Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Love, Pray talks about the divine spark of creativity. There is much to chew on and a great deal to wrestle with in terms of how we have shifted the self and human expression to the center of creativity, accepting all the credit, instead of seeing the Divine as the center utilizing humanity as the vessel through whom He wishes to express Himself to us. There are interesting implications and a great tension between the two.
So then, who ultimately is creator? Is it a Divine expression working through humanity? Is it humanity expressing itself back to the Divine? Is there a tandem at play, a Divine dance, between humanity and the Divine?
“Every year more than 4,000 churches close their doors compared to just over 1,000 new church starts… Christianity in America won’t survive another decade unless we do something now.”
There’s a tremendous disparity between the number of churches that are closing their doors and those that are starting up. As a church planter it seems the obvious answer is “we need to plant more churches!” and while I would agree with that statement I don’t believe it’s the complete answer to the problem–for several reasons. Christianity and the Church in America is plagued by a systemic problem that won’t be cured by simply planting more churches.
Now before you jump to conclusions, the systemic problem manifesting itself may not be what you think it is. It’s not based on style or substance, it’s not about leadership development or organizational structures, or any number of other challenges facing the Church in America–although many great cases could be made and have been made for them. I believe the systemic problem we have yet to identify as a major problem within the church is the lack/loss of a spirit of partnership and collaboration. Sure we’re seeing our Berlin Wall crumble (the denominational walls that once separated us) and the clearly defined lines become blurred, and there seems to be a greater sense of partnership now than we’ve ever seen in America, however we still have a long way to go.
Every year there is a net deficit of 3,000+ churches and according to Dave Olson, on any given weekend across the country only 18.7% of people attend church. In fact, because of the net deficit most states, counties and cities are not keeping up with population increase meaning there simply aren’t enough churches. Now before you read this as there simply aren’t enough McChurch’s out there to peddle their goods, let me state my bias–the church is the hope of the world because they are the proclaimers of the resurrection. If there aren’t enough churches there cannot be enough people proclaiming the resurrection, proclaiming hope, incarnating hope, incarnating the resurrection.
Therefore something must be done… but again, to think that we will be able to plant enough churches to keep with the extinction of so many in order to keep pace is simply a ridiculous notion. Sure new churches need to be planted, they must be planted but it cannot be the only solution. We need a two-front approach. We need to start looking outside of the box. And the problem isn’t that we’re not planting enough, the problem is that we’re not doing enough to save/resurrect those churches facing extinction.
Much of what causes a church to go extinct is based on two factors–not enough people which equals not enough giving which equals foreclosure or the inability to keep up with their budget which equals a dead church. But what if, in order to “save” the traditional mode of doing church the churches in a city banded together and covenanted with one another that they would not allow extinction. They created some sort of “resurrection fund” that was used to help the struggling church get back on its feet (a very Acts 2/4 sort of mentality). Many of these churches would then no longer have to live in survival mode, but would be freed up to once again rethink mission and vision, reinventing itself and moving forward towards vitality and a new Kingdom movement.
Imagine the testimony of that church, of those churches who were once on the brink of extinction saved by the generosity and compassion of their brothers and sisters throughout the rest of the city. Imagine the camaraderie, imagine the shared vision of helping people find their way back to God. Imagine what would be able to happen in a city, a region because the Church banded together to once again journey together and be on mission.
Of course this is an idealist stance… of course there are many different challenges and hurdles to overcome because of how fragmented and splintered the Church has become due to a spirit of senseless competition pitting one church against another and simply utilizing one another for our own gain as opposed to Kingdom gain. But imagine for a moment if a movement of generosity, a movement of anti-extinction were to actually take place. No longer would we see 4,000 churches close their doors every year… we could literally stem the tide beginning instead to make ground on the population increase instead of drowning in a sea of death. But it requires a sense of partnership, a sense of actually being honest and transparent with each other and working for the betterment of the Kingdom instead of our own little kingdoms.
And if none of that inspires you… imagine all the money we could save (it’s cheaper to resurrect a church than to start a new one). And imagine what we could do with all the savings… imagine all the good that could be done!
Coming to you from the Denver Airport, courtesy of their free wi-fi (why doesn’t every airport offer free wi-fi?!) I present to you this weeks edition of the Friday Playlist. Enjoy!
When does it happen? When does the slow death of our childish idealism, of that passion we cling so tightly to, when does it fade into what we now possess–a mere glimmer of what it once was?
Anis Mojgani has a poem that stirred these questions within me:
I spent hours on that drawing of darkwing duck
stayed up past four just to get it right
I had school the next morning
but I needed it to be perfect
I don’t know if there’s anything I love that much anymore
I can remember a time when I would stay up late dreaming with friends, talking late into the evening or until the morning hours about the church, about the Kingdom, about changing the world… but it seems those days are long gone, and the time for dreaming is quickly pushed aside for the “pressing” tasks of the day, the details of tomorrow, the exhaustion of work.
