I was just reading the story of the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. You know the story. It started with “Let my people go” and the stubbornness of Pharaoh followed by plagues. Finally, after God killing off the first born of Egypt, Pharaoh let them go. The chosen people packed all their stuff and left.
But Pharaoh had second thoughts when he realized there would be no one to build his temples, no one to clean and keep up the property. There would be no one to harvest the crops. It was a bad thing to be on the other side of that great Exodus. I can see the panic in the faces of all the Egyptians because the very people they had depended to do the menial and the mundane were moving out.
Sort of like what is happening in the American Church today. Those who have been the ones to carry the burdens are dying off, and the next generation is not there to pick up the slack. The Church looks out the palace window and only see a massive exodus.
Like the Egyptian’s, the church has seen the warnings. Great plagues of modernism, relativism, and entertainment was not enough to keep the keepers of the kingdom placated. I can almost hear the travail of the ones left behind as they see the numbers dwindle, the cash flow slows, and the talent was disappearing. Like Pharaoh, the leaders figured if we do one more program or one more campaign we can make do with what we have. New efforts are made to entice the fence sitters to become the new servants now in the desert on their way to the promised land. Pharaoh tries to manufacture passion from the shrinking faithful.
There have been hundreds of surveys, papers, books, and studies as to why the numbers are just not the same. Some would blame the culture. The all permeating, all powerful perversity of the media is poisoning the culture in which we live. When people move out, or even silently simply walk softly into the night; you think that the gays and the Muslims and the Atheists and the pop stars have so screwed up the morality of the world that everyone is abandoning faith in droves.
Church this is not the reason there are fewer seats in the pews.
The world is not the problem it is the church. The world in which the Church lives has always been bad. If anything, it is easier now than any other time in history.
So what is the problem?
First the church has imperceptibly moved from its very foundation. We have become one more infotainment venue. The stage, and the lights, and the bands, and the video screens, have all just become white noise to those really seeking to encounter God. In the effort to be more relevant we have become more irrelevant. The morning service has become no more than ear and eye candy for an hour, but they have so little relevance in people’s daily lives that more and more of them are taking a pass.
Yeah, the songs are cool and the show is great, but ultimately Sunday morning isn’t really making a difference on Tuesday afternoon or Thursday evening, when people are wrestling with the awkward, messy, painful stuff in the trenches of life; the places where flashy video displays simply don’t help.
We can be entertained anywhere. “I can get more entertainment on TV.” Until you can give us something more than a Christian-themed performance piece—something that allows us space and breath and conversation and relationship—many of us are going to sleep in and stay away.
Second on the list of problems is the very language we use is exclusionary. There is a spiritualized insider language that puts distance between the haves and have nots. And putting them on a big video display does not make it better.
Our language should be very simple. Churchy words and about eschatological frameworks and theological systems don’t help. Talk to them plainly about love, and joy, and forgiveness, and death, and peace, and God, and they’ll be all ears. Keep up the church-speak, and you’ll be talking to an empty room soon.
We need you to speak in a language that we can understand. There’s a message there worth sharing, but it’s hard to hear above your verbal pyrotechnics.
Next in my list of issues is that the church sees itself as a building. The walls are not sacred. The high tech sound system, and video displays are not the church. Hiring a children’s director because no one seems to love children is not the church. All the money seems to be spent on the things inside of the church, but the 140 some odd waking hours a Christian has cannot be met with one or two hours of entertainment in well-appointed pews with the temperature just right to keep us from falling asleep.
If our goal is to have better Jesus-stuff than the church down the street’s Jesus-stuff, then we have missed the mark. Most of the churches money, time, energy seems to be about luring people into the church instead of reaching people where they are.
The church needs to reach out, to forsake the family centers and go to the families that are hurting. The greatest mission field is just a few feet outside of the walls.
While I am on my soap box, let me tell you the church is fighting the wrong battles. I know from firsthand experience that the church likes to fight. Onward Christian Soldiers. We know you like to fight, Church. The problem you are fighting the wrong battles. The fights you choose are just not worthy of your energy. It is easier to put up a sign against the latest social injustice. Or even worse, you pick fights between yourselves in the name of theological orthodoxy. We make stands against all kinds of evil. From homosexuality to what entertainment should be viewed by the masses. And in the meantime there are hungry on our streets. Every day we see a world suffocated by poverty, and racism, and violence, and bigotry, and hunger; and in the face of that stuff, you get awfully, frighteningly quiet. We wish you were as courageous in those fights, because then we’d feel like coming alongside you; then we’d feel like going to war with you.
