I haven't posted anything for awhile, but after watching the news over the last week, I'm feeling compelled to vent a bit. A pastor has been in the news for recommending that parents beat any children that "act gay." (whether they are or not) Another pastor today is all over the internet indicating that the downfall of America was when women were given the right to vote. Yesterday, some very prominent pastors had egg on their face because they invited the son of a preacher to speak and engage people in financial investments that left countless people without anything and facing foreclosure on their homes. Is this what we want people to think of the Christian community? Is this what we want people to think Jesus is like. I don't think so.

What happens when people try to turn the church into a shopping mall? Something for everyone. Something that fits their every taste. Something that tries to respond to their every whim? Sadly, that seems to be happening all over the country. Pastors indicate that they are deluged with silly stuff and petty concerns instead of being able to focus on their calling to ministry. The number of depressed pastors is increasing because of the number of people they see complaining or leaving to move on to the next "mall." As I think of our efforts as a church to focus on trying to provide an environment where people can become Jesus followers and not just a social gathering there is a feeling of climbing uphill. It isn't for everyone. Sometimes people turn away like they did with Jesus. But, to watch those who get it and dig in and join in the climb makes it all worth it.

Sometimes fatigue is a good instructor. I haven't posted for a while and much of the reason is because of family health issues that have sapped a lot of strength and time. While attending to those personal needs there has been some necessary balancing and picking and choosing of what to spend time on. One of the lessons I learned was that when you have to choose essentials, it becomes clear that some of the other things weren't as important as previously thought. In fact, sometimes a more focused approach is more effective and accomplishes greater things. This shouldn't come as a surprise, because the Bible tells stories like this (Moses, Elijah, etc.) But I'm a slow learner about some of these things. Better late than never.

As I reflect on how the Church in our culture has evolved over the years in a time when people "church shop" and ask the question, "What can the church do for me?" it strikes me as odd that we have gravitated to the point where we seem to have to do things that a local retailer does to attract business.

Why do we have to convince believers that it is important to attend worship?

Why is it necessary to convince people who believe in Christ that is important to give an offering?

Why do believers have to be prompted to share their faith story or extend an invitation?

Why do believers need to be reminded it is their time to serve in some capacity?

Did the early church wrestle with these things?

Brian McClaren, who is going to be one of the featured speakers at our denomination's General Assembly this summer, was recently interviewed about the contentiousness that often exists in church bodies. Here he gives a good answer:

Brian was asked: “You get a lot of criticism from evangelicals, yet you seem to always maintain a very winsome and open spirit. What keeps you in such a positive and calm frame of mind when just about everybody else seems agitated for one reason or another?”

His answer:

I grew up in an extremely conservative and contentious fundamentalist movement or sect. It was filled with wonderful people who loved God, but the sociology of the group depended on exclusion and exclusiveness. When I “emerged” from that exclusive fundamentalism into a broader evangelicalism, I was hoping to find less contention. And I think I did. But in recent years, I think a contentious form of fundamentalism has been making a comeback and is in the process of a takeover attempt in evangelicalism. (I think similar movements are afoot in Catholicism and Mainline Protestantism too.) When I see this, I am not impressed by it, because I grew up with it and saw what it does to people.

I’ve learned in my own experience that it’s way easier to think oneself right than to be loving. So Paul had it dead right when he said that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up, and that without love, no matter how right you are, you gain nothing but produce a lot of noise.

So really, I’m grateful for my religious heritage in fundamentalism. It taught me many things including that if you live by contention – theological swordplay, if you will – you will die by it. If you seek to argue and fight against an argumentative and combative spirit, you become what you are against. (Paul said that if you bite and devour each other, you’ll consume each other, which describes our situation pretty well.) So my background forced me to seek a better way—what Paul calls the most excellent way, the way of love, the way of the Sermon on the Mount that transcends the way of the scribes and Pharisees.

Of course, I often trip up and slip back into things I am trying to grow beyond, but even that experience of failure humbles a person and makes it harder to try to put oneself in the position of an equal, much less a superior, in relation to one’s fellow Christians. I guess so much comes back to Paul’s words in Philippians 2, where he urges us to consider others as better than ourselves and to follow Jesus downward into servanthood.

