What if...?
Finished reading Velvet Elvis today by Rob Bell. Ever read that one? Let me just say, you should. Ok, that is if you're ready for everything to be challenged. Some critics would say that he's crazy, trying to destroy the Evangelical church, a heretic...don't know what else. But maybe those people have only read a few pages, I don't know. His point is that it's high time that we come to grips with what we are doing in our lives as followers of Christ and how we "do church". He's appealing to us to come to a truly Biblical understanding of those things instead of just through the influences of our church cultures. Man, how that's needed!!I spent some time dreaming today after finishing the epilogue...dreaming about "what would happen if....?" Ask either of my aunts and they'll tell you I've been asking that questions since...well, forever! I still love it today because it forces us to open up our minds and think BIG!! I MEAN BIG!!
I'll share one of my "what-ifs" with y'all today:
What if followers of Christ came to understand that we have not only been called to follow him but to become like him?
OK...what does that mean Mikey? My mind took me down this road of thinking about the life of Jesus...how he lived...how he spoke...how he healed...his death on the cross...his resurrection...everything. Rob said something in the book that made me think "huh...". He was referring to these verses:
So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe--people and things, animals and atoms--get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross. (Colossians 1:19-20 - MSG)
It's this...if we are to become more and more like Christ then our lives should become more and more a part of the same work that Christ did while on earth...fixing, restoring, reconciling creation to its original goodness. Imagine what that means! Seriously stop and think about it!!
It's not new age...it's not liberal...it's living in the reality that God desires for us! It's the reality that God is fixing creation, restoring it to the way He planned it in the beginning...and He wants us to be a part of it!!!
What if??
posted by Michael Shattuck at
7:29 AM
3 Comments:
Good stuff. A lot of the same comments that I've struggled with for nearly 20 years. In high school I was frustrated and searching for ways to invite my friends to church. When I talked to them they would say things like "that doesn't appeal to me" or "what good will that do?". The second one was particularly hard because I was learning Biblical concepts and facts, but how to put that into my everyday life and apply it...whoa. What was going on in church didn't seem very relevant and it was boring!
The church we're attending now is what you would call "seeker-sensitive" and I have been learning a lot as we have gotten inolved in small group, membership, and as I have gone through small group leader training. One HUGE concept I'm grasping is that Jesus' teaching style wasn't necessarly exegetical. He'd pick a conept, share a story, and hammer away on that one thing. Our small groups are constructed around this: one concept, one idea, one thing to work on for a week. We end each night with an application piece- how can we employ this concept and do this during the upcoming week? ACTION!
Hey!
There's a debate here among some missionaries about what is harder -- turning an existing church into an active, moving, advancing, alive church -OR- planting a new dynamic church with believers who are really wanting to see something awesome happen. Hard question to answer.
We had a staff meeting tonight for the church we're apart of. This issue was huge in my mind as we talked about why people don't show up to baptism services (they're held separately maybe once a quarter or so). The answers given were away from the point...things like they'd don't have time...have to eat dinner...don't want to.
Until we redefine ourselves (individually and as churches)...truly in Christ...and experience transformation and life, people are not going to be excited about attending such events...maybe because they just aren't aware that there is more after just making the intial decision to follow Christ.
As we're moving toward planting a new church this is something we're really chewing on. The theory/philosophy doesn't seem too tough...but once we add people (including ourselves) things get a little more complicted! :-)
Good point, mbs. I was in youth ministry for a few years, I was a third generation pastor, two uncles that are pastors and a cousin that is a pastor---in our little roundtables we all agree: starting a new dynamic church is probably easier than growing an alive church. In starting a new church you can identify your essentials and non-essentials, set your core values and mission, and set the vision. A clear, dynamic vision can draw people to a central cause more quickly than a campaign to draw out people who have been in the faith yet may be stale or immature in the faith.
In trying to reinvent a church you could have 100-150yrs of traditions, heritage, baggage and stories to navigate through to turn it around. You will spend a lot of time convincing rather than winning, resolving conflict rather than training leadership, and for hearts to be changed rather than hearts to be won.
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