January 2005 Archives

From Resonate:

Wayne Jacobsen responds to Tim Stafford's article in CT magazine:

"Dear Tim,

"Could I invite you to take a walk with me? There are some people I'd like you to meet that might help you rethink your recent article. And you can pick the destination, because just about anywhere you want to go I could find some brothers and sisters your article adresses. I could introduce you to Kevin and Val in Australia, John and Mary in New Zealand, Paul and Kim in Portland, David and Nina in Ireland, Stan and Mavis in England, Jack and Nancy in Maine, David and Rachel in California and hundreds more I know around the globe.

"If you’d take a moment to sit down with them you’ll discover they’re part of this 23 million people who claim to know Jesus but do not attend a Sunday morning service. I have no doubt you would have the time of your life fellowshipping with them. Their faith is powerful and real. They are experiencing a transformation in God’s grace that they never found in an institution and they demonstrate a passionate commitment to the church of Jesus Christ that any Sunday service couldn’t begin to let them express."

The people mentioned in the first paragraph may have checked out of what is commonly called church, but I'll bet many of them are still in churches of a different kind. I wonder if we need to rethink and broaden our definition of church. You may leave one church structure, but can you ever really leave the church? That's the question: what is the church?

Update: Alan Creech says it somewhat better than I did.

Somewhat related, although I'm sure both sides agree on this point, N.T. Wright says:

It is no shame when a Christian finds he or she cannot grow spiritually without support and help from fellow-believers; it is, rather, a surprise that anyone should have thought such a thing possible, let alone desirable.

Why a church must die if it wants to grow (PDF reader required)

The church gets into trouble whenever it thinks its in the church business rather than the kingdom business. In church business people are concerned with church business and religious behavior. In the kingdom, people are concerned with kingdom activities – all human behavior visible and invisible. Kingdom people see human affairs as saturated with spiritual meaning and kingdom significance. Kingdom people seek first the kingdom of God and its justice. Church people often put concerns of church work above concerns of justice, mercy and truth. Church people think about how to get people into the church. Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church. Kingdom people work to see that church changes the world. When Christians put the church ahead of the kingdom they settle for the status quo and their own kind of people, but when they catch a vision for the kingdom of God their sight shifts outside the walls of the church to the lost and the needy. They see the life and work of the church from the perspective of the Kingdom. If the church has one great need, it is this – to be set free for the Kingdom of God. (Howard Snyder)

Found via Ponder This

Tim Stafford with an honest and challenging article on why the church is still important, even though it is imperfect and frustrating at times:

If people commit themselves to the church, they will undoubtedly suffer. The church will fail them and frustrate them, because it is a human institution. Yet it will also bless them, even as it fails. A living, breathing congregation is the only place to live in a healthy relationship to God. That is because it is the only place on earth where Jesus has chosen to dwell. How can you enjoy the benefits of Christ if you detach yourself from the living Christ?

Of all the models for missional ministry, Jesus is the best. He literally set the standard.

The model is astounding. He laid aside his privileges to become a servant to others. He exchanged all he had for nothing. He lived selflessly and died for others. The result is that through him, others found true life (Philippians 2:5-11).

Sometimes it's easy to focus on the left side of the equation of dying to self (the dying part). The right side of the equation (resurrection) is pretty exciting. Jesus showed us what would happen when we follow this pattern.

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5)

Happy New Year! Yes, some activity here. New Year's is as good a time as any to put a bit of work into this blog. Rule number one of having a blog is that you should post to it occasionally. I think I might try that.

This blog started as part of a personal journey I've been on. It started almost a couple of years ago now as I realized that the call to die to self extends to the church as well. I believed then (and I still do now) that we focus too much sometimes on building the church, when the church does not exist to build itself. I am still working on unpacking what that means, not only in theory but in my life and ministry.

I'm taking a couple of new directions. First, I'm not so disillusioned about the church. I think I've been a little too negative about the church at times, and for this I repent. God is at work in our imperfections. There is still the role of the prophet, and there are still warnings to be spoken, but I think I've taken it too far at times. There is much to celebrate about what God is doing in both old and new structures.

My patron saint in this journey could be Bonhoeffer. He has written about many of these same issues and was way ahead of his time. I look forward to reading him more this year and understanding his insights on this topic.

Look for a few more posts this coming year. A happy and blessed New Year to you as well.