From Churchianity to Christianity

In my last post I began discussing The Present Future by Reggie McNeal. McNeal suggests that we are frequently asking the wrong questions to the situations we're facing. He first discusses those questions and then proposes his own "Tough Question." His first tough question: "How do we deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity?"

He asserts, "In North America the invitation to become a Christian has become largely an invitation to convert to the church."

"The North American church is suffering from severe mission amnesia. It has forgotten why it exists. The church was created to be the people of God to join him in his redemptive mission in the world. The church was never intended to exist for itself. It was and is the chosen instrument of God to expand his kingdom."

Has the church lost its sense of mission? If so, how can we recover the mission? Are we converting people to the church or to Christ?

The Church, She is a Changin'

"The current church culture in North America is on life support. It is living off the work, money, and energy of previous generations froma previous world order. The plug will be pulled either whent he money runs out (80 percent of money given to congregations come from people aged fifty-five and older) or when the remaining three-fourths of a generation who are institutional loyalists die off or both." Thus begins Reggie McNeal's book, The Present Future.

McNeal goes on to observe, "A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith."

What is your view of the church? Is this true of our church? How might we need to adapt to more fully meet people's spiritual needs?

Week Seven, Day Five

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:4-9

Do others think of you as a joyful person? Is your joy evident to all? Would you want others to put your life into practice in their lives?

Week Seven, Day Four

“Like walking, life is a combination of steps. Like dancing, life is a combination of speeded-up steps: the static and the dynamic, finding one’s center of gravity and venturing out of it by leaning forward and, just before falling, leaning back and returning to the center where the step begins all over again. All inward motion (preparation) and no outward expression (party) is a good way to burn out. One can easily discipline oneself out of existence. All preparation and not practice is an equally good way to burn out. One can just as easily party structures out of existence. Certain dance steps call us to be editing our selves and our structures; other dance steps call us to be enjoying our selves and our structures. The language of preparation is philosophy. The language of partying is poetry. The philosopher prepares the way—it is called criticism. The poet parties—it is called celebration.”
Leonard Sweet, Learn to Dance the Soul Salsa

Do you find yourself walking too often on one road, either preparation or party? Do you need more formality in your life, or do you need more fun?

Week Seven, Day Three

“Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Isaiah 51:11

Breathe deeply today as if all sorrow and sighing have gone away. Sing to God with gladness and joy.

Week Seven, Day Two

“Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.” 2 Samuel 6:14

Have you ever danced before the Lord with all your might? What caused you to celebrate with such fervor?

Week Seven, Day One

“In the beginning, it was nine o’clock, so God had to go to work. He filled out a requisition to separate light from darkness. He considered making stars to beautify the night, and planets to fill the skies, but thought it sounded like too much work; and besides, thought God, ‘That’s not my job.’ So he decided to knock off early and call it a day. And he looked at what he had done and he said, ‘It’ll have to do.’
On the second day God separated the waters from the dry land. And he made all the dry land. And he made all the dry land flat, plain, and functional, so that—behold—the whole earth looked like Idaho. He thought about making mountains and valleys and glaciers and jungles and forests, but he decided it wouldn’t be worth the effort. And God looked at what he had done that day and said, ‘It’ll have to do.’
And God made a pigeon to fly in the air, and a carp to swim in the waters, and a cat to creep upon dry ground. And God thought about making millions of other species of all sizes and shapes and colors, but he couldn’t drum up any enthusiasm for any other animals—in fact, he wasn’t too crazy about the cat. Besides, it was almost time for the Late Show. So God looked at all he had done, and God said, ‘It’ll have to do.’
And at the end of the week, God was seriously burned out. So he breathed a big sigh of relief and said, ‘Thank Me, it’s Friday.’”
John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted

God showed great enthusiasm for his Creation. How do you return that enthusiasm?

Week Six, Day Five

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one of you for whatever good you do, whether you are slave or free.” Ephesians 2:10, 6:7-8

Think back over the last week and the people you served. If these people were the Lord, would you be pleased with the way you had served, or would you feel that you could have done more?

Week Six, Day Four

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

Thank Jesus for his servant heart.

