Posts
Thursday, June 5
five things the church was never designed to do
Train your children up in the knowledge of God. Children's and students' programs are great, but they're gravy: according to scripture, it's mom and dad's job to deliver the main course. I am amazed at how many Christian parents think it's their job to find good schools, enroll in great sports programs, and train their kids to be polite members of society, but think it's the church's job to teach their kids about walking strong in a life of faith.
Spoon feed you enough spirituality and scripture to last seven days. Sundays are meant to encourage you in your spiritual life, not BE your spiritual life. The pastor's only got 30 minutes of your week. Get your Bible off the nightstand and take responsibility for your life before God.
Celebrate American holidays. When did we start thinking that Mother's Day, Father's Day and the Fourth of July had something to do with the gospel?
Focus on politics. Making the Church about elections and legislation has done nothing to elevate politics and everything to drag our eyes away from the mission of Christ. Policy never changed a heart.
Save the planet instead of the people on it. I've read the end of the story. The place goes down.
Now, that's saying something right there.
Spoon feed you enough spirituality and scripture to last seven days. Sundays are meant to encourage you in your spiritual life, not BE your spiritual life. The pastor's only got 30 minutes of your week. Get your Bible off the nightstand and take responsibility for your life before God.
Celebrate American holidays. When did we start thinking that Mother's Day, Father's Day and the Fourth of July had something to do with the gospel?
Focus on politics. Making the Church about elections and legislation has done nothing to elevate politics and everything to drag our eyes away from the mission of Christ. Policy never changed a heart.
Save the planet instead of the people on it. I've read the end of the story. The place goes down.
Now, that's saying something right there.
6 comments:
Post a Comment
GREAT list, thanks for the post. I love number two, spoon feed spirituality for a week, NOT. But, that is pretty much the way it goes. We have to be motivated outside the church walls to live the other 6 days.
Hi Kelly,
I grew up as a pastor's kid and missionary kid. I'm also in ministry as well. I understand where this post is coming from. Yet I do have some questions/statements.
What is your church doing to teach and equip parents to train their kids about walking strong in a life of faith? I heard once that, "'You shoulds' without the 'How-tos' lead to frustration and self-condemnation." Maybe the problem is that parents don't know how to train their children in the Bible. Maybe it isn't modeled. Maybe adult programs aren't designed in a way that they can easily pass on what they learn to their children. Maybe adults today feel that you have to have a seminary or Bible school degree to teach spiritual truth. Rather than saying, 'It's not our responsibility.' leaders in the church should ask 'Does our fruit indicate that we are equipping the body of Christ effectively?' A defensive posture is easy to fall into when you are in ministry, but it severely limits your ability to catalyze change.
I agree about the spoon feeding thing. Yet I always ask, 'Why are people behaving like this? Have we made studying/reading the Bible too complicated?'
About celebrating holidays - I'm sorry, but you are wrong here. The church is to be part of the community. According to Paul, the church is 'the pillar and foundation of the truth.' How is the community ever going see the church as a 'pillar and foundation of the truth' (1 Timothy 3:15)if we don't even participate in the good celebrations? I understand not participating sin, but not honoring Mothers and Fathers? What does that communicate to our children when the Bible says, "Honor you father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)and we refuse to participate in the ceremonies that our communities do that actually obey Scripture?
Focus on politics - I understand how this one got off track. Yet, once again, politics are part of living in community. All communities have a political element to them. If the church is going to be involved in the community, in a way that redeems the community, people in the church have to be involved in politics. Nathan was the only one who could talk with King David when he stepped out of line. Daniel was in politics. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were involved in politics. Nehemiah was involved in politics. Paul was also involved in politics. While the church body as a whole may not be political, some people in the church should be involved in politics. They should know they have the support of their church body.
Save the planet instead of the people in it - I think this is an exaggeration of perspective of people who believe the church should be involved in taking care of the environment. There are two kinds of people every community hates - squatters and gypsies. Both groups of people take from the community and move on when they drain the community's resources. Squatting, in particular, is horribly filthy and has a terrible impact on a community. I'm not sure that the church should ever play the roles of squatters and gypsies in the world today. What makes the church feel that it has the right to sap a community of its resources and not give anything back into taking care of the community?
