The church exists to love–Part 1

The church in my head exists to love God.  Sounds simple enough but if this is not present, all you have is a church building and not a church.  Loving God is the most essential thing in the church.  If we do not love God, we cannot love others the way He wants us to.  Loving God is understanding how He first loved us.  1 John 4 says that we love because God first loved us and became an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Loving God is important for the church because of the following reasons:

1) God’s love is unconditional–If we don’t understand God’s agape love for us, how can we agape love others.  If we don’t understand God loved us while we were still sinners, enemies in His sight, how can we love our enemies? God loved me when He didn’t have to.  If we are to do anything in the church, we need to embrace and understand unconditional love.

2) God’s love is incarnational–Romans 5:8 says that God demonstrated His love toward us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.  John 1:14 reminds us that Jesus came into the flesh not just to tell us of love but to show us God’s love.  His example from the Gospels is our training ground for how we are to love others.  When God showed us love through action, He created the greatest example for us to emulate.  We can say we love God as a church but unless we prove it, our words are empty and falsify God’s love.  God’s love is more than words, it’s actions.

3) God’s love is found in obedience–John 15:10 lays it out for us: if you love me you will keep my commandments.  The church needs to love by obeying God’s Word.  If obedience is absent, love is absent.  We obey because we love God and fully understand what He has saved us from.  Loving God isn’t just believing in Him but following in what we believe.  Anyone can say they love God, but Jesus says that they will only know we are Christians by our love.  Act in obedience.

4) God’s love proves to the world His existence–1 John 4:12 says that no one has ever seen God.  However if we love one another, God’s love is seen in us and that shows the existence of God.  God’s love is sacrificial, servanthearted, others-focused, unconditional, selfless, etc.  These are rarely seen characteristics in this world.  If people see this in us in the way we treat one another, they will see that this love comes from God.  If we don’t love, but bicker and complain, cause divisions, are intolerant, judgmental, hypocritical, etc. then the world will not want to know God and honestly if that’s what they see as Christianity, I can’t blame them for not wanting to know God.  If we misrepresent God’s love in this manner, no one will want to know God based upon the church which means we are irrelevant to the world.

The church in my head exists to love God completely and show His love through the way we live and act.

What the church isn’t/is–Part 2

Was way too busy to follow up on part 1 Friday so I waited til today to finish it up.  The church in my head is a church that loves God, loves people, and carries out God’s purposes for the church.  It’s not a very difficult principle to understand but it is difficult to always carry it out.  It is vital that the church loves God first.  Out of love for God will flow love for other people.  Out of love for God and love for people will flow the ability to carry out God’s purposes.  God’s purposes for the church are worship, evangelism, fellowship, service, and discipleship.  It is impossible to effectively carry these out if we do not love God and love people.  The Great Commandment (Mt 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) are where these ideas come from.  See for yourself and realize that these are the expectations of every disciple of Jesus and…if these are the expectations for every disciples, they then become the expectations for every church.  I am grateful that Rick Warren was willing to share these ideas with the world because as he discovered God’s plan for the church, he wanted others to discover it as well.  I need to take some time to write down all of my thoughts about loving God, loving others and carrying out the purposes of the church.  Tomorrow I will write about loving God as this is where the whole journey of the church in my head should begin.

What the church isn’t/is…Part 1

2 part post over the next 2 days over what I’m sharing at my fall retreat this weekend.  As I share this with my youth ministry, I also know that this is a huge idea for the church in my head.

Today, what the church isn’t:

A buffet line–You know the buffet lines, a place where people can eat and eat and eat for one great low price.  Just pile it on, everybody does.  I’m not a big buffet person but when I go, I’m probably a 3 plater if not 4.  I love me some food and you just can’t resist the buffet.  But a church should not be a buffet line.  People in the church shouldn’t expect that they can just take and take, pile it on their plates and never give back or serve.  We have a lot of obesity in our churches because people love to take but never give back.  Emmanuel is not like this, most people are not lined up for the buffet, they are in the church to serve and not just consume, but every church has their buffet line people.

A movie theatre–Movies are great, they entertain and often place us into a reality that is nowhere near what our own reality is.  You can laugh, you can cry, you can shout at the screen, all of it is for your enterainment purposes.  But a church should not be a movie theatre.  People in the church are not there to be entertained.  If they are, they are always going to be looking for the greater theatre.  Why have a standard theatre when you can have IMAX? Why watch everything 2-D when you can see it in 3-D? If people are there to be entertained, they will look for the next best three ring circus act and will bolt when they feel like the church is more like Castaway (man that movie was boring).  Worship services are not for entertainment, and the church isn’t there to give you a good show.  Methods and media may change, but it’s only to better communicate the Gospel.

