My wife and I have been blessed. We’re healthy. We come from good families. We have close, life-long friends. We’re financially stable, working toward financial independence. And we attend(ed) a great church.
A bit of background. I am a fourth generation true Pentecostal (and I have to caveat that with “true” Pentecostal to distinguish my heritage from those of the Charismatic ilk who’ve sullied the namesake). My wife comes from a Baptist heritage. We were both raised in church, and our lives are firmly grounded in Biblical principles.
For several years, we stopped going to church. Why? Well, it’s not because we had no desire. In fact, we looked all over San Antonio, trying to find a good church where we felt at home. The church where we met was such a church – was. We were very active members. We taught a Sunday school class, were a part of the music programs, assisted with technology, and hosted “Food Forethought” – a monthly cooking show done at the church, designed to be a unique outreach program. We were happy, active, committed members.
So what happened? The same thing that’s happened at many places: the purpose of the church – little “c,” the Baptist church we attended – drifted away from the purpose of the Church – capital “C,” the body of Christ.
The purpose of the Church is, or ought to be, Christ’s purpose. First, Christ’s purpose was a people purpose. He looked for and found people who were lost. And he found them in every mental, physical, emotional and socio-economical condition possible – but they were all in the same spiritual condition: lost. Second, Jesus mentored those close to him. He had a cadre of apprentices into which He poured His life, effectively multiplying Himself (His purpose, His mission) into these other people. Third, Jesus spoke with authority and educated the masses about the Kingdom of Heaven. Everything else was incidental.
Contrast that with any of the twenty-something churches we visited over those two to three years. Their purpose wasn’t a people purpose, it was a “my church” purpose. Their practice wasn’t to raise up a cadre of apprentices to take the vision to the community, much less the world. Their myopic kingdom message (little “k”) was worthless, devoid of anything eschatological.
“How should we then live,” Frances Schaeffer would ask. And he’s right. There is a problem. In my experience, the typical American church, when measured against its purpose, is woefully ineffective. And that makes for a lousy church-going experience.
It’s like diet cookie bars. The reason I can’t stand going to church is the same reason I can’t stand diet cookie bars. I’ve tasted the real thing, and the fact that the imitation purports to be the real thing is just ridiculous.
I must give an aside here. For those of you who do not know what “diet cookie bars” are, you never had Thanksgiving dinner at Bob and Linda’s. (Aunt Linda, I truly do love you, but growing up, all the cousins made jokes about your strange “no sugar added” concoctions. In fact, we still do. :) ) My Aunt Linda had an anti-sugar fetish. Her idea of a chocolate chip cookie was vastly different from Mr. Hershey’s. Linda’s (infamous) chocolate chip cookies contained carob, oats, whole-wheat flour, and light imitation buttery spread. And whereas cookies are typically individual and round, Linda’s delicacies were pan seared and cut into rectangles. Hence, diet cookie bars.
As I said, I’ve tasted the real thing. I know the difference between “a church” and “the Church.” But what do you do when you can’t find a church that fits with the purpose of the Church? You do what the early church did – start one yourself: a Bible study in your home.
How do you go about starting a church? Google presents some interesting responses to that question. You’ll find many consultants for church planting, growth, etc., and you’ll find scads of turnkey solutions for incorporation and/or ordination. But ask yourself this question: “What do any of those have to do with the purpose of the Church?” What do incorporation, ordination, business cards, stationary, advertising, growth seminars and the like have to do with the real reason the Church exists?
Don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying there’s no place for organization, marketing and strategy in the Church. I am saying that I’ve seen all too often good churches get sucked into and buried by things that are ancillary to what their purpose ought to be. I don’t want something I'm involved in to wind up like that. So how do you make sure a church sticks with the purpose, practice and message of the Church? I don’t know; but I have an idea.
I’ve come to realize something about myself over the years. The more I have, the more I have to lose, and the more paranoid I become about protecting what I’ve got. I’ve also come to realize that the antidote to that delusion is the realization that I don’t have anything. Christ has a minivan, an SUV, three dogs, a nice house in San Antonio, and some investments. My wife and I happen to be stewards over those things. We have a responsibility to take care of those things – and the people – that God has placed in our lives. Our responsibility is to use the things God has given us to be a blessing to the people He has placed in our lives. But if someone happens to come careening down the road, barrel through the fence and destroy the Suburban sitting in the driveway, my only response can be, “God, look what that crazy person just did to your fence, lawn and truck.” They’re not mine; they’re His. And you know what, if He wanted to, He could have had that crazy person run into someone else’s fence, lawn and SUV. But for whatever reason, He was okay with that person destroying His property.
Here again, don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying it’s appropriate to let someone walk all over me, that I should not care what happens, and not make a concerted effort to recover the damages from the crazy driver. I am saying that I’m not going to get so wound up in worrying about what might happen that Vicks NyQuil stock soars because that’s the only way I can get any sleep. My wife and I are resolved that we will not be distracted by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of the accumulation of stuff.
And that’s what people need in a church. People don’t need a church that’s stressed out over things that, in the end, will not amount to anything. People need a church that’s stressed out over portraying Christ to the world around them.
The world around us is stressed out over getting what they want and keeping what they’ve got. Why would they want to add to that stress by joining an organization that’s in the same lousy condition they are? The Body of Christ, the Church, is supposed to be different. We are not of this world. Why is the American church living like the temporal things of this world amount to something more than diddlysquat?
Because it can.
The first thing you might think to do when considering starting a church is research the various legal entities for a non-profit, tax exempt organization. (Google is a wonderful thing.) But wait a second. Did it ever occur to you that the American church, at its core, is nothing more than a financially lucrative, non-profit, tax exempt organization - a business?
I had always assumed that to be tax deductible, charitable contributions must be made to a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, typically a 26USC§501(c)3. I was surprised to learn that churches are de-facto tax exempt, and contributions are tax deductible, period (IRS Publication 526, “Organizations That Qualify To Receive Deductible Contributions,” available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf).
So why are so many churches 501(c)3’s? Because they’ve lost sight of the purpose of the Church. No, 501(c)3’s aren’t evil. But being a 501(c)3 enables churches to do things churches shouldn’t be in the business of doing. In fact, churches shouldn't be in "business" at all. But that's exactly what a 501(c)3 is - a business.
Go back to that Google search. The American church is big business. And that’s the problem. The American church is a large, willing market. It’s willing and eager to grab the latest thing-a-ma-jig in order to increase revenue to meet the budget.
Try that in the Philippines. My parents were missionaries in the Philippines for a while. I know enough about the Philippines to know that nobody is doing church growth seminars, conferences with well-known speakers on the agenda, and radio and television evangelism in the bush. Why not?
You: Well, those things won’t work there.
Me: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! Congratulations, you’ve won the prize!
Why won't those things work elsewhere? They're all built upon the premise that potential patrons have wads of disposable income. That's not the case in the rest of the world.
Here’s the rule: If it won’t work anywhere in the world, it’s not part of the purpose of the church.
None of those things are evil, and I’m not opposed to any of them – given their proper place. What I am opposed to is the notion that those things are vital to the survival of the Church. They’re not. The Church was orchestrated and designed by God to work without those things, and curiously enough, has survived for millennia without them.
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