Church thoughts
A friend of mine, who oversees a ministry, once told me, "You know, I don't think we are parachurch. I think we are the church."
Today, a different friend told me that he finds church preaching "nauseating". This is someone who does attend church, and is in fact a leader in the church. He said, "Some of these people are 70 years old! How many more times do you need to hear it?"
I've been thinking about how the church is all about the sermon, all about teaching. Yes, we worship, too, but in even some of the more worship-focused churches it still seems to sometimes be what one pastor once called "the preliminaries."
When did church become about a bunch of people attending and being taught than about living?
I'm only 38, but really, having been in church my entire life, how much more can I hear? And can't I access about a thousand books, CDs, DVDs and webcasts that can probably say it better than the preacher at the nearest church?
We are in the information age, but we still act as if the stuff coming from the pulpit is gold.
I think my first friend had it a bit wrong. What he and the people he oversees do is living out the mandate of Christ. What many people in the local church do is attend. I think that ministry is MORE the church than churches generally are.
My second friend, as he and his wife sat in our living room today with Rob and myself, motioned to the four of us and said, "This is church." And he's absolutely right.
Today, a different friend told me that he finds church preaching "nauseating". This is someone who does attend church, and is in fact a leader in the church. He said, "Some of these people are 70 years old! How many more times do you need to hear it?"
I've been thinking about how the church is all about the sermon, all about teaching. Yes, we worship, too, but in even some of the more worship-focused churches it still seems to sometimes be what one pastor once called "the preliminaries."
When did church become about a bunch of people attending and being taught than about living?
I'm only 38, but really, having been in church my entire life, how much more can I hear? And can't I access about a thousand books, CDs, DVDs and webcasts that can probably say it better than the preacher at the nearest church?
We are in the information age, but we still act as if the stuff coming from the pulpit is gold.
I think my first friend had it a bit wrong. What he and the people he oversees do is living out the mandate of Christ. What many people in the local church do is attend. I think that ministry is MORE the church than churches generally are.
My second friend, as he and his wife sat in our living room today with Rob and myself, motioned to the four of us and said, "This is church." And he's absolutely right.
posted by Jude | 11:23 PM
3 Comments:
Amen.
The body of Christ (church) is organic, living, breathing, changing...it can not be contained by traditions, schedule and comfortable predictability.
I can FINALLY comment on a blog!!! I don't believe age has anything to do with the "message". Fresh manna can come from a babe or a 90 year old but it has to be REAL for today not something that happened 10 years ago. I don't think God can be discovered completely in a life time and it will take eternity to discover His greatness. But knowing ABOUT someone and knowing THEM are two different things. If I only knew you from your blog that would be a different thing than doing things with you and know your quirks and humor and work ethics and smile and acts of kindness and anger and speech patterns. I can spend a lot of time with you and not be bored. I think that is the same with the KNOWING of God.
Erica: Where do you find the body of Christ?
Bev: I'm not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me!
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