Christians and the Poor -- Quote from Shane Claiborne

"I asked participants who claimed to be ‘strong followers of Jesus’ whether Jesus spent time with the poor. Nearly 80 percent said yes. Later in the survey, I sneaked in another question, I asked this same group of strong followers whether they spent time with the poor, and less than 2 percent said they did. I learned a powerful lesson: We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy of the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor."

-- Shane Claiborne

Christianity in America -- Quote from Brian McClaren

Sometimes I think there is really only one Christian denomination in America: American Civil Religion -- a consumerist, militarist, therapeutic, colonial, nationalist chaplaincy that baptizes and blesses whatever the richest and most powerful nation on the planet wants to do.

Brian McClaren (words at the front of Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution)

I struggle, in particular, with the church being a chaplaincy.

So, then, what do we do?

Watership Down: A Lesson in Storytelling

I have announced that we'll be starting a new sermon series next week on the parables and we're calling it, "The Stories Jesus Told."  I don't know many preachers who don't like the parables.  We all, I think, have our favorites.  My favorite is "The Parable of the Prodigal Son" from Luke.  It always has been.  I see myself in it as the younger son and the older son, and sometimes like the Father.  I think it's pretty much the Gospel in Parable form.

But, more than just liking the parables, part of the education I received had a focus on the narrative nature of our faith.  Stories define us.  They shape us.  They provide context.  Indeed, they form the basis of our communities.  We are who we are because we share certain stories about each other and about ourselves as a group. Think of how stories defined your own family...perhaps the stories that were told when you gathered for Thanksgiving dinner or a family wedding.  They are what we talk about and laugh about and tell over and over and over again.  And if we don't have those stories?  Well, then we just have awkward silences.

And so, for us Christians, the stories we tell define us.  They shape our ministries and provide a context for our discussions.

If we forget the stories, then, in a real sense, we forget who we are.

When thinking about all of this, I was reminded of an essay I read of Stanley Hauerwas way back when I was in undergraduate school.  Hauerwas is Christian theologian and ethicist.  And I took a class under him when I was in seminary at Duke.  Hauerwas wrote "A Story-Formed Community: Reflections on Watership Down" back in 1981.  I must have read it about 1990 while I was in undergraduate school.  It's a good read.  And from this we get a clearer understanding of the importance of narrative in our communities.  If we forget to tell the stories or if we forget to take them seriously then we run the risk of losing our identities.


Donna Farley of A Spell for Refreshment of the Spirit has a nice summary of this work...all the way down to three paragraphs long.  The important things to know is that Hazel is our hero as he leads a band of rabbits around.  Hazel and the others have left their warren out of fear for their lives and are left to wander.  They meet other warrens, particularly "Cowslip's Warren" that have become highly individualized and have forgotten the stories that are meant to shape them into followers of El-ahrairah.

Stories of the rabbit hero El-ahrairah are embedded in the main narrative, each one recounted at a time when the rabbits need to be buoyed up by the particular lesson of a particular story. These tales are by turns inspiring, thrilling, humorous, or frightening; and they model such virtues as cleverness, courage, and teamwork.
In contrast to the love of Story shown by the band of rabbits led by Hazel, another group of rabbits in the story have forgotten, downplayed and despised the traditional stories, instead steeping themselves in depressing modernist poetry. This rabbit warren, know as Cowslip’s warren, is living in self-deceit. They train themselves to accept death—because death is the price they pay for comfort. Their warren is surrounded by snares set by the farmer who feeds them and keeps off the foxes. Whenever one of their number goes missing, they pretend to forget that rabbit’s existence.
It is a chilling portrait. But the rabbits of Hazel’s group are by contrast the kind of characters the reader finds himself wanting to emulate. Inspired by the daring and cunning of El-ahrairah and his faithful helper Rabscuttle, Hazel’s rabbits dare to make a journey to find a new home. They learn new skills, make friends of other rabbits and even non-rabbits, and hold together against the attack of the martial warren of Efrafa. When the story of Watership Down is over and the warren at peace, Hazel and his friends have become part of the story tradition that is being learned by new generations of rabbits. What a thing to aspire to—to be part of the great Story of life in such a way that we, even we ourselves, can become the heroes of our children and grandchildren!

