What Is Wrong With The Church: Some Simple Thoughts

Churches, like individuals, come in all shapes and sizes with varying personalities, purposes and visions. Some are full of life and draw you in, beckoning you to become a part of its' vitality. Others are cold, arid and devoid of life, causing you to want to run for the door like one might hurry to leave a mausoleum. The living won't linger among the dead. And many, many are somewhere in between, unremarkable, uninspiring and largely unattended.

Yesterday morning I attended a service at a church that is full to bursting with the life of God and I came away encouraged, challenged, and hungry for more. More of God and more of healthy body life. And just for the record, that is how I believe church should be. It seems that everyone has their own idea of what church should or should not look like and some believe that their way is the only way. But, if I might make a bold assertion, I don't believe God is the least bit offended by diversity. The last thing He is going to be crammed into is a man-sized box designed to formularize the God of the universe and the "building of His church", which is His job-not ours. (Matt 16:18)

What does offend Him is pride, which, oddly enough, is at the root of every problem that is encountered in the church. Pride elevates self over God and this is, quite simply, what threatens the furthering of the Gospel and the very life of the church. It would seem to me that if we stopped trying to do His job (building the church) and merely cooperated with Him by disregarding self, adoring Him, and loving others.....the church would explode in such a way that our finite minds never imagined. I don't pretend to have all of the answers and I don't even know what such cooperation with Him should necessarily look like. I suspect it will look gloriously different in different places. But always is will be devoid of pride. Always His children would refuse to focus on what they find disagreeable in the church and choose to focus on all that is good and right in His Face. Simplistic, I know, but I am foolish enough to believe that the Gospel was intended to be just that.

Your thoughts?

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Sexy Church

I read an article over the weekend about a church in the rural Alabama town of Good Hope that really grabbed my attention. Apparently Daystar Church's pastor of nine years, Jerry Lawson, has launched a month-long teaching series called "Great Sex: God's Way" and has even rented billboard space in their tiny town to advertise it. And some folks in Good Hope are feeling less than hopeful about it.

The concerns that were cited are, and I am nut-shelling here, that "sex should be discussed at home and in schools-not in church", "this is just a fancy marketing scheme to get people to come to their church", and finally-and I quote- "Paul said preach the Gospel. Talking about sex ain't gonna get nobody to heaven." The last quote was from another pastor in that town.

Jerry Lawson took over the leadership of Daystar Church, which was then running less than 100 in attendance, and has grown that church to over 2,000, which is more than Good Hope's total population. Forgive me for once again tossing my opinions about but, friends, as I read these criticisms of Daystar Church, I smell a Pharisee or two.

Certainly there is much debate about church growth strategies and then there is the whole "mega-church versus small church" discussion that I find more than a little tiresome. This is just wasting breath arguing over non-essentials when the church should be about making disciples-not critiquing how other churches are going about making disciples. Sheeesh! It would seem to me that the issues some are having with this church in Alabama are more about that issue than about sex. But for those who are troubled with the church addressing the topic of sex, I have just a few words. WAKE UP!!!!

As a former pastor, I have spent countless hours helping couples deal with sexual issues and it IS a topic the church should address. Jesus didn't just commission us to "preach repentance." He commissioned us to make disciples (Matt28:19-20) and, while that begins with repentance, it does not end there. We have to teach people how to live, how to grow in vital relationship with God and then in relationship with others. God made sex. He is not offended or embarrassed by it, and He wants married people to enjoy it like crazy!!! If the church refuses to talk about it, the problems won't go away and the destruction of marriages in the church will continue to be equal with those outside of the church. We must equip the people in every area of life and see each come to a place of wholeness and healing that each might, in turn, bring the very same healing and wholeness to those in their own sphere of influence. ( 2Tim 4:2)

What do you think? Should the church address issues of sexuality?

