G.A.M.E.

So long as this is not done, so long as we either make as if nothing were the matter, as if everything were all right, and what we call "Christianity" is the Christianity of the New Testament, or we perform artful tricks to conceal the difference, tricks to support the appearance that it is the Christianity of the New Testament- so long as this Christian criminal offense continues, there can be no question of reforming, but only of throwing light upon this Christian criminal offense.
And to say a word about myself: I am not what the age perhaps demands, a reformer- that by no means, nor a profound speculative spirit, a seer, a prophet; no (pardon me for saying it), I am in a rare degree an accomplished detective talent. What marvelous coincidence that I am contemporary precisely with that period of Church history which, in a modern sense, is the period of "witnesses to the truth," when all are "holy witnesses to the truth."

-Søren Kierkegaard (January 26, 1855)

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.

- Bob Dylan

  Creating is a strange process. Some days my brain is on fire and I can’t write fast enough to fill the page. Other days the words are dragged from my head kicking and screaming. Lately, I’ve had quite a few of the later.
It’s a frustration, but it’s also a beautiful thing to me sometimes. It’s a sign that I, like so many in this world, struggle and falter. It’s a sign that I truly am human and that in that humanity, a reflection of God, I am beautiful.
After all, isn’t it those quirks of friends and family and spouses that we wonder at and revel in so many times? We see the child struggle to climb up and smile at their serious effort to emulate. We see the crayon picture of what we’re told is a dragon and love the effort even more than the product.
Today, on a day when I see my failures all around, I need to remember that I, child of God, am seen as beautiful in my journey… as beautiful in my brokenness.
Why don’t we give each the gift of that love in brokenness more often?

I’m looking for clear direction from this thing we call Christianity, but I’m just not seeing it.  Are you? I am a product of the religious deconstructionist movement … and proud of it, I guess.  Indeed, having been raised in the strong, right-wing, evangelical, legalistic environment, today I feel so much freedom from that world.  I could go on and on about the indoctrination and persuasion that took place in my life for many years, but I think you probably either know the same story, or it happened to you.

And I’m incredibly indebted to folks who’ve helped me gain freedom, i.e. the Brian McLaren’s and Rob Bell’s of our day who’ve pushed envelopes, challenged our thinking, etc.  So many “thanks” to give out.

I guess what I’m asking with this post is this … what is the church looking like as we move forward?  What does church look like 5 years from now?  Beyond the candles, dark services, edgier music, frumpy dress, etc.  I mean, I love the deconstruction … challenging everything we know and believe, yada yada yada … if I’m not careful, though, that’s pretty much all I’ll read about.

The problem with that kind of one-track thinking is that it acts like fuel to my frustration and anger towards my past and its inherently flawed system.  So really this is a question for me (and you):  Where do we go from here?

I suspect that we’re a bit scared to get firm and clear about our beliefs because we could end up back in another cold and impersonal “system.”

I’m not seeing it … am I blind?

For most people, church steeples represent church tradition and structure. They are symbols of the way things have always been done. In most cities they seem to represent an unchanging approach to spirituality. My dad was famous for having cut an actual steeple down about forty years ago.

What I’m processing quite a bit in this season of my life right now are the structures that exist in the Church that are teaching a form of theology and "ecclessiology" to our people that is unbiblical. As a leader I’m seeking to identify what I’m contributing to in all of this that must be purged, sledge-hammered and torn down. I’m not just another angry leader; I’m filled with hope about the future. I just know that we have to erase some things before we start drawing on top of the images that are already on paper.

Most of us are quick to build. We are fast to move and to add new flavors before addressing what needs to be removed and changed. We typically respond this way because it makes “good business sense.” It’s generally understood in business that you make sure consumers embrace your new product before you faze out the old one that has been dearly loved. But what makes good business doesn’t always make good churches (more on this idea in the future).

Seth Godin has written a book called, Meatball Sundae, in which he describes how companies have tried to make their products and services more progressive. He builds a strong case about how companies that need to make radical changes to the core of what they offer are trying to hold on to the past by keeping things the same but adding a little twist to make the consumer think they are changing the menu.

He says its like adding whipped cream to a meatball.

Translation? in church world we add coffee and candles to things that exist hoping that people feel as though the menu has changed. When a church service attendance starts to drop–someone might suggest offering donuts before or after the service to get people to start showing up. Just because you add whipped cream to a meatball doesn’t make it a meal. Sometimes you have to take the meatball off the menu altogether because you believe there is a better way to feed people.

Here are a few things on the church menu that I think need to change:

20’s ministry

Just because a group of people are saying that they want something doesn’t mean it is the best thing for them or the future of the church.  As a result our churches have become segregated demographics that aren’t learning and listening to one another.

Church Marketing.

Most churches consistently tell their people to invite their friends but, when was the last time you went to a movie that was great and had to be told at the end of the credits to tell your five closest friends about how great it was? If people experience community and life-change as a result of the work of the Trinity you won’t have to tell them to bring one single person. They’ll pull up to your church in a minivan and drop seventeen people at your front door. As a result our churches have come across like used car salesmen, desperate and inauthentic.

Greeters.

I once was greeted eleven times from the parking lot to my chair in the church auditorium. Some would call this perfect execution. It bothered me for quite some time because every person that had greeted me was wearing a name tag. At some point in church history there was a church that decided to create a ministry (greeters) that was in charge of hospitality and friendliness instead of challenging all of the people a part of the church body to be responsible for it. As a result, our churches are full of lazy people who don’t share their stories with those sitting around them on a Sunday morning because that is not their job.

I have a longer list of structural and expected church practices that I think need to be thrown out about how we’re approaching church but this will have to do for now. Because of these accepted methods of church practice we are teaching our people things about life with God that (in my opinion) do not reflect the heart of God. It may be time to cleanse the temple again.

What church practices/programs do you think need to be removed because they’re no longer authentic or helpful?