Isn't it funny how things can run away from you? Any project or organization has the capacity  to evolve quickly into something that has nothing to do with original intent. Churches are no different. They can become shopping malls for programs or experiences, entertainment, clubs, or dating sites. They can be incredibly busy and yet not sure of what is being accomplished. For this reason, it is important for churches to step back and ask questions such as, "why are we here?" "If we disappeared tomorrow, would anyone notice?" Recapturing the central task of raising up Jesus followers and helping people lives become transformed into God's likeness seems rather dull to some people. Not always a lot of fireworks. But when it is your life, your child's life, your spouse's life that goes through a change into significance and meaning, it is everything. We're staying the course in trying to help that happen.

A large number of people spent a lot of time putting plans together for our Holy Week services. And it showed. But none of that counts unless you have a sense that God showed up. Ever since our last Sunday service ended, we have received reports and read on Facebook that it was clear that God was in the house. My heart was warmed with all the baptisms, the mood even of the guests, and the energy of the worship. It was truly a mountain top experience.

There are many who are lamenting the stresses that the modern day church is experiencing. The culture shift, the changes in communication, the demanding lifestyles of everyone, etc. But in some ways I think it is a good thing for the church, our church. No longer can we sail along because of the propping up by the culture (Wednesday church night anyone?). Instead we must focus on what we are about and be really clear about why we are here. As much as we may long for the days of the church being our social center, we must embrace the fact that we are a community of faith trying to reach out to a broken world and trying to grow in our own discipleship and that's it. I think exciting days are ahead.

Today I received a publication from our denomination that shared a sobering statistic: "Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003." That strikes me as good and bad news both. As an information junkie, I love having access to information that I used to have to ride my bike to the local library to find. I love being able to Google a word and get pages of information when I'm preparing a sermon. But the downside is that it is like going to an unending buffet. When there is so much food, the good stuff can get lost. When there is so much information it sometimes becomes hard to find the wisdom. So much of our information today is not in the form of facts but opinions and editorials. Newspapers announce the results of polls as though they define reality. My prayer is that we continue to pursue ways of discovering the Wisdom of God in the midst of the avalanche of info.

Today I was listening to a presentation while riding in a car and the speaker shared a fascinating, although very simple, guideline for how to think about your life. He said that his father had instructed him- "When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." I think Jesus would concur.

When I grew up in church, it was one of the key social centers of  my life. My friends were there, many of the social events I looked forward to were held there (youth group, potlucks, Hanging of the Greens, etc.). It was a time in which if you built a church building you could almost count on the fact that people would come. It is what people did. Interestingly enough, in spite of all the time I spent at church (lots) I moved away from home after high school pretty much biblically ignorant and not very well developed in my faith life. I was a good church-person, but not a very dependable follower of Jesus. 

I've come to believe that it wasn't because people didn't try. I had hard working youth sponsors and teachers. I believe it was diluted because church was so much more than a training ground for the faith. Today, you can build a church building and open to an empty sanctuary. The church is no longer the social center of the community in most places. People often find their friends in other places. And, in some ways, that might be just as well. Without trying to fulfill that role, it allows us to focus on the really important stuff... building disciples. While there is still a part of me that probably longs for that sentimental time and how it felt, I wouldn't want to duplicate it today at the expense of people growing in their faith and discovering God on deeper levels.  

I've always thought that farming was one of the most demanding occupations that exists. Not necessarily because it is always physically demanding but because of the trust it requires. You prepare the ground, plant seeds, fertilize, and then wait. You have no control over the heat, the moisture, flooding, or winds. You don't have total control over what seeds will take root. And then the harvest comes and you work like crazy to get it in before freezing weather sets in. And then you have no control over the market.

Being a teacher or Vacation Bible School leader is a lot like farming. We know what we hope will happen, but there are a lot of things we can't control. In obedience to scripture, we just plant, fertilize as best we can and hope that faith is born. It takes a great deal of faith. This last week our VBS was one of the best ever. A lot of good planting going on. Great volunteers and a wonderful spirit among the kids. Now that it is in our re-view mirror, we'll continue to fertilize through Bible study and youth group, but beyond that we pray and wait.