So, what does this have to do with our Parables?  Everything!  The Parables of Jesus (along with the rest of the Bible) is, indeed, truth.  But it is truth in story-form and was meant to be shared and passed on to our children and our children's children so that they can continue to define us.   For, if we fail to do this, we may end up like the poor rabbits at Cowslip's warren, lost and story-less.

(This analogy takes on added weight in an environment where our native brothers and sisters have lost many of their stories over the last 70 years as "white" culture has taken over.  How important are the stories of our Alaskan Natives?)

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"I and We" -- Quote from Julie Neidlinger

Everyone wants to be part of a "we." Though living in the world of "I" and pretending that "I" is enough, it is really "we" that is wanted.

Found this over at "A Prodigal's Blog"     Julie Neidlinger blogs at loneprarie.net

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Conflict -- Quote from John Howard Yoder

To be human is to have differences; to be human wholesomely is to process those differences, not by building up conflicting power claims but by reconciling dialogue.

--John Howard Yoder, Body Politics

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What is Hospitality

Thanks to the KC Boiler Room, for a very beautiful definition of "hospitality" on their website.  

The KC Boiler Room is committed to being:

A hospitable community where strangers are welcomed, meals are shared and where friendships can flourish across boundaries of race and culture.

Hospitality is an ancient practice, a cultural attitude, which honors any guest as extraordinary, and within the church, this idea even extends into the belief that any stranger represents Christ Himself. In other words, there are no strangers. Secular Western culture postures itself strenuously against this idea, instead celebrating independence, encouraging self-sufficiency, guarding privacy and breeding an atmosphere of fear, where the stranger becomes somehow untrustworthy, likely a criminal, simply because they are unknown. Sadly, often times we have largely abandoned the practice and theology of hospitality, and churches are no longer homes were friends can be made, meals can be shared, rest is offered, defenses can drop and the door is always unlocked. If anything is obvious it is that the Kingdom of God contradicts the world, and in a culture that spends so much energy drawing boundaries between what is yours and mine, anyone who refuses to, is obviously a citizen of that contradictory kingdom. Under a tough veneer of cynicism and determined hedonism, our world is actually aching with loneliness and fear. Delivering the antidote is difficult, preaching and even the most impassioned evangelism has little effect, but to offer unfeigned welcome into the vulnerable heart of community or home and to extend love which does not judge, is to practice extreme, revolutionary hospitality. Christ Himself knocks, will our own fear and preoccupations bar Him, or will He find the latch open, and behind it, the soup already simmering, the laughter already loud and the welcome almost overwhelming?

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in it’s various forms.” 1 Peter 4:8-10

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What the World Needs is Lovers

"And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about."

— Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)

How true is this?  As I prepare for a sermon on immigration for this week, I'm struck that many persons in this conversation never look at the issue as one of love and of understanding the names, faces, realities behind the talking points.  Then again, that's probably the way it is with most issues in the world, come to think of it.

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My First Sermon -- Revisited

On Sunday, May 9th, 2010, in addition to Mother's Day, we celebrated "Ministry Sunday" with an emphasis on God's call to ministry for clergy and laity.  For this occasion I dusted off my first sermon I ever preached from way back in 1989 at Marion First United Methodist Church.  While, stylistically, I would preach a different sermon at this point, I found it interesting how much of my ministry is reflected in this first sermon...particularly the holding together or right belief and right action, orthodoxy and orthopraxy, faith and works.  I think if this sermon had been preached on my first Sunday in Girdwood, it would have been a way to set up some of the themes that would come out in my preaching over the next 10+ years.

As stated, I would have preached a little differently after 20 years of experience.  The Epistle of James has some interesting history associated with it that I probably would have gotten into.  I would have made a few more citations.  Also I'm sure there are better illustrations.  Regardless, this is what I had preached then...and it's what I preached yesterday.

INTRO TO TODAY’S SERMON

        

Happy Mother’s Day everyone.  And happy “Ministry Sunday” as well.  As you call your mothers be sure to call your ministers as well.  It’s not ministry Sunday everywhere today, but we’re taking this day to celebrate the fact that God has called people into ministry and that God still calls people today…maybe even those in our midst.