Is this what happens to idealism? Our journey towards the realization of these dreams we’ve conjured up becomes so all-consuming that it drives away our time for new dreams and new conversations… are we really only created to pursue a limited number of dreams in our lifetime? If so, shouldn’t that make our one or two big dreams all the more special, all the more important to pursue?
How different would this world be if we didn’t allow our dreams to fade away, but pushed on no matter what and see them through to completion… or at least as far as we’re able to take them. Somehow I have a feeling that too many people give up on those dreams, their profound sense of idealism…
There have been many times I’ve come close to walking away from my dreams… I pray I never do.
I’m not a big fan of Good Friday. As everyone takes today to reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross, I’m already looking ahead to Sunday. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been much for waiting that I don’t particularly like to celebrate Good Friday, maybe it’s because I enjoy living too much in a post-resurrection world. Maybe it’s my silent protest against the Church for living as if it’s Good Friday everyday, living as if we’ve lost and are powerless by simply celebrating the crucifixion but forgetting about the resurrection. So, as Good Friday marches forward and hundreds of thousands of Christians around the world gather to celebrate let me offer up a few words of challenge from theologian N.T. Wright:
The wrath of the Lamb, of which Revelation speaks from time to time, is the anger of love against all that hurts and damages the beloved [you are the beloved]. The love of the Lamb is the great reality that under girds the entire vision. And it is that love which is revealed at Easter.
Without Easter, Calvary was just another political execution of a failed Messiah. Without Easter, the world is trapped between the shoulder shrug of the cynic, the fantasy of the escapist, and the tanks of the tyrant. Without Easter, there is no reason to suppose that good will triumph over evil, that love will win over hatred, that life will win over death. But with Easter we have hope; because hope depends on love; and love has become human and has died, and is now alive for evermore, and holds the keys of Death and Hades. It is because of him that we know–we don’t just hope, we know–that God will wipe away all tears from all eyes. And in that knowledge we find ourselves to be Sunday people, called to live in a world of Fridays. In that knowledge we know ourselves to be Easter people, called to minister to a world full of Calvary’s. In that knowledge we find that the hand that dries our tears passes the cloth onto us, and bids us follow him, to go to dry one anothers tears. The Lamb calls us to follow him wherever he goes; into the dark places of the world, the dark places of our own hearts, the places where the tears blot out the sunlight, the places where tyrants pave the grass with concrete; and he bids us shine his morning light into the darkness, and share his ministry of wiping away the tears.
This year, let us leave Good Friday behind and instead be Easter people, Sunday people, the people that we have been called to be and let us move forward in the power of the Resurrection and change the world.
Perhaps one of the hardest things about starting a new church is patience. Patience is the one thing that wars against the driven personality of now, now, now, let’s do this and get it done now! I’ve heard it said that patience hurts, it’s not something we’d do willingly but ultimately its about letting go of our selfishness–our wants and desires–and instead putting the interests of others before yours. That’s really hard to think about and accept for the church planter. (Isn’t everything we’re doing in the interest of others, isn’t church planting the ultimate act of altruism? — maybe in a perfect world!)
We’ve been in the city of San Francisco now for 8 months and we’re still 6 months away from launch (October 11th) still needing more time to pull together resources (financial and equipment and location) and a full launch team that’s committed to making this thing go once we do launch. We’ve started our monthly launch gatherings and have seen new people come, listen, learn and commit to what’s taking place but I can’t wait to get to that point where we’re fully operational as a church and can truly begin moving past some of these early stages of preparation and instead push into the dream of being a community that truly makes a difference in the city for the Kingdom.
Sometimes it’s hard to realize that the work of breaking ground is absolutely necessary to building the DNA, culture and foundation that will allow this church to preserve–especially when you just want it to be there now. It’s hard to realize that patience is really about other people, allowing them the space to think through, accept and jump on board with the vision of helping people find their way back to God, of joining in on the hard restorative work of Kingdom building. But patience is still hard for a church planter… it’s hard to work day in and day out towards a dream that is so close yet seems light years down the road.
I’m sure that patience will probably continue to haunt me after we launch in October. There will always be bigger dreams that we’ll strive for as a church, always seeking to push forward to make more of an impact for the Kingdom.
I like how N.T. Wright helps to put things into perspective:
“Paul’s vision of the Christian life is thus… The decisive battle has been won [because of the cross]; the battles we face today are part of the mopping-up operation to implement that victory.”
(Following Jesus, p. 21)
Realizing that we’re here not to win the battle, but to “mop up” in the aftermath seems to take some of the pressure off, but still pushes us to desire the full realization of the Kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven. I want to see that take place in the city of San Francisco… I want to get started on a bigger scale than we see now… and all I keep hearing God say is, “patience, young grasshopper… patience.”