A spectator event–My Nebraska Cornhuskers recently celebrated their 300th consecutive sellout on September 26.  This record will never be broken (the greatest fans ever), but those fans are there to see the Big Red in action.  Fans come to watch games and not participate.  Sure they can cheer and maybe fluster an opponent, but they aren’t scoring touchdowns.  But a church should not be a spectator event.  You don’t just watch the action, you get involved.  Not everyone is gifted to be on stage but it’s not about being in the spotlight, everyone needs to do their part.  Even people who pray are doing more than the people in the stands just soaking it all in.  The theme for our retreat is “Do more than just show up!” Don’t just be a spectator, get involved!

A one man band–One man bands are good for a few things in life; a parade, a way to get rid of loose change and a good circus act.  One man bands are not for church.  I can’t expect to do everything on my own and everyone else shouldn’t expect me to do it all on my own.  Rock bands get millions, one man bands get change in a hat.  When we do it together, we succeed.  I can’t sing, I can’t draw, I can’t do anything in construction.  I can’t do a lot of stuff.  If I was a one man band at church, I would be able to teach in a dilapidated shack, and play a guitar with the 2 chords I know as my voice cracked through all the songs.  A one man band church is lame.  If you’re not helping your church, you’re hurting it.

A feeding place for mosquitoes–Mosquitoes do one thing and they do it well; they suck blood until they get their fill.  Churches should not be like this.  If all you do is suck the resources dry without ever doing anything to put back in, you are killing your church.  If the only impression in your church is the indentation in your seat, you aren’t actually part of a church.  A church is more than just a place for you to get your fill.  Tomorrow I will share what the church in my head is.

Does anyone else have any metaphors for what a church isn’t? I would love to hear them.

Giving visitors the 5 star treatment

Visitors should leave the church and wonder if they just left a church or a Hilton.  Maybe that’s a little too over the top but the idea is that visitors should be given the best.  It’s not a matter of trying to “win” a visitor into your church, it’s a matter of kindness, warmth and hospitality.  The church in my head is going to let visitors know that we’re not a country club church, and you don’t have to jump through hoops to be accepted here.  Visitors can expect the following:

1) Visitor parking–Nothing says “we don’t want you here” more than making visitors park the furthest away from the building.  Visitors sometimes show up late, don’t punish them for doing that.  After the handicapped, visitors should be given preferential treatment.

2) Human guides–Signs can be confusing but even more than that, what about policies and procedures? I didn’t realize I had to sign my kid into the nursery.  Why did you just give me a number? What does all of this mean? That’s where your guide comes in play to welcome you and guide you around to everything that you need.  Don’t worry, they won’t take your information, visitors can still remain anonymous and have a guide.

3) Go at your own pace–Do you want to remain incognito? No problem, we won’t forcibly point you out.  Hopefully though, we’ll know you were here because our people greeted you or spent some time introducing themselves to you.  Do you want to leave your info? Go ahead and do that.  Forcing yourself on a visitor can be uncomfortable for the visitor or you bring someone in who is halfway committed to the church but jumped in because they felt pressured.  We’ll do everything we can to make this feel like the church you want to be in, but we’re not going to force you because we’re not looking for comparison shoppers, we want committed people.

4) Visitor evaluation–This idea came from one of the books that I read, I forget which one because my brain is kind of like mush right now, but anyways it was about paying people to come and visit the church.  You don’t pay them a lot but you pay them to evaluate everything about the service and the church.  They come on Sunday night, Sunday morning and walk around and observe the day-to-day on Monday.  Then Monday night they share their findings at a meeting with the staff and other chosen representatives of the church.  This one may be a little extreme and wouldn’t be done all the time but every now and then you got to try something different.  Maybe instead of paying someone, you could take one of the top leaders from one church in the area and do a Sunday swap (I’m trademarking that!) and have the person from the one church evaluate the other church and vice versa.  How cool would that be?  Sunday swap could be a good tool for visitor evaluation.

The church in my head is going to go all out for visitors.  This won’t need to be forced though because out of the overflow of our fellowship for one another will be the desire to make visitors feel welcome and accepted.  They get the 5 start treatment because we have given the 5 star treatment to one another.

Shout outs from the pulpit

The church in my head is going to celebrate what God is doing in the church.  If someone has done something great and it fits in with the message focus, share it.  Give other people the opportunity to share their testimony of how God has used them.  There are a lot of great benefits to doing shout outs from the pulpit.

1) Worship–These aren’t shout outs to shine a big spotlight on this person but to show everyone else the power of God.  The point of these shout outs is to praise God and give Him glory while still recognizing the people that He used to accomplish these works.