Additionally, a poor environment lowers the quality of life in a community and even lowers the average life expectancy. I lived in India. Running one mile in New Delhi is the equivalent of chain smoking 10 packs of cigarettes. I don't ever anyone to say that the church doesn't care about the quality of life of its community! Not to mention, the lower the average life expectancy, the shorter the amount of time each person has to make a decision to follow Christ. I want everyone to have as much time as they need to decide. I don't want my actions to do anything to reduce the amount of time they need to hear the Gospel and make their decision.
Ezekiel 34:17-19 says, "Isn't it enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Or isn't it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?" The world is God's flock (Parable of the Lost Sheep). I don't want to muddy anyone else's water and trample on their pasture and displease God!
The church has to teach and equip the body to take care of the environment. It's part of life and part of being a leader in the body of Christ.
I am all about learning and discussion. I completely understand where your post came from. I've said those words and I've been there. But God has radically changed my understanding of the role and function of the church in the community. If you want, I would be happy to discuss these things via email or the phone. My email address is paul at pauldwatson dot com. My cell phone number is at the bottom of all my email replies, so email me and we can talk if you would like.
Blessings,
-Paul.
Paul D. Watson
http://www.pauldwatson.com
I grew up as a pastor's kid and missionary kid. I'm also in ministry as well. I understand where this post is coming from. Yet I do have some questions/statements.
What is your church doing to teach and equip parents to train their kids about walking strong in a life of faith? I heard once that, "'You shoulds' without the 'How-tos' lead to frustration and self-condemnation." Maybe the problem is that parents don't know how to train their children in the Bible. Maybe it isn't modeled. Maybe adult programs aren't designed in a way that they can easily pass on what they learn to their children. Maybe adults today feel that you have to have a seminary or Bible school degree to teach spiritual truth. Rather than saying, 'It's not our responsibility.' leaders in the church should ask 'Does our fruit indicate that we are equipping the body of Christ effectively?' A defensive posture is easy to fall into when you are in ministry, but it severely limits your ability to catalyze change.
I agree about the spoon feeding thing. Yet I always ask, 'Why are people behaving like this? Have we made studying/reading the Bible too complicated?'
About celebrating holidays - I'm sorry, but you are wrong here. The church is to be part of the community. According to Paul, the church is 'the pillar and foundation of the truth.' How is the community ever going see the church as a 'pillar and foundation of the truth' (1 Timothy 3:15)if we don't even participate in the good celebrations? I understand not participating sin, but not honoring Mothers and Fathers? What does that communicate to our children when the Bible says, "Honor you father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)and we refuse to participate in the ceremonies that our communities do that actually obey Scripture?
Focus on politics - I understand how this one got off track. Yet, once again, politics are part of living in community. All communities have a political element to them. If the church is going to be involved in the community, in a way that redeems the community, people in the church have to be involved in politics. Nathan was the only one who could talk with King David when he stepped out of line. Daniel was in politics. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were involved in politics. Nehemiah was involved in politics. Paul was also involved in politics. While the church body as a whole may not be political, some people in the church should be involved in politics. They should know they have the support of their church body.
Save the planet instead of the people in it - I think this is an exaggeration of perspective of people who believe the church should be involved in taking care of the environment. There are two kinds of people every community hates - squatters and gypsies. Both groups of people take from the community and move on when they drain the community's resources. Squatting, in particular, is horribly filthy and has a terrible impact on a community. I'm not sure that the church should ever play the roles of squatters and gypsies in the world today. What makes the church feel that it has the right to sap a community of its resources and not give anything back into taking care of the community?
Additionally, a poor environment lowers the quality of life in a community and even lowers the average life expectancy. I lived in India. Running one mile in New Delhi is the equivalent of chain smoking 10 packs of cigarettes. I don't ever anyone to say that the church doesn't care about the quality of life of its community! Not to mention, the lower the average life expectancy, the shorter the amount of time each person has to make a decision to follow Christ. I want everyone to have as much time as they need to decide. I don't want my actions to do anything to reduce the amount of time they need to hear the Gospel and make their decision.
