The State of the Church....Can it be done differently?

This is probably one of the most important and perhaps controversial post that I have ever written. It concerns the Church. I love the Church, but the Church just does not seem to be what it should be.

This post is for those out there that;

Know there should be more to Church.
People that are not happy with the current condition of the Church.
People that know that there needs to be a change.
People that are not happy with the status quo.
People that have still not found what they are looking for.
People that have been hurt and ostracized by the Church.
People that love the Church, but know that the Church is not just 4 walled institutions.
People that know the Church is actually you and me.

We are different. We are not of this world. We are called to do things differently. We need to do things better.

Many of our Churches are unable to do much, if anything, to reach the unsaved in our community because they are bogged down by debt, by dwindling tithes, by uncaring, by complacency, by doubt, by few to no workers, by leadership issues, being untrained. and more.

People come to our Churches. They sing a few songs, they listen to a sermon and then they go home. They go home in the same condition they were in when they walked in the door. I have heard and seen this all to often. People in the parking lots of our Churches cursing up a storm. They go inside the Church and pretend that everything is fine. After Church, they come out cursing again and all but run over the cars in front on them trying to get out of the parking lot as fast as they can.

I see married couples that argue and fight right up until they enter the doors of the Church. Then they put on their masks and pretended that the fighting never happened. They do their best to put on a good show for the duration of the service. After the service, they remove their masks and go right back to hating each others guts.

I see people that have dire needs. Needs of jobs, needs of food, needs of money to pay the bills. Needs of money to pay their mortgage or rent before they get kicked out and lose their home. People desperate for healing, prayer, and to meet the real Jesus.

I see people with hope in their hearts that know that God can meet their needs. They go into our Churches with this hope that God will show up. But to them, he never does. They leave the Church with their hope and faith squashed. They still hate their spouse, they still need a job, they still need healed, they still need money to pay bills, they still need to meet Jesus, they still need food, they still need clothing, and on and on.

I see Churches and Ministries that put endless criteria, rules and regulations on the little help that they do offer. The hoops are often so many to get this help that the people in need run away from both the Church and God convinced that both are just big bullies that offer help, but never really intend to give it.

I see Church services where people are invited to go up to the alter and pray. They do this, as they should. But it ends there. Most leave the alter with little more hope, if any, than they had when they went to the alter.

The Church is not meeting needs. Its not doing its job. Oh sure, I know there are exceptions out there. But they are few and far in-between. I personally know Churches that have flat out refused to help in the community.

They fear that they wont have enough people to do the tasks. They fear that they wont have enough resources to meet all the need. They fear that they wont have the staff to manage needs. This fear is not of God!

Most of the people in the US have heard about the Bible until they are blue in the face. They have been told over and over that Jesus loves them. They have been told that he cares. But what is the Church doing to prove it? God loves to meet needs. This is what he is all about.

Its not that God is not showing up. Its that the Church is not utilizing Him. God is not into doing everything himself. Sure, God can do this if he chooses, and does when he has to. But that's not how he prefers to work. God wants to use us. Just like in that song. "We are His hands and feet". If we don't get out there and do it, chances are that is not going to get done. God keeps waiting for the Church to get out there and start helping. But he is just left waiting at the alter.

Does Church need to be re-invented? Is it that we have just forgotten how Church should be run?

Church needs to be a place where;

There is life
There is laughter
There is joy
There is healing
There are needs met. Needs like Food, Clothes, Jobs, etc...
Marriages and relationships are healed
We reach out to those both inside and outside our 4 walls and show them Jesus
We put action to our prayers

I want to hit more on that last point. The people in the pews and chairs of our Churches are literally dying right where they sit. We feed them faith by the spoonful and bucketful. Our people want to get out there and do something with all this faith that they are fed. But very few Churches provide any outlet for this faith.

Prayer is faith. We are going to God with our requests, our belief, and our very lives. We are believing that he is going to help us and others. But there is another step to this process. Yes, prayer is supposed to be a process. If we just pray and do nothing else, we might as well have not prayed at all. Prayer must be active and acted upon.

