They’re doing WHAT on Sunday?
This has to be one of the most encouraging and exciting posts that I’ve read in a long time!
Chris at “The Amplified Life” (I still love that blog name) wrote the post called “Coming Soon: ‘5th Sunday’.”
The post is about some churches (including Chris’ church) who have decided to do something different on Sundays four times per year:
After an encouraging meeting with other church leaders last night we are going to attempt to do something about this. We want our love of God to be made known for all in how we love upon those in our local community. To help others realize that this a part of His church’s “DNA” (cf. Matthew 28:19-20) we are going to begin going outside of our walls together. We are going to serve our community as a local body on the months that have a 5th Sunday. Those days our worship service will actually be service–ministering to the needs of others outside of our own four walls.
What a great idea! Chris said that he got the idea from a friend who lives near Philadelphia.
You might say, “Well, sure, but that’s only four times per year.” Yes, but it’s more than 95+% of churches are doing.
Have you ever heard of churches doing this or something similar? Have you ever been part of something like this?
Encourage one another daily
On this blog, I write alot about the church. I mean, the title of the blog is “The Assembling of the Church,” so what else should you expect.
But, sometimes, we can all fall into the trap of thinking of the assembling of the church as a once per week thing (or even twice or three times).
However, when we read Scripture, we see a different picture. Consider just this one snippet of Scripture from the Book of Hebrews:
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13 ESV)
In that passage, the author tells his readers to help one another so that they (individually or together) do not become hardened to sin. But, to the point of this post, he tells them to do this daily. Not weekly; but daily.
When reading through Scripture, it doesn’t take long to see a pattern: we need each other in our lives daily. Getting together once per week – even in a highly participatory meeting – will not give us opportunities to love, teach, care, share, admonish, encourage, etc. one another as we need for our spiritual growth.
No. The interaction must be more often and more personal than we see in most church meetings. We need others to ask us the hard questions about our own lives, and we need to ask others hard questions about their lives.
Of course, this all assumes that we are willing to share our lives with one another, and that we are willing to make the extra effort (and give up much personal or family time and energy and resources). To be honest, many are not willing. Many are not willing to open their lives to other people, and they are not willing to step into other people’s lives that are opened to them.
But, we need this. It’s not just a good idea; it is the way that God has chosen to work in and through us. Paul wrote that we grow when our lives are knit together and function together like muscles and ligaments. And what happens if we are not knit together in this fashion? We don’t grow.
If you look around the landscape of the church today, you’ll see many, many, many immature Christians. We are not growing.
So, how are you planning to encourage others today? What? Planning? Yes, planning. We must be intentional.
How are you planning to encourage others today? What about tomorrow?
How have others encouraged you day to day?
(Please share… these are not rhetorical questions.)
We want to be with people we care about
Wayne from “The Lifestream Blog” has written an excellent article called “Finding Fellowship.”
In this post, Wayne is answering an email from a reader who is struggling with some “church” issues. The reader asked several questions, but most of them originated in Hebrews 10:25.
Here is part of Wayne’s response:
Believers who love each other will get together. That’s what friends and family do. My kids and grandkids get together every week or two. We don’t do it because we have to, because we’re trying to form a family, or any other reason other than we love each other and enjoy being together. Community is like that too. When we have people we care about we will be together. What so many groups miss is that the relationship must take precedence over the meetings. Meetings are a byproduct, not the method or the goal. If we’ll engage caring relationships first and begin to find a common heart together over dinner and evenings together as friends, we will find time to gather together as that network expands. I think it’s backwards to start a meeting first and hope friendships grow out of that. They can, but rarely do. I’ve been to many home groups where people meet together regularly but it is obvious they don’t really care about each other, spend time with each other beyond the meeting, or are truly friends in Christ.
Think about what Wayne said. I do believe it’s possible (though difficult) for friendships to develop from a meeting. However, I think the meeting must be of a form that encourages friendships and interrelation and not of a form that discourages or hinders relationships.
But, primarily, think about the main message that Wayne is trying to get across: If we care about people, we will want to spend time with them. If we love people and are concerned about them, we will want to meet with them. No one will have to force us or coerce us to meet together.
