Mike,

I hear and understand what you are saying. I have been in ministry(staff) for over 19 years at 3 different church organizations. I left my last position in June and have no intention of looking for another staff position. These last five months have been an incredible time for me to rethink the Church and I have. I have come to most of the same conclusions that you have and the following is how I have chosen to now live:

1. Reconize that as a believer, I am a minister.

2. Reconize that all believers are called to be ministers and do the work of ministry. Eph. 4:11-13

3. Reconize that my family is my ministry (my wife, children, extended family, friends).

4. Reconize that my neighbors are my ministry (those in my neighborhood, who I work near, those whose lives God allows my life to cross paths with everyday.)

5. Recopnize that I must look for opportunities to ministry.(They are everywhere and I will miss them if I am not looking for them)

6. Reconized that ministry looks many different ways. Ex: I moved into my appartment complex one month ago. To date I have meet and intetionally engaged in converstaions with three of the maintance men. I know many things about their lives and have now developed a friendship with each of these men. I am praying for them and am always looking for new ways to show them God’s love through caring for them. My goal, when the timing is right,is to share Christ with each of these men.

7.  Reconize that Church structure, as we know it today, basically promotes an inward ministry focus. (In other words, ministry happens, but mostly within the structure of the church’s buildings or programs. Most of the time the things we do (which do have value) become so consuming that very little time and energy is left for family, friends, those we work with...in others words, I have been unintentionally trained to think that ministry happens best within the structure and programs of the church (building), leaving little time or energy for ministry within the world I am planted(again, my family, friends, neighbors, work enviroment, and my daily experiences). 

8.  Reconize that Jesus ministry wasn’t limited to the synagoge and niether should mine. The first time Jesus taught in the synagoge, he read from Is: 61. He then left the building and went out to the people and begin to live out what he taught. If you read Is: 61, then you will understand Jesus’ministry(mission) and is also our own minstry. Jesus went out into the world to set people free, to heal the broken hearted. His mission was an individual mission and it took place mostly outside the walls of the synagoge. I have an individual mission/ministry also and it includes all the above. The church’s role should be more about empowering me to go live it out instead of confining me to the programs that the church has become.

In closing I feel like I am more of a minister today than I ever was when I was a part of the paid staff. My views have radically changed and so has my life. I am experiencing what John Eldredge wrote about in “Wild at Heart” “Epic” and “Waking the Dead”. I am experiencing the Christian life as it was intended, full of adventure and living in the greater story. I am so thankful that I didn’t allow church structure to cripple me, but that I have allowed my call as a believer to empover me to live a life of setting captives free, and healling the broken hearted. 

Some of you will understand what I am saying, but many of you will not understand because what I said challenges the effectiveness and the purpose of church organization as it exsits today.

I still believe in the church and but I no longer believe in what it has become. It’s time to rethink the church and go back to what it was intended to be from the beginning.

Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts,

Kenny

I have been in sick churches and in healthy churches…and those that are thriving know who they are (DNA)…what they do…and why they do it…and every time they have a success…they celebrate it…

I am afraid we have too many wounded solders on the front lines that have been overrun…

And the article is right…people are not interested in the church being successful but God to be glorified…and they do see their church as the way to glorify God…and if you are not in that type of environment then run for the hills and fight the fights that are important and not the ones that sap and destroy your dreams

I could not disagree more.  Having planted a Purpose Driven Church in a small town, with a staff not made up of super stars but ordinary people in the congregation and seeing that church grow to 1800 in average attendance in a town of 7000.  It’s true you have to start with their needs just like Jesus often did, people are not coming to help you fulfill your dream.  But they will come when you design a service that is understandable to them and helps them live life as you apply the scritpure to their lives in a practical way. I just read the E-Myth Revisited.  It’s worth reading as you think about not the barriers but the possibilities in reaching people.

Thanks, all, for your thoughtful comments!  Whether or not we all agree, I think the discussion has been beneficial to us all, as we have had to reflect upon our own personal experiences and perspectives towards the Church. 

Would everyone agree, though, that these issues depend on the particular church involved?  The further I go in ministry, the more I realize that each church has a different atmosphere, that some of the same problems are inherent to our humanity, and that some blessings transcend no matter where we might be.

This would make all the comments thus far applicable in some cases and not others.  It all depends on where we find ourselves. 

May God have mercy on His Church.

-joel jupp
cymbolicsound.com