Your Church is Too...
04 07 11 18:57 Filed in: Reflections
Your church is too... Fill in the blank; big, small, formal, loud, restrictive, old, ingrown.... The list goes on. If your church is Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral, the answer apparently is bankrupt. I’ve never been quite comfortable with crystal cathedrals, so when I read that Robert Schuller had been ousted from the board of the Southern California landmark church he founded decades ago, I was neither terribly surprised nor terribly upset. Saddened, yes, but not surprised. It began as a drive-in church, became a widely recognized institution, and now is bankrupt, perhaps a victim of its own perceived success.
Several days ago I was enjoying a conversation with a number of other pastors where the question was posed, what IS a healthy church? While the question stimulated some discussion, I don’t recall that it was ever actually answered. My denomination has attempted an answer with a list of ten “leading indicators” of church health, but the list doesn’t quite do it for me, perhaps a reflection of the fact that I am not and have never aspired to be a denominational executive.
The trouble with church health discussions is that they inevitably seem to lead to the feeling that my church is too (fill in the blank). And most of the time there is a great gulf between the feeling and fact. I am convinced that many churches suffer unnecessarily from an ecclesiological inferiority complex, the result of hearing what is too often a great lie that they are too something or not enough something else. The problem arises for a couple of reasons. First, people have confused the church (the body of Christ that includes all believers) with a particular local congregation and wrongly assumed that the local congregation should be everything that the church universal is called to be and do. When Jesus said “I will build my church,” he wasn’t talking about merely your congregation. Second (and more critically), people have focused more on the local expression of the church than they have on the Lord of the church. If you believe your church is too something, could it be because you have become distanced from its Head?
A staggering number of American pastors believe that their congregation is too small. What is more often true is that their view of the church is too small. Wherever God’s people gather, there is his church, and whether it be two or two thousand and whatever the form may be, if the Lord is worshipped, he is pleased.
Several days ago I was enjoying a conversation with a number of other pastors where the question was posed, what IS a healthy church? While the question stimulated some discussion, I don’t recall that it was ever actually answered. My denomination has attempted an answer with a list of ten “leading indicators” of church health, but the list doesn’t quite do it for me, perhaps a reflection of the fact that I am not and have never aspired to be a denominational executive.
The trouble with church health discussions is that they inevitably seem to lead to the feeling that my church is too (fill in the blank). And most of the time there is a great gulf between the feeling and fact. I am convinced that many churches suffer unnecessarily from an ecclesiological inferiority complex, the result of hearing what is too often a great lie that they are too something or not enough something else. The problem arises for a couple of reasons. First, people have confused the church (the body of Christ that includes all believers) with a particular local congregation and wrongly assumed that the local congregation should be everything that the church universal is called to be and do. When Jesus said “I will build my church,” he wasn’t talking about merely your congregation. Second (and more critically), people have focused more on the local expression of the church than they have on the Lord of the church. If you believe your church is too something, could it be because you have become distanced from its Head?
A staggering number of American pastors believe that their congregation is too small. What is more often true is that their view of the church is too small. Wherever God’s people gather, there is his church, and whether it be two or two thousand and whatever the form may be, if the Lord is worshipped, he is pleased.
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