.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
It starts small
You may have heard a line from that hymn once upon a time "let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me". For years, I thought that was kind of a cop-out. I'm all for personal peace, but we'll never have peace on earth if we only worry about ourselves! We have to get others to be peaceful too! But as I grow-up (a perpetual process for me) I'm starting to believe that if I really live out the values I care about the most in my daily life and in every circumstance, there is the power to send ripples across the globe.
It starts small. Jesus started small - on purpose. He could have preached to thousands of people every week for more than just 3 years (instead it's only recorded that he did this a handful of times). He could have built the best church ever and established worldwide programs and ministries over the course of a rich and lengthy tenure as Savior-in-residence. But he went small. Very small. His locale was no where near the center of the world at that time, his clientele were far poorer and less educated than the movers and shakers of the day, and his preferred method of transferring his ethos and kingdom on to future generations did not include vast networks of thousands - it was made of 12 people. This was small stuff. Why only 12? Why in Galilee? Why only 3 years?
If I had 3 years and was stuck in the hill country of Texas, would I spend the vast majority of my time with the same 12 people? Is that really the most effective way to begin a global, earth-shifting movement? Apparently it was the perfect way. It started small. From what we can tell the early christian movement (which exploded to include a good half of the Roman Empire in less than 300 years) never had a church with over a hundred people. Maybe they would gather in big groups sometimes, but their method of discipleship was modeled after the one they were disciples of: KEEP IT SMALL.
For Christians today, we must start even smaller than 12. We must begin to personally live out, embody, and radically display our Kingdom values in every day life. If we can do that we are exceptional among the saints. If we can then extend such Kingdom living into our immediate family we accomplished a great thing. If our family can then witness to and teach a few other families to live out the reign of Christ in the world, we will have become the epicenter for transformation in our community. And if a church can be mobilized to act according to its gospel principles and Jesus culture - it will do nothing short of change the world.
You see, spreading the gospel and bringing light into the world is not about getting more people together. Its about having people actually live out what Jesus taught in their daily lives - with their families, at their workplaces, in their financial decisions, in their social circles, and during their trips to the grocery store. Do it right - beginning with your life, see where it goes and who takes it up for their life, and who knows what kind of things will happen. It starts small.
It starts small. Jesus started small - on purpose. He could have preached to thousands of people every week for more than just 3 years (instead it's only recorded that he did this a handful of times). He could have built the best church ever and established worldwide programs and ministries over the course of a rich and lengthy tenure as Savior-in-residence. But he went small. Very small. His locale was no where near the center of the world at that time, his clientele were far poorer and less educated than the movers and shakers of the day, and his preferred method of transferring his ethos and kingdom on to future generations did not include vast networks of thousands - it was made of 12 people. This was small stuff. Why only 12? Why in Galilee? Why only 3 years?
If I had 3 years and was stuck in the hill country of Texas, would I spend the vast majority of my time with the same 12 people? Is that really the most effective way to begin a global, earth-shifting movement? Apparently it was the perfect way. It started small. From what we can tell the early christian movement (which exploded to include a good half of the Roman Empire in less than 300 years) never had a church with over a hundred people. Maybe they would gather in big groups sometimes, but their method of discipleship was modeled after the one they were disciples of: KEEP IT SMALL.
For Christians today, we must start even smaller than 12. We must begin to personally live out, embody, and radically display our Kingdom values in every day life. If we can do that we are exceptional among the saints. If we can then extend such Kingdom living into our immediate family we accomplished a great thing. If our family can then witness to and teach a few other families to live out the reign of Christ in the world, we will have become the epicenter for transformation in our community. And if a church can be mobilized to act according to its gospel principles and Jesus culture - it will do nothing short of change the world.
You see, spreading the gospel and bringing light into the world is not about getting more people together. Its about having people actually live out what Jesus taught in their daily lives - with their families, at their workplaces, in their financial decisions, in their social circles, and during their trips to the grocery store. Do it right - beginning with your life, see where it goes and who takes it up for their life, and who knows what kind of things will happen. It starts small.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Does the Church believe in Resurrection?
We don't like to die. In fact, we avoid the end of life like it could kill us. But the core of the gospel message is that death is not the end, it is the beginning. The central moment of Christ's life isn't his triumphal entry into Jerusalem or his feeding of the 5,000, but his lonely death on the cross.
Why is this moment the climax of the gospel? Because it exhibits a love that is eternal, victorious, and powerful. By laying down our lives, we will find eternal life. Jesus puts it this way in John 12: "24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
Do we believe this? Do we actually believe that if we try to survive we'll actually die and that if we lay down our life we'll actually live? Such a paradox takes tremendous faith in a God that we cannot see. Jesus had this faith with his own life and ministry. And his faithfulness was rewarded with the Resurrection. He laid down one life to take up another life. He had faith that dying was the gateway to living.
I believe the modern church has come to a time when it must choose to die if it is going to live. The mainstream institutional church must give up its current form and die if it has a chance of living in a new form down the road. But we must not die because it is our only way to live, we must die because we have a savior who died and He is also our Lord, Master, and Guide. We must die not just as individuals but as a church if we are to follow in the way of Jesus.
It will take tremendous faith for the church to realize that the most successful action it can take in the eyes of God is to lay down its life. We think that by avoiding death and preserving the church as we've known it is honoring God, but it is actually an act of faithlessness.
We must die to church being about us. We must die to a church with walls and beautiful buildings. We must die to a church that exists to meet the needs of the saints rather than equipping them for the work of ministry in the world. We must die to churches that are refugee camps for a people who are still fighting for a Christian culture rather than an alternative Kingdom. We must die to spending our money and energy on things that make us comfortable. We must die to the very way of doing church that many of us have come to call home over these last centuries.
But I believe that if we die to ourselves, we will find eternal life and the gospel will go on in ways we could have never imagined. The church that dies is the church that is resurrected. Do you believe in the Resurrection, Church?
Why is this moment the climax of the gospel? Because it exhibits a love that is eternal, victorious, and powerful. By laying down our lives, we will find eternal life. Jesus puts it this way in John 12: "24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."
Do we believe this? Do we actually believe that if we try to survive we'll actually die and that if we lay down our life we'll actually live? Such a paradox takes tremendous faith in a God that we cannot see. Jesus had this faith with his own life and ministry. And his faithfulness was rewarded with the Resurrection. He laid down one life to take up another life. He had faith that dying was the gateway to living.
I believe the modern church has come to a time when it must choose to die if it is going to live. The mainstream institutional church must give up its current form and die if it has a chance of living in a new form down the road. But we must not die because it is our only way to live, we must die because we have a savior who died and He is also our Lord, Master, and Guide. We must die not just as individuals but as a church if we are to follow in the way of Jesus.
It will take tremendous faith for the church to realize that the most successful action it can take in the eyes of God is to lay down its life. We think that by avoiding death and preserving the church as we've known it is honoring God, but it is actually an act of faithlessness.
We must die to church being about us. We must die to a church with walls and beautiful buildings. We must die to a church that exists to meet the needs of the saints rather than equipping them for the work of ministry in the world. We must die to churches that are refugee camps for a people who are still fighting for a Christian culture rather than an alternative Kingdom. We must die to spending our money and energy on things that make us comfortable. We must die to the very way of doing church that many of us have come to call home over these last centuries.
But I believe that if we die to ourselves, we will find eternal life and the gospel will go on in ways we could have never imagined. The church that dies is the church that is resurrected. Do you believe in the Resurrection, Church?
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