Aside from being in the ministry for almost twenty I also fancy myself somewhat of Church Consultant. At the end of my last ministry in St. Petersburg Florida in which I was actually part of a church closing, I was able to be trained and certified as a Church Consultant as a part of my severance. Throughout the years I have always been interested in Church growth/health and have collected bulletins and newsletters, by-laws, mission statements and the like. What I have found to be true in several areas of the country is that we expect great things from our ministries and are dishearten when things don't pan out like we dreamt they would. This got me wondering and excited to do little investigation. What I have found out is that Church's keep doing church like we have always done it and every single time expect some sort of grandiose outcome. Allow me elaborate, what I am talking about we really don't change out methodology we just play at it. The Bible is the same yesterday as well as today, our methods should be allowed to be changed, tweaked, removed, or morphed into whatever will further the message we are preaching and teaching. NOTHING should be sacred except the word of God.
How we "do" church is not how they "did" church in the first century. The movement survived and thrived for more than three hundred years with meeting in homes and the everyone is a minister mentality. During this time in the Church's history it took over the known world. But as we have allowed man initiated thoughts, doctrine, methods and practices to take precedence and become something they are not, it has and will continue to hamstring the local body of believers.
Don't get me wrong "traditions" are good as long as they find there beginnings in the Word. When a "tradition" becomes a pet like or dislike it removes God from equation and puts us on very dangerous ground. When we find ourselves out of bounds like this, we are nothing more than a social club gathering around a buffet.
Lets talk, R
4 comments:
Unfortunately, the clubhouse mentality is firmly entrenched in many places. We have a lot of work to do. Good thoughts bro.
Nice thoughts, Rick. I'm currently reading "Pagan Christianity?" by Frank Viola and George Barna. It's spurred a lot of conversation (and has been trashed by a lot of folks). It asks the same questions you are, and actually going back and documenting how a lot of our traditions got started. Interesting read so far.
I think a lot of the problem comes with our definition of success. All we see and hear about are the megachurches (which God has and does use for his glory), but they aren't the norm. When 98% of us don't see those results, many of us get disheartened.
Last year, we transitioned our church to a network of microchurches (house, simple, organic, pick your label). It's been a crazy adventure, and I think we're now starting to experience what true success is--Holy Spirit empowered life transformation in gospel centered communities (I could go on... but I'll stop. This comment is long enough).
Finally... how in the world do you get certified as a Church Consultant?
Aaron mentioned that he's reading "Pagan Christianity?". Thought you might want to check out the sequel that is out now-“Reimagining Church”. It picks up where “Pagan Christianity” left off and continues the conversation. (“Pagan Christianity” was never meant to be a stand alone book; it’s part one of the conversation.) “Reimagining Church” is endorsed by Leonard Sweet, Shane Claiborne, Alan Hirsch, and many others. You can read a sample chapter at
http://www.ReimaginingChurch.org .
It’s also available on Amazon.com. Frank is also blogging now at http://www.frankviola.wordpress.com .
Yes I already have Reimagining Church, thanks for the comment. I read non stop, I have a pile of about 14 books that I am working through right. Check out www.newskins.org, sliceoflaodicea.com, two very interesting websites, they are in my favs.
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