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Church Quest

The search continues for a church home for our family. We had our second Sunday at church "B". Church "A" fell off the radar for a number of reasons, the most important being that we sensed it is not where God wants us. Church "B" has our attention and we are just listening for God's direction. I know that we could choose most any church and God would be fine with it, but I truly do believe in divine appointments with others and we want to connect with the body here in Columbus that will expedite His Kingdom plans.
Even as I write this, I know it sounds religious and I hate that but I don't have an "unreligious" way of expressing these thoughts. It still feels so strange to sit in the congregation and be a "church consumer". I don't want to be that. I want to be "planted" where He desires me and my family to be. A friend of ours who serves on a church staff told us that we are sausage-makers. He said that someone who has ever made sausage will never eat it. They know what goes into it. I see his point, especially now. We have pastored churches and we know what goes into it so we will never be satisfied to just "consume". But I don't want it to be true. And I don't ever want to just consume. I want to always be in the middle of "doing and being" the will of God. His grace has brought us to this point, when we pastored and when we didn't, and He will carry us on.

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Fearless Heretics

There are moments when I question the passion that I carry. Most people have a passion for something...something that captivates the quiet moments of the mind's private reverie. For me it has always been women and leadership. In his book, Tribes, Seth Godin writes this: "In a battle between two ideas, the best one doesn't necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it."

This statement haunts me because for so long I was not fearless in regard to my passion to see women free to lead as God truly intends. I thought I was the only one on Earth (in church circles, that is) to hold such beliefs, beliefs that must surely be unGodly and evil and wrong. Since discovering the truth about it, I still feel at times that I am alone, although my disclosure has certainly aroused the passions of a few other women and men who have boldly declared their agreement. And while I am still unclear as to where this passion and this resolve will lead me, I do know that it is with fearlessness that I must move forward.

The truth about fear is that it never truly leaves. When banished from the spotlight of someone's life, it finds contentment lurking in the shadows and taunting from the sidelines. Godin asserts that the fear must be drowned out by something greater, by the all-consuming passion of the human soul. A passion that was put there, inside of you and me, from the beginning of time by the God of all creation who knows where His passion inside of you will lead.

And so I pray that He will connect me with the "tribe" I am to lead and that I can help give voice to other men and women who carry this same passion, that we might all make a difference in the church, in the marketplace and in the arenas where we each have influence. I pray for you, too, that you will become more than familiar with that "thing" deep inside of you that you long to see made right. May the "fearless heretic" within you come out and make a much-needed difference in this world.

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Just Another Face

It is an odd experience to find yourself abruptly out of community. I mean in the sense of the local church. It is not a bad thing but only because it is a temporary symptom of relocation. Most every time in the past that we have relocated, it has been to another place of ministry in the local church, which means you have instant community and instant "friends", if you will. This is so very different. Not a soul in this town knows us (except my sis and bro-in-law) and when we enter the doors of a church we are just as likely to be ignored as anything. Very strange, indeed. As an introvert I am enjoying the extra time of quiet and the lack of busyness but I very much miss that sense of belonging. Honestly, I am pretty intrigued by this opportunity to view the church from the other side, to feel unknown and to explore so many other different bodies of believers in complete anonymity. I know I can only be content like this for a short time as I do so crave community...the "Cheers" kind where everybody knows your name and are happy to see you and you can really be you. For now, I am just another face in the crowd, waiting to be seen so that I can then allow myself to be known.

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Are There Women In Your Posse??

Many pastors place only men on the leadership teams of their churches, particularly if they will wear the title of elder or deacon.  These leaders boldly declare that Jesus did not place women in such positions of leadership and they are only following His example.  So, did Jesus have women in His posse?  I am so glad you asked!

In the book of Luke, chapter 8, verses 1-3 we see that, in addition to the twelve disciples, Jesus also had several women in his entourage; Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and then some others who were lending financial support to His ministry.  This, in itself, is monumental as Jewish rabbis in that time did not have anything to do with women, much less teach them, as their tradition stated that women were immoral, stupid and basically evil.  Jesus was so "cutting- edge" to allow Mary of Bethany to sit at his feet and be taught by Him (Luke 10:38-42).  Not only that but He praised her for it.  If we are to use the argument that the twelve disciples were the exclusive pattern, then male Gentiles would be ineligible for leadership in the church because the original twelve were all Jewish.  It was only a few years after Pentecost that there were Gentile leaders in the church and also a Roman woman by the name of Junia (Romans 16:7).  

