My thoughts, exactly…

every now and then, i read an article or hear a sermon that reflects what i’m thinking or feeling at that moment.  that happened last night.  if you want to read the whole article, you can check it out here. if not, track with me for a few seconds…

you know that i have a love-hate affair with sunday mornings.  on the one hand, i wish our building was full to the brim every sunday…full of people worshipping the greatness of god, investing their lives in each other, serving children, welcoming new folks, filled with the spirit, and being inspired to live dangerous lives for christ.

on the other hand, i believe with my whole heart, that what the church is and does on monday through saturday is infinitely more important than what we do at our club meeting on sundays.

so where’s the truth?

in spite of the megachurches that dot our landscape (here and around the country),  studies show us an alarming trend: church attendance in america is in serious decline.  people are walking away or simply avoiding church in mass.  conservative estimates say that less than 18% of americans attend church services on any given sunday…and it is declining more and more every year.

as much as i would love for us to have more people coming to our building on sunday mornings, i think we are missing the point.  the question is not, “how can we get a bigger attendance on sundays”, but something entirely different. as the author of the article says:

The question we need to be asking is, “How can church become indispensable to a community?”  People don’t come to church because church isn’t essential to their lives.  Church is a take-it-or-leave-it experience, and most are leaving it.

have you ever heard this question:

if your church closed tomorrow, would anybody notice?  at least anybody outside the group of people that come to your sunday morning meeting?

well, if the statistics are to be believed, over 80% of americans give a loud and unqualified “no!”

i want to be part of a church family that is defined by what it does during the week, not by what it looks like on sunday mornings.  i want to be part of a church family that touches more people monday through saturday than walk into the buidling for the weekly meeting.

i want to be part of a church family that really hears what people say about the church…about our hypocrisy…about our judgment.  i want to know why people…80% of the population…see the church as irrelevant and not worth their time.  i want to listen and learn…and be part of a church that matters.

and by the way…if you’re part of the team, exercise your freedom to be somewhere else on sunday mornings judiciously.  we’re better and stronger when you’re here.  and you’re better and stronger, also.

Monday Morning Quarterback

yesterday was another sunday.  we came.  we prayed.  we sang.  we hugged.  we laughed.  we learned.   i preached.  you listened and applied.  we caught up a little.  we made decisions.  we gave.  we remembered.   some of us left and ate together…others went home.  we all went our own way.  a new week was begun.

i guess i’m going to sum up what i feel about yesterday by giving you some different kinds of observations.

• if what happened yesterday between 10:00 and 12:30 defines your life as a follower of christ, you’ve got a problem.
• if you were not inspired to go and spend your next six days surrendered to kingdom-living, you missed the point.
• or we didn’t do our job.
• if you think you can miss on a sunday morning and i’m not affected by it, you’re fooling yourself.
• if you think you can miss on a sunday morning and you not be affected by it, you’re fooling yourself.
• if you think you can come on sunday mornings and be absolved of guilt, you’ve missed the point.
• we have to learn the balance between the value of coming and the freedom to not come.
• we also have to learn another balance…

as i reflect on yesterday, i recognize that we are really good at one thing…and we really struggle at another.  and both of them are crucial to a healthy church family.  we like our friends.  we enjoy their company and find that interacting with them is comfortable and usually pretty natural.

i love watching us interact with each other on sunday mornings.  good friends catching up with each other after being apart for a few days, or even a week…or more.  that’s the way a family is supposed to act.  telling stories.  reacquainting.  catching up.  drawing friends deeper into life journies and cementing friendships before going their own way.  it’s good.  it’s healthy.  it’s godly.  it’s essential.

on the other hand, our friendship and familiarity with each other can actually be one of our biggest obstacles to growth and our ability to extend the kingdom.

frankly, when we are focused on those we know and are comfortable with, we are missing amazing opportunities to draw others in…into our circles…into our stories…into our family life…into north point.  our friendliness to ourselves actually becomes the way we push others away.

can i give you a challenge?  i know that some are actually gifted at interacting with others, especially people who you don’t know.  you are natural extroverts.  some have the gift of hospitality…the extraordinary ability to welcome strangers.  others are not so gifted.  no matter.

it’s time we got on with the business of living our lives the way jesus would…if he were at north point on a sunday morning.  jesus would be obsessed with finding those that were alone or those that were hurting.  he would be the friend to the friendless.  he would welcome the new and challenge the regulars.

he would never allow someone to be left out or forgotten.  he would be comfortable with the uncomfortable and would extend grace and friendship to those that the religious people overlooked.  his life was always inclusive.  strangers counted him a friend.

what do you think north point would look like if we treated people, especially those we know little about, the way jesus would?

