LT on measuring success as church:
We need to change what we measure and how we measure our success.
- Do people have a proper understanding of the gospel?
- Do they love the people that can offer them nothing in return?
- Are people willing to sacrifice for others?
- Are people becoming more like Christ in their values and behaviour?
- Do they have life and freedom?
If we considered these things, we would realize the state we are in and we would change. As long as we measure things based on our own personal satisfaction or by the markers of organizational success we will miss the point.
From a book review by Katie Galli in the April 2008 issue of Christianity Today:
Yes, we're Americans. We multitask all day long. Efficiency is one of our top cultural values. I, too, am pragmatic. I'd like to use Sunday morning to worship God, to get a few pointers on how to improve my relationship with Jesus, and to reconnect with community. But every Sunday, the first words I hear are, "Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." And I'm reminded that we gather weekly not to hear a practical talk on how to better live out our faith or to provide a venue to tell our friends about Jesus. We gather to corporately worship God, to celebrate the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, and to remember that our lives are not about us.
A provocative post by Ruth Tucker that challenges our emphasis on leadership:
Leadership is a hot topic today. Colleges and universities and seminaries and churches and Christian organizations of all varieties are developing leadership programs...
It was not until I was teaching through the course a second time that I realized what a crock this whole topic is. It’s phony from beginning to end—especially as it relates to biblical models.
That Jesus was a failed leader both by example and by teaching is something we already know—at least unconsciously....Plain and simple, Jesus was a failed leader—though it’s critical to point out that Jesus did not aspire to leadership.
Read the entire post for the full context.
I just may have to read Tucker's upcoming book Leadership Reconsidered.
Rob Harrison with a helpful post that helps us see the usefulness of the institution, while also recognizing its limitations:
The institution is just a structure to organize our activities to help us function...The institution is a dead thing that protects and gives form to the live thing underneath. But that points us to the reality that the structure isn't going to do the work of the church, because the structure isn't the church; we together are the church, and the structure is there to enable us as we do the work of the church. To avoid facing that, though, we tend to pile those expectations on the institution instead, and then when it fails, we blame it, and denounce it, and set off to find a better way...
I also suspect that we object to the 'institutional church' because it gets in the way of us doing what we want; but in reality, that's part of its purpose. Yes, there is a tendency for institutions to become self-justifying and self-serving, and that's a bad thing; but is that the fault of institutions, or of the people in them? That's a human sin, and attacking institutions won't change it. If anything, doing that makes it worse, because the existence of the institution, for all its faults, reminds us that it has a purpose. We can still do all the touchy-feely 'spirituality' stuff that's all about us without any kind of formal structure, but a congregation that never really goes beyond that is about as self-justifying and self-serving as anything can be; what we need the institution for is to do the things that take us beyond ourselves, the things that actually require work and effort and need organization and structure to support them and keep them going.
C.S. Lewis on dying to ourselves:
Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him...The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.
"In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things, the figure of him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
From Backyard Missionary:
Was Jesus really the CEO of his followers?…
Was Paul the CEO of the early church?…
Were there any CEOs in scripture at all?…
Chief executive officer… Chief executive officer… Chief executive officer… say it out loud and hear how dumb it sounds when placed alongside ‘body of Christ’… ‘priesthood of all believers’… ‘the family of faith’ Is the person leading a church really supposed to be a CEO?…
What’s frightening is that in so many places we have stopped questioning this form and accepted it as normal in a 21st century western church. Its now considered one ‘valid’ expression of leadership, if not the dominant form.
I don’t believe it is. I don’t believe the CEO has any place in the ‘family’ of God. When was the last time your family appointed a CEO to keep it on track? Where does a ‘chief executive officer’ fit into a family? Find me one metaphor or description of the church as business/corporation anywhere in the Bible and I will walk naked up the aisle of your church this Sunday with an annual report in my bumcrack.
Ok, I’m a bit mad again.
I am convinced that the more we seek to model ourselves on business paradigms the less chance we have of being the people Jesus calls us to be.
From The Crucifixion of Ministry by Andrew Purves:
The crucifixion of ministry is good news! My goal in this book is to offer a perspective on ministry and illustrate a practice that liberates ministers from the grind of feeling that "it's all up to me." I have two themes:
- Conceiving ministry as our ministry is the root problem of what ails us in ministry today.
- Ministry should be understood as sharing in the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ, for wherever Christ is, there is the church and her ministry.
The crucifixion of our ministries is good news: "We should expect that our ministries too should die, even be killed, that they may be raised with Christ."
C. Michael Patton visits a popular non-denominational Evangelical associated church and reflects on the experience:
I could go on but this experience has confirmed to me the desperate shape that the modern church is in and the need that we have for theological renewal. When things get tough (and they will), who will people turn to when the entrainment, laughter, and fun will serve no purpose. May God grant us a mindset to give people their true needs, not their felt needs.
Truth first, mission second, fellowship third, and if there is any room, throw in some entertainment.
I was asked recently if I know any "good" churches in the area. (The person asking put "good" in inverted commas)
I had to reply 'that depends on what you mean by "good"'
If "good" = catering to your personal wish list then that is very different to where "good" = a community that will call me and challenge me to live in a Christlike way.
For many the dominant questions when picking a church are related to the music, the kids and youth ministries and the interest level of the preaching. Is it any wonder we find ourselves in the malaise we are currently in?
As I have said before we can only be disciples in community so this question of alignment cannot be overrated.
This needs to be balanced with the very real acknowledgement that we do have needs. The person asking me the question has a teenage son, so while I believe ours is a "good" church I am not sure it would be a suitable church for him and his family as he may wish for his son to have a larger peer group.
He captures the tension of choosing a church as disciples, not consumers, while still acknowledging that we have needs.