The women in Jesus day knew that He was unlike any other religious leader.  He sat in public and had a theological discussion with the woman at the well (John 4) and He healed a woman in public, calling her a "daughter of Abraham" (Luke 13:16).  No church leader had ever done that!  No, the women around Him knew that He was different from the unadulterated chauvinism to which they had been subjected.  And the women of today can know this, too.  He has set us free to know Him intimately and to make Him known, leading in whatever capacity He so chooses in His church.  I will address some of these "other capacities" in future posts....

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Profoundly Grateful

My heart is heavy tonight.  I have been sitting here reading cards and letters (and crying my blasted eyes out) from so many of our wonderful friends at Christian Heritage Church whom we have had the privilege of pastoring and loving for the past four years.  Never have we felt the sense of "belonging" that we feel here with these people, our people,  and even as we leave and head into the next adventure, our hearts will always have a home here. 

I am especially thankful that God allowed me to be in this place with these people during the long year of caring for my mother through her illness and death.  I cannot imagine finding anywhere else the enduring love that I found here among my church family.  It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket during the coldest time of my life. 

If I have learned anything from this past year it is the importance of grieving.  It is so very necessary to allow your heart time to grieve over and release anything that will no longer be.  So now I begin the important process of letting this season of my life go although a part of me would love to hold onto it for just a little while longer.  It is easy to walk away from seasons of difficulty and pain, but it is a labor of the heart to give up what has been so precious and good.  I know that God will hold carefully my aching heart and I will cooperate with Him in this as I cry and laugh and remember so many wonderful yesterdays we have had here.  

It is a wonder to be allowed to love others and a miracle to be loved in return.  This has been a four year parade of wonders and miracles and for this I am profoundly grateful.

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Field or Force??

This video is Mark Beeson who is speaking about two kinds of churches. I talked about this in this post a few months ago. Invest four minutes in this and see what you think.

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Friends

Confession: I sometimes watch Friends reruns. I started watching it from time to time during a period in my life when the church was disappointing me and I was seeing Christians behave in ways that looked nothing like what I saw in Scripture. I have always believed that friends stick by each other through disappointments, failures, and unkind words. You forgive, you overlook faults and bad moods and when necessary, you confront. Yet, when I was struggling and hurting, I was judged and kicked to the curb. It was baffling. So during that time, as I watched the six TV friends relate to each other, I saw more love and long-suffering and forgiveness than I was seeing in some of the Christians in my life. Now that is not to say that Friends is a morally upright show...obviously not. But I did see a portrayal of a community of friends with sticking power. No back door. Abundant grace. Forgiveness. And I wanted that. (And just for the record, Chandler is my favorite TV Friend...sarcasm can be quite endearing)

And then God took us to a different place and surrounded us with true friends, some old and some new, who love and forgive and believe the best of us. Today I am just feeling profoundly thankful for the friends that I have...men and women who I know will always love me and be there when I need them, no matter what. And I love them. I am the richest girl in the world! Take a minute and thank God for the true friends in your life.

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What Do You Think?

Tim Stevens from Granger Community Church posted a great blog today. Check it out here and then tell me what you think? At Christian Heritage Church yesterday, Eddie spoke about this very thing. Encourage people to vote, expose people to issues and where candidates stand, but endorsements??? Is this what the church or it's leaders are called to do?

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Out of the Hothouse

For many years I have been thinking about church. It seems odd to me that we create hothouses (we call them ministries) within the walls of the modern American church building where we conduct all manner of programs designed to " bring people in" so that we can "reach them with the Gospel". I honestly cannot find any examples of this particular behavior anywhere in the Bible. I know that someone will read this and pray that I will be suddenly struck by lightening, but I have to say this.

The passage in Luke 14 where Jesus talks about the master who speaks to his slave to 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled", this speaks of an invitation to come to Christ, not to a bible study or pancake breakfast. Now, I am not against pancake breakfasts or bible studies. But we tell the 98% of the average church, who are not called to vocational ministry, to find their place of fulfillment within our "hothouse programs" that have precious little to do with their destiny in Christ. There are so many who are called to the marketplace to fulfill their destiny and, instead of helping to equip them and encourage them in that, we emasculate them by making them feel that if they are not helping us fulfill our dreams within the four walls of the church, well, they are somehow falling short of their potential in Christ.