Axioms…from my perspective

normally, i try to pass a new axiom on to you every thursday.  i missed.  i was busy…pre-occupied…unfocused… whatever. but as i was studying and writing emails this morning, my emptiheadedness started to be filled with this:

“sunday mornings are not enough.”

it’s nothing new.  i’ve said it a hundred times…in probably a hundred different ways.  but here goes again.

if your only real, regular and/or significant connection with your church “family” is once every seven days for an hour, or so,  at the weekly big show, you’ll probably drift away.  sooner or later, the percentages are pretty high that it will happen.

now that’s not the only reason that can cause someone to look for another church family.  i’ve written and preached about that stuff forever.  there are many other deeper and significant reasons that pave the way for moving on.  wanda and i have moved on a couple of times in the past 34 years.  so have many of you.  it happens.

no…this axiom is not about those complicated and sometimes painful seasons.  this one is simple and to-the-point.

church is not the program.  church is not a meeting.  church is not an item on our weekly to do list.

church is people…relationships…friendship…connection…life sharing…family… teamwork…associations…bonds… attachments…companionship… and camaraderie.

church is love…forgiveness…openness…transparency…conversation…shared experiences…common goals…hospitality…eating…laughing…serving… playing…and giving.  side-by-side.

and you can’t be that in one hour…once a week.

This isn’t going to change your life

not sure why i woke up this morning thinking about this.  just a slow day, i guess…

this past sunday, there were some regular north pointers that sat in completely different seats than where they normally sit.  it threw me off.

why did you move?  has something changed in your life?  was there a bad smell in that section where you usually plant yourself?  has your eyesight weakened?  have i moved in the front and the glare from my head has invaded your previous location?  did someone steal your seats because you were late?

amazing how i can preach an entire sermon, yet have this kind of deep conversation going on in my head at the same time…  must be a spiritual gift.

so this got me thinking.  why do you sit where you sit on sundays?  really.  i want to know. do you have the same approach at a church service as you do for a movie or a football game?  really.  i want to know.

Some really important questions…

last night at our young adult bible study, we had a great discussion about grace and law and guilt and motivation and how to live out our commitment to christ in a way that is true to scripture…and not dominated by an unhealthy view of god, the church and ourselves.

paul wrote the letter to the galatians to challenge them to stay true to the gospel he had taught them (justification by faith) and to avoid turning to another gospel (a returning to the law…salvation earned by human effort).  here’s where my questions come in.

we all openly admitted that our church upbringing had taught us to “do” things to please god.  go to church…study the bible…be good to others…put money in the offering plate…bring a friend…give god your best…pray…memorize scripture…go to vacation bible school…sing the songs…have a daily quiet time…and the list goes on.

children are taught…in church, as well as in society…to take responsibility for ourselves.  we are praised for effort and we take pride in our independence, work ethic, and success.  we are led to believe that anything worth having will cost us.  nothing is free.  nothing of value comes cheap.   it is better to earn it than to have someone give it to you.  you’ll appreciate it more.  there will be deeper satisfaction and the feelings of accomplishment will continue to push us to greater and greater effort and commitment.

so here they are:

• how do you teach a child the concept of salvation by grace through faith from an early age?
  
• how do we express the greatness of redemption from slavery to the law…while at the same time, teaching personal responsibility?
  
• how do we teach children that god is not impressed by church attendance, sunday best, quarters in the offering plate, and being nice to friends?
  
• how do we teach children that there is nothing we can ever do to earn any part of our relationship to our heavenly father?
• how do we help our children build a concept of god and commitment to the kingdom that is free from legalistic works…and full of grace-filled, loving responses to god and people?
  
• how can we help kids grow up into people who love…simply because they are aware that god has loved them first?

how?

Axioms…from my perspective

before i get to my axiom, i’d like to acknowledge the fact that the past couple of days of dialogue about worship has been one of my highest rated blog posts in the three-and-a-half years of doing this…over 115 different “views” and 18 comments.  pretty cool!

normally, i dedicate thursdays to giving some of my personal life axioms…truth that, from my perspective, is self-evident. sometimes practical. sometimes philosophical. sometimes whimsical. but truth, no less.  after a week off, i think i’ll pass on another one.

“know the difference between “going” to church and “being” the church.”

this one is not new.  anybody who has known me for a while…like the past thirty years…knows what i believe about this.  there is probably no one axiom that expresses the answer to the messes that so many people find themselves in on their spiritual journeys.

this might possibly be the issue that creates the turning point between wandering and trust…fate and hope…intellect and faith…law and grace.

no matter how hard we try, we who are raised in church culture (or raise our kids there) have a dividing line we must cross…a passing over, if you will, into the world that god intends for us to live in, and not the one our sunday school teachers would have us believe in (bless their hearts).

those who never make that move are destined to be stuck in a spiritual black hole…a belief in god as the creator, but overwhelmed by all that is wrong with the church and unexplained by theology.

our world is full of people who believe that this “going to church stuff” is the measuring stick of christianity…that somehow we impress god and others by our church attendance and ultimately win their approval and our salvation.  church is not a destination.  church is identity.  it is what I am a part of every moment of every day. to miss this is to miss the whole point of being a follower of christ.  to miss this is to miss the joy and purpose of belonging to the body of christ.

to miss this is tragedy that some never recover from.

