I went into a pet store last weekend with my friend Cindy. She was there to buy some fish and I was there to look at puppies. It's always dangerous for me to go into a pet store because I fall in love with these little guys. They are so adorable!
Anyways I wanted to play with a beagle and I was told by the fish man to go wait by the wall of encased dogs for someone to come and help me. I was standing there for a least ten minutes and was purposley making eye contact with the PetLand people. I'm sure they thought that I was a weirdo as I intentionally tried getting their attention. I even asked someone to help and he rushed by and said, "Yea one second..." Five minutes later I was standing at the same spot eyeing people down.
All I wanted to was be apart of the culture. I was searching for someone to help me out but everyone was just to busy. They were all caught up in their own situations. Now ovbiously this was a place of business and they were busy at the time so I am sure if I waited around long enough I would have been helped but I didn't have time. I have my own life I can't just wait thirty minutes for these people to help me.
I have reflected on that situation and I have realized that as pastors, small group leaders, coaches we tend to live in this busyness. Someone will try to get our attention by leaving us intentional clues but we are so busy meeting needs, or thinking about the next weekend that we miss them. A lot of people that I grew up were interested in Jesus but weren't really into the church because no one had time for anyone else. I even notice this here at Bible College. I have tried to invest and encourage multiple people and when they are done with me they try to cut me out of their life. They have used me for what they want and they are done with me. I am just a hassle that asks to many questions. The problem is that I am so stubborn that I will hold on for dear life I have to.
There are so many people that want to be connected to Jesus, but they feel like the church is asking them to be Christians before they come on Sunday. People want to be apart of the culture of the church the problem is that the culture of the church is either twenty years behind or is to obsessed with the latest fads to realize that they are missing people.
We need to stop expecting people to walk through the doors of the church and we need to start bringing Jesus EVERYWHERE we go. We need to stop thinking of church as a Sunday morning, Wednesday night event and we need to go and bring church to people.
What would happen if we didn't meet every Sunday and only met once a month for public worship? What would happen if on those Sundays that we didn't meet, we were connecting with people who would never walk into any kind of church? What would happen if we actually lived our lives hidden in Christ and actually trusted Him to change things. What would happen if we stopped spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing and used that money to help families in the community and to invest it in a more effective way of doing ministry? What would happen if we weren't so concerned with bringing people into the church building because the discipline of disciplining was so ingrained in us that the church building was just ineffective?
This summer I was told I was to idealistic about the church. I was told by two people that I loved the church to much. Maybe I am to idealistic about it. Maybe I should just give up on it. I mean it's not being very effective as it is. I see the church as being so obssessed with itself. The small town churches are only concerened with their own communities and the big churches are obssessed with the other big churches that are doing "cool" stuff. I mean what are we really accomplishing in America? People are coming here to be missionaries! Has the church lost the fervor of Christ in such a way?
Or maybe I should believe in the church? My friend Nick blogged about when you believe in someone you invest everything you have in that person. You do it in such a way that you replace yourself. What if I believed in the church so much that I committed my life to believing in it. To believing in the people that make it up?
I wonder what would happen if we believed in the church?
2 comments:
I love the idea of only meeting once a month for public worship! How cool would that be? As leaders, we've got a lot of work ahead of us before people in church are ready for that but I guess that gives us something to work towards ;)
Hang on to your idealism! Don't let anyone steal it from you.
Have you read "Walden" yet? It's an amazing book. I've only read the first few chapters but I love what he's saying. He's pretty much deconstructing all the social baggage we cling to. I may preach through it next spring. Haha!
Allison, This is an awesome post! Wow I feel the way you said so much of the time. I find myself so caught up in doing life that I forget what my mission is, and that is to bring Jesus to those who don't know him. It's funny because I find this even at the church that we get so busy doing that we forget the people who are walking through the door who just want to get our attention!
Thanks for the reminder!
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