According to James 2:14-26, and in several other places in His Word, faith without works is a dead faith. You have probably heard this before, but had no clue what is really meant. Well, Im here to tell you what it means.

It means; If you pray for someone that needs food, and you have food, you feed them.
If you pray for someone that needs clothes, and you have clothes, you clothe them
If you pray for someone that needs healing, you heal them
If you pray for someone to receive Christ, you lead them to the Lord
If you pray for food, you listen to the Lord tell you where to find it and go get it
If you pray for a job, get off your butt and go get one

In a nutshell, it means that prayer should not end at the alter with some well meaning Christian, Pastor, or other Church Leader. If that Christian, Pastor, or other Church Leader is not actively trying to figure out ways to meet your need, and following up with you to find out how God and met you need, they have not completed the process and have not done their job correctly.

To be fair, its not entirely their fault. They were probably never trained how to pray correctly. They were probably never trained that there is more to the process. Many of our Church staff are also overwhelmed and over worked.

So my idea is simple. I am willing to start a Church. I have ran away from this idea for a long long time. But I need ideas. What sort of Church would you want to see? I know how needs should be met and how prayer should be done. But there needs to be more. Church should be a place where we want to go. Church should be a place where everyone works. Church should be a place where everyone uses their faith and their actions to help those inside and outside in the community.

Church should be a place of joy and life.

Church must be an active part of the community. In earlier times, it was the community. The Community revolved around the Church. We can be that again. But we need to get started before its too late. If you have ideas on how to do this, and you want to be involved, I want to hear from you. I have developed a short survey.

If you really want to reach the world for Christ, by becoming the Church, I need to hear from you right now. I want to hear what you think a Church service and the Church should be and how it should run. Phillip@NeedsMet.us

Reimagining the Church - a book review that is past due

I read this book and wrote this review some time ago. A friend of mine recommended it. I had to go back and read my review of it to refresh my memory of the book. Many of us recognize that the current church system is broken and is missing something. Then again, many of us think that its just fine as is and if its not broke, why fix it?

This book points out the authors reasons why he feels that the current Church model is broken. I agree with most of what he says. But I have my own additional reasons why I think that the current Church model does not work. I think this book does a decent job. I just dont agree with the language that the author used. See below.

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Frank calls his vision for the Church "Organic Church."

On a side note, I don't much like the word "Organic." Have you ever gone to stores that have organic foods? These places seem to attract people that oppose Christianity. (To be fair, there are many that go to these places that just want to be healthy and select healthy foods). I'm not entirely sure why Organic and religions other than Christianity go together. Perhaps they are like Spirits. No matter the reason though, they just seem to attract the same people.

In the world of Christianity, I live by the verse; "You will know them by their fruits." In other words; if you want to determine if something, or someone, is of God, just look at the end result (What it, or they, produce). In this case; what kind of people do organic stores attract? If organic stores attract those that oppose Christianity, then we can draw the conclusion that it's not Christian. So associating the word organic with the Christian Church, just rubs me the wrong way.

Frank's book draws a line in the sand, which is his vision for how the Church should be, and dares you to cross over it. He very clearly spells out his viewpoints and defends them well. However, all that defense makes the book sound a bit desperate. It's like he is saying to the world; "Won't you please read my book so I can prove to you how wrong your way is?"

Though he stops short of saying this, Frank seems to be saying that his vision for the Church is the only way, and if you don't accept it, you are doomed. Now I have to admit that I did not read each and every page word-for-word. I just couldn't. This brings me to my next side note and rant.

Doesn't anyone use illustrations anymore? To me, a book that has nothing in it but line after line, and page after page of text, is very boring. Nice, well laid out illustrations break up this monotony, and provide you with a wealth of information. Ever heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, it's true. Frank... I'm drawing my line in the sand and I dare you to prove me wrong.