A few weeks ago Julie uncovered the first sermon I ever preached.  It was called “Faith and Works, Works and Faith” and was an account of the James passage we read just a bit ago.  I preached it in 1989 as I did summer work for Marion First United Methodist Church and had, essentially, all summer to work on it.  None of this “preaching every week” thing I have going on now.  At this time I had already been called to ministry by God, at Epworth Forest Sr. High Camp back in 1987.  I had just switched my college major to religion from biology and the next summer I took off for Alaska as I struggled with what this call to ministry was all about.

Marion First was a big church.  We probably had about 400 or 450 in worship at that time.  I don’t know.  It had a high pulpit and formal music.  It was a big deal that I got to preach there. 

Finding the sermon was interesting.  It’s a dot-matrix print-out.  The digital file has long been lost on a floppy disk somewhere.  But, it still sounds like me…or I still sound like it.

I ask you to imagine what a 20 year old me would look like and sound like and feel like as he got up before the congregation.  More or less, this is exactly what I said then:

OPENING PRAYER

My document had “Opening Prayer” at the top of it.  I guess in case I forgot.  Let’s pray…

INTRODUCTION TO JAMES

As I was at Sr. High Institute this year, I told one of the ministers that I would actually get to preach a sermon on August 13^th.  I told him that, not only would I get to preach, but people would be listening to me, too.  Because of this, I was incredibly nervous.  But he told me, “Just preach the Word.  Just preach the Word.”  So, here’s The Word…as told through my mouth.

Some many be wondering why in the world I am preaching, essentially, on the book of James.  It’s not like it’s one of Paul’s letters or one of the Gospels.  It’s sort of shoved in there between Hebrews and First Peter.  In fact, it’s quite different than most of the other books in the New Testament.  James does not mention the Holy Spirit at all in his writing.  Furthermore, the word “Christ” is only used two times in reference to our Lord and Savior.

In years past, persons have debated whether or not James should even be included in the Bible.  This is what Martin Luther had to say about the Book of James:

St. John’s Gospel and his first epistle, St. Paul’s epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St. Peter’s first epistle are the books that show Christ and teach you all that is necessary and salvatory for you to know, even if you were never to see or hear any other book or doctrine.  Therefore St. James’ epistle is really and epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it.

And he was opposed by Johann Gottfried Herder who said:  “If the epistle is ‘of straw,’ then there is within that straw a very hearty, firm, nourishing grain.”

You see, the aim of the book of James was not to investigate new theological truths.  You can do that till you’re blue in the face without changing peoples’ lives.  It was written to awaken sinners to the error of their ways; and to compel them to see the truth, which they had deliberately neglected or forgotten.  It was written so people like us could say, “Yeah, I guess I have done a few things wrong here.”  And, “Well, I guess Christianity should, sort of, make a difference in the way I live my life.”

James is pointing a finger at all of us saying, “Take a look at yourself.  How has Christianity changed your life?  Or has it changed it at all?”  A common response to this finger-pointing might be to think that this sermon material is “good for some people, but not for me.  I’m a Christian, I don’t have to listen.”  But listen.  Only when we’ve acted inappropriately, when we cause problems, when our works have been contrary to the will of God can James come fully alive for us.  This message is for every day, and for everyone.  Because, your faith, without good works, is a dead faith.  It’s no faith.

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS

Let me tell you a little story of faith without works.  John was on trial one day…on trial for being a Christian.  Some of his neighbors, who did not like him much, had ratted to the police.  And now there he was before the Judge, an accused man.  If convicted of Christianity, he would surely hang.  But if there wasn’t enough evidence to support the claim, they might let him go.  The prosecution searched and searched for some bit of evidence in his life that might prove that John was, indeed, a Christian.  They were trying to find some outward evidence to others of a claim of inner faith.  They searched his life for works.  John said he was a Christian and cried he was a Christian as they carried him, screaming, back to the street.  He had said he was a Christian, but he lived just like any other somewhat nice person in a big town.  He lived as if he wasn’t a Christian.

That’s the sad story of John.  But, what about yourself?  If you were on trial today for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?  To SAY that you have faith is only a small fraction of your commitment to God.  He wants us to SHOW him our faith.  He wants us to put our money where our mouth is.  He would like to see some evidence in our lives that we truly believe in Him.  When we have no works, we have no faith.

