Monday, January 25, 2010

Organ- ...ism vs ...ization

I find church to be a very baffling and frustrating place. Despite all the books and articles I have read on the subject (and I've read many); despite all the church seminars and training sessions I have attended (and I've been to a lot); and despite all the advice I have been given by church leaders and "experienced" pastors (and I've received a lot); church remains an enigma to me. Of all those things just mentioned, the ones that resonate the most and make sense to me are those writers, speakers and advisers who see the church as an organism rather than an organization. When the church is presented to me as an organization and if you do these 8 things or take the following 4 steps, you can change the church's direction, experience has shown me that it "ain't gonna work."

I don't profess to be a theologian. My educational training wasn't in theology, doctrine and polity (government) of "church," though I have certainly taken classes and attended conferences/seminars on such. My educational training has been in the area of psychology/counseling and education. What I have discovered, after coming back into pastoral ministry, is that church, and pastoral ministry, is mostly about counseling (healing/wholeness/holiness) and educating (discipleship). Yes, theology, doctrine and polity do factor into this equation but I have found that it comes after the former has begun. And the reason, I believe, is because the church is made up of "organisms" - people, who think, feel, have opinions, and change those opinions, and grow/transform mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

So, because the church is an organism, it has the unruly and uncontrollable personality to be fluid. That's why at one church meeting everything is up, positive, hopeful, full of excitement and the next meeting it can be just the opposite; why a service can be charged with expectancy and celebration and the next be down and lethargic; why people speak highly and favorably about their church one week and the next complain and criticize. It's an organism, fluid, evolving, de-evolving, moving forward, stepping backward, responding to feelings and current situations and surroundings.

If the church were, in fact, simply an organization, then the leader/pastor could step in and say, "we're doing this" or "we're changing that" or "if you can't get with the program, change ships." Typically, pastors don't dare do that because, if they did, the church board would say, "we're the crew of this ship and we're throwing you overboard. You're out of here!" Of course, I am aware that many churches DO infact see themselves as an Organization, not as an Organism, even though their language includes phrases like, "we are part of the Body of Christ," "one part is not more important or better than another part of the Body," "we are one in the Spirit," "our purpose is to glorify Christ," etc. Saying so does not make it so. And when a church thinks of itself as an organization, then its emphasis is on maintaining itself so that it will survive, no matter what. "Maintenance" is about keeping the status quo, it's about what makes "me" comfortable and meets "my" needs. Maintenance resists change and risk because that involves developing different perspectives, thinking outside the box, letting go of some, if not many, of the things that we hold dear about "our" church.

Jesus calls us to "go and make disciples," which is about missions and outreach. Missions, the opposite of maintenance, pushes us outward; it's about change and "others" and reaching "their needs." The church suffers from what I call the "MUT" syndrome (or is it "sin"drome?) - maintenance churches are about Me (first, then) Us, (then) Them. However, a church that is stretching and working in fulfilling God's call is a "TUM"s church - Them (first, then) Us, (and, last) Me. There are far too many MUT churches out there and not enough TUM churches. Maybe that's why the world, and especially the USA, is suffering from such intense indigestion towards the church!

I say all this because, well, I don't know, really. I've been doing a lot of reading lately that has been stirring my thoughts and thinking about the church (books like "The Forgotten Ways" and "What Bothers Me Most About Christianity" and "Angry Conversations With God, to name a few). Of course, being that my "vocation" involves the church, I live it first hand. I'm not sure how I go about changing the way "church" people think about themselves as the Church, or about themselves as being a part of the Church, for that matter, but I do believe that that is one of the important things that I, as a pastor, am called to do. I can't help but wonder, and am compelled to believe, that there is greater power to change the world through an organism (the Body of Christ) than there is through an organization (the church with its polity and hierarchy).

While sitting at my table at Penera Bread I noticed a great banner hanging in the window. I want to steal the banner. (OK, not steal, just borrow). If I didn't know where I was, I'd almost think I was at a place of worship where followers of Christ gather. The banner says, "Refresh, Restart, Renew." Isn't that what Church, the Organism, is all about? Isn't it to be a place where people can come to refresh, then restart and renew their lives - with Christ and in the world?

I would make two additions to the banner, I think. I would have it say:

The Church: A Place To -
Refresh, Rethink, Restart, Renew.















Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Life Stories: For Further Discussion

I was checking out some of the blogs that I like to read (see side bar) and was pleased to read Donald Miller's blog, written yesterday (1/5) on "Living a Meaningful Story - Creating Memorable Scenes." In light of what I wrote on New Year's Day and what I preached on last Sunday, I think you might get something out of what he had to say. Check it out. And be sure to read Part 1.