2) Motivation–Some people need a kick in the pants.  Shout outs show the rest of the people that things happen in the church as a result of people buying into the mission, getting off their butts and doing something.  I hope shout outs make people feel uncomfortable because maybe it will give them a push in the right direction.  I know that this could backfire and people could do things simply to be recognized or to “boast” about it but that’s between them and God.  Shout outs from the pulpit and personal testimonies will hopefully help other people get off the bench and get into the game.

3) Unity–Pastors aren’t supposed to do everuything and if they are doing it all, then something is wrong.  When other people are sharing stories of how God is using them or they get a shout out from the pulpit, it further demonstrates the fact that everyone is in this church together.  We are united in serving the Lord and want to recognize and celebrate that unity.

But won’t people get big heads if they get shout outs and share their stories? Possibly, but it’s likely that most of those people already have big heads, wrong motives and have received their reward.  Just because you give someone a shout out doesn’t mean that you’ve stolen their heavenly reward.  We should be able to recognize our accomplishments and achievements.  It’s not like they’re getting a standing O, a prize, and a personalized parking spot.  They’re just being recognized.  If it is done during the worship service, it is done to bring glory back to God.  So get ready to share the ways God is using you, get ready to hear your name from the pulpit because the church in my head is going to shout it out to worship God, motivate benchwarmers, and unite our church in its mission!

Do you guys take Mastercard?

So most of thes posts come from the first thing that pops up in my head.  I know I haven’t even come close to talking about the really important stuff.  That will come in time.  So the church in my head is going to keep up with the times and provide alternate ways of giving offerings.  Direct deposit, e-give or a paypal account could be an easy way of allowing people to give.  There are some people who do not carry cash and have long ago started paying all their bills online.  The church should also cater to these people’s needs.  Even if they do pay online, I think it’s still important to participate in the offering in the service.  This doesn’t mean giving more money but writing down on a piece of paper the amount of the gift for that week and placing it in the offering.  Part of corporate worship is the giving of gifts to God.  This would just be symbolic but still brings an emphasis into how giving is part of our worship.  This is important to staying relevant in this ever changing world.  What would be even cooler would be if Iphone created an app for giving.  I remember the commercial where people bump phones and they could send a picture from one phone to the next.  What if the church had an Iphone and people could bump their payment into the Iphone.  Pass Iphones around instead of offering plates? That’s an innovative idea.  Of course it’s rediculous but the times are changing and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if someone came up with something similar to this.  I’d talk about computer chips placed in us but I wouldn’t want everyone going all apocalyptic on me.  So the last part of this was just messing around but…the church in my head will help people to give by allowing them to give electronically.

Being criticized for the glory of God

Part of the church in my head needs to be about who I’m going to be as the pastor.  I should probably write these things down now so that I don’t forget them and keep myself accountable to who I said I want to be as a leader of a church someday.  So I’ll flat out say, criticism sucks.  It hurts to be criticized when you’ve put your heart and soul into something.  I remember as a child I hated criticism.  I would bring down homework assignments and show them to my mom because I thought they were literary works of art.  Because I thought they were amazing, I figured she should think the same thing.  Of course if she didn’t and she was critical, even if for my benefit, I blew up in her face.  I guess that kind of goes with the whole teenager “I think I know everything about the world” complex, but I hated criticism.  And this was coming from my mom, one of my biggest supporters yet I took criticism so negative that I blew off the handle any time I was criticized.  Well things have changed for me since then thankfully.  Criticism still hurts, but when it comes to being criticized by people in the church I realized a couple of things:

1) This person either loves me and wants to help me out or my ministry

2) This person has a critical spirit and criticizes everyone and everything which may even include a piece of  fruit because it wasn’t sweet enough

3) This person is a genuine person who has an awful way of saying things (insert foot in mouth)

4) This person is a wolf in sheep’s clothing

Only God can help me discern who is criticizing me or the church and why.  Number 4 is a dangerous one.  The Bible talks about sowing seeds of discord and those who try to stir up dissension.  I don’t want to talk about #4 right now but look at the first 3.  As I have thought more and more about criticism I realized something: If I take this too personal and build up a wall am I going to hinder what God wants to do at this church? Yes I can be hurt by criticism but not all criticism is bad.  And in most cases, there is a truth behind the criticism even if the person says it like a jerkface.  I need to realize that this church does not belong to me, it belongs to God.  If I am unwilling to change or evaluate myself or the church because of criticism, then I am hindering the work that God may be trying to do in my life or the life of His church.  I’m not going to be a people pleaser but I am going to try and listen to all critical remarks and review them honestly because anything that I can do to benefit the church–God has entrusted to me–is worth doing.  Criticism can sting but I’m not going to let it bring me down and I’m not going to rip someone’s head off for offering their opinions.  The church in my head will take criticism for the glory of God…at least I hope so.

You can’t do that, it wasn’t listed in the order of worship!

