In Defense of Corporate Church

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american culture, church, church planting, ministry

I can be hard on the church sometimes, so let me switch gears today and offer some positive thoughts about the idea of “corporate” church. There are probably hundreds of ways it’s true that the church is not a corporation and no shortage of ecclesial deconstructionists to point this out, but I’ve noticed one aspect of this critique that feels a little – what’s the word? – lazy. I suppose I see this in two ways. The first is simply a quick dismissal of any principle of organization or interaction that we think is too wooden as “corporate.” If you’re going to make that claim, think things through enough to back it up.

For instance, I know I’m oversimplifying a bit but any venture can be analyzed by looking at “ends” and “means” – or in other words, what we’re trying to accomplish and what we’re doing to accomplish it. Corporations (or “the corporate world”) pursue some goals that are compatible with the church’s goals and others that aren’t; and they seek to reach their goals using some methods that are compatible with the church’s and some that aren’t. And vice versa. For instance, one of the church’s “ends” or goals is to make disciples of Jesus and teach people to do everything he commanded. For the most part, this will not be an end that corporations share. Corporations tend above all else to pursue a profitable bottom line; this is not a major goal that churches share.

But the lack of compatibility in some instances – okay, the far majority of instances – doesn’t mean there’s no legitimate overlap.

Catechism Making a Comeback?

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american culture, christendom, church, church history, church planting, conversion, discipleship, ministry

So my first takeaway from the Missio Intensive conference, which has taken me five posts to work through (here, here, here, here, & here), has to do with how we define and organize the church on a big picture meta- level. My second takeaway was the amount of thought they put in and structure they give to the process of assimilating new folks into these missional church communities. In other words, they are very intentional about how people join their church. We’re finally recognizing that the church is weird, and as such people need to learn and experience what we’re all about before deciding whether to become part of our family.

The old-school term for this is “catechism,” and it’s an idea I’ve long been saying we need to revisit. Catechism has been a core practice of the church since the early days, and I’ve blogged some about it in the past.

What we got at the Missio conference was one example of how this is being done today, specifically at Adullam. Hugh described two different processes, one for incorporating non-Christians into their church and the other for incorporating Christians. (They explain all this in their book AND, but I haven’t had the time to read it yet; I’m intrigued to see whether what I took away from the conference matches what they see in the book – we’ll see!) The former had a looser more organic feel, whereas the latter was more structured and intentional. They have their own pictures in AND, but I like mine better. Here’s the first one:

What Atomic Bombs and Ministry Have in Common

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atomic bombs, BBC, church, church planting, ministry, stephen fry, television

My favorite new show Stephen Fry in America may be uncreatively titled (what else would we expect from the BBC?!), but it provides a unique look at many aspects of on-the-ground American culture that I’d never otherwise notice. (Legit voo-dooists, “body farms,” etc.) Among the many questions it forces upon us: What did ever happen to those underground bunkers used to store active ready-to-launch missiles during the Cold War? (Safe bet you haven’t thought of that question yourself in a while!) Apparently one of them was purchased a few decades ago – for only $40,000! – by some hippies who turned it into their home and then started a profitable business helping other hippies do the same. (Yes, you really should watch this show.)

Anyhow, while walking Stephen through the missile storage hanger, the cameraman drew attention to a sign that read: No Lone Zone – Two-Man Policy Mandatory.  Hippie-missile-man explained that due to the sensitive, powerful, and potentially destructive nature of the room’s “contents” and the ever-present possibility of foul play, no one was allowed to be alone with this missile many times more powerful than anything we or anyone else has fired. Some things just can’t be trusted to a solitary human being.

And forgive me if this is a stretch, but I promise it was honestly my first thought. Ministry should be a “no lone zone” too. On top of the fact that serving together is a biblical model, it just makes sense that no one person be given too much unchecked authority over something so powerful as the gospel, something so admittedly potentially lethal as “religion.”

Now I realize that many (probably most) ministry situations don’t come with the inherent flexibility to just go and hire a team. But having a formal team probably doesn’t have as much to do with it as sometimes think. The issue is whether you have others with you keeping you honest as you go about your work. And not just someone who likes to whine, but a legit peer who loves you and has earned your respect. Who do you have like that who has the permission and the courage to tell you when your decisions are bad, your sermons are sub-biblical, and your character is slipping?

Many lives have been destroyed by loose cannon Christian leaders who enjoy too much power without the proper checks and balances. I know I don’t want that to be my story, so for me the “No Lone Zone” two-man policy is, indeed, mandatory.

In-credible Church

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church, ministry

In The Divine Commodity, Skye Jethani tells the story of an interview he did with a seasoned pastor. Jethani kept asking what he was most proud of during his decades of ministry, expecting stories of praying with drunks, loving mean old ladies, and so forth. But all the pastor wanted to talk about was building campaigns, and in particular the one he pushed through that gave them an asphalted parking lot.

In his own words, “Three years ago we put in a larger gravel lot, but I knew it wasn’t good enough. ‘We’ve got people around here driving BMWs and Cadillacs,’ I told them. They don’t want to park on gravel. People expect asphalt! A church that can’t provide asphalt isn’t relevant. It’s not credible. Eventually the elders came around. A respectable church simply couldn’t ask people to park on gravel.”