Well, what does Jesus say about works.  He says that it’s more blessed to give than to receive.   He says that only a life given away from love’s sake is worth living (the kind of life where you lay down your life for a friend).  He tells of a man attacked on the way to Jerusalem who passed by the “religious” priest and the Levite, only to be helped by the lowly Samaritan; the GOOD Samaritan.  He says that each time we clothe, feed, or shelter a neighbor, we have helped our Lord.  And when we turn away someone who needs us, we send away the Christ. He says that the works we produce are related to our faith in him.  He says that if we have faith in him we’ll produce good works.  He says, more or less, that a faith without works is dead.

John Wesley, the major figure in Methodist theology, was not known for his lightheartedness when discussing religion.  He holds true to form when he considers the consequences of a faith that produces no good works.  He says that God:

will gradually withdraw, and leave us to the darkness of our own hearts.  He will not continue to breathe into our soul, unless our soul breathes toward him again; unless our love, and prayer, and thanksgiving return to him, a sacrifice wherewith he is well pleased.

This does not mean to merely abstain from doing evil, although that’s a good start.  Jesus, himself, had a soul that thirsted to do good.  Our Lord went about doing good, not just staying away from bad.  Are we going to follow the great example and follow in his footsteps, or are we satisfied where we are.

It does not mean just staying away from bad and it also does not mean that Christianity is merely an ascent to the Gospel as a whole.  James says, “You believe the gospel?  Well, good for you.  Even the demons doe that much.”

Christianity is more than just a belief; it is a way of life.  Does our Christianity make one bit of difference in our lives?  Do we believe that Jesus is real and yet live as though he’s only a well-developed literary character?  Because a faith without works is dead.  It’s not real.  It’s a sham.  It is make believe.  If you do not produce works, then you are playing at being a Christian (and you’re not playing very well.)

WORKS WITHOUT FAITH

I have said to you that a faith that does not make itself manifest in a life-style is nonexistent.  But, I say to you now that a life-style that attempts to show a faith that does not exist is also nonexistent.  As a faith without works is dead, works without faith are dead. Or, as Wesley (so subtly) said it,

Without faith, works are an abomination to God.

In this world, it is possible for a person to have works without faith.  It is possible for a person to care ONLY about him or herself and still give generously to the cancer fund, be on the board of trustees, run for town office, and have a soft spot in their heart for children and animals.  Some relatively well-meaning people have placed all of their religion in saying all the right prayers, going to church, receiving the Lord’s Supper, listening to sermons, and reading spiritual books.  These people, however, have lost sight of the end of all these…the love of God and the love of their neighbor.

Let me give you an example.  We’ll call him…SUPERCHRISTIAN.  Superchristian flies into church early in the morning so he can set up the coffee and make it to choir on time and still practice the readings he’ll be doing.  When the offering plate comes to him, he always makes sure that the whole congregation can see the huge wad of money he puts in.  After the service, he rushes out so that he can set up for the Sunday School class he teaches.  He’s not that bad of a teacher since he almost has the Bible memorized…ALMOST…but the kids can’t stand him as a person.

You might see him walking around town, too, and I have a picture of what he might look like.  He wears fashionable shoes with tread suitable for walking on holy ground and kneepads to prevent damage to his knees during his hours and hours of public prayer.  He has clean hands since he never comes into contact with social outcasts and wears a smug smile in spite of his worrying about what people think of him.

SUPERCHRISTIAN is a person that I might call “WORKFULL.”  He produces lots of good works but for all of the wrong reasons and without any faith in God.   If asked at the gate of Heaven what he believed in, the workfull man could say, “ALL OF IT” and then proceed through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy…. He can say what a model life he lived and had a string where he went to church 201 straight Sundays.  He probably could cite three times that he served on workteams for mission projects, but he never once thought about the saving power of Jesus Christ or the glory of God.  Works without faith are an abomination to God.

Producing such works without faith is not trusting in the merits of Christ, but trusting in the merits of your own work.  To go around attempting to establish your own righteousness makes you unable to receive the righteousness of God.  Any good deeds you do attempting to get into heaven just ain’t gonna’ work.  It costs far more than a good deed daily, or the largest offering, or the best knowledge of the Gospels.  It costs your life.  It costs a giving up of trying to gain salvation through your own works by accepting the salvation offered through Christ.

