More on Church-Change
One of the most encouraging things about insights from God is the fact that he reinforces them through other godly people in your life. (much thanks to Cory and Paul) When God wants to do something big with your life, but knows you have weak faith, then He sometimes gives you something to reassure you, to help you believe that what he’s doing is good, and that you will be better for it.
Such is the case for me right now. Perhaps it’s just a case of optimistic bias, but I believe it is God putting His hand on my shoulder, and reassuring me that He really IS teaching me something through it all.
Mark Batterson, one of my favorite bloggers and lead pastor at National Community Church in Washington DC, has a post up today titled “Decoding Culture”.
He gives us some background info on “the church” of the past,
Nothing was more visible on the pre-modern skyline than church steeples. And in a sense, church steeples symbolized the place of the church in culture. There was a day, in the not too distant past, when church was the center of culture. Church was the place to go. Church was the thing to do. Nothing was more visible than the church steeple. Nothing was more audible than the church bells. And it might be a slight exaggeration, but all the pre-modern church had to do was raise a steeple and ring a bell.
Indeed, church gatherings used to be the highlight of the week, the defacto-standard for Sunday night activity. Such is not the case anymore. We can no longer just put up a steeple and ring the bells and expect people to flock to the building. It’s just not going to happen outside of a miracle.
He goes on,
The church no longer enjoys a cultural monopoly. We are the minority in post-Christian America. And the significance of that is this: we can’t afford to do church the way it’s always been done. Our tactics must change.
OK, can you see now why I found this post so encouraging? 
Sounds quite familiar
We can no longer bank on church gatherings being the “standard activity” on Sundays. There is plenty to do on Sunday other than church gatherings.
I love this next part,
Don’t get me wrong: the message is sacred. But methods are not. And the moment we anoint our methods as sacred, we stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop doing ministry out of imagination and start doing ministry out of memory.
WOW! Burn to all those of who are married to your methods!
Permission to speak frankly?
Too many pastors are getting As in Biblical exegesis and Ds in cultural exegesis. We know Scripture, but we’re out of touch with the times. The end result is a gap between theology and reality called irrelevance. We’re out of touch with the very people we’re trying to reach—the unchurched and dechurched. We’ve got to exegete our culture so we can close the gap. That’s what incarnation is all about.
The post-Christian church needs a revelation: irrelevance is irreverence!
Yes, those are strong words, but needed words! I love this guy!!!
To read the whole story, head over to the Evotional and have a look. Trust me, the article gets even better!!!
Also, if you would like a really good blog to have in your blogroll, subscribe to Mark’s blog feed.
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Shalom…
2 Things…
First is the movement of the New Testament church towards “political correctness”
Second is the movement of the New Testament Church away from “political correctness”
(if I keep commenting here, I will have nothing to write in my future essays at my own weblog!)
#1. The advent of the “Televangelist” has turned many churches towards a more “profitable” method of watering down the “Gospel” to more of a “Deepak Chopra Feel Good Lecture”.
Many churches try to stay away from words like “blood” (Remember that one? Christ’s BLOOD cleansing us…) or “Hell” (Remember that one? The place where the unsaved go…) Or phrases like “Weeping and gnashing of teeth”, or “Outer darkness”, or passages like: Matthew 12:30 “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Leaving people with a “Buy my tapes and or book, and you can make a quick buck off of God” craving.
And if you think that is not true, take a good hard listen to Joel Osteen, or spend a few hours watching TBN!
The church has slowly moved towards the “Pastor Honest John Huckster” type of “Snake Oil” preacher for years now, and it has turned many a Christian into the WRONG type of “needy”! We NEED Christ in our lives, but not as some “Supreme Being” who will handle our finances like a hired accountant would, or as someone who will keep us healthy through the use of herbal remedies peddled on the “Sky Angel” network.
What we NEED from God, is HIS will to be done in our lives no matter what HIS will entails.
#2. The advent of what I like to call, “The Second Reformation” where churches have gone to the other extreme, by their so-called method of “Getting back to God”. Which entails all out attacks on evil heretics like the “Purple Teletubbie”, or the “Burning of Witches” like the “Disney Board of Directors”, as well as the “God Hates Fags” genre of churches that have taken “Homosexuality” to a new level by banning the gays via an ammendment to their “Church Bylaws”. Heaven forbid Jesus would associate with sinners and publicans!
What Would Jesus Do? I have asked myself about these things? Well, if he appeared tomorrow, he would probably turn around and leave telling us… “I’ll be back later when you folks start acting your age, so try to play nice until I return!”
This new “Conservative movement” loves to shout “War”! at terrorists, fight over stone statues (idols) in State court houses, and take on the role of God when deciding issues of life and death. Am I wrong? Welllll… These so-called “New Reformers” cringe at the thought of abortion, but stand tall and cheer over the death penalty, and the difference is?
What the church needs is the “Holy Bible”, it and it alone. What the church needs is to worship God, and nothing else, what the church needs is to shut out the media, the religious “Guru’s”, the 100,000 seat venues of the Super happy God will adapt TO YOU, if you just think flowery thoughts type of theologists (Honorary D.Div most of them), and to just pray for God’s will, and no one elses.
God is a big boy, and can handle himself, as well as the rest of us, the problem is we refuse to let go of the “steering wheel” of our lives.