church

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Bigger and Better?

One of our interns from a few years ago somehow ended up on a mailing list for “Outreach” magazine. She has moved on, but the magazines keep coming. I suppose I should contact the publisher and put a stop to it all, but that requires me to be intentional. I’m not all that great at being intentional.

The target audience for this publication is the American Pastor. In addition to some interesting articles, it’s full of ads for Christian books, audio and video technology, and courses promising “Your socially-driven church management solution!” or “Double your Church Member’s Engagement!” While I have a tendency to snicker at the ads, I can imagine that some of these resources are truly a God-send to an overworked pastor who sincerely aspires to be a good shepherd.

So… the current issue just arrived. Picking it out of the mail stack, I read the cover: “100 Largest and Fastest-growing Churches in America: What Can We Learn From the Nation’s Top Churches?”

What do you think when you read that?

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“Do Megachurches Hurt the Poor?” one response

“Given our culture’s growing sensitivity to economic injustice, including among younger evangelicals, how would you respond to accusations of hypocrisy against megachurches with costly facilities?” That was the question Skye Jethani posed in his recent post, “Do Megachurches Hurt the Poor?” I started to write a reply which quickly grew into this response. If you haven’t already read his article, I strongly encourage you to do so now. As usual, he makes some very thought-provoking points.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, Pete and I go to a megachurch. Last I heard, our regular attendees number in the 10,000 range. Our “living room” (as our auditorium is affectionately called) is one of the largest venues in Colorado Springs, with full stage lighting, huge screens, and an elaborate sound system. While the basic building design was an economic one, it cost millions of dollars to build, and we’re still paying off a mountain of debt on it (incurred by our previous pastor).

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YOU Are a Leader!

Sitting in church a few months ago, I watched as the guest speaker scanned the crowd, then asked, “How many of you are leaders?”

A few hands went up. He shook his head, “No, you are all leaders! Every hand should be up! Everyone repeat after me: ‘I am a leader!’”

The congregation dutifully repeated “I am a leader!”

I’m sure everyone paid close attention to the sermon that followed. After all, leaders get more attention. They get privileges the rest of us miss out on. They’re important. Don’t we look up to leaders? Think more highly of them? Don’t we all want everyone to think of us that way?

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Missionary Support: A Suggestion

How would you like to walk up to one of your friends and ask, “Hey, can I have $50 or $100 a month for the next umpteen years?”

How long do you think they’d stay your friend? Yet, this is what we expect missionaries and many other full-time ministry workers to do. It’s called “support raising.” Pretty awkward, yes?

We’ve managed to sugar coat it somewhat. We tell people it’s their chance to get involved in what God is doing. We promise significance. And if there’s any way we can connect them to what we do, we show photos of starving children or cherubic orphans.

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God’s Special Forces

“There are places in the world many fear to tread, places of darkness where most have given up hope of ever trying to make a difference.”

The young man was standing in front of our Sunday school class, showing photos and telling hair-raising stories about smuggling food and Bibles into North Korea. Finding families for children orphaned by genocide in Myanmar. Even extracting persecuted believers from these and other nations that have targeted them for execution.

The U.S. military has special forces teams that engage in high-risk missions. Alpha Relief is one of God’s special forces teams.

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Angry at God

I sat listening to my friend pour out her sorrow and concern for her son. He had been a vibrant believer, praying with authority, intimate with Jesus, a successful evangelist who was planning to go overseas as a missionary. And now he had just proclaimed himself an atheist.

How could someone that close to God suddenly decide that He doesn’t exist? It’s a long story which I won’t elaborate on here, but as best as his parents could piece together, the problem stems from unanswered prayer. He prayed that God would step in and set him free from an addiction—and God didn’t obey him.

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Amateur Hour Pageants

Our church just announced this year’s Christmas Eve “Experience.” It will truly be an event, with an official title (for promotional purposes, I assume), a huge cast, handcrafted costumes, well-built scenery, lights, carols—even ice skating!—plus a reenactment of the nativity and a candlelight service. Thousands of people will come to each of the three performances, and I’m sure they’ll be impressed.

The church we attended when our kids were young was much smaller—350 people instead of 10,000. There was no way we were going to compete with the huge productions of much larger churches. Instead, our Christmas program was pretty much the complete opposite.

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Do You Speak “Church”?

I was sitting in church Sunday while one of our pastor was welcoming visitors. As happens every week, he invited anyone new to come to the visitor reception held after each service. The projectionist lit up the “glowing orb” over one pair of doors, highlighted the exit one could take to find snacks, a meet-and-greet with several pastors, and this week’s free gift (is there any other kind?). But what struck me was that the sign projected over the door didn’t just say “Guests.” It said “Guest Central.”

We seem to have a habit of giving special names to everything our church does. Instead of mere announcements, we have the “NLC3.” We don’t just have a Christmas program, we have “Wonderland.” And last year, we didn’t just have a weekly prayer meeting, we experienced “Revival Town.”

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Judging One Another

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1-2, italics mine)

But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:11-13, italics mine)

Confused yet? I certainly have been. How can I reconcile verses that seemingly contradict one another?

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I Love My Body

Last time I examined some reasons people give for going to church. Today I want to talk about why I go. It isn’t the singing, although that’s important. And it isn’t the sermon, although I enjoy listening and learning. It isn’t even because of the many times I’m intensely aware of God’s presence during the service, although that’s a side-effect of being together. (God meets me in other circumstances as well.)

The main reason I go to church is because that’s where the body is. Following God is something we just can’t do alone.

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