Jesus says in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount that we should not do our acts of righteousness before others, but should do them in private.  Why should we be rewarded by God for being a member of the “Holier Than Thou Club” and turning Christianity into a show?  We shouldn’t get rewarded…and we don’t.  Our external worship is lost labor if we don’t have a heart that is devoted to God.  Works without faith are dead.

CONCLUSION

There are two kinds of people in the world.  There are those that need to produce a few more good works and get out of their solitary religion and there are those that need to put more of their faith into the saving power of Christ.  There are those who suffer from a dead faith since they never express it, and there are those people that spend too much time trying to show a faith that is just not there.

Where do you fit into this division?  Are you like poor John who claimed he was a Christian but never showed any evidence to the outside world that he was indeed one?  Are you a Superchristian, trying to impress others, yourself, and perhaps God with a faith that you frankly don’t have? Or, perhaps, you need to work hard to overcome deficiencies in both areas.  Where are you personally?

How do we fit in as a church community?  Do you believe that we are reaching out to our brothers and sisters in the world enough?  Perhaps our works have been limited to our own church and it’s time to show the world that we, as a group, are Christians.  Do you believe that faith is at an acceptable level?  Perhaps we spend too much time trying to solve all of the world’s problems and lose sight of the fact that we are doing it all for the glory of God.

You see…it’s possible to believe in the gospel and not show it.  Just as it is possible to act like a Christian when we don’t know the first thing to believe.  However, it is not good enough to have either faith or works.  It’s not an “either…or” situation.  You need to have both faith and works.  It’s a “both…and” situation.  Faith and works come in a matching set.  They’re a pair.  Salt AND pepper.  Abbott AND Costello.  FAITH AND WORKS.

Somewhere we have fallen short, whether it is our lack of faith or our lack of works.  Only by having both may we have the true faith in Jesus Christ.  It is through this faith that you receive the promise.  HE WILL pardon all who truly repent and believe the Gospel.  Christ made sure of that 2000 years ago, to help those of us who can’t help ourselves.  So, as John Wesley said,

Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven.

But, make Christianity make a difference in your life and in the lives of those around you.  Work on your faith and works, your work and faith.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coffee Shop Philosophy

I like going to coffee shops.  I really do.  And, more, I like going to them when they can ask me, "Do you want the usual?" and I can chat with the folks in the pews...I mean seats.  It's about conversation.  It's about community.  And, yes, it's about coffee.

Well, today I had a wonderful, hour-long conversation with a gentleman about life or, (perhaps as Douglas Adams puts it) "Life, The Universe, and Everything."  We talked at length about how so many people go through life without building anything up...only tearing things and people down. We talked about how our economic system has made so much of life complicated as many of us don't have a "work of our hands" to show for our days of labor.  We talked about all of the "stuff" that we fill our lives with and how it makes life more complicated for us and tears us away from relationships. 
He shared about living out of a truck for 10 years so he could save money for his son.  I shared the feeling of getting close to a completed church building and being able to point to it like a kid with an art project he has brought home...."Look what I made."  Now, I know God made it and I know a lot of supporting churches put time and labor and money into it and I really know that, at times, I was chief cheerleader and not really chief carpenter.  But, I have a sense of accomplishment.  A lot of my time, energy and passion has gone into it.

We talked about "The unreflected life not being worth living" and how "life happens" to us as we age.  

But we need, with God's help, to determine what it is that we care about and will work for and invest in.

The poet Mary Oliver said,

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Bill George, of the Harvard Business School faculty, asks each of us

have you “discovered your true north”?

This coming Sunday I'll be preaching, again, the first sermon I ever preached.  It's on James 2:14-26 and titled "Faith and Works, Works and Faith."  Julie found it a couple of weeks ago and I've re-read it.  It still sounds like me.  Or, rather, I still sound like it.  I've grown a lot since then.  A lot of life under the bridge.  But, that was a time for me that God was revealing to me what my "true north" was to be.  God was giving me the "plan" for my "one wild and precious life."

What plan does God have for you?  What do you want to be when you grow up?  Sometimes, if you go to a coffee shop, you'll find out.

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Moving Towards a Missional Ecclesiology -- How you move a church?

