So often, I find myself full of ideas, thoughts and conceptions. My mind is constantly racing as a pastor to figure out a few simple things: how can I be a leader who brings people closer to God, and how can I make their experience coming to Christ different than anything they've encountered before. As I work with students and lead worship, ministry is always on my mind. Sometimes, I think it overwhelms me, to an unhealthy point. I try to figure out the basic questions each pastor asks himself: are we being successful? are people understanding where we are trying to go? does anyone feel challenged to lead an extraordinary life after they leave a service?
Instead of being stuck trying to decipher these thoughts in my brain, I have always found that writing them out brings me to better solutions than just "thinking" them out. Besides, this gives me a place to track my progress. So this morning, I'm going to challenge myself and hopefully you, the reader, with a simple idea. How can the church body as a "whole" be more like the Christian as an "individual."
I often find myself trying to figure this simple thought out... A LOT! It seems to me that in every group, there are lots of individual Christians being "christian-like," worshiping whole-heartedly, sacrificially giving, reaching their neighbors, being a light to their community, and selflessly serving whenever they get the chance. There are Christians in the church doing that, every day. But out of curiosity, what's the percentage of church people who aren't doing any of that? I hate guessing only because it brings some merit to the possibility of "what if I'm right?" I would tend to believe that the number is rather low.
You've all heard that stat, 20% of people do 80% of the work. In my experience, it's more like 10% do 99%. I heard this the other day: "if you want something done, ask the busiest person you know." That's so true right? I recently heard a church that basically told the people who were just coming and not contributing, to either get involved (serve, start tithing, pull your weight) or find somewhere else to attend. That idea seemed really bold to me, really bold, but I liked the thought of "we are a church who is trying to fulfill a vision, reach the lost, and make a difference in the community, and you aren't helping. if you don't want to help with what God wants us to do, than why are you here with us, then maybe you should warm the seat somewhere else." Think of it like this: if you're a fan of the Yankees, stop wearing Red Sox stuff. Stop going to Fenway Park. Stop calling yourself Big Papi.
I mean, come on, seriously??? It's like telling your left arm that it's not pulling it's mandatory weight, and if it doesn't pick up the slack, you're going to dis-member it from the body. Like you'd rather be without your arm and be effective, than to "look the part" but have ineffective pieces.
Here are the questions that protrude from my mind when I consider the last 5 minutes of writing:
-What should the expectation be for each individual member of the body?
-Should everyone strive to be as friendly as your most friendly person?
-Should everyone strive to be as passionate in worship as the most passionate person?
-Should everyone strive to sacrificially give like your most sacrificial giver?
-Or, should everyone strive to be good at what they feel they've been gifted to be good at?
Thoughts are rolling now. If you agreed with the last questions, you've relegated that "if someone isn't normally friendly, then they don't have to be. if someone isn't a passionate worshiper, then they don't have to be, and if someone isn't a sacrificial giver, then they don't have to be." From my perspective, we've got a lot of people who are really good at "sitting" and "constructively critiquing." (someone once told me that they didn't enjoy worship because I sang a song differently than they are used to singing it; or once, that it wasn't in their "key". Good Lord......lol) Since they are good at that, then that's what they should strive to get better at.
My perspective: as a leader, it's my goal to define what a biblical Christian should be to those trying to be a better one. Once that's in place, everyone should strive to improve every part of their life until they reach that goal (not sure any of us will, but it's certainly worth trying to). Once each individual Christian is working towards the process, then the church body as whole will begin to look healthier than ever before, and the next time you have to ask someone to work in the kids wing, you'll have to turn people away instead of begging for them to come.
So just to add to the debate, here's at least the start of a running list of things that I believe every Christian should be striving to do.
-follow Jesus' example (John 13:15) -pray (1 Thess 5:17) -attend a church (Eph 1:23-24) -tithe to said church (Luke 11:42) -serve (Rom 12:11) -read the Bible (James 1:22)
-strive to change (James 1:21) -produce fruit (Gal 5:22-23) -Golden Rule (Matt 7:12)
-share the Gospel (Mark 16:15-16) -worship (John 4:23) -help others (Prov 19:17)
-don't sin (Acts 3:19, Rom 3:23, Rom 6:23) -read blogs to become a better Christian (lol)
Obviously not an exhaustive list, but it's the start of something new for me.
Remember that "bold" church? The cool part is, there were a lot of people who heard the heart of that
church, and stepped up to pull their weight. (Often, the conviction from the Holy
Spirit will pound on you with a sledge hammer; hard to miss it too!)
Got your own thoughts? Add them please!
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