I’ve been raised in church most of my life. I’ve been to Bible College. I’ve even served in a few churches over the years. I’ve been in churches that have been through splits. In fact one church I was at started directly across the street from the church they split from. I’ve seen political churches, business churches, supposedly ‘purpose driven’ churches, rural churches and more oft than not, I have come away from a church with a bad feeling that we are still missing something. Sometimes, it seems like we are just looking for a better mausoleum when it comes to church. We come, we worship, we do all the things church should do, but inside it’s just the same dead bodies going through the motions of Christianity… but without the life that was promised.
It’s not my position to berate the church or any local church for behaving in this way. I just think it’s important to call it for what it is, but more than that, share some ideas on raising up the dead again.
Servanthood and Community
In John Chapter 13, we see Jesus at the Last Supper, just before Judas leaves to betray Him. The disciples are getting ready to eat, and nobody had stepped forward to wash their feet as was the custom for the servant to do. Jesus takes on not just the nature of a servant but the duty of a servant. God in human flesh bowing before His disciples to perform a task of humility. If that wasn’t enough, Jesus follows it up with these statements.
“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
I have wondered often how a simple type of love like this can live again in our culture. We love our ego, our places so much that humility becomes a bad business decision rather than an act of love that lifts up something greater than ourselves. I am here too. Sometimes my own agendas and silly prideful ways get in the way of what might really be accomplished through something like this.
If the call is truly to community, why are we so focused on models, action plans, budgets, salaries, positions, services, having the right words on the screen, calendaring, etc?
Community is one of the first areas that Satan tries to disrupt in our lives. Back in Genesis, there was a community shown between God, Adam and Eve and the first words out of the serpants mouth were “Did God really say….” A subtle wedge in the community had been driven. Disobedience severed it, and then blame and guilt came in between man and women. “The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Community destroyed.
So put away the agendas, the big meetings, the date book, the flowcharts, the models and actually do what Jesus commanded of us. So many churches are worried about getting bigger, drawing more people, or reaching a specific demographic, they’ve forgotten what the message was in the first place. It is called ‘good news’ not because the church is going to have another business meeting or that we need people to tithe more regularly. If we were really trying to serve people the way we should, the church should be figuring out how to give to alleviate the needs of the poor rather than trying to suck the monetary resources from those who desire ardently to be a part of a community that truly loves them for more than just their checkbook.