Ezekiel 34:17-19 says, "Isn't it enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Or isn't it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?" The world is God's flock (Parable of the Lost Sheep). I don't want to muddy anyone else's water and trample on their pasture and displease God!
The church has to teach and equip the body to take care of the environment. It's part of life and part of being a leader in the body of Christ.
I am all about learning and discussion. I completely understand where your post came from. I've said those words and I've been there. But God has radically changed my understanding of the role and function of the church in the community. If you want, I would be happy to discuss these things via email or the phone. My email address is paul at pauldwatson dot com. My cell phone number is at the bottom of all my email replies, so email me and we can talk if you would like.
Blessings,
-Paul.
Paul D. Watson
http://www.pauldwatson.com
Ok- first, I L-O-V-E that you are a PW and are unafraid to speak the truth! I think I'm going to be linking to this and your letter to the career church hopper if you don't mind!
And to Paul: with all due respect to you, shouldn't we be honoring parents 365 days a year and not just on the holiday?
And to Paul: with all due respect to you, shouldn't we be honoring parents 365 days a year and not just on the holiday?
Can't write the essay you did, Paul, but I'll respond a bit:
1) Our kids program does a great job of partnering with parents. We offer audio CDs, scripture cards, talking points and other take home materials to make it easy for parents to talk to their kids about God in general and what they're learning in church specifically. It's a high priority of ours.
2) We go out of our way to make the Bible accessible to people at our church by the approachable way we teach it. We also offer several opportunities to study it beyond Sunday.
3) Sorry, I'm going to hold firm. Not going to waste a worship service on a Hallmark holiday. There are plenty of ways for the church to be involved in the community other than celebrating something with no historical Christian significance. Worship is to meant to honor God, not men or women, and celebrating American holidsys narrows the view of the Church as a worldwide agent of Christ.
4) Being called in front of a politician or official to answer for your faith, as most of the examples you provided from scripture were, is a far cry from handing out voting guides, campaigning and expecting legislation to change the hearts of men.
5) By far, these were your most compelling comments to me personally. I do think we should be concerned about stewarding the planet, but I've seen churches lately that actually have environmental protection as a part of their core values!
I have no problem with people in the church pursuing any of the last three on my list. I even think they could be called to do so. I do have a problem with any of them being the focus of the Church as a whole. There are more important ways to spend our time and resources.
1) Our kids program does a great job of partnering with parents. We offer audio CDs, scripture cards, talking points and other take home materials to make it easy for parents to talk to their kids about God in general and what they're learning in church specifically. It's a high priority of ours.
2) We go out of our way to make the Bible accessible to people at our church by the approachable way we teach it. We also offer several opportunities to study it beyond Sunday.
3) Sorry, I'm going to hold firm. Not going to waste a worship service on a Hallmark holiday. There are plenty of ways for the church to be involved in the community other than celebrating something with no historical Christian significance. Worship is to meant to honor God, not men or women, and celebrating American holidsys narrows the view of the Church as a worldwide agent of Christ.
4) Being called in front of a politician or official to answer for your faith, as most of the examples you provided from scripture were, is a far cry from handing out voting guides, campaigning and expecting legislation to change the hearts of men.
5) By far, these were your most compelling comments to me personally. I do think we should be concerned about stewarding the planet, but I've seen churches lately that actually have environmental protection as a part of their core values!
I have no problem with people in the church pursuing any of the last three on my list. I even think they could be called to do so. I do have a problem with any of them being the focus of the Church as a whole. There are more important ways to spend our time and resources.
@sprinkles - Of course! And, if you'll allow me a bit of silliness, we should celebrate our marriages every day of the year and not just on our anniversary! I've been married for 10 years and I know my wife would kill me if I acted like our anniversary was just like any other day! Sometimes we need special days. I think the question, though, is about whether or not we use church service time to do so.
@Kelly
#1 - Awesome!
#2 - Awesome!
#3 - We have a different understanding of the role of church in community. Since this is a cultural issue and not a Biblical issue, it is really no big deal. We just agree to disagree. I'm just thinking as I write, but what if we celebrated these special days with events outside of the worship service? A Father's Day picnic or Mother's Day banquet? What about a special Memorial Day prayer time for those serving our country overseas or as civil servants at home? A little more work, but it would build community and the church would appear to value significant cultural events. I don't know...interesting thought, though. Wonder what it would look like...
