Commodity v Conference

Was watching mega-church pastor talk about the systems in "your" church. Now on the whole, I am very interested in this -- I believe that systems do effect your ministry, and broken systems produce -- gulp -- broken people.

But in the middle of his talk, he made a point about house church/small church people which, seen through the light of the Jethani book, set me off. "People come to me a lot, and I really enjoy talking to them (I don't think you do), and they say, 'We need to get back to the first century church.' (snicker snicker, we ALL know what's coming next) And I say, well ... it's not the first century anymore... besides, the first century church was ILLEGAL."

Wow. Did he just go there? I don't know this guy personally, but I'm pretty sure he's not stupid.

Can he not see the analogy between the Roman Empire and the American/Consumer "Empire"?

I'd put it like this:

+ Perhaps, IF American Christianity was living out its true counter-cultural call, and IF "Consumerism" had legal/political power...

... Christianity in 21st Century USAmerica would be illegal as well.

In addition, his main points were that the systems in "your church" were not getting people into groups, or making "guests" (hate that word) feel welcomed in your building.

But when Jethani references Barna's survey work that indicates that American Christian do not differ statistically from non-believers in areas that we would all consider biblical, I wonder "Who the hell cares if people aren't in groups? IF THE GROUPS AREN'T TURNING PEOPLE INTO CHRIST-FOLLOWERS, IT DOESN'T MATTER."

Systems matter, don't get me wrong. I believe that systems can be baptized for the glory of God, but as usual, a well-meaning pastor is championing fixing something that may not be working. Maybe like a cassette tape factory that is investing in repairing its magnets and tape spools when people are already moving beyond CDs...

What is going to produce Christ-followers? The disciplines, one-on-one mentoring, spiritual "parents", close community...

The Sacredness of Work

I watched a pastor preach today on a DVD. He was talking to a bunch of church leaders, and he started his talk by declaring, “I love my church!” Everybody applauded. He described this passion he felt for his congregation, and then he lightly challenged everyone by saying, “Do you love your church? Are you doing this out of passion and love, or is this just a job to you.” He went on, making his point that leading a church was too important, too critical to be “just a job.”

At which point he lost me.

You see, I’m a rare pastor who happens to think that there’s nothing wrong with your church job being “just a job.”

As long as we look at a “job” in the way that God would want us too.

So many of us hunger for the all-consuming passion that we see in our heroes: people who’s lives are subsumed by the all-encompassing goal, by the “one thing” (remember Curly from City Slickers?). We want to charge out of bed (if we even went to bed at all) and down our six shots of espresso while on our way to the office at 4:45am, to stay until 7pm. We want to burn red-hot with vision and focus, motivating and cajoling our congregations to greater and greater spiritual heights and intensity.

But what if there’s a dark side to our passion and motivation?

Put another way, what if it’s okay—even sacred—to simply “work”?

I think that sometimes our spiritual fire and passion—our determination to have “not just a job”—sends an unintended message to the people we pastor.

It can say, “my work matters more than yours.”

It can say, “Don’t worry, I’ll muster up the spiritual fire for you.”

It can say, “The spiritual life is built on spirts of passion and intensity, not steadiness and obedience.”

It can say, “It’s a sprint, not a marathon.”

Am I arguing against passion, vision and focus in general? No. I read Paul’s passion and intensity. But what would’ve happened to the integrity of Paul’s message had he said, “Oh crap I have to sew these damned tents again.”

Our “it can’t be just a job” rhetoric can send an unintended message of pity to all those scrambling minions who don’t have a choice about their work.

Meanwhile, scripture says that it’s a good thing to be able to care for your family; Paul writes that you whatever you do should do as if working for the Lord. Scripture tells stories of offerings given to the poor (it’s hard to give offerings if you don’t have a job).

Pastors, it’s no crime to just “go to work”. Accounts do it every day; so do plumbers. Are there labors any less sacred than ours? Their mission fields are probably more fruitful than ours, given that most of us (at this point) spend more time with fellow church-workers and Christians.

Do everyone a favor and just go to work once in a while.