Seriously? So much for at least attempting to model our ministry mindset on the way of Jesus. This is embarrassing, and yet I’m haunted by the question of whether the only difference between this pastor and me is that he can actually articulate the thought process behind some of our decisions. In the end, I think I’d rather be literally in-credible than fall prey to this kind of pathology.

Contours of Paul’s Ministry

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church, colossians, conversion, discipleship, gospel, jesus, ministry, paul

I’ll flesh this out further in a future post as part of an upcoming series on Colossians, but I wanted to share a few things from Colossians 1.24-29. In this passage Paul cracks a window and gives us a glimpse of how he understood his own calling and ministry. I see eight contours of Paul’s (co)mission. It is:

• Thoroughly centered on Christ. In keeping with the rest of the letter, nothing derails Paul from his singular focus on Christ. Here he is the word of God in its fulness, the content of God’s now-revealed-mystery and therefore of Paul’s proclamation, the hope of glory, and both the context and definition of maturity.

• Marked by a willingness to suffer for others. Whatever else we can say about Paul’s strange words about filling up what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions, this much is clear: Paul has no problem suffering on behalf of the people he’s serving. He may even believe that his suffering somehow lessens the chance that they’ll experience their own. This extreme selflessness puts me to shame!

• Accomplished by teaching and admonishing. Teaching is clearly articulating the truth about Jesus, and admonishing is the followup task of straightening out fuzzy thinking and setting things in proper order. Both are crucial.

• Oriented by apocalyptic imagination. This section drips with apocalyptic hints and clues, which (among other things) means that in Christ God has revealed the meaning of history and brought his story to its dramatic climactic moment. Speaking of which…

• Grounded in the (hi)story of God. Paul never loses sight of the ways in which Christ is the one in whom God has brought all his past action and promises to fulfillment. Yes this story has entered its universal stage where all of us are invited to become a part, but this must be intentionally remembered for us to know what becoming a part actually means and looks like.

• Aimed toward full maturity. Paul here shows no contentment for mere conversion, and while no one would doubt his “evangelistic passion,” here we see that Paul rises above our silly debates about evangelism vs discipleship. Paul wants everyone to come to maturity, and he won’t rest until he’s done everything he can to that end.

• Attentive to every individual. Paul is communal to the core, but his passion for community does not hinder his commitment to the individual parts that make up the body. No person gets forgotten or let off the hook; all are intended and expected to grow into maturity.

• Fueled by the energy of Christ. Paul works his tail off (that’s a loose translation), not by his own power but by the energy of Christ at work in him.

Does it need to be stated that these markers provide a wonderful grid for thinking about our own ministries? This may not be a definitive guide, but it’s a pretty good start!

My Top 5 Small Groups Insights

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Life Groups, ministry, small groups

Last week I posted my fave 5 small group resources. Here is a follow-up of my top 5 insights about leading small groups or a “small group ministry.” Let me start by saying that there is no way to grow a faithful small groups ministry in a hurry. Choosing a model and sticking with it will produce more fruit than constantly changing. This must also be balanced with the general ministry principle of embracing change as a way of life. Here are my five. Feel free to add (!) or disagree.

1. Small groups are not great places for Bible study; in any small group the emphasis should be on application rather than gaining new information. I highly recommend the “flow questions” model of writing the small group discussion. It works.
2. Groups must engage in the following activities together: eat, pray, serve, play. Of course groups will also study, which is important, but the groups must be multi-dimensional. (Don’t underestimate eating together!)

My Fave 5 Small Groups Resources

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church, community, john ortberg, larry crabb, Life Groups, ministry, randy frazee, Resources, small groups

A while back Tyler sent out a survey email asking for our top five resources on small groups as well as our top five insights. It was fun to think through some of the things I’ve learned in working with Life Groups here at Real Life. I’ve worked with some wise people, which has made up for my own natural incompetence in this area! Below are the resources I offered.

1. “Flow questions” – Mariners Church in Orange County has put together a model for small groups discussions that I think is the best out there. I think you can get it emailed to you here.

2. Making Room for Life and The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee. These are indispensible, in my opinion. They make the case for actual community (not just group success), and for diverse geography-based groups as the path to get there. (Not as necessary or even helpful in some urban contexts.)

Revolutionary Explosiveness

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church, dallas willard, discipleship, ministry, obedience, patience, quakers, thomas kelly

More from Thomas Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion . . . about what Kelly calls the “revolutionary explosiveness” of full obedience to Jesus. After quoting Meister Eckhart’s comment about how many will follow Jesus halfway but few will continue with the other half (btw, Eckhart places giving up all our possessions in the first half!), Kelly summons us, “It is just this astonishing life which is willing to follow Him the other half, sincerely to disown itself, this life which intends complete obedience, without any reservations, that I would propose to you in all humility, in all boldness, in all seriousness. I mean this literally, utterly, completely, and I mean it for you and for me – commit your lives in unreserved obedience to Him.” And then he says, in case we’ve missed that he’s not playing around, “If you don’t realize the revolutionary explosiveness of this proposal, you don’t understand what I mean.”