I don’t know where I found this but it rings true, “Church, we need you to stop being warmongers with the trivial and pacifists in the face of the terrible.”
The last reason the pews are slowly becoming empty is that church love doesn’t look much like love. It is terribly selective. The pattern of the through the ages has followed a simple formula: 1. BELIEVE, 2. BECOME 3. BELONG. You had to believe before you allowed to become a part and once you get to a place in your life where you have arrived (become) you could find a place to belong. It was spawned out of the persecution of the church where you had to be extremely vetted to enter into the church. But I would submit we need to change. Jesus did it differently.
Jesus hung around the riff raff of society. The disciples did not believe Jesus was God until the last. They saw Him as the Messiah but not until the resurrection did they finally figure it out. Jesus’ methodology was to include everyone provide them a place to BELONG. He created a place of acceptance. Belong, Believe, Become
It feels like a big bait-and-switch sucker-deal; advertising a “Come as You Are” party, but letting us know once we’re in the door that we can’t really come as we are. We see a Jesus in the Bible who hung out with lowlifes and prostitutes and outcasts, and loved them right there, but that doesn’t seem to be your cup of tea.
There seems to be an unwritten list of do and don’ts that must be checked off before you will include some. The church seems a little exclusionary. Can the church love those that cuss and drink and get tattoos, and God forbid, vote Democrat? Is there a place for the great unwashed? Is there a place for the broken family? Is there a place for those who are sinners?
Now before you get all in a huff and label me a person that just doesn’t get it. Or start to judge me for my opinions, remember that is the problem. There is no place for disagreement, there is no place of discussion. It is your way or the highway.
Even if we are the woman in adultery, or the doubting follower, or the rebellious prodigal, or the demon-riddled young man, we can’t be anything else right now in this moment; and in this moment, we need a Church big enough, and tough enough, and loving enough; not just for us as we might one day be then, but for us as we are, now.
Maybe you’re right, Church.
Maybe I am the problem.
Maybe it is me, but me is all I’m capable of being right now, and that’s where I was really hoping you would meet me.
Category Archives: Ramblings
Rightly Dividing
I am human. I have likes and dislikes. I have preferences and predilections. I like historical understandings over hypothetical surmise. I would rather see real people in real situations over contrived and grandiose stories of dubious relevance. I want the real over perception.
I have been accused to stirring up a little dust once and awhile. But sometimes I become dissatisfied with all the plans and programs that live in the dusty edges of the church. They become the more important. The process of church growth seems to leave out the offer of God’s grace. The vital understanding of God is not in the forefront any more. I thirst after the teachings and personal encounters with God and not another emotional pulling at my heart strings by one more repetition of five or six words.
The problem is that everyone of us want to “feel good.” Bless the hearts of preachers and leaders of the church today. They have a weighty calling and ever increasing pressure to “increase the flock.” At issue is the easiest way to get people to come the doors of a church and keep that attendance is cater to the “feel good” motive. Ministers would rather empower with strength than to point out the foibles of a congregation. No one wants their pet sin to be pointed out. Much like the story of the Pastor in a rural farming town as he was shaking every hand as the congregation was going out the back door. One unkempt farmer came up to the Pastor and said, “That was a great message Pastor, it was short and about someone else.”
It is all about programs and studies. If we make the right graph in the monthly board meetings it will be enough to steer the church to success. If we can categorize, pigeon hole, and delegate enough to keep the doors open, then that is good enough. We don’t need spirit filled bible warriors. We don’t need to study to rightly divide the Word of Truth. We just need another subjective well-presented current psychobabble in three points with fill in papers in the bulletin. Don’t ask me to think, just do what is expected and that should be good enough.
Youth and children’s programs are stressed because if kids can be kept happy and entertained, mom and pop are much more likely to stay put. Serious in depth deep dive bible study and sermons about bible doctrine are avoided! Let’s cut down on all that prayer time. The Hymnal is just not relevant anymore. Crank up the canned and amplified music; made up of repeated lyrics set to the world’s latest music. Get toes to tapping and watch visitors come pouring in each Sunday. Then be sure to accentuate the emotional. Touch every psychological button possible with “feel good” sermons and viola! pretty soon a building program will be necessary. If declaring the whole counsel of God while at the same time trying to avoid the flesh is not enough to fill the pews, then let them remain empty! A few grains of wheat should be treasured above a ton of tares!