Frank also uses the word "Institutional Church" many times in the book. Here we go again! The word Institutional makes me think of folks that have been committed to a mental institution. I don't much like the Church being compared to a mental institution and those that attend it to mental patients.

Now in his defense, Frank does address this word in his book. He says that he could just as easily used the word "Traditional". Well, Frank...If you could have just as easily substituted the word Institutional for a less offensive word, why didn't ya?" Are you trying to make enemies of every Church going Christian in America? If not, I suggest choosing your words more carefully.

So right from the start,"Reimagining Church" sets a bad tone by its choice of words. Perhaps Frank just wanted to rile us all up. I'm not sure of his intentions and I won't try to figure them out here. I do agree with most of what this book had to say. I mainly just didn't like the way it was said, and the manner in which it was written. The book Reimagining Church was dry and lifeless and did not make me want to run out and purchase his next book, "Pagan Christianity."

Reimagining Church is all about how we have strayed from the original design that God laid out for us for the Church. In the New Testament;

* Church was held in homes
* There were no Pastors
* No hierarchical structure
* No strict division of laypeople, Pastor, clergy or staff, etc...
* No firm structures to meetings

I was intrigued by 2 things in the book that I had not thought of before. The first is that the Church should be a family. Now interestingly enough, most Churches are families, or at least were started by families. Many Churches are run by husband and wife teams, with the husband as the Pastor and the wife often the worship leader. Then the kids often join on as staff. Many Churches start out in homes, but then when they grow, they naturally think of getting a bigger building. They do this because that's just the way it has always been done. As the Church grows bigger and bigger, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain that family dynamic and eventually its lost altogether.

I love the idea of getting back to the family unit as the center of the Church. This solves the problem of husbands abandoning their families to go off to Pastor a church. Then as the Church grows, that family dynamic is maintained, because as a home Church, its maximum size is determined by the size of the home.

The other idea that I thought was mind blowing was the part about the Lords Supper. In the modern day American Church, we have reduced the Lords supper to communion. The word communion does not even appear in the Bible. Communion is a stale and sterile practice that consists of tiny wafers, or crackers, and some sort of juice.

The wafers are tiny so they are easier to pass around and hold in ones hand. Grape juice is used so we don't offend those that do not like alcohol, or those that think it sinful to drink wine. What I never understood about communion is how it became all about us. Our current Communion rituals cater to our needs, not the needs of Jesus.

In many countries, they still use real bread and real wine, which in my opinion, is the way it should be. I wonder what Mosses would have said had the Israelites used present day arguments like that.

"Oh Moses! Really? Sheep's blood! "Why Cant we use something more hygienic on the door lintels like red markers?" Don't ya know I'm allergic to sheep's blood?"

The idea that the book presents is that we should get back to the original idea and intention of "The Lords Supper." Instead of the abbreviated version, we call Communion; let's have the full meal deal. A real supper complete with real bread and real wine. The supper would be a time for sharing the good things of God with each other. A time of fellowship and getting to know each other better. We could even take turns going around the table and talking about the things God has done in our lives. A supper filled with true good will, remembering what God has done for us, and showing thankfulness and joy in that. Not some cold and somber event that last just a few minutes and is quickly forgotten.

Reimagining Church condemns the traditional Church. I do agree that home church is what God probably intended for His Church. However, I disagree that there is no place at all in this world for the more traditional building based Church. He does not actually say this, but it is implied. I read a review of his book on Amazon that I thought was very insightful.

The Pastor said that it's true that the Traditional Church model has gone astray and needs help. He pointed out though that just because it's broken, does not mean that we should throw out this model completely. It would be like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Why not just try to fix what's broken?

Of course there is also the example we are given in the Bible of not trying to put new wine in old wine skins. So I'm not sure what the answer is. What I do know though is that the traditional Church model is probably not going to go away anytime soon and perhaps not at all.

Why cant home Churches and the more traditional building model of the Church co-exist?

This is a good book and an excellent idea, but the book itself could have been written better.