This is an interesting article that I can relate to on why younger generations (I'm lumping myself into this group) are becoming disenfranchised with the mega-churches that are out there. I just have no desire to be a part of a church of 20,000 people, like the one in our town. Something that size, that shiny on the outside, that over-produced holds nothing for me. Half of it is the size of the show (which they're damn good at putting on) that turns me off, half of it is the lack of depth in community. I think I'd rather be deeply connected. On the flip side, I know people go to mega-churches, love it and are flourishing. Good for them.
I continue to watch people "check out" other churches and have a tough time getting my hands around this. The whole church shopping deal amazes me. Some people migrate to the "mega-churches" out there looking for something that can entertain and look healthy on the surface, others to hop from church to church looking for one that "feeds" them with dynamic teaching or "great music". In and of themselves, I guess they're all good things. I'm just not sure how heavily to weigh them in the overall definition of what a church should be and how to "shop" for one. How can you really know a church, it's heart, it's people without digging in and sticking with it for 6 months? I hear people say, "I've found a great church, the teaching is awesome and the worship band was great." Ok, what about their heart towards the poor and hurting, the unlovable? How do they align with the community described in Acts 2:42-47 or the love described in 1 Corinthians 13?
We've got lots of big churches in our area that look just like part of their community - the rich, white and upper class part. That's just not for me. I love the fact that my church looks like where I live. South Lyon is full of mobile home parks, single moms and broken families along with upper class families as well. We've got a church that looks that looks like our community and I dig that. If you were church shopping and you came to my church for the first time, I'm just not sure what you'd see. The music is ok most of the time, our teaching goes from great to mediocre and the people at our church love others really well ("sometimes too well, we've had two past affairs" - quote from one of our jr. high kids at camp during one of the sessions). You've got a group of people doing the best they can with what they have, but the show doesn't compete with the mega-church down the road. Should we just sit that as consumers, relying on a church to fill us up and entertain us? If it doesn't fill me on a given Sunday or a given month even, do I high tail it out of there and move on to the next one? How do I weight my connectedness to the church in there? How important is how they love each other? Do I walk out on my famliy when they don't entertain me or teach me at a family get together and go find a new one? How about when you have too many crazy uncles in the family, do you go find a new family?
7 comments:
If the crazy Uncle factor was a litmus test, my kids would have walked out on our family years ago!
Great rant previewed by an ape flipping me off.
Dan
Dave,
Here is my 2 cents on the matter. I have read in this post and some of your past posts comments that I find somewhat disturbing. First off, you seem to almost brag about the fact that your church is full of former drug users, prostitutes, adulterers etc. Congratulations, your church is full of sinners just like mine and every other church in the world. You seem to think your church has the market cornered on loving people and accepting people. Can I just ask you to not be so narrow minded. I am commited to my church, my Pastor is an authentic man of God who loves Jesus, loves his family, and loves people. Our worship leader is a creative, talented man who is in love with Jesus and understands that the worship music we do is always done in excellence but not because we are putting on a show but because we are worshipping the Creator of the Universe that gave his only Son. The worship music is not for us it is for God. My point is this, God is concerned about the heart and the two leaders in my church have a heart for God and a heart for the lost. Through them, myself and many, many others have grown in our relationship with each other and with God. Has our attendance increased? You bet it has. Have we been blessed by God? Absolutely. Our leadership is connected to God and to acting on his leadings. I am humbled to be a part of my church because I am constantly challenged to be a better man tomorrow than I am today. Not because I think my works will get me into heaven, but because God deserves no less. I have to wonder what God is teaching you through the trials that your church has gone through over the past year. I don't know but don't think that because you are small you can have a corner on the Acts 2 church and because my church is bigger and growing, we cannot. Sorry for the rant. I just got a new laptop and wanted to break it in.
Andrew Hively
remember me?
Andy! Good to hear from you! I just stumbled across your CD the other day. Glad to hear that you go to a church that loves people well and does lots of other stuff well. I don't think there's such a thing as a perfect church out there, and unfortunately, lots of the unchurched'd perceptions are way too true. The people I run into that are not connected to churches typically don't want anything to do with them because they see churches as unloving and judgemental, glad to hear your church isn't one of them. As I look back over things, I sometimes err on the side of focusing too much on what we do well at my church, because there's so many things we don't do well and I get tired of hearing people complain. Great to hear that things are going well at your church and that you're well connected. Not sure if you were really wondering what God is teaching me, or if that was rhetorical question. One of the things God has taught me through all of the stuff we've gone through is that people can be real assholes sometimes. And sometimes not.
What kind of laptop did you get? Let's get together for lunch somtime.
Dave, send me an e-mail I'd love to meet for lunch. My laptop is a Dell Latitude D610. I have no idea if that's a good one or not but it does what I need it to. Looking forward to getting together...
Dave,
I feel I must add something to this. I've been to alot of churches in my past. It just seems to be that I don't care for the mega church family. I do enjoy the messages and music and bigness of progamming and tech. and yes that can draw me into some awsome worship. and a stock cassette system in my work truck can take me there as well. I enjoy setting up and running big systems. that is how I'm wired (please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to serve in the wrong area)I have always had a hard time getting involved in those size church families. the big events are a blast and am honored to serve in them. to get to the point. I want to serve where I'm needed. I've church shopped a bit since I've been in Georgia. I haven't felt I needed to give some of them a long try. I've ran into some pretty interesting new visitor welcomes that were very weird and quite frankly couldn't get out quick enough. the first time I showed up at crossroads I could feel the love and see it in their eyes. I knew that was where I needed to be. that place I was in grew into a family and an experience I will never forget. It changed my life. I experienced the love and also hurt from the same family. love always prevailed.
We are all wired different and need to be in different places. how boring would that be for every church to be ran the same way?
Eric Hale
I'm with ya. Not every church is for everyone.
Oh yeah, big fan of Roger Water's stuff in general, Pros and Cons of Hitchiking is probably my favorite. Best I can figure and from what I've read in interviews with Waters, the album follows the progress of a dream he's having. Weird, but good. Did you catch Floyd's set at Live 8?
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