Decisions are never easy.
All my decisions no matter how they were made, have not been always the best. I have made lots of bad decisions in my life. These decisions were made when I was young and not so young. Some were made in the ministry, while others were made in the business world. I have made bad decisions pertaining to my family and even in my marriage. I have never set out to make a bad decision. My methodology of decision making changed over the years but sometimes one will raise itself up and bite me on the behind. Some bad decisions I have made resulted in personal despair and some have even been repeated with an expectation of better results; but not very often has the result changed.
So what can I do to improve my decision making process? How can I make them and significantly increase the quality?
In my experience, there are a few common factors that lead to me making a bad decision.
Haste is the enemy of good decisions – Some would say that the mark of a good leader is the ability to make a quick decision. We want to make the decision to overcome the anxiety of indecision. I often find myself wanting to make a decision just to get out of the responsibility for making it. I completely understand the need for decisions in a crisis. When the avalanche is coming your way, it is probably better to run, then to assess the percentage of survivability based on the gross weight of the mass coming in my direction. But these avalanche decisions are far and few between. I have discovered when the potential outcome is significant, however, the more time I can give to it the less likely I am to make a mistake. And the vast majority of conclusions should not be made ad hoc. In my experience, taking an extra moment has improved the outcomes. Learning when to wait, seek God, the counsel of others, and for better personal discernment is part of maturing, but can help us avoid some of the costlier bad decisions.
Analysis paralysis – In as much as we have to slow down in our analysis, so also we must not be set in stone waiting for all the information to be available. Waiting on all the facts to made available slows and even stops progress. There are times when a fast decision is easy; even prudent. If I know the right answer—if it has a Biblical basis, for example, or my conscience is clearly convicted but we become reticent to implement because it would mean a lot of work. Work for me and work for others. I’ve learned that waiting seldom makes the decision easier and often only complicates the process. There has to be a medium between not to fast and not to slow. Again, from my experience some decisions make matters worse by delaying them.
Happy People – All of the decisions I have made in the past have had people implications. I have yet to make a decision that everyone agreed with. Management, leadership, decision making is seldom the popular position to take. People pleasing as a decision motivator rarely accomplishes matters of worth. It often makes the worst decision of the options available.
Angry Decisions – I am not a very emotion person in my senior years. When I was younger you probably would have seen a completely different personality. I was angry often. I would lash out in retribution towards all that didn’t agree with me. In my mind I could hear, “I will be a better friend than an enemy.” Often emotions were the downfall of my process. If I’m angry—or emotional in any other way—I tend to overreact or under react. Emotionally based decisions, especially immediate decisions, are often ones I tend to regret later.
Without consultation – “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22). Two things here. I have worked with committees, boards, councils, and assemblies. True, I may have an opinion but I also must have the ability to allow others to change my mind. “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind has been made up,” is not a good place to be. Secondly, a part of leadership is standing alone at times, never-the-less rarely are we really alone. We should always walk in the counsel of God’s Spirit. If it is only up to me to stand in the leadership gap and none are included or even allowed to make the decision. I have come to the realization that God is there.
Reaction or Adhocracy – Ultimately I want to work from a plan. I work best from a script. A set of absolutes to which I will not move. And no matter the passion, conviction, and verbiage, there is a line I will not cross. I need to be in a place where decisions are made before before the decision is needed. We want proactive decision-making. That’s obviously not always possible, but in my experience, I’m more likely to make a bad decision when I’m reacting to a situation, rather than having thought about the scenario and my response beforehand.
Perfect Love casts out fear – We are called to walk by faith, yet fear is often a more powerful initiator. But I’ve learned, when I decide because I’m afraid to—or not to—do something, I almost always make a mistake. Following my faith gut, even when afraid, is part of leadership. And part of life.
There are probably a hundred or more different ways to make a bad decision and only a few ways to make a good decision. But for me this is my decision making list.
New Day New Chance
Every day is a new opportunity for a second chance. In life, God allows and desires U turns. Every day as you wake know that it is not over. God wants you to be more than you were yesterday. It is never too late to change. No matter how far you have come. No matter what you have become. It does not matter how big a failure you may thing you are. No matter what others may think or say about you.
God gives us two gifts. The first one is choice and the second is chance. A choice of a good life and a chance to make it the best it can be.
Every morning that you wake up it is a another chance to get it right.
