Monday Morning Insights

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    When Churches Have Disputes:  Forgive Us…

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    When Churches Have Disputes:  Forgive Us…

    Even before this weekend's historic vote at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Pastor Tullian Tchividjian wrote an op-ed piece for the Sun Sentinel newspaper.  In it he wrote...

    ...Whenever you see any of us who claim to be "Christ followers" behaving in a manner that is unlike Jesus, please forgive us. And please let that be a reflection on us, and not on Him. As imperfect people, we will continue to let you down and disappoint you, but Jesus will never let you down--he will never disappoint you. This conflict has "given the world the justification they're looking for to disbelieve the gospel", and I am sorry.

    I think that is well-said.

    I am still continually amazed that so many of us "Christ-followers" behave in a manner that is so unlike Jesus (myself included at times).

    A case in point:  Yesterday my son had a baseball game that we needed to travel a pretty good distance to.  So we went to the early service and took off.  I bet we travelled past 20 churches in our 90 minute drive; and most churches, I was quite surprised to see, had a lot of cares in the parking lot.  It seems that hundreds and hundreds of families actually chose to go to church yesterday.

    So... why can't we change our communities?

    Why is culture still going downhill when so many of our churches are jam-packed?

    I've had this discussion with many friends over the past year or so.  The only thing we can figure is that people are not living their faith.  They see church as a one hour (and fifteen minute) thing they do once a week.  They then resume their lives.  They're good people (most of them), but they're (we're) not changing anything... probably because nothing has changed in us.

    I know that's pretty deep for a Monday morning. but what are your thoughts?

    Rather than the church letting down and dissapointing a community; it's high time that we encourage and support and engage our communities.  Then, instead of having to apologize, we can say 'you're welcome' when people thank us.

    Todd

    Comments

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    1. Bernard Shuford on Mon, September 21, 2009

      Poignant.  Very true, too.

    2. Greg Simmons on Mon, September 21, 2009

      Very timely post.  This whole issue is one that has been bugging me for a while now.  I am frustrated with “institutional church” on various fronts, but this is the primary area.

      Too often, I believe, churches are more concerned with programs than people.  The belief is that there needs to be a program for all ages, all groups, all life stages, etc, etc, etc.  While programs can be a very effective tool, they can also be a crutch.  Churches lament that, “We have a program for that group, cause, etc…but it just isn’t grown and doesn’t seem to be reaching many.”  Could the problem be that it’s not the lack of programs, it’s the lack of focus on building relationships with people?

      Building relationships with people takes us out of our comfort zones into dealing with anger, pain, loss, hunger, thirst, despair, need, rejection and a myriad of other emotions.  It’s time consuming and tiring, and the risk of rejection is high.  Programs keep a buffer between “us” and “them”. 

      I work with the Youth at our church and one of the challenges I’m working with them on this Fall is this:

      “What are YOU doing?”

      This is in response to a Mark Twain quote:

      “Actions speak louder than words, just not as often.”

      And part of the discussion is, “Do people see us as political Christians?  Full of talk and promises, but we never deliver or put action to our words.”

    3. Rick on Mon, September 21, 2009

      Well said, Greg. We are challenged to be part of the revolution which exploded in Acts 2, but successful revolutionaries eventually become Old Guard traditionalists. What was once cutting edge revolution morphs into sacred tradition, with the danger of becoming meaningless formality. Spirit-driven action confuses and terrifies people more used to tradition-driven activity. Why aren’t we impacting our communities more deeply for Christ? Because for the most part, we aren’t allowing Christ to more deeply impact us. We are satisfied (comfortable) with superficial “church-ianity”, and it shows.

    4. Alan on Mon, September 21, 2009

      While I think this is very true, I’ve come to the conclusion, after 50 years of being in church, 25 years of leading in church, and being a bit of a product of the last century’s church myself (viewing my own soul holes) that perhaps our big flaw is in our methods.  We don’t seem to use the methods that Jesus did in discipling the Twelve.  He went deep with a handful of handpicked people.  He preached using scriptures as well as life events.  They experienced life together, not relying primarily on large events or classroom preaching.  Then they were charged to help others find their paths, not just becoming consummate consumers.  Perhaps we need to revisit the methods we use in the typical American church.  Otherwise we’d see more mature people as a result of decades of church involvement.

      Alan Nelson
      author of Spiritual Intelligence (http://www.spiritualintelligence.org)

    5. sgillesp on Mon, September 21, 2009

      As a pastor, my sense is that most of us Christians baptize our way of life and opinions and agenda and goals and call them Christian, rather than letting Jesus overhaul our way of life, agenda and goals.  Because we can find other people with similarly “baptized” goals, etc., we think we’re a church.  It’s not that Jesus doesn’t love us or we’re not saved, we’re just not really following Him.  But as long as we’re all singing the same song, metaphorically, we don’t get it.  Maybe that’s why the Lord sometimes takes our churches away from us.

    6. David Andrus on Mon, September 21, 2009

      I can’t think of anything better to add.  How sad when the American Corporate Church dictates rather than God’s Holy Word. 
      I appreciate the words that Rick used…“cutting edge revolution morphs into sacred tradition…”

    7. CS on Mon, September 21, 2009

      Todd:

      “I’ve had this discussion with many friends over the past year or so.  The only thing we can figure is that people are not living their faith.  They see church as a one hour (and fifteen minute) thing they do once a week.  They then resume their lives.  They’re good people (most of them), but they’re (we’re) not changing anything… probably because nothing has changed in us.”

      I’ll take this one step further and say the awful truth:  The reason that we see such behavior is because many of these people are not truly Christians.

      Biblically, we are told that we will know Christians by their love and see the fruits of the Spirit.  If we have such a lack of evidence, the conclusion that should be reached is that these people are not Christians. 

      Scientifically, survey after survey shows that while over 80% of people in America would call themselves, “Christian,” somewhere about 20% would fall into the, “born again,” category.  Add other facts like how only 2% of those described as, “Christians,” actively share their faith, and it gets far worse than that.

      It doesn’t take a license or certificate to become a Christian; anyone can claim to be a Christian, such as Mormons, JWs, and false Christians.  So, I would say that a large number of the people for whom Tchividjian was apologizing may not even be saved at all.


      CS

    8. rbud on Mon, September 21, 2009

      Interesting turn of discussion, and one I’ve had many times. I like Alan’s perspective because it brings into focus the proactive values of being part of the Fellowship. But the reality is that most church-goers are first and foremost part of a social structure, not a spiritual structure. Social structure means protecting what is comfortable without a sense of mission, without any urgency to share the faith, indeed, without any compelling reason to evangelize. Too many new people will upset the social fabric of our church. Churches do what makes them feel good, and the social fabirc must be protected at all costs. We will see a dramatic change when we recognize church as a spiritual fabric first. Then, and only then, can we be proactive, out and about to share and minister in the way Jesus taught.

      As far as the disputes at Coral Ridge, I refuse to participate in that kind of thing, and kindly refuse to entertain it in others. It wastes time and energy, and does nothing to promote the gospel message. As a practical matter, if it’s a matter of style, it seems like Pastor T might have found some middle ground with which everyone could live. But ultimately it comes down to what is important in promoting the Fellowship of Christ and spreading the gospel. If you live the faith, you share the faith, and there’s really no time left for arguments.

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