Posts Tagged ‘journal of a new lead pastor’
Wondering Aloud On A Wednesday Afternoon
I wonder what would happen in a church if for 365 days her key leaders did nothing but did life with 3 or 4 others? They would worship together, they would get together once a week to eat and ask each other hard, vulnerable, raw questions, and they had 1 ministry they poured into? Ministry being defined as serving others in the name of Jesus. Could be inside or outside the church walls but just 1.
I wonder what would happen if we did that at Western Hills?
I’m not ready to pull the trigger on the idea yet. Just thinking out loud – which is risky in doing, especially with a ‘live studio congregation.’
People here aren’t all that different than people there. Generally speaking, we are frazzled, hurried, hassled, irritated, running around from one event to the next. There is no rhythm with Christ. It’s sports, kids, work. The activity was supposed to make us better, more productive, happier but it’s having the exact opposite effect.
The question I wrestle with is this – what are we saying in our role as a spiritual voice in the middle of this? What are elevating as ‘right’ and ‘good’ – not just with our words but our calendar, our pace? Are we making it easier for people to listen and respond to the Spirit?
No answers coming clear today.
Eating An Elephant
One bite at a time.
Service yesterday was good. Talked about The Compassionate Mandate. We’ve been talking about what makes a church a movement instead of an institution. Mark Edwards – a volunteer with me in Little Rock – started this thinking in me many years ago when he started taking his high school guys life group downtown under a bridge to feed the homeless. He challenged us as a youth team to see youth ministry as a movement, an opportunity to join the invisible mighty Church already at work.
The question has always been – can this happen in ‘big church?’ The odds are against it because most churches are focused on keeping the doors opened as opposed to unleashing the Church. My guess this mentality will only get worse as the economy tanks.
But…does it HAVE to be this way? Is it possible for a church to have a committment to helping others and the messiness that ensues? Is it possible for a church to keep its doors open for the purpose of serving others? We’re asking and investigating and we’re going to try to eat the elephant one bite at a time.
Monday Morning Quarterback: Think I made another goof yesterday. We had a Church Council meeting and instead of running the meeting, I let the meeting run itself. My thinking was – they’ve been doing this Council thing for years, it’s my first one, they’ve got a handle on it, just keep quiet, observe and see how it goes.
Good theory, maybe even good practice. Reality – I was still sitting in that meeting 4 hours after I’d preached two services that morning. Not good. The hard part of the situation is this – it wasn’t a ‘bad’ meeting in terms of the topics or issues we’re dealing with. It wasn’t a bad meeting in terms of the spirit of discussion.
It was a bad meeting because we’re all exhausted after church because we all serve and we’re not doing God or the church any favors by tackling the business of the church at less than our best. Stuff that should have taken an hour or 90 minutes took twice as long. This must change but the how and to what is the question. I know we will get there – we’ve got the right spirit and attitude to do it.
I return to the eating an elephant…one bit at a time.