Pretty straightforward… and very true.
Empathizing together
According to one definition, “empathy” means “understanding and entering into another’s feelings.”
When trying to empathize with hundreds of needy and hurting people in the same place at the same time, it can become overwhelming. I’ve felt that sense of being overwhelmed many times, especially when working with the food pantry where 300-400 families come every other week for help. As I talk to the different people and hear their stories, it can become very overwhelming.
But, I’ve learned that empathy (even empathizing with many people at once) can be less overwhelming when there are others there empathizing with them as well. Last week at the food pantry, several friends joined together to talk with the people who needed the extra groceries. We all talked to people, heard their stories, prayed with them. Sometimes I talked to people alone; sometimes others were with me. But, either way, it was a great encouragement knowing that we were serving people together.
The stories we heard were difficult – heart-breaking. But, we were able to help one another bear these burdens.
Yes, sometimes empathizing with others can be overwhelming. But, when serving with a group, you can encourage one another even when you are overwhelmed.
Pastor / Church Codependency
Chris at “The Amplified Life” (Isn’t that a great blog title?) has written a very good article called “Neil Cole on Dysfunctional Leadership.”
He quotes from Cole’s book Organic Leadership, and the quote is very good.
But, I also appreciate Chris’ comments on the quote. Chris writes:
According to Cole leaders have enabled this and now we wonder how we got here. We can blame the culture, and many leaders often do because that’s the easy thing to do, but according to this assessment the fault lies with how church leaders have been leading the church. We have fostered a codependent relationship and we struggle to break free from what we have fostered. I think this may account for what I brought up in another post about the role of the pastor today. Pastors have essentially taken on roles that were meant for other Christians but our codependent leadership dynamic has allowed this to happen, then we wonder why thousands of pastors leave the ministry each year.
I agree. There is a codependence problem between many churches and church leaders today. Interestingly, believers do need one another, and they should be able to rely on one another, but this is not what Chris (and Neil Cole) are talking about.
I think it will take both church leaders and churches working together to break this cycle of codependence. The problem is, I’m not sure many want to break their codependent relationship, because they think it’s perfectly fine and even scriptural.
What do you think? What will it take for churches and pastors/leaders to break the codependency that Chris wrote about? Should they?
Those pesky Bereans
Have you given much thought to the Bereans?
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that this is going to be another one of those posts that encourages everyone to study Scripture for themselves in order to determine if something that a teacher or book or whatever says is true. That’s fine and good. But, that’s not the point of this post.
Have you given much thought to the Bereans, really… in their context?
What do I mean?
Well, here is the relevant passage:
The brothers [from Thessalonica] immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. (Acts 17:10-12 ESV)
Now, remembering that these Bereans probably (almost definitely) did not have individual copies of the Scriptures (the Old Testament), when and where did they “examine the Scriptures daily to see if these things [the things that Paul and Silas taught] were so”?
Have you ever thought about that? If so, what do you think? If you haven’t thought about it before, think about it… then tell us what you think…
Is this relevant for us today as the church?
Starting together
Earlier this week, I mentioned that Sol from “Looking for Church” wanted to begin getting together with other brothers and sisters in his home during the week.
He asked for help. And several people made suggestions… some very good suggestions. Sol made each comment advice into a new post.
I thought it would be beneficial for my readers to see all of this good advice. So, here are his posts, beginning with the posts where he talks about beginning to meet together:
- Starting with a Meeting
- We Want To Get Together
- Family… Not “Church”
- A Family… With A Purpose
- Don’t Over Think It
I think there is some very good advice in those comments/posts… the kind of advice that can help any group of believers. What do you think?
Daily, sacrificial, authentic, missional living
Mark at “renrutkram” has written an excellent post called “What is ‘outreach’?”
While Mark recognizes the “big events” in scriptural examples of proclaiming the gospel, he says these one times events (Paul preaching at Mars Hill, for example) are always combined with relationship and community which is “evidenced throughout the Scriptures.”