Life Together

i was reading today on another blog.

i read the book,  life together by dietrich bonhoeffer years ago and don’t remember it impacting me as much as this quote did right now:

In the Christian community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life. Only he who gives thanks for the little things receives the big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts. We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack the deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others, and we consider this lament to be pious. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?

If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1978.

i am giving thanks for north point this morning.  how about you?

Axioms…from my perspective

i’ve decided to dedicate thursdays to giving some of my personal life axioms…truth that, from my perspective, is self-evident. sometimes practical. sometimes philosophical. sometimes whimsical. but truth, no less.

“the measure of our love for god and commitment to his kingdom should be defined more by what we do, that by what we don’t do“

the bible is pretty clear that we are to avoid the appearance of evil and be very careful about the company we keep and the choices we make and to be salt and light in a fallen world.  but i think we have this tendency to get things out of whack.

i think there are a whole lot of things we would be better off saying “no” to, but those things seem to become less of an issue  when we are boldly saying “yes” to the things of god.  unfortunately, in our world, christianity has become identified with certain behaviors, certain moral issues, certain political agendas, certain public figures…rather than the person and power of jesus.  consequently, the watching world struggles to gain a accurate sight line to the things that are most important when it comes to the real agenda of the kingdom.  sad.

this week, the cover story of newsweek is titled:  the decline and fall of american christianity. you can buy it or read it online.  it is disheartening and challenging at the same time.  it discourages me to realize that the picture our world sees of the greatness and majesty of jesus is seen through the lens of a messed up church.

it heartens me to know that when people meet the real jesus, there is power and freedom and grace and love and order and transformation and hope and meaning and answers.  too bad all they’re seeing is judgment and intolerance and hypocrisy and rules and empty, hollow, pious religious activity.

anyway, here’s a link to another guy’s take on this whole issue.  if you have the time, read some of the comments by other readers.  there’s a lot of give and take…different opinions…alternative views of the same subject by good-hearted people who desire to end up at the same spot.

you’ll be better for taking the time to read it.

Monday Morning Quarterback…on Wednesday afternoon

my experience from this past sunday has filled me with mixed emotions as i reflect.  some say that reflection is cathartic.  i suppose i would agree, especially this week.

we had at least 60-70 of our regular church family missing on sunday.  quite a few more, if i include some faithful shoppers and good folks that have been a little sporadic in their attendance over the past six months.  for most of the people who were missing, i could chalk it up to family commitments, illness or travel.  even so, it was still a difficult  sunday.

here are a few of my personal insights:

• i grew up in a church environment that left me with the habit of feeling overwhelmingly guilty whenever i had to miss “church” on sunday mornings.  those times that i missed, i always felt like i was letting god down and not being the kind of christian i was supposed to be!
• in the past 15 years, i have repeatedly repented of that way of defining my discipleship.  i have preached more about the grace of god and the freedom we have because of the cross in the past six or seven years than i did in the previous thirty!!
• when i came to north point years ago, one of the major items on my job description was to make sure that i taught our people to place the building of healthy marriages and family lives ahead of church programs and activities over the long haul.
• i have worked hard to model this priority…even as the head honcho of north point programming.
• i have faithfully taught that the old system of law and the incessant effort to prove our worth and acceptability to god was cancelled at calvary. good works are fruit that flow from our love for god and our response to his mercy…not our ticket to heaven.

with that as the back drop, one of the things that people have consistently said to me over the years is how grateful they have been to find a church that didn’t constantly make them feel guilty for missing on a sunday or beat them up for saying “no” to things that placed undo pressure on already hectic family lives.  i love being a church that lives out the freedom we have in christ.

it’s just a tough pill to swallow when so many people choose to enjoy their freedom on the same sunday morning.

that’s what i’m thinking.  what about you?  how do you respond to this?

Does this seem odd to you?

i was just doing some online reading tonight during this bizarre cardinals-panthers game and i came across a post by one of the most popular, innovative and respected big guns in the mega-church club (i’m not part of the club…i just sneak looks into their online clubhouses when they’re not looking).

it wasn’t a quote or a lesson or even the content that seemed odd to me. it was simply the title, the future of worship. what do mean, the future of worship?

we could talk about the future of…bi-partisan politics…or global warming…or the metal baseball bat…or plasma televisions…or cross-cultural relations in texas…or eschatological predictions in the 21st century…or any number of other issues that change or morph or develop or grow from one stage to another. but worship? the future of worship? really…

worship doesn’t change. it is. that’s it. it’s the essence of relationship between the creator and created. it’s life. it’s breath. it’s me offering my life to the holy one. it’s where i walk and what i say and what i think and how i give. there’s no future to it. it doesn’t have a timeline. unless you consider eternity measurable.

for the record, the guy makes worship and music synonymous. bad call. but that’s the church culture he lives in.

in case you’re watching, kurt warner’s the man..