Church Paradigms - Rethinking Church

A few weeks ago, I was asked by my folks to present and discuss with our evening service this topic of Re-think Church. The United Methodist Church has begun a large campaign on this very subject and much of my initial material came from the line of questions they have been raising. If you would like to check out their discussion, you may do so by following this link.

I'll try to keep this all simple, but the fact of the matter is that there is no super simple way of explaining the problem OR the solution. Also, the fact that my brain's line of thought can cause confusion when others try to follow may prevent you from understanding what I'm saying... If this happens, please feel free to pause, re-read what you just read (the rest of the paragraphs will wait patiently for you) and continue. If this doesn't help, then you should message me your question. Use of all caps to express personal frustration is perfectly acceptable. :D

Now, it's only right to take a shot at properly defining what's wrong with current church paradigms and what problems are contributing factors. I'll list them, but be aware that many of these are interwoven and affect each other. Keep this in mind as not every church will have every problem.

1. The Pendulum Effect - Ever since the Church was officially established as a state-endorsed institution in 312 it has gone through pendulum shifts. The Great Schism, Reformation, Protestant, etc. While these seem as huge divisions in the Church... well they are. They are caused when a certain group in the body of believers take something biblical or non-biblical to the extreme. Whether out of good intentions or not, this extreme causes others to gang together and protest (or rebel depending on whether they are the majority or minority). Sometimes this happens just over a disagreement and goes way beyond what it should have. This is why there are so many different denominations. Calvinism is a pendulum swing from Armenianism. Lutheran a pendulum from Catholicism. Pentecostalism a pendulum swing from everything... j/k SEU (My previous university) :D

What these swings do is cause huge divisions in the body of Christ and propogate more opportunities for larger swings of the pendulum. The Holiness movement of the past few centuries caused a swing of liberalism in the doctrine. And now a swing from the contemporary church has begun as the Emergent movement.

Not only does it help confuse believers, it also confuses the heck out of anyone who is outside the Church trying to understand the church. A new Christian suddenly has a cacophany of options! All our denominations and pendulum movements should have their own brochure and place them all in a rack in every church (like the attractions kiosk in hotels). What to choose??!??!?!? Baptist, Anabaptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Wesleyan, Pentecostal, First Church of Christ, Lutheran, Nazerene, Methodist...? the list goes on and on.

2. The Church "Experience" - In the contemporary Church there has been a big push in the effort to create a "Seeker Sensitive" environment. Church services have been revamped, the pastor given a face-lift, the hymns thrown out, electric guitars brought in, and more jokes,witty analogies and interesting anecdotes added to the sermon all in the name of attracting the unbeliever. To entice them to come into the church. This is the Roach Motel philosophy. The thought is "if we can just grab them, then Jesus will do the rest of the work and then WE GOT 'EM!"

While this works GREAT as a marketting tool (I'll get to the industrialization of the Church soon in another note dedicated to fighting it) it's horrible as a ministry option. What starts out with good intentions to bring those outside the church IN in order to reach them ends up as a displacement of spiritual investment. Sermons are so watered down by the illustrations and stories which make them relateable that they lack the power of the Inspired Word. Worship, which should be a full sensory participatory corporate event, resembles a half-time show as they strive for a more maintream professional feel. Church becomes all about encouragement. It's the pep talk/positive mental refuelment to get you through another drudging week. Congregations filled with smiles and not much more. They're filled with good feelings but devoid of the Power of Christ.

Now, the opposite is also a problem (here's the pendulum). There are those who believe that worship hasn't taken place unless you've cried for at least 2 minutes. The Spirit hasn't moved unless everyone becomes emotionally bankrupt and rushes for the altar. Those who seek the "Spiritual Experience" on a daily basis will eventually burn out. Seeking those "Mountain Top Moments" to fill EVERY moment will only asphyxiate on the thin air found that high. Life down where the mere mortals trod is hard. Escaping every now and then to glimpse the heavens is alright. It's when they attempt to live in the escape that reality will knock them down harder and harder.

3. Modeling - We are HORRIBLE examples when it comes to how to live life as Christians. Jesus called us the Light of the World and Salt of the Earth. Both of these are identity oriented and also USE oriented. As the web-link at the beginning will say, Christianity is supposed to involve action. VERB.