Churches move slowly.  Recently, Rick Meigs, over at The Blind Beggar, had given a talk at a suburban church and questioned the steps it might take to gradually shift to a more missional approach to their church and its work in the world.  The following are five directions as churches move this way:

• Leaders have to take seriously the Ephesians 4:11-12 mandate to be equippers and spiritual body builders.
• Discipleship doesn’t equal information, but transformation.
• The apprenticeship model in discipleship should be explored.
• Openly and freely celebrate those who are living out the life you want to see replicated.
• Become a story teller. Story is a powerful tool at illustrating and making the theme clear.

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Book Review: Change the World. By Mike Slaughter

This is a book review of Mike Slaughter's – CHANGE THE WORLD: Recovering the MESSAGE and MISSION of JESUS

This new book put out by Abingdon Press was published in conjunction with the United Methodist Church’s RETHINK CHURCH campaign.  And, more, it was designed to be used by churches as they committed to a “CHANGE THE WORLD” weekend in April and by pastors as they focused on the mission and ministry of their own churches.  Let me make a couple of points at the outset.

First, this is a very good read for a pastor (or, even better, a small leadership team from a church) who realizes that there is something not quite working in their church.   Perhaps “church” is happening but disciples aren’t being formed.  Perhaps “church” is happening but the building budget is taking away from the mission and ministry of the congregation.  Perhaps “church” is happening but there are segments of the population who are not being reached.  Perhaps “church” really isn’t happening at all and there is a growing sense that the proverbial “writing is on the wall” if something doesn’t happen…something big.  In other words, this is a good study for most of our churches.

Second, it is hard not to read this book and not think that a chapter or two was written just for you and your ministry situation.  I read this as pastor of a church with a large building project and a small congregation.  Our mission and ministry for a few years has taken a back seat to our building “needs.”  We’re in the process of trying to transcend this.  However, when Mike Slaughter talks about “Mission vs. Mortar” in chapter 6, it’s hard not to get a sense that we've confused these on occasion during the last several years.  The mortar doesn’t make disciples.  I’m reminded of the phrase, “a church that is not involved in mission projects will soon find that they, themselves, are a mission project.”

Likewise the chapter on “Micro vs. Macro” should hit home any of our larger churches.  We have had a push, over the years, to grow the church.  At times this has seemed to not mean “make disciples” but “bring more people in.”  However, growing larger facilities and congregations is not the most effective way to form real relationships and have personal discipleship opportunities.  And so, Rev. Slaughter talks at length about house churches and cell groups.

This book is not “15 Ways to Grow Your Congregation” or “Five Easy Steps to a Contemporary Worship.”  You’ll get none of that here.  But the book asks some hard questions and asks us to look honestly at our disciple-making and to really RETHINK CHURCH.  The concepts are accessible and the chapters are easy to work through, full of personal accounts of the ministry of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio.  After a forward by Jim Wallis, the chapters are as follows:

1. Missional vs. Attractional
2. Inclusive vs. Exclusive
3. Disciples vs. Decisions
4. Micro vs. Macro
5. Multiplication vs. Expansion
6. Mission vs. Mortar
7. Courage vs. Compliance

As you can probably tell, the first word in each chapter heading is what Miks Slaughter thinks we need more of as we go about the business of “doing church” while the second word is how we’ve often understood church in the 20^th Century. 

One more thing I’d want to point out is the “Keys to Revitalizing a Dying Congregation."  Ginghamsburg UMC has a lot of experience in this area and I think the guidelines would be helpful to any who find themselves in a congregation that is in decline.

While this is not exclusively for United Methodist Churches, this is by one of our own missional leaders and is a great resources and discussion starter for churches in the Alaska Conference.

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"What's this About Church Buildings?"

I love our new church building and I know that our church has seen a refocusing of its mission as we approach the “move-in day” sometime later this year.   I know that I’ve grown as pastor over these past seven years – or is it eight – that we’ve been building or planning to build.  But it has taken a lot of energy, a lot of our time, a lot of our focus.  I have to keep reminding myself that this is really not a very big building and it is our hope and our dream that this building will serve the missional needs of our congregation for many needs to come.  We're not building for just today but for 50 years from now, we've said.  At the same time, however, I realize that we have a lot invested in it and, for the sake of that future ministry, we’ll have a mortgage that we’ll be paying off for quite a few years.  There is a burden that comes with this.

It’s these thoughts that come into my head as I read the following:

Christians did not begin to build church buildings until about AD 200.  This fact suggests that, whatever else church buildings are good for, they are not essential for numerical growth or spiritual depth.  The early church possessed both these qualities, and the church’s greatest period of vitality and growth until recent times was during the first two centuries AD.  In other words the church grew fastest when it did not have the help—or hindrance—of church buildings.

