“Ultimately,
each church will be evaluated by only one thing – its disciples. If your
disciples are passive, needy (“feed me,” “visit me,” “take care of my needs”),
consumeristic, and not moving in the direction of radical obedience, your
church is not good.”
Neil
Cole
“The unseen
culture of a church powerfully shapes her ability to grow, mature and live
missionally.” J.R.
Woodward
The wonderful Presbyterian pastor,
Craig Barnes has advanced – with considerable force – the singular notion that
“It’s not about you.” A popular speaker at leadership conferences and as a
guest in churches of every size, Barnes has crafted his “stump speech” around
those four words. Thousands have heard those words enumerated in various and
imaginative ways but the message remains: the work of the church is not, has
not and never will be about “you.” What remains, of course, is the question,
“Just what is the work of the church about?” Simply, the work of the church is
about the Missio Dei – the Mission of God.
Unfortunately, something of a heresy
has infected a great number of churches in North America. I limit this
observation to North American churches only because my personal observation and
reading has been so limited. The heresy of which I refer is a change of culture
from the one that shaped the church of the New Testament; a change from the New
Testament church’s self-understanding that it existed to advance the work of
God in the world to the present North American understanding that the church
exists to provide religious goods and services to it’s privileged members. As
someone once observed, the Sunday morning offering has become membership dues
and those that pay expect certain privileges. The church has become another
club.
There is good news. Emerging in the
last two decades is a recovery of the original charter of the church – the
church exists for God’s ongoing work in the world. Church members, rather than
being “club members” who demand goods and services are now identified as
“disciples” who accept personal responsibility for God’s mission. Widely, this
recovery is referenced as the “Missional Church.” Quite simply, this fresh
understanding of the character and mission of the church is a movement from
“What can the church do for me?” or even the more noble question, “What can I
do for God?” to discernment of where God is presently at work and joining that
work in a meaningful way.
Churches who are now possessed by
this new culture are renouncing the heresy that once held the church captive.
Abandoned are the artifacts of a culture that seeks to meet the personal needs
of members. This old way of thinking about and being church is experiencing a
New Testament rebirth that calls all church “disciples” to ministries
appropriate to the spiritual gifts that they have been so endowed by God.
Anything less is now recognized as idolatry – “me” before God.
How might a “membership” culture be
changed into a “discipleship” culture?
Reams of paper have absorbed gallons of black ink orchestrated by those
seeking to address that question. Many
helpful insights have been provided. What many have discovered is that specific
tactics and strategies vary from region to region and church to church.
Cultural change in a specific church is difficult work and requires more the
careful hand of an artist than the blueprint of a strategist. But there are two
biblical principles that drape over all tactics and strategies like a sacred
canopy: repentance and prayer.
The Book of Jeremiah is instructive.
In the eighteenth chapter, God has Moses tell the people – who are on the wrong
track – that if they “turn from their evil,” then God’s response will be, “I
will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring.” What God is
speaking of is “repentance,” by both the people and God. Simply, if the people
turn and go the other way – the meaning of repentance – then God will also turn
and go the other way. Many Christians are often surprised to learn that God has
invited us into a dynamic relationship with God. And that relationship is
sustained and nurtured like all relationships – through regular and substantive
conversation. Such conversation with God is commonly called “prayer.”
Any cultural change within a
particular congregation must begin with the leaders acknowledging that they are
“going the wrong way.” Ministry that has been designed to serve the people and
all their perceived needs must give way to a fresh commitment to the mission of
God. Then leaders must do what leaders do – lead the people to a fresh
encounter of the scriptures and understanding of the dominant theme found there
– God’s mission in the world. Naturally, all leadership must acknowledge a dependence
upon God for hearts to be changed and people mobilized for ministry. That is
what will shape the content of their prayers.
This is not to say that people’s
needs do matter to God. The church only has to point to the cross of Jesus to
demonstrate God’s concern for God’s people. What scriptures do say is that
ministries to the needs of the people is to be done by the people of the
cross-shaped community – not necessarily by the leaders, ordained and elected.
Leaders direct the people into meaningful participation in the mission of God
and the people minister to one another as the larger mission of God is
advanced. This is what the Reformed Church has called “the priesthood of all
believers.”
Neil Cole is right. Each church will
be evaluated by only one thing – its disciples. Attention to the expectations
and behavior of any particular church will reveal whether it is a church that
functions as another club in the community or a missionary force for God’s
purposes.
Joy,
Doug Hood
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