I remember talking with a business woman once who felt condemnation from the women in her church because she was not active in the ladies ministry. Never mind that she was giving herself, as God was leading her, to the women connected to her business who might not have been confronted with the love of God if it weren't for her willingness to be used mightily by God in her "marketplace ministry". I applauded her obedience and told her to ignore the yapping dogs.

I know that God loves His church and so do I. I do not pretend to have all of the answers to the problems in the American church. I am also not just a critic who has no answers. There is much that the church does well and I want to be a part of the solutions to what needs work. I do believe this though-we in the church should rip the roofs off of the hothouses and send people out to do whatever they were born and destined to do. We should applaud peoples' tenacious obedience and encourage them to ignore life's critics. Jesus spent His time out where ministry grows naturally...in the streets and the marketplace and people's homes...not in a hothouse where things only grow under artificial conditions and out of season.

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Restaurants and Churches

This past Friday, my husband, a prince among men, took me away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. We went to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House and, if you have never dined there, you should make it a priority. This restaurant has long been known for its’ unmatched preparation of some of the finest beef to cross your lips and for its’ incredible service to its’ guests. While I was considering the amazing dining experience I was having, I was asking myself, as is my habit, what the church could learn from this. The wait staff there is careful to explain who Ruth Fertel was and what makes her establishment exceptional and, as our waiter, Julian, was talking, I made these observations.

Any good business is careful to train their staff by “indoctrinating them”, if you will, with the philosophy of its creator. All employees of Emeril's, for example, have been “Emerilized” with the beliefs and convictions of Emeril Lagasse. He, the creator of his restaurant, wants his patrons to be treated a certain way and to be given a dining experience that is unforgettable. It was just that way at Ruth’s Chris on Friday night—an indelible mark was made on me and I walked away from there not only supremely fed, but with a sense that I had somehow been touched by Ruth Fertel and what was important to her.

Many people serve others because they love people and serving them brings pleasure. This is, by definition, simple philanthropy and, while it may be deemed noble and sublime by the average Oprah viewer, it won’t get you very far. Oswald Chambers puts it succinctly this way, “If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men.”

So what is my point? Those who take care of you in a fine establishment like Ruth’s Chris or Emeril’s are allowed to be there because they have been identified with the creator of the establishment and they are trained to leave the creators mark on every guest. What would the church look like if we all understood the heart of the Creator of the church and we acted on His behalf in every interaction with the unbelieving world? What if we were motivated only by the love of the Creator for His creation and we left, not our own interpretive mark, but His mark on every person we served? What if we allowed ourselves to become background, like the wait staff dressed all in black and white, and only His best was evident to those we serve, and they walked away impressed and changed, not by our service but by the touch and the vision of the Creator? Certainly the church, and all she touched, would never be the same.

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Monday's Ambition

Mondays are hard days for pastors. That is the day that the enemy makes his weekly rounds and speaks doubt, defeat and discouragement to those who lead God's church. We all know that satan is a liar, but unless you have walked in the shoes of a pastor, it is unlikely that you would truly understand the strength of the attack that hits pastors on Sunday evening and Monday. I want to remind all of my co-laborers out there that there is an antidote for the toxic lies with which the devil seeks to infect you. It is found in 2Cor 5:9, "Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him."

So many pastors are easily caught up in the business of leading a church and forget that the measure of their success is not found there. Search high and low through the record of ministry achievements and it cannot be found. The measure of a pastor's success is found in the prayer closet. Oswald Chambers said it best, "the master ambition...means holding one's self to the high ideal year in and year out, not being ambitious to win souls or to establish churches or to have revivals, but being ambitious only to be 'accepted of Him'. " Oswald goes on to say that Paul did not heed the approval of the audience if he could catch the look of approval from his Master.

This is what matters on Sunday and Monday...that we are close to Him, entwined daily with Him in the intimate dance of hidden fellowship. If we allow anything else to become our measure of success, then we embrace carnality and we grieve the heart of our Father. How are you this Monday? Measure what matters most, which is the distance that exists between you and God. I pray that there is no distance, that you are breathing in the unfathomable treasures that He breathes out.

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