Soul Searching and Fire Insurance

This week we’ll end our series of “Share the Well,” a set of lessons aimed at reshaping our idea of evangelism. 

I have to admit, though, that this series has been on the bottom of my concerns over the last few weeks.  My little family has gone through some pretty huge incidents over the past month and a half, and I’m still feeling (will always feel?) their effects.   However, I’ve re-examined my relationship with God and determined that I am being shaped for something special. 

Work has been a challenge.  Vocational Ministry is not as easy as it seemed to be when I was in full-time ministry.  Our church finalized it’s budget for 07, and I became disgusted with the amount of money that is being set aside for paying a full-time pulpit minister.  Maybe I’m jaded.  I just don’t think that a 30-something M.Div minister with 15 years of experience and 2.4 kids (I’m exaggerating, I know) can demand a 65K salary.  Two-thirds of the body does not make that kind of money.  I don’t want him to be in the poor house, but we need to get the “mush” out from between our minister’s ears to realize that there is a differernce between MINISTRY VALUE, and MARKET VALUE. 

So Richland Hills is going instrumental, eh?  I pray that a “unified eldership” has God’s Will at it’s center.  As a dear friend of mine said, “there might be a bunch of “unified elderships” that are left out of heaven.”  Jesus knew what he was doing when he prayed for unity in John 17.  We need all the help we can get. 

The church of ME

I get worried whenever I hear these words coming out of Christian’s mouths:

“My needs aren’t being met by (fill in ministry name/minister name/church name here).” 

“I don’t think (fill in appropriate minister/elder/teacher name here) can connect with what I’ve gone through in life.  I just don’t think he/they have anything to say to me in my life.”

“I just don’t get anything out of worship anymore.”

Since when did the concept of Christianity become about “me?”  I don’t know that I read ANYWHERE in the New Testament about Christians looking out for themselves in the first church.  (Flipping through Acts…)   Nope.  I don’t see it. 

The SECOND we start looking to our own needs and desires is the second we lose the focus of what church should be about: getting closer to what GOD wants. 

True: We may become “filled” when we do serve others in the name of God.  This is a SECONDARY gain.  If in fact we were only out to be served, we would constantly be looking for the next “high” or “feel good feeling.”  Sounds kind of like an addiction, doesn’t it.  Maybe that’s what it is: “The church of ME addiction.” 

Millennial Church

I’ve been observing a very interesting trend in churches recently.  See what you think…

 A lot of mainstream (around 200-300 members) churches of Christ are struggling to plug young Gen X parents, their families, and young professionals (18-30)  into the “work” of the church.  Sunday evenings have become a faint resemblance of what they used to be.  My wife and I have noted that there seem to be more “golden saints” attending than members from other generations. 

Fewer and fewer families with small children are attending on Sunday nights due in part to the growing trend among Gen X parents to “protect family time.”  I’m one of those Gen Xers, and I can vouch for this idea that family time is a prized possession.  I’m not talking about working in the yard on Saturday, either.  I’m talking about deliberate spent time with spouses and children in an effort to draw the entire family closer to God.  You’d be amazed at how much these young children are being taught by their parents during this time.  I know a certain three year old that can recite the twelve tribes of Israel! 

Fewer young professionals are attending because, frankly, they attended Sunday morning and don’t see the need for repeating the same “ritual” of attending.  These younger members are longing for the connectedness that they had in youth group (hence, the “gap” from youth group to active member).  Right or wrong, their attitude is, Sunday evening is “just going through the motions.”  So, they have begun hanging out in each other’s homes on Sunday evenings in order to fulfill that need.  All the while, they’re studying God’s word together and leaning on Him and each other for their support during life’s events. 

So, good things are happening on Sunday nights for our older generation at the church building, in the home for our Gen X parents, and in other’s homes for our young professionals.  How can we “harness” this and make it better for everyone invovled?  How do our shepherds “shepherd” a church that it utilizing different means to keep the “Sabbath holy?” 

Mark it down.  This will be a growing trend in ALL churches over the next decade.  It will affect future youth groups, budgeting for ministry programing, building usage, shepherding skills needed in order to “pastor” churches, and evangelism as a whole. 

The church must adapt.  The Word does not change, but the style of delivery must.