So I’m all for order.  The last thing you want is for someone to come up and give announcements that take 15 minutes because they have a little song and dance number to help you remember what’s going on or the worship leader chooses to continue to sing the chorus to “I could sing of your love forever” until  the last person sits down.  But just because you have order does it mean you can’t have spontaneity?  The church in my head is going to run services that are spontaneous but maintain order and flow.  I know nothing about music other than I like to sing it even if I sound terrible which anyone who has seen me play rock band knows (“Under Pressure” anybody?).   So if there’s a song that the worship leader is led in the Spirit to do, I say go for it.  Give some hints to the A/V guy so he’s not pulling out his hair when you switch it up on him but move where the Spirit is leading the service.  The reason I will feel comfortable doing this is because of communication.  Throughout the week, everyone involved in the service is communicating with one another.  The theme is dictated by the sermon focus and everything flows from there.  Scripture reading should always go with or complement the sermon focus but the music time should flow as well.  If I am communicating with all the parts, then there is room for spontaneity because we’re all on the same page.  The worship leader should be able to move with the mood of the people.  If the people are broken in their spirit, change the flow to reach to the depths of their heart.  If the people are excited, change the flow to keep the fire going.  If the worship leader knows about how much time is provided for music and knows the focus of the worship service, then that can leave room for spontaneity in order.  God is a God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33) but order does not mean that you can’t make changes as the Spirit moves.  After 9/11/01, do you think most pastors changed their sermon focus? Do you think most churches completely changed their focus of worship? There are times to be spontaneous and make changes.  It could be the day before or it could be in the middle of the service.  If communication between all parties in the worship service has been established then spontaneity can be valuable.  The church in my head will have order, but let the Holy Spirit still have priority to make changes as He leads.

Celebrating baptism

So baptism is not what saves us but it is the outward sign of the inward salvation in us.  Baptism is our first public recognition of our identity with Christ.  Baptisms should be a time for celebration.  The church in my head is gonna party when people get baptized because this is the first time that the entire church body gets to welcome a believer into the family of God.  This is one of the most joyous occasions a church can have.  Someone who once was lost, now is found and wants everybody to know that by grace through faith, they are saved.  The parables of Luke 15 talk about the joy in heaven when one sinner repents, shouldn’t we follow suit here on earth?  The whole service will be focused around baptism.  Each person getting baptized will be recorded in advance through a video interview about their testimony so that it can be viewed during the baptismal service.  After someone gets baptized there will be a great celebration.  Joyful music and a great party have to go with a baptismal service.  Celebrate the person’s decision to get baptized with fellowship…and pie (just because I don’t like cake, but cake could work too).  Close the service a little earlier so that people can take the time to fellowship with this brother or sister in Christ.  Don’t be afraid to show a little happiness.  Pound the fist, chest bump, high five, what ever you do, do it with great exuberance because that’s what went down in heaven when this person got saved.  If we’re going to set high expectations for followers of Christ, there needs to be times where we can celebrate each other and the work that God has done inside of us.  It’s time to make baptism a celebration and let the whole world know that we’re excited when Christians take steps in their faith.  When we party for a baptism, it’s all to the glory of God for who He is the one who has saved this person who now wants to be baptized.  Ain’t no party like a baptism party!

Smelling and tasting in services? Say what?

So I’m looking for lots of discussion on this one today because it’s not something I’m sold on but something I just wanted to throw out there.  Before I start I want to assert that I believe that Biblical preaching is an integral part of the church but I think it often needs to be evaluated for effectiveness.  Methods should change to help deliver the message.  Okay so people have 3 different learning styles; hearing, seeing and hands-on.  I think that all three of these should be implemented into sermons because different learning styles better learn and are taught more effectively when you appeal to them.  This is not a form of entertainment, I feel this is a necessity.  Some people learn by hearing, some by seeing, and some by doing things hands on.  But what about the senses? Can we better communicate to people from the pulpit by appealing to the senses? Again this is not a gimmick I’m trying to suggest.  The only reason I even bring this up is because the church in my head is going to be a church that is willing to try out of the box things to help people better understand the Word of God.  I’m curious to know what other people think about this.  The Jews used food at Passover to remember different parts of the feast and how they related to God and what God wanted in their lives.  Jesus used the Lord’s Supper to teach the disciples of His sacrifice for mankind.  Paul talks about a fragrant aroma.  David says “taste and see that the Lord is good.”  Different incenses and smells were incorporated into temple worship.  I know this sounds really off the wall but if it made an impact and better helped people to understand and apply the Word of God, shouldn’t it at least be given a chance? So the church in my head wants to innovate communication for the sake of the Gospel, so what do you think about using all the senses in preaching? Would love to hear some thoughts about this one.