4 posts tagged “church planting”
The word "church" has an interesting history. Miriam Webster traces the roots of the modern English word to the Middle English chirche, which ultimately comes into the English language from kyrios ("lord, master") in the Greek term for "house of the Lord."
But words are tricky things because the word which is translated with the English word "church" in the Greek New Testament is the word ekklesia, which means "those who are called out." The word ekklesia is much more like the word synagogue, which means "gathered together."
Whether the English word "church" is the best term to describe what the New Testament calls the Ekklesia is a moot point. But in an age of deconstruction of meaning, its worth reexamining what these terms suggest. True enough: etymology isn't everything. But it can illustrate where we need to change our thinking.
- For example, a building, or an event, strictly speaking, are not "church." It is the people at the building, not the building itself, which is "the church." It is the people at the event, and not the "event itself" which is comprises the church.Taken all together, I like what one colleague has said: "We are called to be the church, not go to church."
- I wonder: how many non-church people get that idea? How would they say Christians are doing at 'being the church'? How many Christians get this idea? How would they rate themselves?
A friend the other day challenged me that if I really was interested in making disciples, I'd get out of the church-business. (That's what a pastor does, you know: he's in the church business.) Why? My friend was convinced that he had never seen a disciple made in all his years in the church. So he's stopped going and does "church" differently. "The Church (big "C") ," said he, is "hopelessly lost."
I like my friend. Few people have the passion and sharpened focus he seems to have. But I'm not that discouraged. I thought of a poem and song by an artist I appreciate, who sends this message to the Church. As the poem develops, the message is on the lips of a faithful pastor:
Cheer up church
You're worse off than you think
Cheer up church
You're standing at the brink
Don't despair, do not fear, grace is near.
I guess in a way my friend is right. There is no hope for the Church. None but Jesus.
After all, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Did He take a pristine virginal people, or a wandering whore to be His Bride? The healthy do not need a physician; the holy do not need a priest. The Church is His Body; He gave Himself up for Her. So will I.
Part of what Jesus wants for us in this world is to follow Him. Radical, I know. Following Him means having something called a Kingdom Mindset. Translation: He is in charge; He sets the parameters. He is King.
Unfortunately, we "mere mortals" are too often tempted to follow our own ways, our own programs, our own stuff, our own "kingdoms," whatever they may be. So, our good intentions often wind up thwarting Jesus' Kingdom Movements among us.
Of course, Jesus is no ordinary King. He is sovereign. So we don't thwart him in any traditional sense. But, when our ways oppose His ways, we run the risk of missing His blessing on our endeavors.
What are some ways that our religion, our rules, our protocols, and our structures can get in the way? Here is a partial list:
- Demand conformity of methodology
- Punish out-of-the box thinking
- Get tied to property and buildings
- Be threatened by giftedness that’s not like you
- Refuse to exercise discipline for the right things
- Be risk adverse under the guise of stewarding your people
These are part of a list from an article called, "How to Kill a Movement." I liked this article because it challenges me on the way things should be done.
The ones I've listed above are a few of my favorites. By that, I don't mean I like them, necessarily, but I think they are important. This is a painful list for someone coming from my protestant tradition--Presbyterianism--but that's just why it matters, I think. You can read the rest of the list here.
The church is largely misunderstood in today's world. Most folks who are not part of the Church don't wake up Sunday mornings thinking, "Gosh, I think I really should go to church today!" This reality is part of what leads many to conclude that evangelism has as its heart the building of relationships.
Along with this relational orientation of the average unbeliever, or "spiritual but not religious individual," it should go without saying that distinctions among different flavors of Christianity are difficult to grasp. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism--seem like odd, intramural debates to the average person.
Not that the things which distinguish these three great Christian traditions are irrelevant or meaningless. But, it presents a credibility issue. And we're not even talking about different strands within Protestantism, or, dare I mention, strands within the reformed movement of the Protestant world.
All this paints a giant canvas of unintelligibility for many in our society, one in which traditional Christian and Protestant assumptions are no longer valid.
This leads some thinkers and strategists in the church planting world to think and talk in terms of Christians in this country being forced to live more like missionaries than like people at home. As individual Christians live like missionaries, the churches they are a part of become less part of the establishment, and more like missionary outposts in the midst of an alien culture. Such churches are MISSIONAL.
Van Til is famous for articulating a robust viewpoint of common grace; that is, non-saving goodness of God that reflects the Father's orientation of the mercy "of delay" in this season when the People of God await the final consummation of the Ages. Judgement is coming, but this is an age when the rain "falls on the just and on the unjust."
So, when gathering together a new faith community--when church planting--it is important that the stout theology reformed Christians are known for is more like the skeleton of a beautiful figure than the armor on a warrior. It is what gives form and structure to our whole beings, rather than what people have to penetrate in order to find out who we really are as persons.
I think of this as Calvinism without the seams. That being so, let's get dressed!
