Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Need To Look A Little More Broadly
That tradtional mainstream churches are hurting is not news. This story from the Times of London, may help explain why. (HT: Sheep's Crib)
The question is not just about "choosing and placing" it's about attracting. There is something very sick in the mainlines that makes the really gifted not want to be there.
I think the analogy to the personal is apropos here. I am fond of pointing out that God does not want just part of us, that He wants to recreate all of us. The same goes for the church. It's time to stop looking at the "little" picture and start looking at the big one. Time to stop solving the problem and start getting out of God's way.
BRITAIN'S Protestant clergy are too shy to go out to convert people to Christianity, according to research that will be published next month.Bishop Whinney -- that last one is an understatement. But I think there is more to it than that. The people that are the kind of people you should be having are ending up in the independent churches where they do not receive the training and tempering that only the oldline mainstream can provide. Without that training and tempering we get all sorts of really "fun" stuff from the megabarn to the out-of-control charismatic nonsense.
A survey of Anglican, Baptist and Methodist clergy by the Right Rev Michael Whinney, retired Bishop of Southwell, showed that most were sensitive introverts who lacked the characteristics to be ?out there? in the community.
"One wonders about the stressful element of this type of work for the introverted majority in church leadership," Bishop Whinney said. "This begs the question as to how effective is the system for choosing and placing ministers in churches."
The question is not just about "choosing and placing" it's about attracting. There is something very sick in the mainlines that makes the really gifted not want to be there.
I think the analogy to the personal is apropos here. I am fond of pointing out that God does not want just part of us, that He wants to recreate all of us. The same goes for the church. It's time to stop looking at the "little" picture and start looking at the big one. Time to stop solving the problem and start getting out of God's way.
