Local church revolution part 4

4) Teach discernment
The church is teaching its members to recognize labels instead of discerning right from wrong. We have our own radio stations, our own fashion statements, our own music, our own bookstores, our own cable networks, our own animated children's cartoons, and even our own breath mints. We've encouraged people to consume "christian" products so that they can avoid being influenced by a "sinful" world. Is that really what God meant when he that we should be "in the World but not of it?"

Christians today don't have to listen to the words that a musician says. They don't have to analyze the lyrics and judge the message of the artist. They just have to make sure it comes from the music aisle marked "Christian Contemporary." There are a lot of books to read but many Christians never will unless they are sold in a Christian bookstore. This creates a type of cultural ignorance among Christians. It's a type of separation from the World that makes the local church look out of touch and irrelevant to everyone who is outside of it.

I'm going to stick with music for right now and give you an example of what I am talking about. Most adults in the church believe that Eminem is obscene and doesn't have a message that is of any value. They could easily point to his newest single "Shake That" as an example and I would completely agree. But they would miss a song like "When I am Gone" which is a heartfelt expression of the love he feels for his family and the pain he feels when he is away from them. Sure he drops the f-bomb one time in the song. But, it has a sincerity that is sadly missing from most of the sanitized and over-produced music that is put out as a safe alternative for christians to listen to. Why can't christians listen to regular radio? Is their faith on such a weak foundation that something said in a Nickleback tune might might make them wander off the path of righteousness?

If you are new in the faith then maybe you need the shelter of Christian radio. And, there is a lot of really good Christian music. Right there is central issue. You should be able to listen to secular radio and find some music that moves you and other songs that don't. Likewise, music on Christian radio can speak right to your soul. Then again, some of it is crap. In all things excercise discernment. There is something to be said for filtering the types of messages that you listen to over and over again but using a "christian" label to determine the worth of music or books or movies is a crutch. Participation in "Christian Culture" is a dumbing down of the true call of Christ.

Let me give you one more quick example. MySpace is a very popular social networking web site with 65 million members and traffic that is second only to Google. This week I got an email from Xianz.com. Their slogan is "It's not myspace... it's His space." That's right christians, now you have your own safe social networking site where you won't have to interact with the unwashed masses and you can keep your light all to yourselves.

Pick Pickler!

I think that everyone who is paying attention knows that Paris Bennett is going to win American Idol this year. She is the most-talented, most entertaining, and most adorable contestant on American Idol this season hands down. And since everyone knows that she has this season locked, she has been safe from elimination for every round so far.

Taking that into consideration I am asking you to cast your votes, not for Paris, but for the girl next door, Albemarle native, Kelly Pickler. Kelly is cute too and she is working that country girl in the big city thing very well. She is also a good singer and performer. She deserves second place and I think we should all throw our support to helping her get there.

Let me summarize this for all you Kelly Pickler fans who don't get it yet... Paris Bennett is your next American Idol. I welcome your comments :)

Local church revolution part 3

3) Stop productizing evangelism
Outreach is not a packaged 8-week video curriculum. It is a not scripted set of questions that you can unload on perfect strangers. And, hold onto your hats... it's not the "The Roman Road." People need to see the testimony of a changed life. Only then do those other tools for presenting the message of salvation have any meaning at all. Am I saying that the Bible is not powerful? No. I'm saying that teaching people to mark a course in the margins of their Bibles through a few verses and telling them that is how you do "evangelism" is weak.

I could be way off on this but I am coming to believe that sharing the Gospel is NOT strategic. It's not something that you sit around in a room plot with other christians. Evangelism is not a scheme. Billboards and direct mail campaigns are good at convincing other christians that your church can offer them something that their church does not. If you have a couple of good concerts you may even get them to move their membership. But these tactics are ineffective and inefficient when it comes to reaching lost people. Then you also have those christians who wear a tee-shirt with a fish on it or a WWJD bracelet and call that witnessing. That's just another example of a hands off approach.

Personal witnessing strategies are a little bit better but not much. At least with "FAITH" training and the like there is some personal contact. That contact is usually between relative strangers and is scripted. Christians seem to prefer tracts and memorized gimmicks to honest and open communication. Why is that?

Maybe christians are afraid to share their faith because they are afraid they will do it wrong. The church has been shovelling witnessing strategies down their throats for years to "equip" them. I think they are right to be afraid. What if they forget what the A in FAITH stands for? Will someone go to Hell because they didn't memorize it completely? I took the "Share Jesus Without Fear" course but what if I forget how I am supposed to respond to some of those questions? What if the conversation diverts from the "script?"