How does that apply to us today? Should community and relationship be evidenced throughout the church today? Yes, even though it is difficult. Mark says:
In my own life, daily discipleship is much harder than one-time events. I don’t particularly mind large, attraction-based, event-oriented evangelism (though I question their effectiveness in today’s culture). However, one-time evangelism must be accompanied by daily, sacrificial, authentic, missional living. I find it much harder to mentor a student weekly than take teenagers to camp once a year. It is much more time-consuming to volunteer in the local middle school than throw a Superbowl party. I have to be vulnerable when I share my life with other people and that scares me. When you share life you share success and failure, strengths and weaknesses.
By God’s grace I will strive to demonstrate the gospel not just once in a while but every day.
Yes! Do you want to host a “big event”? Great! But, do you have the “daily, sacrificial, authentic, missional living” that must go along with it? If not, then the “big event” will soon fizzle into a faded memory.
But, with “daily, sacrificial, authentic, missional living” the gospel is brought to bear on everything that we do, with or without a “big event.”
It’s not easy. In fact, it is absolutely impossible, which is why God works through us in his power when we serve others for him.
Dave Black’s essay on “The Lord’s Supper”
In response to a new book about the Lord’s Supper, Dave Black has written a short essay called “The Lord’s Supper, Then and Now.”
Did you know that the way you partake of “The Supper” demonstrates what you believe about God, Jesus, and the church? It’s true.
In his essay, Black spells out several aspects of modern practices of the Lord’s Supper that are radically different (perhaps even contradictory) to the way the church ate a common meal together as described by the NT authors.
This paragraph is my favorite:
Is it too much to hope that our churches today might return to this biblical model? How can we start to overcome our lethargy? We can only do this, as I have said, when we return to a commitment to obedience. Wherever the church honestly faces its task to be scriptural in all its dealings, believers will discover new ways and means of restoring modern practices to their ancient models. Acts 20:7 underscores this point. Here Luke speaks of a meeting of the church in which the focal point was not a sermon but a common meal. This was apparently the common practice of the early church whenever they gathered on “the Lord’s Day.†Today we gather for “worship†and occasionally tack on the Lord’s Supper almost as an addendum. I imagine this would have appeared very strange to New Testament eyes! The early church knew nothing of worship services or worship centers or worship teams or worship folders. Nor were the earliest gatherings of Christians “top heavy,†leaving the ministry to a handful of selected professionals. Theirs was a one-class society – all saints, all priests, all members of the Christian brotherhood with Christ as their only Head. This is why, I surmise, the Lord’s Supper was so important to them. The Supper offers us an occasion to focus on our Great High Priest, the church’s only Senior Pastor (see 1 Pet. 5:4). Moreover, it seems that the Lord’s Supper was a full meal in New Testament times. Indeed, if we ask ourselves what the word “supper†means, we find that the Greek word used is deipnon, which generally refers to the chief meal of the day. Such is its meaning consistently in the pages of the New Testament. Would it be too radical to suggest that the way in which the Lord’s Supper was observed in the early church – as a full meal – could also be replicated today?
I’ve found that, yes, it is possible for churches today to begin eating the Lord’s Supper as a full meal. But, it is radical, because several things had to change (things mentioned by Black above) before this was possible.
Jesus will lead you to “the least”
So, here’s the deal. If you’re following Jesus, he will lead you to “the least.” (If you don’t know who “the least” are, then please read Matthew 25:31-45.)
Where Jesus certainly answers a few theological type questions, I don’t see examples of him sitting around for house discussing the minute details of a specific theological issue. (Perhaps that’s only because he couldn’t get enough people to come to his conference?)
Anyway, I know that everyone and their sister is linking to these posts written by Keith from “subversive1,” but I want to link to them too, in case you haven’t seen them:
How to Start a Ministry to the Poor in your Community: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
Perhaps you are already serving the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the unemployed, the elderly, the orphans, etc. in your community. Great! Please write about it so that others can follow your example. (Many Christians have NEVER seen an example of other Christians serving “the least.”) However, if you are not serving others, then why not follow some of Keith’s suggestions?
By the way, you may disagree with the way that Keith is serving, or you may disagree with the way that I’m serving, but if you are not serving “the least,” then our ways are much, much better than your way. So, if you want to disagree, do so with a lifestyle of service and not just your words.