wake up mature christians
Today, I had an interesting chat with someone who I hadn’t seen for a long time. He is involved as a leader in a established Church in the eastern suburbs of melbourne. A Church that is fairly small and is situated among a number of large bible belt churches.
As he talked about his Church, a number of feelings were expressed in many words and body language - pain, frustration, loyalty and love. He talked about his love for young people and creating spaces for them to express their faith. As he told his story - you could see the scars of attempting to create spaces for youth and young adult within an established Church. He loves the older people in the Church but you could see he was almost at the end of his tether.
I thought he summed it up well when he said in exasparation “I don’t get it Phil - why can’t these mature Christians see that it is about connecting people to Jesus?”
A good question! A question dripping with pain, frustration, loyalty and love. He doesn’t want to leave this established Church - he loves it , it is his community. But…
His question resonanted strongly for me, as it addressed an issue that we at nccc have had to tackle over and over again. Sometimes I feel we are moving forward, and othertimes I feel like my friend.
We seem to have lost the ability to see ourselves as belonging to a movement, a cause - one that is constantly changing, moving and connecting with people who are not yet apart of the Church.
As I write I am listening to U2. They sum it up - “wake up dead man”. How do we wake up the Church? How do we wake up the loyal citizens of the established church to see that is more than getting people to a certain place, at a certain time, to sing certain songs and to listen to certain doctrines preached. Wake up dead Church!
March 18th, 2005 at 3:36 pm
Let me know once you find the secret.
We all see things through the baggage of our own experiences and getting people to see things differently is a tough task.
I’m still battling with trying to see things clearly for myself. Whenever I see people that ‘just don’t get it’ in some areas of their Christian walk I just know that there are lots more areas that I’m not getting either.
March 18th, 2005 at 3:49 pm
Haha - good point Rodney. I guess that is why his comment resonated with me so much. That ‘mature’ Christians are needed to help create safe places for less mature Christians. Yet, it seems the opposite happens at times.
Of course you are right - one person’s maturity is another’s immaturity.
March 18th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind, and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.”
- John Kenneth Galbraith
March 19th, 2005 at 1:00 am
Yeah I don’t know either (except that I cannot ever recommend prayer highly enough).
Sometimes down here I think a useful place to start is to stop using the terms “our” church or “my” church. “It” isn’t mine or ours. But people act like “it” is.
March 21st, 2005 at 4:20 pm
People like being comfortable…homes, work, family, friends…somehow, for the mature Christian to ‘wake up’ it requires discomfort, some pain & uncertainty. In a world that changes as rapidly as ours does Church becomes the final place of comfort. Somehow we take away people’s last place of comfort if we put in a wake up call! It’s funny, I always the thought the Church should be an expression of faith in God through Jesus - rather than God being an expression of our comfortable places!
Sometimes the two seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum.
March 24th, 2005 at 10:10 am
I do not believe the church is dead, or even asleep. Maybe apathetic, lazy, frightened, unsure, insecure, indignant, prideful, smarmy, prosperous, arrogant, ignorant and smug, but no, not dead or asleep.
One of the problems ‘my’ (I use the term very loosely) congregation faces is a lose of self-esteem in God, a loss of identity “Who are we in this changing culture?”, a loss of purpose to convey the gospel message. We struggle to connect with others because we have lost sight of the reason why we need to connect with others. Once, it was to ‘get people to come to church’. Now, that doesn’t fit anymore and people are confused about their role. It is more difficult when they know they are confused or uncertain of their role and are struggling to find a direction.
Is the church dead? No, just waking up from its slumber.
October 20th, 2005 at 2:27 pm
You have worded my feelings exactly Anthony - we are waking up, praise God!, and wanting to be relevant - just looking for direction how to be.