These ideas about evangelism are all misguided and you would be hard pressed to find similar "strategic" approaches to witnessing in the Bible.

Let's simplify witnessing so that it doesn't seem so hard. Just figure out what your own "story" is. It is simply, what do you believe, when did you first believe it and what difference does it make in your life. Tell that story when it is appropriate to the people who share your life. Finally, do your very best to live a life that is consistent with what you say that you believe.

If you don't have a story, then maybe you haven't found God yet.

Don't forget to tell your church leaders to sell that evangelism video curriculum on eBay and give the money to the poor (see part 2).

FIRE!

We had a little "incident" at work today. The whole office was evacuated and the fire department was dispatched becuase a fan in the bathroom caught on fire. No significant damage was done. I guess it's still better to be safe than sorry.

Local church revolution part 2

What is that giant sucking sound?

2) Spend the tithes in a way that ministers to real people.
People give when there is a natural disaster because they know the money is helping real people with real needs. People will give to their church when they know the money has similar impact. When they look at the monthly budget report and see no ministry then why should they give?

The Bible says that we should give a tenth of what the Lord gives us back to Him. For most people that means they look at their paycheck and write a check to their church for a tenth of what they have been paid. That is going to add up to a couple thousand dollars or more per working adult every year. I know that most church members do not tithe. And so most churches have just enough money coming in to keep their staff paid and the electricity on in the building. But let's just think about this money problem for a minute.

People give money to charity when they believe that the charity will use the money to help people in need. People pay thier taxes because it is the law. Which motivation is closer to the hearts of tithers?

The thing about paying taxes is that you pay just what you have to and not a bit more. If we change people's motivation for tithing they will not only give, they will give more than a tenth. How can the local church change their motivation? By changing how it spends the money. I said it just a few posts ago, build soup kitchens not sanctuaries.

A large part part of the annual church budget HAS to go to direct ministry. I don't mean giving it to the local association, state or national convention. It is important to support those but half of their costs are administrative too. Identify people with needs in the church, in the community, or missionaries around the World. Then go meet those needs. Isn't that what Jesus told us to do in the first place?

Local church revolution part 1

You want a revolution in the local church?

1) Abolish the attendance records.
Focus on worship, spiritual growth and fellowship while you are in the building. Ministry and outreach takes place outside of the church building. Refuse to count heads. It is far more important to be sending people out than bringing them in. Souls will be saved out there in the fields if we are sending people out that have the power of the Holy Spirit working within them.

Dunbar's number says that primates are only capable of maintaining a certain number of relationships at one time. Furthermore, this number is relative to the size of the neocortex in the brain. And so we discover that the "monkeysphere" for human beings is about 150. This is interesting stuff. If you go to a church that has 300 members you will probably only be able to maintain a relationship with half of the church's membership (but that's only if we don't count those relationships that you already have to maintain outside of church).

So, if your church building seats 200 and it's getting a little tight, maybe you need to plant a new church not break ground a new building. To think that a new church plant would not fare as well as the founding church is not only self-centered, it denies the power of the Holy Spirit. So send out 50 or more people to plant a new church and save the $500,000 that the new building would have cost for... the local church revolution part II.

Reimagining the local church

In our time Christianity is a numbers game. Everyone seems to want to disappear into a mega-church with a couple thousand other people. We need more staff, more programs, bigger buildings, build, Build, BUILD! If a few churches in a community grow while the smaller churches shrink then is anyone reaching the lost? I'm not the first one to point this out but, maybe we're just moving Christians from one part of town to another?

And what about the money? We invest in programs and staff and buildings that primarily serve those who are already church members. We give to cooperative programs on the regional, state and national level where administrative costs eat away at every dollar as it is passed from hand to hand on the way to the people it was given to minister to.

And what kind of a sorry state is evangelism in? We teach our people formulas and scripts to help their share "their" faith. We put trite little pamphlets in their hands and they are supposed to use them to bring people in. Go on now! Get out there and save them and then bring'em back to the building so that we can "disciple" them!

What's the problem with the church? It is self centered. It is focused on maintaining and/or building it's numbers and most everything it does only serves to feed itself. That's a significant part of the problem as I see it. Now, I'm going to start a series of Blog posts on what how I think we can fix it.