Turning lemonade into lemons

We have all heard the expression that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. Of course I have the bad habit of turning such truisms on their head in order to make an entirely different point. In the case of the local church, God gives us lemonade and we make lemons. We talk about the ‘easy yoke’ Jesus but we really need the ‘take up your cross’ Jesus if we’re going to break ground on a $2 million building expansion this year. Salvation is free in the same way that 90 days is the same as cash. Admission is complimentary, but you’ll have to pay if you want to stay in.

Lately, I have been thinking about the atonement and how profoundly our preferred atonement metaphor colors the practice of our faith. There are moments in which I wonder whether the financial needs of a typical church organization make us more receptive to atonement metaphors that involve payment and indebtedness. Jesus Paid it All, all to him I owe. Bingo, Cha-ching!! Fortunately Jesus has made it easy to make your payments of time, talent, and especially treasure to the payment clearinghouse known as the local church.

I have been part of a church plant before, and one thing that I really liked about that experience was the idea that we were starting with a blank slate and where other churches had messed up, we could do it right from day one. Early on, we said things like, “God doesn’t want your money.” Later on as reality took hold, we didn’t say that anymore. God still didn’t want their money, but the church sure did.

I believe that the financial realities faced by most religious organizations lead to the temptation to monetize the atonement; to find a way to set up a quid pro quo lighting the way to salvation in return for a person’s help in meeting institutional needs. Scratch the church’s back now and God will thank you on the judgment day. God is for us, who would be dumb enough to be against us.
While atheists and cynics would conclude that the church is therefore a scam, I don’t go that far. I think that most local churches genuinely love God and love people and they just have to bend the principles a little in order to keep the love-lights burning. I think that there is a point in every church’s history where they decide to operate more like a non-profit organization supported by a handful of donors than as a fellowship of believers that has little or no financial obligation.

The questions that I now pose:

• Can a fellowship of believers accept the burdens of institution without being consumed by them?
  my answer thusfar: Yes, but the path is narrow and only a few find it.
  
• Can a local church satisfy its institutional requirements without adulterating the doctrine of atonement in the process?
  my answer thusfar: I don’t know, and that worries me

Great Commission Scorecard - 2008

Here’s my scorecard…how does yours look?

In case you haven’t heard it recently, here is the passage containing the Great Commission.

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had
told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Metric #1: ‘Go’ My grade ‘C-’
I went on a mission trip to Germany. That’s not as cool as going to Haiti or someplace desperately poor, but it counts for something. Other than that, I live a pretty insulated life; ‘going’ to work, ‘going’ to church, ‘going’ to venues of entertainment, etc.

Metric #2: ’Disciple’ My grade ‘B’
Maybe I’m going too easy on myself, but I have engaged in a considerable amount of spiritual conversation this year, some of it mutually transformative. Some others would give me a ‘D’ or ‘F’ because I didn’t lead a Bible study, I didn’t preach, I didn’t persuade anyone to read the Bible more , pray more or to give more money to the church, and I didn’t walk anybody through Evangelism Explosion, or ABC, or the Bridge, or whatever soul-winning plan is hip right now.
Nevertheless I say with confidence that I have been heavily engaged in spiritual dialogue, almost none of it within the context of my local church.

Metric #3: ’Teach’ My grade ‘Incomplete’
I don’t do any formal teaching, but if in the course of my interactions, someone reshuffles their worldview even a bit, then I suppose I have taught in a collaborative ‘iron sharpening iron’ sense.

Metric #4: ’Baptize’ My grade ‘F’
I’m not going to pretend that I have initiated anybody into faith in Jesus Christ. Heck, I don’t think I have had a meaningful interaction with a true nonbeliever in years. I intend to do somethng about that - namely broadening my interactions to not be so churchy. Sometimes nonbelievers are far more charitable than the church crowd…I have the bruises to prove it.

Here’s a prayer for what it’s worth:

“Father, I’m sorry that I have for so long outsourced the Great Commission
to the professionals, as if I can pay someone else to do the going, discipling,
teaching, and baptizing. Please help me find a way to bring that ‘F’ up to at
least a ‘C’ in 2009. Give me your wisdom and grace, that I may reflect you.
Thanks for understanding.

Later,
Billy”

Where would we be without the local church?