Living a Meaningful Story (Pt. 2)- Creating Memorable Scenes.


Living a Good Story (Pt. 1) - An Alternative to New Years Resolutions

Funny how much we think alike, Miller and I. I'm glad I didn't read these before I wrote my last blog entry (1/1/10), I probably wouldn't have wrote it!

Friday, January 01, 2010

Kissing Yesterday Goodbye

2010.

As the clock clicked to zero at the First Night Festival in Charlotte last night, I looked up and wondered where Arthur C. Clarke's "Monolith" might be floating at that moment. I wondered what weirdness and blackness might be awaiting us all this new year. But as I watched my wife and daughter dancing and singing and enjoying the fireworks explode over head, I realized I was looking towards the wrong thing.

I've never really bought into this idea that, when a new year arrives, we somehow can leave the last year behind and all of sudden get a new reprieve in life, but only at this magical moment on the calendar. We make our resolutions during the eve of the new year, place them in a balloon - literally or figuratively, and we release them with the belief that making them will somehow make life changing differences for us in the new year. I can't speak for you but, at least for me, and the many people that I know, not much difference is made...except maybe for a few days or a few weeks into January. I've always wonder why, by the time a get half way into January most of my resolutions are still in the balloons but now on the floor, deflated. It can be rather frustrating. And messy. One can get rather irritated tripping over failed resolutions.

But maybe this year can be different. It's not that I think I will keep all my resolutions this year, it's that I have decided not to make resolutions at all! Seriously. If you don't make any, you don't break any, right? Works for me.

But before anyone thinks that I am failing as a human being in some way or being unspiritual, let me tell what I am doing.

I am going to take a more active role in writing my story.

Many years ago, before I was aware of this thing called "blogging" - and I'm not even sure it existed yet, I wrote a piece that I emailed around to a number of family and friends. It was about telling our stories to other people; about how, as Christians, we are to share with others what God has and is doing in our lives; it was about building relationships through listening to other people tell their stories; about creating environments so that stories can be shared; about helping and encouraging people so they can more easily develop their stories. That's the nutshell of it, and trust me, I was far more articulate in that emial than I am in this paragraph. I eventually developed it into a message as part of a broader series of messages where I took it further and talked about how we can take a part in the "development" of our life story, become a co-author, so-to-speak.

As much as I believe this, I haven't been a very active co-author and, as a result, I'm wondering what/who might have stepped into that role without me realizing it.

I read a book a few weeks ago that brought this all back to the forefront in my thinking, disturbing and challenging it. My thinking, that is. I usually take several weeks to read a book - I'm a slow reader and I read several books at once - but this book I read in two days. The book is "A Million Miles in a Thousands Years" by Donald Miller. Miller was writing about what I had been struggling to articulate over the years about this idea of our lives and story writing. He does a much better job of it!

Resolutions typically are statements of "I will do" or "I won't do" for the new year, or come about as a result of a specific situation that comes into our lives. Miller challenges us (maybe I should say God through Miller) to take a look at our lives (evaluation - not usually a fun thing to do) and see what needs to be rewritten - changed or corrected - and take a role in rewriting it, as you understand God leading you (the primary author of your life).

We all have patterns in our lives, the way we think, the way we behave, the way we go about living. It's almost as if we are on auto pilot - we don't think much about it, until a crises arises or we screw up or fail. Rewriting is to actively participate in changing those things that keep us repeating the old and failed patterns in our lives. Whether it be our attitudes, our finances, our sins that trip us up, our relationships, our church, and, certainly, our spiritual lives (our relationship with Christ), I believe God wants us to be involved in the process of change that is needed in our lives. Paul talks about the importance of testing our faith. I think he'd say that we need to be more active in writing our stories.

I don't know if any of this makes sense. It does to me, more now that ever before, in large part because of reading Miller's book. But I also think it's because of where I am in life that I have realized that my life, in many ways and in many areas, has become routine. I don't want to be routine. I don't want my relationship with Christ to continue the same way it has over the past years. I don't want my marriage or relationships with others to "plod" along as it has. I want more. God wants me to experience more.

And I think I would be safe to say that God wants the same for you, whether it be 2010 or not.

Grace and Peace

Special note: I have just started reading a book that is pretty funny and thought provoking. The author is Susan Isaacs and the book is: "Angry Conversations with God - A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir." The premise is this: she takes God to marriage counseling! This is worth reading!