bandaids....or transformation?

Adam and I went to a friend's church for her baptism on Sunday, and it got me thinking about a lot of things as they relate to our church and some of the pains we been experiencing over the last several years.  Lots of churches emphasize GROW GROW GROW, and there's a lot to be said for a vibrant community of believers. What I really want to know, though, is the WHY.

I don't want to be a church who simply jumps on every trend only to change when the bandwagon makes a turn, but nor do I want to be a church who refuses to change on the grounds that "we can't accommodate everyone" (which is usually code for, "it's comfortable this way").

Well, OF COURSE we can't accommodate everyone's preferences, nor should we compromise our essential beliefs, but if we stay on our current course, those churches which refuse to adjust (or, indeed, refuse to make changes ahead of the curve) will cease to exist.

I'm loving Brian McLaren's Reinventing Your Church; can you tell?

So here are some of the questions I have for my church, in particular, but all churches, in general:

1. Why do we want to grow in the first place?  A related question is, what do we believe the purpose of growth to be?  Is it to spread the Gospel or is it to expand our social network?  Is it to go out into the "dangerous" places or to create a secluded "safe" place for ourselves?  Or both?  Or neither?

2. In our attempt at growing, who are we trying to attract? (a) already-practicing Christians (which may mean, essentially, enticing them away from other churches, which seems counter-productive), (b) nominal Christians who are seeking more depth in their relationships with Christ and who might not be attending a church currently, or (c) unchurched folks and/or non-Christians?  Or maybe some combination of these three?  Or maybe other groups I haven't considered yet?

3. Once we figure out WHY we're doing what we're doing and WHO we're reaching for, HOW do we best redesign/streamline our structures (administrative, worship options/style(s), financial, missional, social, etc.) to best address the needs of those we're trying to serve?

4. What are we (individually and corporately) willing to give up for the purpose of meeting our common goal, whatever we determine it to be?  Are we willing to sacrifice our pet projects, our emotional attachments to programs (or even furniture!), our preferences for worship style, etc.?  How can we go about doing some cost/benefit analysis?

5. Are we actually willing to step out for Jesus Christ?  Are we willing to tolerate (or, my goodness, even invite and embrace!) the occasional person raising her hands during worship?  Are we willing to "suffer the little children to come unto" Jesus rather than being annoyed because they're too loud?  Are we willing to constantly ask ourselves whether what we're doing at any given time embodies our call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, etc.?  Are we willing to thoroughly examine our theological "hobby horses" with new eyes?  Are we willing to give others the space to experience God differently than we do, and to affirm them rather than criticize?

Is anyone with me on this??

on faith

I've been thinking a lot about faith lately.  Maybe it's because my church is in a bit of upheaval, and maybe it's because Zeke has started asking questions.  Or maybe it's because of my academic nature, and maybe it's because life is hard and I want to know why, and maybe it's because so many people profess a faith which shares a name with mine, but which I don't recognize at all.

or maybe a bit of everything.

One thing I've thought about a lot, especially, is the idea of salvation.  Sometime I think we don't fully appreciate what a beautiful (and completely undeserved!) gift salvation is, because we don't fully appreciate what we've been saved from.  We used to be separated from God, only able to communicate with Him through intercessors, on certain days, atoning with literal, flesh-and-blood sacrifices every time; now we can talk with Him at any moment, in every moment, and we never have to be separated again.  Ever.

because Jesus stood in for all the sacrifices that would have been required.

But the thing I'm struggling with now is the idea of the "sinners' prayer".  From what I can figure, it's based on Romans 10:9, which says, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (NIV).  The Amplified Bible words it slightly differently: "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

So I get the concept of reciting a formal prayer to officially take the step of "declare and believe".

BUT...

What about all the connotations of "believe"?  What about "adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth"?

"Adhere to...the truth" implies action, which in my (admittedly novice) opinion is supported by:

John 15:14--
"You are my friends if you do what I command." (NIV)
"You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do." (AMP)

and James 2:20--
"You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?" (NIV)
"Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?" (AMP)



Ours is not a merit-based faith but, rather, we are saved by the grace of God.  However, that doesn't give us license to sit around exclaiming about how much we love Him while ignoring the second of the greatest commandments (Mark 12:30-31).

Okay, that's all fine, but what does it mean to "rely on" the truth? "Rely on", how?  By doing what?  Same question for "trust in".  My teacher self wants to know how I can demonstrate reliance and trust, because the text leads me to believe these verbs are supposed to be active.  These are things we do.


I don't mean to question the sincerity of those who have prayed the "sinners' prayer", but I also think lots of us do so (in my case, when I was at camp the summer before 6th grade) because we're afraid of hell, not because we truly understand the nature of sin and how it utterly separates us from God.

And that's to say nothing about what happens after we pray.  What do we do then?  Are our churches and spiritual elders prepared to teach us how to walk in faith by shepherding us after we've made a commitment (1 Tim 5:17)?  Are they mature enough to hold us accountable for our speech and actions (Heb 13:17)?  Are they willing to step out of their comfort zones, even if doing so jeopardizes the church bureaucracy? Can they be examples in  showing us how faith is done (1 Cor 11:1)? 

All this to say, I just don't see how some formulaic prayer encompasses all the nuances of "declare and believe".




What if we've been doing this wrong for years?