One of the values of having not only a vacation but some sabbatical time to reflect is the realization of how much energy and time is spent in simply keeping the machinery running in church life. The weekly deadlines, emails, financials, meetings, phone calls, communications through various means, and did I mention meetings? While all of those are important I am reminded that they sometimes can cover up some of the more important questions. "If Jesus were sitting in this meeting with us, what would He want us to talk about?" "Instead of what we want to have in worship, what would God want to have present in us to decide whether to show up?" "Is my relationship with God any different than it was a year ago?" "Do I keep wanting the message to conform to what I already believe or am I ready to be challenged to grow?"

Just like everyone else, I find it easy to just fall into the weeklyl rhythm of things and forget to ask the important questions. But to do so is disastrous. I'm gratefull for the time and distance to reflect.

Jesus went into the wilderness for a reason. I usually think of Jesus' activity as simply trying to get away from the crowds or needing a quiet place to pray, which was surely an issue. But I think 'getting away' is necessary for perspective as well. When you are constantly in the middle of the flow of things, it is difficult to keep a sense of reality. Remember Elijah when he was on the run from Jezebel? When he finally had his chance to complain to God, he says, "I'm the only one left!" But God reminds him that there are thousands who have not bowed to baal. Perspective had been lost. Whether it be a long lunch hour once in a while, or a trip out of state, or a weekend away, we need to balance our lives and give God a chance to show us how many people still stand with us, what the size of our problem is, that the world can go on without us for a while. Not a bad thing to learn.

Today a friend of mine who is engaged in interim ministry stopped by and we had a chance for a brief visit. He had just attended an interim ministry training conference. The leader at the conference said that of the 3600 Disciple churches in our country, only 23 (yes you read that right) churches had averaged a 5% growth rate over a 5 year period. I guess we can consider it a blessing that we may one of the 23. But it is a mixed blessing at best. It means that the status of how things are in the larger picture of things is pretty grim. We are living in an age where just "doing church" or trying to make it into the social center it once was isn't going to cut it. But growth won't come because we want more people. Growth will come because we fulfill the mission of Christ

In a phone call with a friend from the East coast this weekend, he mentioned that at a recent conference (UCC) discussing confirmation programs, the presenter said that it was time to think differently. We have spent years training people to be good church people and have launched many good programs, but it is time to focus primarily on making disciples. I say "amen" to that.

We are very good at measuring income and attendance, but we have been reluctant to measure other things, such as whether people are maturing in their relationship to Christ. Do they know how to pray? Do they take initiative in reading the Bible themselves? Do they have a desire to share their faith story? Do they behave any differently because they belong to Christ? Do they have a heart to serve in some way? Do they know their spiritual gifts? I think this is more than just a "return to basics." It is a return to the central call of Christ.

They teach a lot of good stuff in seminary. But when you get into the real world, you find out there are a few things that were missed:

In trying to start something new, you often lose people or show decline before you begin to show positive results.

No matter how faithful and honest you try to be, someone will probably not like you anyway.

The natural trend in church life is to forget the mission. Vision leaks.

Over time, the temptation for pastors and leaders alike is to settle.

Much of ministry falls apart not because of bad planning or bad ideas and execution, but poor communication.

Churches have been lured into thinking that the Church primarily exists to meet their needs, not reach people to connect them to God.

Just because people are happy at your church doesn't mean they will be good stewards. They need to be taught.

Welcome to the newly designed Grace web site! There are certain things that we have learned over the years.
Life is complicated and we don't need a complex web site to make life tougher.
Communication is getting more difficult. We want you to find out what you need and no more.
Communicaton changes. You'll notice that this site will go through re-designs on a regular basis to keep it interesting and enjoyable to read.
As much of a fan of trivia as I am, we won't fill these spaces with unimportant stuff. If you see it here, it has a reason.
Enjoy. And take advantage of the things this site points to.