Dear past: Thank you for your lessons.
Dear Future: I am now ready
Dear Now: God thank you for another chance.
Oh God of the second chance and new beginnings, here I am…. again.
Judgement
There is a difference between discernment and judgement. Further more there is a fine line between them. I believe you can and should discern that which you encounter in our lives and things in our lives. I also believe we should not and can not judge anyone. So what is the difference. In the process of discernment, if the examination includes a comparison and yourself, you have reached the line. And the moment you think yourself as being better you have crossed the line. The difference between examination and condemnation, the difference between discernment and judgement is comparison to self.
When all else fails!
When all else fails!
Not wanting to be sexist, but in my experience men have a tendency to look at the world differently than women. Men have a tendency to look at a puzzle, a problem, an obstacle, a task or even something that needs to be fixed and see not the solution but a methodology to accomplish the task and view it as a challenge to his masculinity. “Don’t confuse me with instructions, directions or even advice, I’ll make this work,” is the mantra of the manly psych.
This problem with this methodology of attack, this course of action, is this may well accomplish the end, a great number of the instances of the implementation of overwhelming force seems to have less than perfect results. For that matter, they sometimes become utter failures.
The difference in results has always been directly relational to my over estimation of my own ability and ignorance. The mantra changes to, “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is made up.” Or even worse, “the solution that I have worked out is a better solution.” And it does not matter if it needed vast quantities of super glue or duct tape.
Even with overwhelming numbers of failures, we often just keep on going. “Never surrender, never give up.” “I don’t need driving directions, I am not lost, I am just exploring.”
I would surmise from this hard headed, stubborn frame of life and its problems, it is often harder for men to simply, “trust and obey.” To allow God to give us direction. To allow guidance from the divine to measure and construct our lives.
Glory Land Train
Years and years ago a favored saint presented a reading. He was a retired actor from Hollywood. His name was Knobby Schaefer. He had numerous small parts in movies in the past and he had moved up to the big woods of Idaho to get away from the hectic life of show biz. The reading has been lost through the ages and I have tried to find the original text and the closest is a poem by Jim Swettenham penned in January 9, 2014. I know it is not the original but it is close enough. Someday I am going to get enough courage to present it in church. For now here is the poem that I found:
Stop, look and listen
Hear the steam a hissin’
The whistle it does blow
Sounding mournful and low
People in a big corral
Pushed toward train bound for hell
Some getting trampled underneath
Such wailing and gnashing of teeth
Not a pleasant sight or sound
Crammed in train that is hell-bound
Weighed by anchor and by chain
Afraid of the long black train
But look at the neighboring track
People slap each others’ back
Anxious to climb on board
The train driven by the Lord
Listen to the bell a ringin’
Hear the passengers a singin’
But why do passengers seem so few
Come aboard there is room for you
Climb aboard the ride is free
Jesus paid the ticket for you and me
Leave behind worry and pain
Take your ride on the Glory Land Train.
Thank you Knobby, you are remembered and in Heaven because of the right track.
Possessions
Not to long ago I spent 7 hours cleaning the my storage shed. You see I don’t have a garage any more because I converted into a combination study, theater, laundry, and sauna .
Every box, hammer, nail, screw, piece of camping gear, and piece of wood was moved at least three times. It seems to me the longer you live the more possessions one accumulates. As I lugged box after box to a new place in the garage I realized some of this stuff I have not used or even looked at for over a year. Why do we keep so many things?
But then again as each box was moved I took the opportunity to see what treasures I was so adamant in keeping. Found some pictures thought lost, books read but worth a second chance, wall hangings speaking from former homes; all more than their worth at a yard sale but less than a treasure.
But I will move them again and again and again. Not because of the worth defined by the rest of the world but what each mean to me.
Don’t let the unknown dictate to the known.
It is hard to find a black cat in a dark room. Especially when there is no cat.
No one should dictate personal behavior by dread of what can’t yet be seen. Often we worry about what is not even foreseeable. I will not be overcome by the the cat that is not there.
Don’t stare
Every great work, every big accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and discouragement.
Encouragement is a team sport. Its very nature is to be shared among people. If you want to be encouraged by others, start by encouraging other people. Encourage others to pursue their dreams, to recover from setbacks, and to keep on caring in the face of disappointment. Link arms with worthy partners, gaze into the future pool of possibilities, and keep going! You can glance in the rear view mirror, but DON’T STARE!