That quote is from Howard Snyder’s book, The Problem of Wineskins:  Church Structure in a Technological Age, as recorded in Mike Slaughter’s book, CHANGE THE WORLD:  Recovering the MESSAGE and MISSION or JESUS.

I don’t believe this is a call to abandon our building, although, as I think about it, perhaps we could have done things a little differently along the way.  Perhaps we could have put in only the bathroom needed for the present size.  While it is a beautiful building, perhaps we could have gone with a much simpler architectural design.  Perhaps we could have waited one more year to begin the process of building so we could have gotten more funds on hand.  I'm sure there are always questions with any building project--whether it's your church or your business or your home.  But, now, I think the above sentiment is a call to reexamine how we’ll be using the facility.  Our purpose as “fishers of people” is not to get the “biggest net” in the water but, use the church as a mission outpost to get “many nets” in the water.  We need to see our building as a place to empower folks to go out in the community and bring the gospel message to those around them…and around us.  The building is not the goal of ministry but a tool for ministry.

I think that’s a fundamentally different way of looking at building use.

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Church of the Out of Control

Great quote from Leonard Sweet and his “Magna Carta of Trust by and Out-of-Control Disciple.”

I am part of the Church of the Out-of-Control.  I once was a control junkie, but now am an Out-of-Control Disciple.  I’ve given up my control to God.  I trust and obey the Spirit.  I’ve jumped over the fence, I’ve stepped over the line, I’ve pulled out all the stops, I’m holding nothing back.  There’s no turning back, looking around, slowing down, backing up, letting up, or shutting up.  It’s life Against the Odds, Outside the Box, Over the Wall, the game of life played Without Goal Lines other than “They Will Be Done…”

I’m done lapdogging for the topdogs, the wonderdogs, the overdogs, or even the underdogs.  I’m done playing According to the Rules of Etiquette or Martha Stewart’s Rules of Living or Louis Farrakhan’s Rules of America’s Least Wanted or Merrill Lynch’s Money-minding/Bottom-lining/Ladder-climbing Rules of America’s Most Wanted.

I am not here to please the dominant culture or to serve any all-show/no-go bureaucracies.  I live to please my Lord and Savior.  My spiritual taste-buds have graduated from fizz and froth to Fire and Ice.  Sometimes I’m called to sharpen the cutting edge, and sometimes to blunt the cutting edge.  Don’t give me that old-time religion.  Don’t give me that new-time religion.  Give me that all-time religion that’s as hard as rock and soft as snow.

I’ve stopped trying to make life work, and started trying to make life sing.  I’m finished with second-hand sensations, third-rate dreams, low-risk high-rise trades and goose-stepping, flag-waving crusades.  I no longer live by and for anything but everything God-breathed, Christ-centered, and Spirit-driven.

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So... Why Church?

I know we live in an environment where many persons believe they don't need the church.  We get that a lot in Girdwood.  After all, can't we just experience God in the beauty of our environment?  Isn't it OK if I go for a hike or go running or go skiing?   My answer to this has always been that "Christians are pack animals" -- we travel in groups.  We need each other.

There's a new resource for small groups I found out about.  It's by Jared Wilson entitled “Abide: Practicing Kingdom Rhythms In A Consumer Culture” .   The author writes...

None of the kingdom rhythms — Feeling Scripture, Intentional Prayer, Joyful Fasting, Generosity and Service — can be sustained independently. The gospel supposes reconciliation between creatures, just as it does creature and Creator. We need each other, and the Church is God’s design for discipleship. The Christian life must be walked within the encouragement, edification, and accountability of Christian community. We need teachers to teach us how to do it, encouragers to inspire and sustain us, givers to remind us to give, helpers to help us embrace servitude, etc. To “put on Christ” necessitates embracing the Body of Christ as God’s plan for the Christian life. Embracing kingdom rhythms becomes easier and more sustainable when it is done collectively.

So, the question for Christian individuals is, "How can I make my church a place for Scripture, prayer, fasting, generosity, and service?  What can I put into it?"
So, the question for the church is, "How can we make this a place where we are fulfilling God's plan for discipleship?"

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