#4 - Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were government officers who were called to stand up for their faith in the light of very bad legislation. That being said, I totally agree with you about handing out signature cards and the like in church! That would be pretty over the top. I have heard of churches, though, who did not like what was happening in the local schools and encouraged their members to run for positions. Then they encouraged the rest of their members to vote for those running. The church took over the school board and was able to make some positive changes in the local schools. Obviously this is one of those easy to do too much and easy to do too little issues that has to be approached with great wisdom on behalf of the leaders in the church.
#5 - Thanks. It's nice when I can hit one compelling argument out of five! :-)
I agree with your last paragraph. I wonder - and this is me thinking as I write - how can the church best show support for those called to do so? I don't have an answer other than knowing that the often overused "I'll pray for you." doesn't seem to carry the weight it should. Should we have commissioning services for church members seeking public office - regardless of their political party? What about laying hands on them and asking the Holy Spirit to help them walk in obedience to God's Word as they seek to serve the community? I don't know and I don't know what that would look like. I've never seen it done except for missionaries and church planters.
Kelly, I really appreciate you opening up on this blog and engaging in conversation. I'm a firm believer in 'iron sharpens iron' and always look for people outside my normal circles to bat ideas around. Being a church planter is a pretty lonely place sometimes, even if you have a committed team. The stress is incredible. Being a pastor's wife isn't easy either. I would rather pastor a church than ever have to put up with the things pastor's wives put up with!
Hope you don't mind me hanging around and commenting on your blog every once in a while. You write and think well. Feel free to join me on my blogs.
http://www.pauldwatson.com
And my new one, http://www.everydaydisciples.com
Blessings,
-Paul.
@Kelly
#1 - Awesome!
#2 - Awesome!
#3 - We have a different understanding of the role of church in community. Since this is a cultural issue and not a Biblical issue, it is really no big deal. We just agree to disagree. I'm just thinking as I write, but what if we celebrated these special days with events outside of the worship service? A Father's Day picnic or Mother's Day banquet? What about a special Memorial Day prayer time for those serving our country overseas or as civil servants at home? A little more work, but it would build community and the church would appear to value significant cultural events. I don't know...interesting thought, though. Wonder what it would look like...
#4 - Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were government officers who were called to stand up for their faith in the light of very bad legislation. That being said, I totally agree with you about handing out signature cards and the like in church! That would be pretty over the top. I have heard of churches, though, who did not like what was happening in the local schools and encouraged their members to run for positions. Then they encouraged the rest of their members to vote for those running. The church took over the school board and was able to make some positive changes in the local schools. Obviously this is one of those easy to do too much and easy to do too little issues that has to be approached with great wisdom on behalf of the leaders in the church.
#5 - Thanks. It's nice when I can hit one compelling argument out of five! :-)
I agree with your last paragraph. I wonder - and this is me thinking as I write - how can the church best show support for those called to do so? I don't have an answer other than knowing that the often overused "I'll pray for you." doesn't seem to carry the weight it should. Should we have commissioning services for church members seeking public office - regardless of their political party? What about laying hands on them and asking the Holy Spirit to help them walk in obedience to God's Word as they seek to serve the community? I don't know and I don't know what that would look like. I've never seen it done except for missionaries and church planters.
Kelly, I really appreciate you opening up on this blog and engaging in conversation. I'm a firm believer in 'iron sharpens iron' and always look for people outside my normal circles to bat ideas around. Being a church planter is a pretty lonely place sometimes, even if you have a committed team. The stress is incredible. Being a pastor's wife isn't easy either. I would rather pastor a church than ever have to put up with the things pastor's wives put up with!
Hope you don't mind me hanging around and commenting on your blog every once in a while. You write and think well. Feel free to join me on my blogs.
http://www.pauldwatson.com
And my new one, http://www.everydaydisciples.com
Blessings,
-Paul.
I just found your blog- I love this post. I'm also a pw and I totally resonate with what you are saying.