The Church, more thoughts

I’m in the midst of working on my MA from Indiana Wesleyan University.  My current class is called “Postmodern Trends” and deals with the cultural shift from the Enlightenment/Modernity to postmodernism/postchristianity.  The class is interesting, but more than that, it is frustrating.  Much of my frustration comes from the perspective that the church of 2011 is possibly so entrenched in the mindset of the previous worldview that changing it from within seems impossible.

Currently, our preaching minister is leading us through a 4-part message series called “Restoration Revolution.”  This is based on something from the North American Christian Convention, website is here.  This past week, the message was on the planting of churches.  In the small group that I lead on Monday nights, we’ve been following the Sunday messages with a deeper study and exploration time.  Last night after prayer, I simply asked our group, “If you were to start a church, what would you need?  What might it look like?”  Here is what we came up with (in the order of thoughts, not importance):

core group of believers

• caring, giving, not cold,
• give back in their “off” time (time away from Sunday)
• still wanting to learn
• desire to be the church

non-intimidating location

• perhaps a home

stick to scripture

• not to tradition or habits of existing organization

time in prayer

listen to the Holy Spirit

getting new members-growth

a leader that is a teacher

• learns, then shares
• explains
• lives out the teaching
• teaches at the correct level of those present
• respects others
• teller of truth
• has wisdom

some level of accountability built on love

providing resources for people

fellowship

plan for “next steps”

obedience to God

 

I’m curious…what would you add to this list?

What is the Church? – Part 2

There are two roles of the church as entity.  The first is to dispense the grace of Jesus Christ.  This was communicated by Jesus himself in what we call “The Great Commission.”  We are to live our lives in such a manner that, as we live our lives (go grocery shopping, walk our dogs, drive our cars, play X-Box), we make disciples; we do this by baptizing them, and teaching them about the way of Jesus.

But, and I’m going to choose my words carefully here, there is indeed an order to the manner in which this (dispensation of grace in any form) is done from a corporate standpoint.    Let’s take a look at two stories.

In Mark 6, we can read about Jesus feeding the five thousand.  The disciples have been sent on, and then return from, a short-term mission trip.  Jesus tries to do a debrief with them but the people make it impossible.  And, because Jesus loves people more than he loves policy and procedure, he feeds them.  Verses 39 and 40 give us insight into Jesus’ dispensing of help to people in need.

“Then Jesus directed them  (the disciples) to have all of the people sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.”

The second story is found in Acts chapter 6.  The Twelve were administering (dispensing and applying grace) to unheard of levels.  A group of new disciples approached the Twelve with the news that their widows were being overlooked in the daily food administration (dispensing).  The response of the Twelve was not, “We are not a business”, rather, it was, “We are so caught up in the dispensing of grace through the proclamation of Jesus Christ, that we cannot be sidetracked by the administration (management) of food.  Choose 7 men from among YOU, men who are filled with both the Spirit (dispensation of grace) and wisdom (management) so that they can administer (manage) and administer (dispense) the food situation.”

Which is what happened.  Not surprisingly, because those 7 men were so adept at administration (of both kids), and because the 12 were adept at administration (dispensing of grace), the church grew.

In both instances, we must recognize that there was administration (managing) in order that the administration (dispensing) of grace via food could take place.

On of the things that I urge you to see is that administration of both kinds is absolutely necessary for the church to grow.  In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says that the church, the Body of Christ, is made up of multiple parts.  Like the human body, each person has a role to perform, a function and purpose within the body.  Those roles are likened to giftedness, and…administration is a gift. The Greek is κυβέρνησις and it means “to steer”, “pilotage.”  There is an order, a direction that things must take, and the church is no different from that.

When the dispensing of the daily food took place without administration, people went hungry.  Jesus told the crowd to sit in groups, why?  So everyone could be fed.

Here’s what the church needs to take a hard look at.  Administration (managing and responsibility) is a necessary aspect of the administration (dispensing) of grace.  Organization and structure are not bad.  Asking people to be committed is an effective way to minister. And, having a structure, complete with accountability and responsibility in place, is the most effective way to minister.

Find people that love Jesus and Jesus only.  And then give them responsibility.  It’s why they are in your church.

What is “the Church?”- Part 1

As stated yesterday, I’ve been involved in a great number of conversations over the years about church leadership, administration, function, roles and responsibilities of leaders, etc.  Often in those discussions when we get down to the nitty-gritty, something like this is stated: “The church is not a business.”

What I hear in that phrase is a cautious warning to not employ the things that make a business successful to the church.  From the 30,000 foot level I agree; technically, the Church is NOT a business.  Lately, my response has been, “You’re right, the Church is the Body of Christ.”  What I mean by that is that we are more important than a business.  There is more at stake then providing shareholders a financial profit.  Quoting Emil Brunner again:

“The church is really two entities.  A spiritual community which administers healing, reconciliation and salvation.  And, the church is an organizational entity that requires skillful and knowledgeable administration.”

Brunner is stating a fact.  There are two separate parts of the body of Christ.  The first part of this Body is to administer the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the hurting.  The word administer has a few definitions, there is “manage and be responsible for the running of (a business, organization, etc)”, “dispense or apply (a remedy or drug)” and finally, “give help or service.”.  It is the LATTER two that is the spiritual “entity” of the church.

Simply put, we are to administer healing, reconciliation and salvation by  dispensing, applying and giving help and service to people in need. It is critical that we understand the role of the church here.  This is, first and foremost, a spiritual need.  We are to meet spiritual needs.

However, the church has a second entity, or, part.  It is that second part, that of administration that is the “how” to the spiritual part.  Here is where the first definition of the word “administer” is key”: manage and be responsible for.  The dispensing of help, reconciliation and salvation, unfortunately does not just happen.  This dispensing must, indeed, be managed.

We’ve established that in order to dispense what is needed from a spiritual standpoint, there must be a structure in place to do so.  In my next post, we will look at the sixth chapter of Acts and see how the early church lived this out practically.

I did it.

I made the switch.  If you went to my old blog at blogspot and were magically transported here, that means that it worked.  How did the migration happen?  I simply followed the instructions found here.  And, it worked.

As much as I’d like to start off with a “real” blog post, I need to finish an assignment for school due tonight.  But, here’s a teaser.

Over the past few years, we’ve had a lot of discussion at Eastview about what the nature of the church and how it functions.  Many conversations have either begun or ended with something like, “The church is not a business…”  theologian Emil Brunner once said this:

“The church is really two entities.  A spiritual community which administers healing, reconciliation and salvation.  And, the church is an organizational entity that requires skillful and knowledgeable administration.”

Over the next few days, I’ll unpack this statement a bit.  Stay tuned.