1/28/2011

The Church: Christ's Body "Mission & Purpose"

What is the mission and purpose of the church?  To be brief let's just say it is to aid God in the restoration of humanity and creation.  Apart from creating a space for believers to fellowship, worship, and be ministered to individually or as a family. 

But as a church have we lost our focus to restore what has been lost or broken?  Or in other words do we emphasize "outreach"  in our decisions, vision, or programming within the church body? Has the church lost touch with culture so much that we have no idea how to "make disciples" anymore?  Or is it the fact that for too long we have been trying to reach others with only part of God's great story and plan.

Let me explain the philosophy of outreach or evangelism has solely revolved around the concepts of salvation and resurrection of Christ.  So we tell those who are "lost" that because everyone is a sinner we need to be saved, because sin separates us from God.  They only way that one can be saved is if they believe God sent his son as a sacrifice, taking our place of punishment and death.  So because Christ died for us and then rose from the dead he conquered death, thus giving us eternal life.

This is a very compelling argument and is great news even wonderful for humanity, but we are only sharing the pinnacle part of the story.  We tend leave out the beginning (creation) and the end (restoration) of God's narrative.  It is frustrating or confusing to say the least when you only know or hear part of a story.  Or  say the climax of any movie would not be that exciting if you did not watch it completely from beginning to end. 

Hearing or watching a completed story allows you to be more involved emotionally, gives you a better understanding of why, and therefore you gain a better sense of what that story could mean or how it applies to your life.  If the church changed its approach to making disciples of all nations by sharing the whole story of God, would we be more effective? Have more of an impact on culture? Would new and old Christians have a better sense of mission and purpose with a "whole/complete story" mind-set?

1/18/2011

The Church: Christ's Body "Serving"

I want to continue my thoughts on the church with the subject of serving or maybe I should call it "sharing."  A lot of my thinking on the church Biblically has come from Acts 2:42-47.  Serving is big focus that I would like to see my church and youth ministry move into this coming year. 

To me the idea of serving is when people share what they have to give, but it is also when we share our lives with one another.  The early church in Acts knew how to serve and share with each another or anyone that had need.  "And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all; as anyone might have need. (Acts 2:44-45)"

Meditating and looking over these verses I wondered if all those who "believe" today have this kind of attitude to share  with or serve anyone who has need?  I think it's safe to say the answer to that question is no, but why have we allowed church to turn into a place where a majority of the people take instead of give?  I believe too many for too long have come to church with the mindset that they are there to take and receive service from the church, but not give or share themselves with the rest of the body. 

I guess we have missed the unique paradox of serving, the idea being everyone in the body should share what they have to give but never expect anything  back in return.  For one to serve  others and expect something in return is not really holding the right attitude or perspective of serving in the first place.  Therefore, what could be holding people back from serving or sharing is the fact that it's to risky, because you might share all that you have but not receive anything in return. 

Now there are other cost's of sharing as my Senior Pastor pointed out this past Sunday in his message.  To serve others you must be willing to humble yourself before them.  Have the characteristics of  faith and hope that when we serve to those who cannot give anything back that we will be repaid by God, the risk factor I mention in the previous paragraph.  Also serving and sharing with others should be not be done to prove  how good or holy we are to others.  While of course the cost of serving could be too much for some because they are not willing to simply give up the time that it takes. 

I believe what I am trying to get at here is that what would the church or ministry look like if we all truly shared what we had and not expected anything in return?  If we all came to church with the attitude of giving instead of taking?  What great and amazing things could the church then accomplish that we are already not doing in our communities, the world?

If we claim to be to the rest of the world as Christ was, the one who came to serve rather than be served, we better create a new atmosphere of serving within our local church bodies.  Not to mention if we what to up hold the second greatest commandment.

1/13/2011

The Church: Christ's Body "Unity"

As I move toward my ordination I am required by my denomination to write a number of position papers that discuss theological issues.  The most recent one was called The Church: Christ's Body and it has really prompted and challenged me internally, to question exactly what the church is and what it is called to do? While also trying to piece together and understand how youth ministry fits into being part of this body.

Now I know there is a lot of different areas, issues, or theological avenues one could take trying to define what the church is and why we are called the body of Christ.  However, this is not my purpose for writing today.  Instead I would like to share with you the questions, thoughts, and new passions that I have been processing in my head regarding the church.

Wayne Grudem in his book Systematic Theology describes the church as "the community of all true believers for all time." Meaning the church is made up of believers from the past, present, and the future until of course Christ's second coming.  A question that has stuck with me is this; does the everyday average Christian view the church as all true believers?  Or to rephrase the question, do the people in our churches view the church body as being much bigger than their local congregation?

Allow me to unpack this some more.  The concept of the church body should be much larger than just one particular  congregation of believers, worshipping and carrying out Christ's mission and purposes.  All churches/denominations around the world should be united by the same cause of manifesting Christ for the rest of humanity.  Scripture calls all  believers to be united under Christ's leadership and authority, so that we can receive direction and vision.

But are we really "united"? By we I mean different denominations or  even churches with in the same local area that ultimately have the same underlying vision, to reach or serve those who are lost, and to build up the those who already believe.   How often do you find churches within the same denomination working together let alone churches of different ones to accomplish these goals?

Have we missed the point of being a greater body? I got to talking with a missionary recently who visited our church.  I asked her while she was on the mission field if she worked or partnered with other missionaries from different denominations.  She looked at me and said there would have been no way to do the mission of God without the missionaries working together.  She explained that these other missionaries became some of her closet friends and allies, the unity and relationships allowed for an outpouring of God's love and salvation among the people they were trying to reach.

Can we not accomplish and  implement this very same idea locally to our communities?  Maybe instead of some churches barely hanging on and struggling to exist we could be a community or nation of thriving churches, which will minister to the lost and broken. 

We understand and do ministry very well in single congregational settings of believers coming together to form the body of Christ.  We know that each individual  posses certain gifts, skills, and talents, that allows ministry to take on many shapes and forms to reach the greatest number of people possible.  But do we know or have we considered that the church down the road maybe excellent in this area of ministry,  which should open the door for our church to minister differently to the same community? 

Why try to compete or spend useless man hours supporting a weak ministry when some one else already invented the wheel?  Or why can't two neighboring churches on the same street communicate together to pull off an event that maximizes community outreach? In my mind it is just plain ridiculous that we are not working or unified together.  Now I know some churches or communities may already be doing this but I think on the nation wide spectrum there is definite room for improvement. 

I know I threw out a lot of questions here and don't expect them all to be answered or easily fixed.  But I do think it is worth that we start a conversation regarding these issues with our neighboring pastors and congregations.  Any thoughts on these questions or what this looks like from personal experience are welcome.