One problem is the pastor. Yes, they are the prime example. But everyone can't BE the pastor. And even then, it's hard to follow pastor's example. I mean, Yes, they may be an EXCEPTIONAL Christian in every aspect. But, that's their job. Think about it. Their sole task is to be a model and a Christian. To be in the Word, to help others to live as Christ lived. It's hard to take that as a perfect example when the rest of us have to deal with working, living, juggling our other concerns and family. There are so few righteous examples of the Everyday Christian and how they should be.

Then there are the Christians. :P Seriously, with all these pendulums it's hard to get a steady bead on what we're supposed to be doing in light of orthodoxy and tradition. Even theology is challenged and muddled. How are we supposed to think? What are we supposed to do? Who knows? Haha. If you answer, "I KNOW!" You run the risk of being called a heretic, or WORSE! Someone may actually follow you. Yes, they may follow you, take what you said WAY out of context and then those who protest cause another pendulum swing in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION! And now everyone's going against what the right answer was...

There's a reason Jesus is the Great Shepherd. It's because sheep are very, very, VERY stupid. Oh, you can wash a stupid sheep white as snow... but it's still stupid.

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There's other contributing factors that I could nit-pick at, but these are the top contendors which are forming a barrier of ineffectiveness in churches across America.

So, by now you've probably re-read at least one of these numbered problems, come to acknowledge a feeling known as uneasiness and are ready to blurt out the question "WELL WHAT CAN WE DO!??"

Well... for $4.95 I'll tell you! Right... Like I would even want to profit from the solution. I pray no one does.

In all seriousness, There's only several things the Church CAN do to save itself from these pendulum problems and the peuberty-like identity crisis they incur.

SOLUTION 1. Discipleship - As I said previously, one HUGE thing the church is horrible at is providing a solid example of what it means to LIVE as a Christian. Being a Christian does not mean you just read the Bible, go to Church, sing Hymns, and smile all the time. Those are simply biproducts. Being a Christian means having a growing personal relationship with Christ. Being a Disciple means learning how to engage the world through the Power of Christ EVERY DAY. Being a Church means taking a communal stance to engage the world through the power of Christ EVERY DAY!

Churches across America must teach what it means to BE a Christian. Christianity is a way of life, not simply a religion or system of beliefs. It is MORE. It is still a religion and system of beliefs (they should not be ignored in importance) but it is MORE. Christians put God first while they LIVE, being active in the community in which they live. Sharing the love of Christ and setting an example. Our goals should be to HONOR GOD and WORSHIP HIM. To LOVE ONE ANOTHER. To HELP THOSE WHO ARE IN NEED. KNOW CHRIST, LIVE CHRIST. Once people understand what it means to be a Christian (it's so much more than adherance to a beliefe system and set of rules) the identity crisis will begin to heal.

When this is applied to the Church, it too can begin to heal. Once it realized that Church is NOT a building, but a gathering of CHRISTIANS, then true Church can happen. Church would then be like one Christian multiplied. The goals are the same, the action just exponentially amplified. God is worshipped, Love is shown, and people helped, all for God's glory.

SOLUTION 2. Service - The Emerging Church has attempted to deconstruct the HOW in how we do church. For that part, I agree with the disassembling of the traditional service of Welcome, fast song slow song, offering, fast song, slow song, slow song, message. There is to be order in the gathering service, yes, but many have turned this into a spiritual formula and many believe this is all church is.

I shy away from the big production and the awesome music. Yes, it's cool and I do enjoy it, but for me something genuine is missing. There is a time to be loud and a time to be quiet. I just don't understand why both times need to be wrapped up in an hour-long presentation. It's great to have a place to meet for "service." But an idea I thought would help reinstate the true meaning of that word would be to have home meetings of maybe 10-12 of Christians closest to you, then after small group (you just can't escape the nomenclature that church culture creates :P ) discussion, teaching and edification, the group goes out and actually DOES something to show love to the community. This requires Christians to actually be engaged and active IN their community in order to know who NEEDS help. The connection between Church and people needs to be strengthened. Then, once a week, the WHOLE church can gather together, after having been an instrumental part of the community, and after having been fed through the week by ministering the Word to each other, and just worship God the way HE wants to be worshipped.

When Christians find PURPOSE in who they are, so much of what's wrong and confusing about the Church will fade away. And when others see what the Church's identity is meant to be, they will want to be part of it. What attracts them to Christ is the part of Him they get to see through us.


Some things to think... and re-think.

God bless!