Week Six, Day Three

“The Pony Express was a private express company that carried mail by an organized relay of horseback riders. The eastern end was St. Joseph, Missouri, and the western terminal was in Sacramento, California. The cost of sending a letter by Pony Express was $2.50 an ounce. If the weather and horses held out and the Indians held off, that letter would complete the entire two-thousand-mile journey in a speedy ten days, as did the report of Lincoln’s Inaugural Address.
It may surprise you that the Pony Express was only in operation from April 3, 1860, until November 18, 1861—just seventeen months. When the telegraph line was completed between two cities, the service was no longer needed.
Being a rider for the Pony Express was a tough job. You were expected to ride seventy-five to one hundred miles a day, changing horses every fifteen to twenty-five miles. Other than the mail, the only baggage you carried contained a few provisions, including a kit of flour, cornmeal, and bacon. In case of danger, you also had a medical pack of turpentine, borax, and cream of tartar. In order to travel light and to increase speed of mobility during Indian attacks, the men always road in shirtsleeves, even during the fierce winter weather.
How would you recruit volunteers for this hazardous job? An 1860 San Francisco newspaper printed this ad for the Pony Express: “WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk daily. Orphans preferred.”
Those were the honest facts of the service required, but the Pony Express never had a shortage of riders.
We need to be honest with the facts about the Discipline of serving God. Like the Pony Express, serving God is not a job for the casually interested. It’s costly service. He asks for your life. He asks for service to Him to become a priority, not a pastime. He doesn’t want servants who will give Him the leftovers of their life’s commitments.”
Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Are you willing to serve God, no matter the cost? Write a “job description” for Christians.

Week Six, Day Two

“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:7-10

Do you ever feel offended that your good works go unnoticed? Do you ever serve for the glory it will bring you? If so, how can a spirit of humility change that?

Week Six, Day One

“More than any other single way, the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the Discipline of service. Humility, as we all know, is one of those virtues that is never gained by seeking it. The more we pursue it the more distant it becomes.
When we set out on a consciously chosen course of action that accents the good of others and is, for the most part, a hidden work, a deep change occurs in our spirits.
Nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness.”
Richard Foster, The Celebration of Discipline

Serve someone you know anonymously. How has this experience shaped you?

Week Five, Day Five

“The Lord says:
‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Isaiah 29:13

Are there any rules of worship that are keeping you from worshipping with your whole heart?

Week Five, Day Four

“Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’”
Revelation 7:11-12

Worship God with a different posture today. Stand, kneel, bow, fall prostrate, whatever seems appropriate for you this day.

Week Five, Day Three

“Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.”
Psalm 96:7-9

What does the Lord’s glory mean to you? How is your life filled with His glory?

Week Five, Day Two

“All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying:
‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’”
Revelation 4:9-11

Write a psalm to worship God. Offer it to Him as your spiritual worship.

Week Five, Day One

“Now, God Almighty sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world for a purpose, and what was the purpose? To hear the average evangelist nowadays you’d think that we might give up tobacco; that Christ came into the world that we might escape hell; that He sent His Son into the world that when at last we get old and tired we might have some place to go. Now all of these things are true. Jesus Christ does save us from bad habits and He does redeem us from hell and He does prepare us a place in heaven; but that is not the ultimate purpose of redemption.
The purpose of God in sending His Son to die and rise and live and be at the right hand of God the Father was that He might restore to us the missing jewel, the jewel of worship.
We’re here to be worshipers first and workers only second. We take a convert and immediately make a worker out of him. God never meant it to be so. God meant that a convert should learn to be a worshipper, and after that he can learn to be a worker.”
A. W. Tozer, Worship: The Missing Jewel

Do you agree that your purpose on earth is to worship God? How can you make worship the jewel in your crown?

Week Four, Day Five

“Again and again, as we pursue spiritual life, we must do battle with hurry. For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.”
John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted

What is distracting you from your faith? Are you experiencing a mediocre faith? How might you live your life more deeply?

Week Four, Day Four

“Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.’”
Mark 2:27-28

How does Jesus’ qualification of the Jewish interpretation influence your understanding of the Sabbath?