I don’t feel like writing paragraphs today, so I’ll just list the oft-heralded benefits of a local church, and offer a comment or two in response.

Benefit #1: Accountability
When I think of spiritual leaders disgraced for ‘doing’ their secretary or for embezzling money, I come to the not-so-startling realization that accountability is not an automatic outcome of belonging to a church. A casual observer might actually conclude that a serial philanderer or thief could find perfect cover in a local church.

One has to seek accountable relationships and then not lie to those people. Perhaps the church is conducive to that, perhaps it has the opposite result; lying and hiding to avoid judgment?

Benefit #2: Doctrinal/Theological Integrity
Let’s say that you and I are looking at a police-style lineup. There are two people in this lineup: Joe the Plumber and an Evangelical pastor. Which of these two is most likely to become fixated on some oddball doctrine, preach it in the local church, and later be forced to leave the church - taking a hundred or so people with him to start a non-denominational church?

The history of heretics through the ages seems to suggest that the local church is a breeding ground for theological rebellion and is not a ‘heresy-free’ zone as some like to think of it.

Benefit #3: Spiritual Instruction
Let’s say that I teach a new driver that a red traffic light indicates that the safest course of action is to stop. My student takes a written test and aces the traffic light question. A week later, my former student gets a ticket for running a red light. Did my student fail to learn, or did I fail to teach? Is there a difference?

The mainstay of nearly every church regardless of size is a program to teach children and youth. It’s a good thing that we don’t judge the effectiveness of these programs based on what the ‘graduates’ do, because many of them quit church as soon as the cage door is open.

Benefit #4: Community
I put this one last because local churches are conflicted about community. On one hand, we talk about the local church as ‘a place where everybody knows your name’, but then we talk about ‘not knowing everybody’ as the price we pay for church growth. Picture a group of ten or so people who have known each other for years, with a less cohesive cast of characters who quickly cycle in and out of the action, surrounded by a cloud of extras who are just part of the scenery, and you have the TV sitcom ‘Cheers’. You also have the typical local church.

While some see worship as a distinct benefit of being connected to a local church, I think what we call a ‘worship service’ is just another community activity. For most churches, the worship service is the main event and is the most visible aspect of the church’s ministry, but aside from the obligatory ‘greet and sit’ moment (some doll it up and call it ‘passing the peace’), the average person in the audience is so disengaged that they might as well be in the audience for a taping of the TV show ‘Ugly Betty’.

Do I therefore hate the local church? ‘Hate’ is far too strong a word. ‘Disappointment’ might capture my feeling better. I am willing to believe that local churches take on organizational characteristics out of the best intentions, but that over time the organization tends to supplant the mission it was created to serve.

Most people who are disappointed with the local church simply disappear quietly. I have resolved that if I ever disappear from the local church in general, those who care will at least know why.

“Where would I be without the local church? For now I don’t quite know the answer to that question, but I have taken the first step by acknowledging that the local church is not the only venue in which one can follow Christ. I guess if/when I answer that question definitively (or move out on faith), I’ll be ‘out the door.’

What does it mean to be post-congregational?

Post-congregationalism is not like other ‘posts’. Whereas postmodernism is supposed to be a transition toward a more evolved way of thinking, post-congregationalism is more like a stage of the business cycle; a periodic refocusing, a necessary rediscovery of the distinction between ministry and the machines that are supposed to make it possible.

At this stage of my journey I spend about 7-8 hours per week at a local church, most of it on Sunday, so I am still in the tire-kicking stage of considering a post-congregational ecclesiology. All of the biblical proof-texts for church attendance center around the importance of a faith community, so I would be negligent to dismiss out of hand the grand-daddy of them all…Hebrews 10:25.

25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but
let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.

Although it is far from obvious that Hebrews 10:25 has anything to do with church attendance, even a simple reading of the verse and its context affirms the value of a faith community. I look at the schedule of activities offered in a typical local church and I quietly ask whether the activities are truly about building community or whether they are simply means of providing a return on investment to the congregants; a little ’give-back’ to keep the seats warm and the offering plates well-dusted.

Thus, I begin my post-congregational exploration by affirming the value of community but pointing out that presence in a local church on a regular basis does not necessarily add up to participation in a faith community.