Challenging Thought
>> Monday, February 4, 2008
Gary Lamb posted a bit of a rant over at his blog recently, and his words are stirring in my thoughts:
Every church planter I meet says they are starting their church to reach those that are disconnected from God. Many of them grew up in church, became Christians at a early age, and don’t even have a relationship with someone far from God, but they are going to reach those far from God. I listen to a lot of podcasts, watch a lot of videos from other churches, and it breaks my heart to know they are doing a lot of things and a lot of things well, but reaching those far from God is NOT one of them.
I have learned that most church planters REALLY don’t want to reach those far from God, they really want to do church in a cool way. There is a difference. Just because you have great video, loud music, dress casual, and use movie clips doesn’t mean you are reaching those far from God.
I honestly believe most planters would freak out if they started having to deal with the issues that come from reaching truly unchurched people. It is messy, ugly, scary, and actually can keep you from growing because it scares the hell out of those who grew up in church.
I am so eager to see real kingdom building take place at Hope. I'm glad to see people making Hope their home because they're feeling loved, challenged, taught, and encouraged. But I don't want to become complacent just because we're experiencing growth. I'm hungry to see life-change. I'm craving the kind of dangerous, messy, ugly, but infinitely rewarding adventure Gary is talking about. I want to be a part of God piercing the darkness and radically transforming sinners into saints.
Right now, we're still learning to build contagious relationships with others. We're creating opportunities for followers of Jesus to rub shoulders with lost people, and we're earning the right to be heard. But we're not really stepping too far outside of our comfort zones yet. We have a long way to go, and I'm learning to be patient and trust God even as he stretches all of us. I know the challenge in front of us will be uncomfortable, and the price for truly connecting with our community will be high. But it's going to be an incredible adventure!
My name is Scott Heine, and I'm on a life-long journey to become more like Jesus and to share his life-changing love with others. I'm the Pastor of Hope Christian Fellowship in Warrenton, Virginia — a great church family full of terrific people. My wife, Margo, and I have three teenage kids: Benjamin, Elizabeth, and Rebecca, along with a couple of spoiled English Springer Spaniels named Dixie & Rose.
4 comments:
He is really making some assumptions here. How else does he propose we reach those "far from God"
organ music and recitation? This is the 21st century. I, for one, love loud praise music, casual dress and video clips and from the way Hope is growing, it looks like others like it too. When it comes down to it, if the Word of God is being spoken, they will come. Does it really matter what the service looks like? Why do so many people think it has to "look" a certain way? You need to "roll" with the times and be creative in drawing those "far from God". Give me a break! Sounds very judgemental to me.
I think you may be missing his point (and that may be my fault, since I didn’t post his entire blog article). He’s saying there’s a big difference between merely “doing church well” and “doing church so that it changes the lives of unbelievers.” A lot of church plants are good at growing by drawing in believers; we’re even seeing a bit of that starting at Hope. But then people settle for a growing church without actually working to reach the lost. Reaching the lost is messy business. Even Willow Creek — masters at “doing church well” — have recently published a book with their studies and evaluations saying that even though they are pioneers in the church growth movement and have the ultimate mega church, they’ve failed at really bringing lost people to God.
I stand corrected. I just read his blog although I still think you can have a dynamic service and still meet people's needs. I think they go hand in hand, but you need to bring in the lost, of course.
In his comment, "There are times when I think it would be easier to do what most guys do and plant a church that really is a place for other Christians to come hang out and talk about how we are reaching unchurched people instead of doing it.", I have a hard time believing that "most guys" intentionally plant churchs for that reason. Maybe I'm naive, but I would be terribly disappointed knowing that they would intentionally do it, although I know it does end up that way sometimes. I totally agree that we need to put our money where our mouth is.
It just motivates me to want to go out and make disciples and not just talk about it.
I am familar with Willow Creek's study. Sad.
Woo hoo!! Go Gary! Leave it to God to remind us WHY we are here and WHO we should reach. I recall listening to a minister from a church in FL (Dan Southerland; of Ft. Lauderdale ~ church is called Flamingo Road; I think he wrote a book about the transition) who began drawing the lost in ~ he eventually lost all the members who began with him, and even had many pastors in his neighborhood accusing him of awful things (because his members were going to their churches), but his church, under God's headship, was bringing in the people off the street, leading them to life changes involved in getting them off of welfare and drugs, out of gangs/poor groups, out of bad relationships and bad choices and strongholds that were pretty dense (people the parishioners didn't want to hang with). I can't recall some of the things others derided him with, but they were afraid to have such people in their churches...but "those people" are us without God!!
I do remember that he said that the tougher society got, the more churches tend to cocoon ~ but changed lives is what attracts people to a church, not programs ~ the visible actions of God.
I pray that our church reaches ALL people ~ those who have been to church and haven't understood what relationship with God really is, and those who have never heard the Truth. Bless you, Pastor. I know God responds to the heart and I pray our church's heart continues to get into beat with His Spirit.
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